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Stripers on the Fly: The Basics

January 16, 2014 By JD 7 Comments

Fly fishing for striped bassStriped bass are awesome fly rod fish — they respond really well to colorful wads of feathers and glue, they fight hard and often run in large schools. What’s not to love?

If you’ve never tried it, here’s a look at the basics to get you started:

Tackle

Fly fishing and spending big bucks are often synonymous, but one of the great aspects of fishing for stripers with the long rod is you don’t need any particularly fancy gear. A No. 8 or 9 rod is ideal. It needs to have enough backbone to punch a weighted line and big fly into the wind. You’ll also want a reel with a smooth drag — just in case you hook Moby.

JD and striperAs far as lines go, my all-time favorite is Teeny’s Professional Series’ Dan Marini Striper Line, which features a heavy 32-foot head. I’ll run the 525-grain and then cut it back to make it lighter if necessary. It’s the least prone to coiling line I’ve found and also cuts the wind like a champ…all great attributes when fishing stripers – especially on the California Delta where I spend a lot of time.

Rather than run a tapered leader and tippet, I run straight 25-pound fluorocarbon (mono when fishing poppers) and the length depends on what I’m doing but usually 4 to 7 feet of leader is fine.

Flies

In the mornings and evenings, I like to toss poppers and chuggers in the shallows for some heart-stopping surface action. When a big bass decides to take your fly off the top of the water, it’s an explosion of adrenalin that’s highly addictive! Plop…plop…plop…KER-SPLOOSH!!

During the brighter period of the day, the fish don’t respond so well to surface offerings but no worries…they’ll munch a well-presented baitfish imitation all day long, provided that the boat traffic isn’t too extreme. Weighted 2/0 Clouser Minnows are the top getters but a whole host of barbell-eye streamers will work.
Clouser Minnow
As far as colors go, think shiny, silvery baitfish with green or dark backs. However, the old adage about striper patters that goes: “If it does not contain chartreuse, it is of no use…” is a very good rule of thumb to live by. My favorite patterns feature a chartreuse back, white belly and some silver flash in the body.

Technique

I target shallow flats, points, tule banks, pilings, channel edges and rock walls. The fish like different strip patterns every day, so experiment until the fish tell you what they want. I generally start out by letting the fly sink for a second or two (depending on the water depth) and then do a strip-strip…pause…strip-strip-strip…pause type of retrieve. Again, mix it up until you figure out the hot cadence on a given day. Also, keep in mind that the fish may change throughout the day so if you’re formally hot retrieve rate falls flat, try another pattern.

Often fish will bite on the pause, so pay close attention to what you’re doing, as those grabs can be quite subtle. Other times, however, stripers will clobber a fly so hard that it’s all you can do to keep the rod from going in the drink.

Training Wheels

If you are feeling a little insecure or overwhelmed as a beginner, try this: Take some conventional gear with you and toss poppers, swimbaits and cranks until you locate a concentration of fish and then switch over to the fluff chucking gear. Tossing a big fly and a heavy line and then stripping it back all day can wear you out. Rather than give up before you get to experience the rush of a striper on the fly, try this “bait and switch” technique. It can help you get the hang of things early in your career.

Well, I don’t want to overwhelm ya with too much info on the first go-round. Start with these simple tips and get out there and have some fun!
Fly Caught Striper

Filed Under: Fly Fishing, Stripers, Techniques Tagged With: california delta, clouser minnow, fly fishing, Jim teeny, striped bass, stripers

The battle to rid California of striped bass rages on!

February 11, 2011 By JD 16 Comments

California's Most Wanted

Those of you who thought that the battle to kill all striped bass in California died when State Assembly Member Jean Fuller (R-Bakersfield) had her anti-striper legislation kicked to the curb for a second straight year last summer…think again! Water purveyors from the southern portion of the state, along with the National Marine Fisheries Service, are waging a war to get stripers eradicated from our waters.

The flawed logic goes like this: Get rid of the predatory stripers and salmon will come back. But it’s just a diversionary tactic to get us to ignore the fact that the Delta ecosystem is literally falling apart at the seams due to unprecedented water exports and poor water quality. And the funny thing about it all is getting rid of stripers may actually cause worse problems for native fishes in the Delta. Listen to what Dr. Peter Moyle, Professor of Fish Biology at UC Davis and William A. Bennett, UC Davis, Fish Ecologist have to say about it all:

“The key to restoring populations of desirable species is to return the Delta to a more variable, estuarine environment,” they say. “Reducing striped bass and other predator populations is unlikely to make a difference in saving endangered fishes, and will serve only to distract attention from the real problems. Any program to control striped bass should carefully consider the likely consequences. If initiated, it should involve an intensive study effort on the impacts of the program and an adaptive management plan (missing from all current proposals) to make sure the alleged cure is not worse than the supposed disease.” Read more reasons why removing our stripers is a bad idea on the California Water Blog

Filed Under: uncategorized Tagged With: california chinook salmon collapse, california delta, jean fuller, striped bass

Sun starting to set on California Delta’s fish??

December 27, 2010 By JD 2 Comments

It may be beautiful above water, but things aren't so rosy under the Delta's surface.

A new report regarding the health of the fisheries in the California Delta has just been released and…big surprise…things don’t seem to be looking all that great.

The Delta is a complex system that houses gamefish like Chinook salmon, steelhead, sturgeon, striped bass, largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass, American shad, catfish and panfish…along with important forage species such as delta smelt, threadfin shad, splittail and many others. The problems that plague it are just as multifaceted: Water diversions are a huge killer, as is pollution and habitat loss.

You can read all about the decline and what biologists found in recent trawl studies HERE

Filed Under: uncategorized Tagged With: california delta, chinook salmon, striped bass

Photo Essay: The Amazing Places Fish Live

January 20, 2010 By JD 9 Comments

Unnamed coho creek, Cordova, AK


Why do we fish? One of the big reasons for me is to have the opportunity to visit some of the amazing places that fish call home. Here’s a look at some of my favorites…Click here to read more…

Filed Under: Cool Photos Tagged With: alaska, california delta, klamath river, lake tahoe, rivers, scenics, trinity river

Fluff Chucker Bass Tourney coming to Delta

May 3, 2009 By JD Leave a Comment

bassfly
Okay all you bass loving, Delta-prowling fluff chuckers out there, it’s time to tie up some of your best bigmouth buggers and get ready for the 2009 Delta Bass-N-Fly fly fishing-only bass tourney May 15.

The event features a basic bass team tourney format — two anglers per boat will fish for a combined limit of 5 bass (largemouth, smallies or spotts — no stripers). The team with the heaviest limit wins some $$ and the tourney will pay out to the top three.

Additionally, there will be a bunch of cool schwag to be raffled up by the likes of Sage , Rio, Simms, Smith Action Optics, Scientific Anglers, Umpqua, Icon Products, Angler’s Inn and Pultz’s Poppers.

The Bass-N-Fly thing was a huge success in it’s first season in 2008, as evidenced by the 32 teams from around the country participated.
Click here to read more…

Filed Under: uncategorized Tagged With: bass-n-fly, california delta, fly fishing, largemouth bass

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