What do you do when they won't bite?

[albieonthefly]

You make the right cast to bass in skinny water, they come look, follow your fly but won't take it.

We've tried all the usual flies, colors and striping methods and still, recently most larger fish just pass on them.

Thx :-%

[Albiemanmike]

Sounds like the good old days up on Monomoy Island flats. Man those fish would make me nuts. I never did figure out the holy grail to get them to take but those very same fish when presented with a fast surface retrieved Fin-s-Fish would absolutely explode on the plastic. I did on a few occassions have success with extremely fast retrieves keeping the fly very near the surface and then stopping it just like the Fin-s-Fish. Flies didn't seem to matter it was definitely a presentation issue IMHO.

[tommat]

I agree with Mike. I used to catch nice size bass down here in Jersey during the late season herring run by ripping large flies across the surface. Fish would just crush them...

[ShallowWater]

If you can get your hands on Alan Caolo's book sight-fishing for striped bass, he goes well into fish behavior and how they react to a fly. Seems the fish you've been encountering are interested in your fly, have you tried to lengthen your leader, maybe drop the tippet size? How close are they getting to the boat before they book? I'll usually lengthen my leader, drop a tippet size then switch flys. If i do all three things and still they wont eat, i like to think they are just the smartest fish on the flat :). Anyway hope this helps.

Justin

[albieonthefly]

Thanks! I'll have to try top water fast action.

[albieonthefly]

If you can get your hands on Alan Caolo's book sight-fishing for striped bass, he goes well into fish behavior and how they react to a fly. Seems the fish you've been encountering are interested in your fly, have you tried to lengthen your leader, maybe drop the tippet size? How close are they getting to the boat before they book? I'll usually lengthen my leader, drop a tippet size then switch flys. If i do all three things and still they wont eat, i like to think they are just the smartest fish on the flat :). Anyway hope this helps.

Justin

Justin, I haven't lengthen the leader or gone less than 16lb tippet, but I have a feeling 9-10ft is enough as they follow the flies pretty close to the boat and turn once they see it. I'll give your suggestions a try and hope for the best

Thx! :-%

[ShallowWater]

No problem. Good luck.
Justin

[mctrout]

depends on what fly you are using and what they are eating. Do you see them flashing on the flat? tailing? digging? do they like a crab fly but wont eat it? are they moving fast or slow? are you sure they do not know you are there when you present the fly, meaning are you getting shots far enuf away? is the fly at the depth that they are traveling? There really are no hard and fast rules as they will feed on lots of differnt things, but in general, the sand eels are stripped medium to fast and crabs are stripped very little if at all.

[breezyloon]

McTrout, Him know!

[mctrout]

you get the photos David, the email address u gave me sent it back

[albieonthefly]

Thanks Brendan, good points to consider and adjust accordingly.

Today was cloudy, windy and the water kind of dirty, so we blind casted around tons of sand eels.

Tight lines.