Striped Bass: Fishing The Beaches

One of the best places for the shore fly fisherman to find striped bass is on the sandbeaches of the Atlantic coast. Ocean swells pound the coast and create an environmentwhere the striper is at home. They move in and out of the surf and feed on bait fish thatare disoriented in the sudsy water. Stripers can swim with their broad tails through thelength of waves and can sometimes be seen in full profile within the swell. When thewaves break patches of white water are used by stripers as cover in their attack. As thewaves recede rip currents are formed where the water exits and moves away fromshore. These rip currents are like little rivers and stripers use them to exit out beyondthe surf. There is a rhythm to fly fishing the surf and timing your casts to the breakingwaves helps in catching fish. Start in close with short casts right along the beach breakas there is often a trough created by the surf, right at the edge of the sand. Also castover or parallel to the oncoming breakers and let the fly swim by mending and keepingin touch with the fly. Fishing the rip currents where the surf exits is a good place to findfish. When the foam starts to move away from the beach swinging a fly through thesecurrents can be effective. Sand bars formed by the waves and the edges of the surfwhere the beach ends and the rocks begin are also areas that should be thoroughlyfished. Always look for signs of nervous bait or working birds as stripers are probablynearby. Blitzes happen in the fall, when bait is pushed in close and attacked by schoolsof striped bass that can be joined by bluefish, bonito and false albacore. Its exciting andvery visual fishing that many fishermen hope to find each season. So when fly fishingthe surf pick it apart and look to those subtle breaks and currents and there just mightbe a striper there.