First time on Salt w/Fly Rod.

[dcabarle]

I got a call from FlyTier on Saturday night, "Hey... meet me at the first rest stop after the Raritan Toll Plaza, me and Johnny are going to get some stripers". That was at 12am, after the Yankee game. I met up with them around 1am and we were off to Sandy Hook. We got to the Hook and walked to the beach. What a walk. With the strong winds not in our favor, we started casting blindly into the ocean. I am thinking I'm hitting England with my casts, but the sunlight that came out later proved me wrong. I was just out of the wash. After about a half an hour or so, I hooked into my first Striper ever on a fly rod.

A strong tug a short run, and in less than a few minutes he was in my hands and right on time for a small photo shoot. That's the only fish any of us caught all night. I saw 1 other guy towing one behind him and that was it.

My casting was horrible as I wasn't used to the weight of the rod or the heavy fly attached to my tippet. Combine that with the wind and stay away from the guy on the beach who looks like he's swatting flies. The fish I caught had nothing to do with any kind of skill. I just happened to be at the right place at the right time.

Any time I've been salt water fishing, it's been miss after miss and very consistantly, "You should have been here yesterday!"

As of now, I can't say I'm hooked on salt water fly fishing. Maybe I'll give it another try, maybe not. Fresh water fly fishing for trout is where my heart is and will probably stay.

 

[bjmiller]

Dennis,

Stick with it. When you hit it right, it can be incredible!!! Fishing from the beach can be tough because a lot of times the fish don't come close enough to reach, but sometimes they do. You can increase your odds by knowing what tides are best in certain spots, and paying attention to the weather (not going when conditions are not great). But sometimes we go when we can, and it may not be as often as we like. So conditions sometimes get ignored. A boat will make a huge difference. As I told you over the phone, the day after my last trip to the Sound, I could not straighten my arm out!!! Tight lines.

Bruce

 

[Kenny Joe]

Good catch! There are areas on the bay that are frequented by fly fishers and they produce very well. It just takes putting in time and doing your homework. I find it a pleasant change from freshwater. You use the same tactics but with larger gear and fish. I generally go during the fall migration till I start to freeze. Maybe I will see you there!

 

[Fly Ty R]

Something about probing the surf with a big fly and feeling that jolting strike gets my blood pumping!! Even a 20"er on an 8wt is a great fight. Took me 5 years of slapping the surf silly to get my first fly rod striper. Some people are luckier than me, I guess....

 

[cingras53]

the salt

Dennis,
Nice picture but where is your stripping basket? And who told you to put the rod between your legs....it goes under your armpit for the two handed retrieve! I understand your favoring trout fishing... when you're on the stream you're pretty sure the fish are there, when you're in the surf unless there's a blitz going on you could be casting to fishless water. When you get that decent striper that makes your reel scream you'll have a better perspective. I might hit the Hook soon. See you there but not at 3 in the morning.

 

[flyin]

Denis,

Truth be told, the striper is NOT the best game fish... pound for pound, flyrod or not. It's just that in the Northeast, it's the best gamefish that can be found somewhat reliably from shore; it's good eating; there is some mystery in trying to catch them; a lot of people enjoy hanging around the ocean , cold or not, day or night; and you look way-cool when fishing with a flyrod.

I have yet to catch a false albacore on the flyrod (and only one caught in my life) but that is probably the best fish a shore-bound angler can hope to catch.

But note that the best fighting fish is the least edible, not that it matters to a C&R enthusiast such as yourself.

If you hook into some skinny water bluefish like I did, on a flyrod, you'd think you hit a tarpon (ok, maybe not, but they're fun).

Another fact about shore-bound angling is that, on average, you rarely hit a lot of fish.

bjmiller hit it on the head: if you want to hit a lot of fish, a boat helps a LOT.

-- Rob

 

[Steve M]

Stripers on a fly rod

Stripers are excellent fly-rod gamefish. In fact, they are a better fly-rod gamefish than they are for spin or conventional.

They set up in current much like a trout does, often sipping off the surface, or picking off the bottom as if nymphing. and they take a fly readily at times. And then of course there is the blitz: where you can catch many fish, or you can become frustrated because you can't figure out what they are hitting or how to present it. They also present the opportunity to catch a very large fish, on a fly-rod, from shore. A WILD fish.

Those are pretty good credentials if you ask me. Do they pull, pound for pound, as hard as bluefish or albies? No. But they pull damn hard, and a fish over 15# is going to pull VERY hard. And they are very cagey and good at throwing a hook.

How hard does a trout pull compared to a bluefish? Doesn't matter though does it?

OK, I'm a little obsessed with these fish......can you tell? Watch out, it could happen to you!

