On the Run - Favorite Type of Striper Fishing..

[Mark Cahill]

Okay, wild hypothetical here...

If you were limited this season to one type of fishing, be it eeling the rocks, fishing live pogie in a rip, tossing flies to fish on the flats, etc., what would you prefer?

Similarly, if you were to be limited to one region or even spot (without giving up the exact long and lat) would you prefer?

I realize it's tough to digest this down, so I'll give my answer...Monomoy flats on the fly, and pogies over a rip in the Elizabeths (hey, I grew up doing that with my dad...)

[SageBoy]

To me there is nothing better then standing in a foot of water with a pod of 50 or more Stripa's heading in your direction! That's what makes my heart rate increase!

I will take what's behind door #2....Monomoy flats on the fly. :brow

[stripah]

My current favorite method for taking stripers would have to be tossing eels to rocky shorelines and drifting deep channels would monster eels all done at night along the Elizabeths or any other rocky shoreline. Secondly would be tossing plugs at theses same spots at dusk on light tackle for some truly memorable experience.

[Ray]

As it has consumed every waking thought, sight fishing!!!!

[Bob Parsons]

Sight fishing on Barnstable flats on an incoming tide.

Surface plug in any of the rips on the south side. Love to see bass whack something on the surface.

[detra]

I grew up on Nauset chasing fish up and down the beach. Nothing is more exciting than running after breaking fish with a surf rod in your hands.

That being said, I also have spent hours sight fishing finicky trout with flies, and know-- without yet experiencing it, that I will be obessed with sight fishing stripers on the flats.

See you out there...

[On The Run]

That's a tough one. I'd say first choice would be eeling the rips off Montauk at night. I'm always amazed at numbers and size of fish there.

Second would be sight casting (fly) in Kennebec/Casco Bay, Maine for cruising fish on the flats. The fish are big, the water is clear, and the surroundings are tough to beat. Wish I lived closer.

[clavinr]

I read On the Run last year, loved it. Excellent book, even if you don't fish.

My favorite, spearing them in RI. Then making a fish print, then eating them!

I love to spin the canal or from my kayak with light tackle, and recently have become obsessed with saltwater fly fishing. --127-3-

[Kal9weight]

june-great point rip off nantucket...watching the sun go down, checking your watch and knowing that at 8:00pm bass will be stacked in the rip on an east tide....bombers with a teaser in the fray, letting it swing into the hole and feeling the take. absolutely cannot be beaten.

[albiechaser]

MARK tough to answer that one. the run in the roanoke river out of weldon nc in april/may is incredible, in may the big females arrive, and once the spawning starts the top water action is awesome. 200 a day is not uncommon.
have a great day
steve

[peter mac]

Montauk, south side, shallow water in June............BIG COWS on little flies
(just be careful, always keep the engine running)..........late November in Montauk if the herring show, Big fish on Big flies, watching a bunch of cows fight over your fly is a cool thing........
Peter Mac

[ruge13]

I have 3 that are equally weighted in my head. First is the relaxing one, warm sandy beach in Sept. Bass pushed up in the surf, some viasable, some not. Offshore light wind. Waves large enough to make it interesting, but small enough to not cause work. Did I mention there was no one else on this beach?

Second, North shore rocks in a kayak. No visable fish except the occaisional one below you. Probing the rocks with a surging swell. No wind, and big flies. Its a challenging environment in a kayak with Bass that can pull you in the wash. But the challenge makes it just as much fun.

Anywhere, flat calm sunrise. Gurglers or poppers. I'm with Bob, nothing beats a Bass on the surface. I say sunrise because its not a violent take. Its a boil or two, a wake behind the fly. Ripples and wake send colors floating away form the fly with the light angle. Then a slow splash and a take. Theres more than just the violent one time splash of as mid day hit.

[Slappy]

What I love about striper fishing is that there are so many different types: different places and different techniques.

One of my favorites would require time travel:
Canal, October late 1990s. I loved watching those huge schools come sliding down the canal. Cranking a big swimmer (tady 45) in the surface film was awesome with so many fish chasing it. The fish weren't quite as big, but 30" wasn't legal then. The quantity of fish was amazing. I broke the drive shaft on a conventional reel cranking the tady because I caught so many fish and they hammered it so hard. After the morning bite, the deep jig bite was so good that many days it seemed like they paved the bottom with fish. I love working jigs in that current! Too bad those numbers aren't around now. I couldn't imagine having a week of hundred fish days anymore. (where did they go?)

But harbor fishing is pretty fun too....

[notime]

Sightfishing for bass, just about anywhere. Salt ponds of RI get my vote for ease of access and hidden treasures, Cape Cod bay for how quickly things change (also a negative) with the tides, Monomoy (no reason needed).

RI fall run, fishing off the beach and rocks. Light to no wind, sunny skies, 50-60 degrees and birds all over the place. Massachusetts fisherman home watching football :brow Mass may get more press, but our season is longer! --126-3-

A slight twist, most hated method is trolling on a charter boat. Please push me overboard.

[aws]

Sight fishing CCB flats from Barnstable to Brewster in late May and early June. Big aggressive fish in thin water is hard to beat for me. Fall blitz in CCB with surface flies from a kayak or shore is a close second.

[Onshore]

I have to agree with AWS. The sight-fishing on the Brewster flats may only be excelled by doing the same on the Monomoy flats.

By the way, I fished with David DiBenedetto in NH when he was writing "On The Run"

[albacized]

If I only had the opportunity to take advantage of one type of fishing during the entire season, I'd probably put 'all my eggs in one basket' and go for albies. Two years ago, due to the purchase of a new home, I essentually did just that. I basically missed out on the entire season through September, but then decided to take a few weeks off from the chores and catch some false albacore. The only other (*saltwater) fishing I had done that entire year was to catch a few early season schoolies up in the Merrimack.


*Since I moved very close to the Sudbury River, I did spent an hour here and an hour there scouting that place out whenever there was a down moment in those 'chores'.

[striper man]

i would have to say jigging and drifting eels,bait and plugs in the rips and holes of the canal and fishing the south shore mixed sand and stone beaches.

[FeargyEagerve]

Im sure there is a well thought out answer for this, or maybe the answer is as simple as JONG, but noticed that the fishing forum is absent from the mouseover menu top nav doohickey thingy. That is all.