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3. MV Flats Bass

Ok in the theme of non-trout related posts of late:

I just returned from Martha's Vineyard. I have traveled to the Island at least once a year for the last 17 years to fly fish for striped bass. Over those years I have gotten to know the fishing spots fairly well and far and away my favorite ones are the sandy flats where sight fishing is possible. It is very similar to fishing for bonefish in the Bahamas. Except the fish on MV flats are bigger.


One of the flats I fish the water ranges from 6" to about 4' deep.




I had a few days of very good conditions and some with crappy conditions. On the days where I had sun I took my 12 yr old son for his first shot at stripers on the flat. He did really well. He caught his biggest bass so far. 37.5" and 16.5 lbs. sight fished. That fish ate close enough to us you could clearly see her eyes!




On the days when I had sun and was fishing by myself I had shots at 30 to 40 fish. It was very cool to see a 40" fish tailing in 2' of water giant tail waving in the air while it rooted in the sand for a crab. I caught all my fish save one on a crab fly.



Tough to get pictures when I was by myself but at one point there was another angler on the flat I was fishing when I landed a decent fish of about 35". The biggest I caught was 42".



Another 35" fish from the beach. The fish at times swim right along the edge of the water where the dead seaweed etc collects where they can suck up crabs that are eating the dead plant material. The fish below was literally 3 feet from the beach when he ate my fly.

Really cool! That looks like a great time. Congrats to your son on such a great fish too. Sight fishing to anything that gets over 40" sounds great to me!

Great photos. Your son is starting off well, and will certainly have many more special days of fishing thanks to his knowledgeable dad.

Looks like a lot of fun, Erik. Those grins say it all!:)

I've caught a fair amount of stripers in my home river (a few minutes from the house) on fly gear, but never in the salt. Very hot fish in fresh water - I can imagine what the salt does for their power! Toothsome too... Fillets BBQ'd in coconut milk and lime juice are heaven.:)

Very nice!! How big is that crab fly BTW?

I think that one is on a 1/0 hook. Maybe 1"- 1.5"

Thanks and yeah I was probably close to 30 yrs old until I caught a striper that big

Jeff,
I am now officially jealous. My best bass came from a bit north of there in Maine. Big difference in technique though. Up there we find slots in big rocks that get current running and work the drops on the moving side. Only drawback to that is if you don't keep a careful eye on a rising tide you may just be stranded for the full tide.

I may need to pick your brain at some point in the future.

What did I tell you sir! You needed to post this. It's great stuff...and with a fly rod!

Now we just need to get you one of those weird giraffe inflatables Jack Gartside used to ride around on. :)

Mentoring the next generation is a big deal. IMHO. The young man looks hooked, it appears to me. :)

Great post!

Spence

Anytime John. (I think your post was directed to me) There are places on Martha's Vineyard that you can find bass the way you described as well. Its just that I love to sight fish to them if the conditions are right. Really that place has a lot of different kinds of water that hold fish from the estuary ponds to the boulder strewn surf and that's just from shore...

Eric

Eric,

What you using for rod/reel, line etc? Did you use that Outbound line?

Spence

This wasn't directed at me, but let me take this opportunity to tell you how awesome the Outbound line is for big fish and big flies. I use the 10 wt Outbound short intermediate and full sink for muskie and they are both outstanding. I am a reasonable caster, but in no way do I consider myself good. Even I can effortlessly cast 8-12 in. muskie flies the full 100 ft of fly line. Put that line in the wind and it really shines. I was on the Chippewa Flowage this weekend fishing for big toothy critters. It was fairly windy (15 mph) the one day and I was able to punch it into the wind with ease. I am sure others have a differing opinion, but I don't think you could put a better big fly/heavy wind line in my hands.

Enough of my rave about Outbound. Eric, do you use Outbound ever? If so, do you like it as much as I do?

I do use the outbound lines also I use the Airflo 40 plus, Airflo Depthfinder, and the Airflo Ridged Striper Intermediate. The Airflo forty plus and the Rio Outbound are similar. Like you said Kyle, the Outbound lines get out there pretty easily. I vary my lines upon where and how I am fishing. The outbound/forty plus lines are basically a shooting head welded to a running line. Those lines are nice for the times when you have to get it out there quickly. For the Flats depending upon the size of the fish and the wind I use a #9 or #10 Sage saltwater rod. I think I had my Abel super 8 on my 9 with a Rio outbound line with an intermediate head and a floating running line which allows for fast pick ups. and my Tibor Riptides on my two 10's (Sage again) that I had rigged up. One with and intermediate line (same as the 9 intermediate head floating running line) and the other with a 400 grain sinking line. If I was fishing deep fast moving water in an inlet i might fish the sinking line or if I am fishing from a boat and the larger fish are below the smaller ones which happens often, the 400 grain line works pretty well to get a fly down. If the wind and the tide are not too strong against me, I can effectively fish to at least 20 ft with that line. Thats pretty much the standard Northeast mid Atlantic Saltwater set up. Sometimes I'll use an 11 or 12 in the rips with 12-15" Squid flies and 5 knot currents. Or if I wanna get really deep Ill through a 700 grain line on a 12wt. I also may have at time a floating line either a cold water clouser or outbound on the 9 or 10 (most often the 10) to fish poppers and crease flies but you can do that with an intermediate line too if you keep things moving. But a couple 10wts with a full sinking line and an intermediate line is really all you need to catch most of the fish you will encounter in the inshore and nearshore waters from South Carolina to Maine. (Except Bluefin Tuna) But for Stiped Bass and False Albacore that's the way to go.

Hey Eric! Thanks for the report and tell your son congrats on landing the monster bass. You've made him a star.

Sory Eric the post was directed to you thats what I get for trying to triple task and type a post.

There was a time where the northern NJ beaches were in striking distance for frequent bleary eyed late night runs but that was always with hardware and clam lips. Never had much chance to do the flats type fishing.

Hey! What happened to those curls?! :)

Great trip, Eric. Wading and sight fishing sure is a great way to fish. And yes, all those bass have gotten bigger.

??

Ah! From what I knew back when I chased them, SB popns crashed back in the late 80s early 90s. Regs changed and they rebounded with huge numbers of young bass. They've grown since and I see many photos of 40" fish now. Haven't followed things though to really know.

Ah! From what I knew back when I chased them, SB popns crashed back in the late 80s early 90s. Regs changed and they rebounded with huge numbers of young bass. They've grown since and I see many photos of 40" fish now. Haven't followed things though to really know.

Love your crab fly btw.