 

[dcabarle]

A few of you questioned my lack of a stripping basket. I was wearing a stripping basket, you just can't make it out because it wasn't a plastic bucket type, it was a net type sort of like the one in this photo:

I may try it again in a few weeks, but this late night fishing on a cold & windy beach, blind casting out into the ocean for fish that might not arrive until tomorrow at the same time you're there today. The only catch is that you won't be there tomorrow, you'll be there one day next week. Of course this is when you find out how wonderful the fishing has been since last time you went out but today doesn't look too good because the winds from the north combined with a low pressure system and a chance of a sand storm, ahhhhhh... you know what I mean. I was pretty tired when we went out, so all I thought about the entire time was, "wouldn't be nice to be home in a nice warm bed right now!". Anyhow, a trout of the same size would have easily taken me 15 minutes to land whereas this one took probably less than 2 minutes (and that's because I'm innexperienced!). You can't really compare this type of fishing with Trout fishing. Well, you can, but I won't!!!!! I think Cingras said it best, " when you're on the stream you're pretty sure the fish are there, when you're in the surf unless there's a blitz going on you could be casting to fishless water. " Matter of fact, I'm starting to get a little nervous over here because that's exactly my thoughts on the issue here!

Ohhh well, I'm going to bed... Goodnight.

 

[Fly Ty R]

With that type of basket, you might as well not even be wearing one! They have no line baffles, so your line gets all balled up when you go to cast. And in the wind, your line tends to get blown out and into the water. If you're serious about getting into salty fly fishing in NJ, get a hard deep basket. The Orvis basket is the best example, though you can make your own for much cheaper.

Also, I use my basket sometimes when trout fishing in larger rivers, so they have a place in freshwater as well. I get kooky looks from all the dry fly purists out there with me, but whatever. I can cast to those trout 80ft away when they can't because their slack line is getting pulled by the current.

 

[Fly Tier]

Ok Dennis and all, Lets give everyone the facts of the stripping basket etc...

When I called dennis, it was late. His papi took his saltwater fly reel home, dennis had no rod or a stripping basket, or even a fly. All he did was show up with the attitude that he would rather be sleeping in a warm bed. We found out about the stripping basket at 1AM, the lack of one. So, my buddy John opened up his fly shop at 1:15 AM, pulled out a brand new reel, loaded it with backing and a fly line, and pulled the only stripping basket they had in the shop, off the wall. We had a t&T 8wt and a Temple fork 10wt as back up for Dennis to use. For a half assed set up with no cost involved, dennis didnt do to bad. He looked like a little kid on a bike without traing wheels for the first time.
His bass took more than two minutes to land. He hasnt caught a trout that big on the Delaware system ever. Nor have most except for maybe BJMiller. Catch that fish on a 5wt with 6x tippit, see what fights better.

For those who count chubs etc, as fish caught or "moved" on the delaware, if when stripping our lines in on the beach, we end up with a mullet of peanut bunker, do they count?

Dennis' lack of enthusiasm, cold weather, wind, lack of sleep and the fact he was casting without a fly for most of the night may have contributed to the dismal day. Oh and just because fish arent blitzing, doesnt mean your casting to fishless water. The weekend before this past one, there was not a fish busting anywhere, yet 40 or so albies were landed all around me.

You have to be out there to be in the game.

 

[dcabarle]

Ok Dennis and all, Lets give everyone the facts of the stripping basket etc...

When I called dennis, it was late. His papi took his saltwater fly reel home, dennis had no rod or a stripping basket, or even a fly. All he did was show up with the attitude that he would rather be sleeping in a warm bed. We found out about the stripping basket at 1AM, the lack of one. So, my buddy John opened up his fly shop at 1:15 AM, pulled out a brand new reel, loaded it with backing and a fly line, and pulled the only stripping basket they had in the shop, off the wall. We had a t&T 8wt and a Temple fork 10wt as back up for Dennis to use. For a half assed set up with no cost involved, dennis didnt do to bad. He looked like a little kid on a bike without traing wheels for the first time.
His bass took more than two minutes to land. He hasnt caught a trout that big on the Delaware system ever. Nor have most except for maybe BJMiller.

For those who count chubs etc, as fish caught or "moved" on the delaware, if when stripping our lines in on the beach, we end up with a mullet of peanut bunker, do they count?

Dennis' lack of enthusiasm, cold weather, wind, lack of sleep and the fact he was casting without a fly for most of the night may have contributed to the dismal day. Oh and just because fish arent blitzing, doesnt mean your casting to fishless water. The weekend before this past one, there was not a fish busting anywhere, yet 40 or so albies were landed all around me.

You have to be out there to be in the game.

I was enthusiastic about going out, although a bit tired at 1:00am or whatever time it was. When we got to the beach, the wind was howling, it was very dark, it was a long walk in the sand, and I was up since 6am with no intentions of sleeping while fishing, so as you can imagine, my enthusiasm did shrink a bit. I didn't get home until 11:00am. I slept for about 1hr in 30hrs. Then I had to come home where I got 3 more hourse of sleep and head out at 10pm to play hockey! What a day. I'm an animal.

