|
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Stripers on the fly a challenge but tough to beat
Copyright © 2004 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. | ||||
 |
||||
Then there's the kind I do. Yep, fishing can be a very active sport. My favorite fishing (at least here in New England) is for striped bass, preferably with a fly rod. Chasing up and down the strand in waders, standing in the surf, casting a big fly with a stout rod makes for a darned good workout -- especially if you are fighting big fish. Stripers are migratory, moving south to north as the season progresses, then retreating in the fall. You can, of course, catch them anywhere from Nova Scotia to New York, and the whole stretch of the Maine coast, especially west of Bar Harbor can have excellent bass fishing in the summer. But why wait for the bass to get here? I like to carry my campaign to the fish. At this time of year, the greatest concentration of big stripers in New England is near Westport Connecticut, where fresh water inflow and the warm shallows around the Norwalk Islands create an aquatic smorgasbord. It's a spring tradition to make a pilgrimage and warm up my fishing muscles with a hefty load of strong Connecticut stripers. It's possible to haul your own boat (a canoe or kayak will get you to some fishy spots) down to Westport and start exploring on your own. Once you are on the water, the ocean is yours. But, like anywhere else in salt water, beware the long learning curve in an unfamiliar area. Arcane combinations of wind, tide, currents and finicky fish can leave you skunked. The surest way to sample this world-class opportunity is to book a full or half day of fishing with Capt. Jeff Northrop at Westport Outfitters, (203-831-8036; www.saltwater-flyfishing.com) and his cadre of proven guides. With more than 30 years of guiding experience, Northrop is totally at home in a Hewes or Maverick flats skiff, which he drives like a sports car, deftly avoiding the rocks and sandbars which snare the less experienced. When it's time to fish, he shuts off the motor, and poles you silently right to where the fish are feeding. If you've ever sight fished for tarpon and bonefish in the Florida Keys, or for redfish anywhere along the southern coast, you already know the thrill of casting to big fish in very shallow water. By the way, poling a flats skiff in a stiff breeze is terrific exercise! If you want to try it yourself after seeing how effective it can be for getting you onto feeding fish, Northrop will happily sell you a skiff to take home with you. Northrop has the uncanny knack of putting you in the precisely the right place at the right time to make the right cast with the right tackle and the correct fly. I've stood on the casting deck of his boat and hooked as many as 60 stripers in a half day of fishing. What a way to kick your striper season into high gear and get your heart racing! A half day (4-hours of fishing ) with Westport Outfitters $425 for two anglers, which includes all tackle. A full day (6 hours) is $675. Northrop encourages catch-and-release. Past clients have chosen to release potential world-record sized fish rather than kill them for verification. The other alternative is to be patient. Schoolie stripers are beginning to show up in the warmer estuaries at least as far north as Cape Cod and Plum Island. It'll only take them a few more weeks to get here. WHAT TO DOTHIS WEEKEND If you've always yearned to cast a fly into the ocean for big fish, now is the time to learn how. Then you've got all summer to sharpen your skills. You can either learn the way I did, taking about 45 years and making every mistake known to man, or you can do it the easy way On Saturday, and then again on June 5, L.L. Bean is offering a one-day saltwater fly-fishing course in Freeport. Though it doesn't include any fishing time on the water, they bill this as comprehensive introduction to saltwater fly fishing with no prior experience necessary. According to the brochure, they cover basic casting, including the double haul (one of the toughest things I've ever tried to teach) specialized knots, and habitat and biology specific to saltwater environments. Of course they'll focus on striped bass, but the skills you need to catch stripers are much the same as you'll need for snook (the southern equivalent of a striper) and redfish, and may even cross over into bonefish and tarpon The fee is $195 which sounds steep until you calculate how much all your mistakes cost you if you do it on your own. VIDEO FLYCASTING If you are new to saltwater, Jeff Northrop has a couple of good videos on fly fishing for stripers and bluefish. Check out his website at www.saltwater-flyfishing.com. If you're new to fly fishing, Joan Wulff's "Dynamics of Fly Casting" shows and explains the mechanics of fly casting -- everything from simple roll casts to double hauls. She clearly demonstrates and explains the techniques she has been developing, analyzing and refining for more than 60 years. She focuses on the hand and arm movements which are the heart and soul of fly casting, and offers practice routines that will teach you how to make almost all kinds of casts. I wish something like this had been available 40 years ago. If you're contemplating taking up the long rod, or have already done so and wish you were better with the infernal thing, this 90-minute VHS/DVD is worth many times the $24.95 it costs. Order it at Royal Wulff Products, www.royalwulff.com Tim Jones of New Hampshire writes about travel and outdoor sports. E-mail: timjones@easternslopes.com |
||||