Striperflats
05-28-2009, 04:19 PM
It's been a while since I've posted anything. But I thought I would offer up some photos and a run down of the flats action we had on memorial day. I get a lot of enjoyment from those that share their stories about their flats experiences out there. They have been few and far between in the last two years or so. I'm hoping this report will spark some more flats reports in the future.
My friends Mark and Scott and I headed out Monday morning and fished areas in the peconic. We have a tradition to fish together on Memorial weekend every year and have made it happen 5 years in a row. Some years we hit Shinnecock inlet, others we go further east. This year the tides seem to line up in the eastern side of peconic and shelter island. With the high tide we decided to fish the upper extremities of some of the creeks in the peconic and found good amounts of school sized bass. The light was terrible when we first got out, but became much improved as the day went on. With Scott having recently come back from a Tarpon trip in Key West he hooked a few fish with a tarpon style hook set, that broke the first few fish off. We moved to areas further east, still going way back in the bays to find fish. We came upon one area that was teaming with smaller sized bass. At one point the fish were like jacks aggressively chasing our flies in packs.
We ended the day in a spot that i had never been to before, but had noticed once on from a plane coming back from Boston last year (flights over this area are great ways to spot new flats). We checked it out and it was perfect. Clear water light bottom. There was even a small creek that emptied out into the area where we stumbled upon a group of a dozen good sized bass sitting motionless at the mouth of the creek. Because they were so still we didn't see them until the boat was upon them. Good lesson, always approach these creeks slowly as this has happened many times in the past. I hopefuly will place a few casts in theat spot before I drift over and spook a dozen fish next time.
There is nothing like this time of year on a beautiful clear sky day on a flats boat out east. I look foward to it all year long. I never seem to get enough time out there, but when I do it is absolutely delightful. I see some of you other flatsters out there on the flats boats. Share your experiences! Reading about the flats is nice when you can't get out there yourself.
My friends Mark and Scott and I headed out Monday morning and fished areas in the peconic. We have a tradition to fish together on Memorial weekend every year and have made it happen 5 years in a row. Some years we hit Shinnecock inlet, others we go further east. This year the tides seem to line up in the eastern side of peconic and shelter island. With the high tide we decided to fish the upper extremities of some of the creeks in the peconic and found good amounts of school sized bass. The light was terrible when we first got out, but became much improved as the day went on. With Scott having recently come back from a Tarpon trip in Key West he hooked a few fish with a tarpon style hook set, that broke the first few fish off. We moved to areas further east, still going way back in the bays to find fish. We came upon one area that was teaming with smaller sized bass. At one point the fish were like jacks aggressively chasing our flies in packs.
We ended the day in a spot that i had never been to before, but had noticed once on from a plane coming back from Boston last year (flights over this area are great ways to spot new flats). We checked it out and it was perfect. Clear water light bottom. There was even a small creek that emptied out into the area where we stumbled upon a group of a dozen good sized bass sitting motionless at the mouth of the creek. Because they were so still we didn't see them until the boat was upon them. Good lesson, always approach these creeks slowly as this has happened many times in the past. I hopefuly will place a few casts in theat spot before I drift over and spook a dozen fish next time.
There is nothing like this time of year on a beautiful clear sky day on a flats boat out east. I look foward to it all year long. I never seem to get enough time out there, but when I do it is absolutely delightful. I see some of you other flatsters out there on the flats boats. Share your experiences! Reading about the flats is nice when you can't get out there yourself.