I should have thanked John (Streams of Dreams Fly Shop) and Fly Tyer (A nightmare on Elm Street) in my original post. They did gear me up at the last minute, and loaned me their equipment. I do have 1 small stipulation though. I would have never let John pull the reel (or anything for that matter) off the wall had I known it was just for me to use for one evening. FlyTier said that if I didn't purchase the reel, he would. As far as the basket... I wasn't complaining about it, I couldn't tell you the difference between a functional basket or a non functional basket. Although a little small, it seemed to do the job for all I knew. Later on I found out that the reason I spent quite a bit of time untangling my line was because the basket didn't have those little things sticking up out of it.

Anyhow, my post wasn't to complain, It was just to share my first experience on the sand with a Fly Rod.

Finally, let me add to my original post because I thought I included this. There was a point where I had to be casting for 15 minutes - 1/2 hr with no fly on my line. I was clueless. Hey... it was dark outside! I guess this is a sport you've gotta take your time with. My thing is that in a river, I know there are trout there. In the ocean, that statement may or may not be correct. Of course there are fish all over the ocean, but the ocean is a big place. Standing on the pitch dark beach looking for bass is probably harder than finding a needle in a haystack unless of course, I was fishing the previous day when the fish were always in. I wouldn't be surprised if the fish are blitzing the beach right now while I'm at work.

One try on the fly rod isn't enough. I'm going to give it another try, but only if FlyTyer hooks me up with a better basket next time.

 

[fcch]

Dennis,

I didn't feel the original post was complaining. rather, it sounded a bit like you DID have fun in less that dreamlike conditions. keep at it, you will get hooked.

Casting into salt is a bit daunting at first. Casting 80ft across a river or up to a lie seems like a long cast. Going to the BEACH is a bit of a humbling experience.

We fish sometimes for sea run brooks in the fjord. From the beach, the other side of the sagueany fjord is about 8 miles the other side. (Try roll casting across that).

Tides, moon phases, winds etc, they're all more important than the hatches.

It is a blast though. IMHO (here I go) a salt species, pound for pound, will often "pull" harder than a trout.

Photo: Low tide at Petit Saguenay. At high slack, there are schools of Brookies about 6-8 lbs cruising around the boulders. Deep wading is a must...

 

[JOE.T]

Hey guys

Cold and windy in the dark,no sleep, and walkiing across the sand like R2-D2, sounds like my kinda fishing!When are we going?


JOE.T

 

[dcabarle]

Well Chris,

One thing is for sure... Your area sure is beautiful! Keep posting the great pics, maybe _Ritter_ will get one of them into the TU Calendar.

Hey Joe,

I suppose I would be C3P0?

 

[Future Fanatic]

Ahh.. Sand Bar Wars... Luke Sand Walker? Hand Coldo? Darth Wader? Obi Wand Can'tholdy... Yeah, I'll stop.
John

 

[serotonin]

Princess Lay-a-Egg ?

 

[Fly Ty R]

Tog-ga the Hut?

 

[fcch]

Well y'all should think about coming up. It's not tooo far from Montreal:

Photo courtesy of http://www.chez.com/zoneluco/sommaire1.htm

 

[Fly Ty R]

I'd be there in a heartbeat if I could. Awesome scenery! I'd love to get one of those big freshy fish on a fly.

 

[fcch]

FTR,

I suppose by:

one of those big freshy fish

you mean Sea run brooks ... They are fun. Personnaly salt species scare me. Too many teeth. I mostly shy away from Pike for the same reason.

Saw a video a few years ago of a nice +20lb pike chomp on an anglers hand and give a little head shake. No real damage, just a good laugh.

 

[Fly Ty R]

Then you definately wouldn't like Jersey Bluefish, which are like 20lb pike on steriods!!!

Yes, I mean the sea-run trout or salmon. I'd love to tangle with one of them. We only have very limited sea-run opportunities here in NJ, and practically no "real" trout fishing where I am (I don't count cookie-cutter stocked trout ponds "real" trouting!).

 

[fcch]

FTR,

I 'm originally from BC and Walleyes and Pike were not (aren't) the prefered sport fish. Once I arrived in Quebec some friends took me out Walleye fishing. First time I grabbed onto one, I got the wild suprise of sticking the dorasl spines in a finger. First time I ever had a fish strick back.

Later, on a pike excursions, I got a better scare. Darn thing was a monster along side the canoe. I had the impression that it was almost half as long as the boat. !!!!

We decided to kill it IN THE water. Image the sight, two guys standing in a canoe just whaling on the surface of the water with canoe paddles.
(as we were doing that, the wind pushed us near shore... there were some cottages there ... I think the vacationners thought we were assassinating someone)

The Salmon and trout we go after are beefy. A nice grisle of 62 cm is only about 6.5 lbs. The same length in a trout is about 8 lbs:

Jack Crawford with a 62cm Grisle weighing 6 lbs:

André Bernier with the 2002 season record for the river