Let 'er Rip: fly-fishing tidal rips for stripers

Stripers and the Tide

Many variables affect the quality of striper fishing, including: water temperature, time of year, moon phases, the level of light, and the strength of the tides. There are disciples for every theory, and many anglers who only fish at night, but don't let sunlight stop you. For fly fishing rips, the single consideration most critical to success is the tide. Tides are what create rips and make them easy feeding spots for bass, but not all tides are equally good.

Usually a rip will be most productive on a particular tide, but the best tide will vary from rip to rip. As a rule of thumb, however, the best tide to fish is the fastest of the four that occur each day. In addition, even the peak tides of the day will vary from from one day to the next, with the very fastest tides of the month yielding the best fly fishing on the rips. This variation is crucially important, and difficult to keep track of.

During weak tides, more conventional techniques--especially bait fishing--will be the most fruitful. Stripers will hang close to the contour of the bottom and feed more selectively. During the strongest tides, however, the bass will be far more likely to feed throughout the water column on a variety of tumbling baits. It is this behavior which creates the spectacular fly fishing opportunity, for when the velocity of the tide peaks, stripers will move long distances to take a surface popper with seeming abandon.

Thus being in very close touch with the tides is a must, and for this, the Eldridge Tide and Pilot Book should be the striper fisherman's bible. The daily strength of the tide can be tracked roughly since it corresponds pretty well with the stages of the moon, but many other less obvious factors are involved, and these sometimes contribute to strong tides at unexpected times. The Eldridge tide charts take all of the variables into account, and provide predictions for the time and strength of tides, and in some cases even include the peak velocities of the fastest tides during the month for a variety of well known geographic spots along the Atlantic coast. With this information, the angler has the best chance of determining both the best tides of the day, and the best days of the month.

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