And pink was the ticket

I heard reports of bunker locally so I went out on Thursday night to see for myself. After searching a few spots to no avail, I decided to check a spot I have never fished before, often overlooking it to fish other nearby spots. Armed with my 10 wt and big bunker flies and a few other flies, smallest being a 4.5" surf candy, I hoped to see bunker with bass on them. No bunker, but I found a bit of nervous water, with small bait moving around. I could see juvenille silversides, no more than 2", and most less than an inch and a half long, there also small cinder worms zipping around, most around an inch. I had nothing in my quiver to match this small bait smorgasbord, so I decided I would go the opposite route, a big snake fly. Fished the snake fly with not even a tap for a little over half hour, so I tied on the surf candy figuring this would be the best shot at matching the bait. Nada, so I took a step back, found nearby higher ground, and watched. There is a light shining in the water and my vantage point was great, there was a school of keeper plus sized stripers lazily swimming around and slurping up mouthfuls of bait, it was quite a sight to see. After the action fizzled out, around midnight I headed home with a riddle to solve.

I just recently got a cape of whiting spey hackle in pink, and decided to put some to use. The feathers are similar to marabou, but have a higher breaking strength. I made a couple simple CCG candies, to match the microbait, and headed back out in search of feeding stripers last night.
Here are the flies:


Long story short, the stripers really liked the pink one. Interesting point of the night, there is a small outflow(15" pipe) emptying a small pond into a small bay, and there were stripers set up in and around the pipe, popping the microbait being funneled to them. I made a nice cast right to the base of this pipe, one strip and I came tight to a feisty little striper.

Convertible Calamari

I got a tube kit today, and had this on the brain.
pink BT hollow tied on tube
pink stritch, clump tied 360
white marabou folded and palmered
white webby hackle palmered and forced back

The squid is similar to the Sinister Squid, you will notice a few differences.
Owner AKI 4/0 hook
yellow arctic fox tail
JC eyes
yellow grizzly webby hackle, palmered and forced back
4 white hackles
light olive stritch palmered
4 white hackles
light tan finn raccoon in a dubbing loop and palmered
bleached peacock clump tied 360
6 olive bird fur hackles tied flat 360 around shank

With this setup, I could make the squid extra big and add a bit of color, or fish just the squid without the tube attached.

Chovy flatwing

I am already anticipating the arrival of Fat Albert, I know its still a little ways off. Here is a fly I tied to imitate some chovy's a buddy and I found in early May at a local salt pond.
BT platform
thin white saddle tied in flat over platform
pearl body braid
light tan finn raccoon wing with a little olive ice dub topping
BT throat with a little senyos laser dub over(bottom fly I substituted red calftail for BT)
JC eyes
hard as nails to coat JC eyes and brush a little over ice dub to tame it

Sinister Squid

I recently recieved some very nice Rhea as a gift, and have been playing a little. Here is a squid inspired by Dave Nelson and Chris Taylor, I think the stripers will tear this thing up when swung over their lies.

Mustad Signature hook, 2/0
50 lb mono with big dome eyes CCG'd on the end
blue arctic fox tail
black webby saddle, palmered and forced back
3 grizzly saddles
palmered rhea
3 grizzly saddles
palmered rhea
4 lavender saddles
bleached peacock
black marabou folded and wrapped 4 turns
black webby saddle, palmered and forced back

fancy flex candy

I have been playing with both the CCG thin and flex, here is the flex.
Gami sc15 size 1
pearl mylar body braid
white BT
pearl flashabou, 1 strand folded
bleached peacock herl
JC eyes

6/17 sand eel infestation

I got on the water around 7:30, about 3 hours into the outgoing. I ran into a buddy I havent seen since last year in the parking lot, so we caught up a bit. He told me there were birds working over blitzing fish and it just fizzled out, he was heading to another spot. I waded out to a hole as the tide had dropped enough to let me get there. I saw clouds of sand eels, in all directions dimpling the surface, but not alot of crashing, and then some bass moved in, big splashes, fish coming out of the water, it was mayhem.
The fish were fussy, I threw a few different flies, finally settling on a small CCG candy made with craft fur. There was a bass set up on a feeding station crashing sand eels passing by, but I was directly across current and couldnt present to this fish. So I waded up current to a spot where I could get a good swing in front of this fishes station, similar to swinging a wet fly to a trout on station. On the third cast the line came tight, and a few moments later I brought this gorgeous striper to hand, snapped a quick pic and sent it on its way. While this fish wasnt particularly big, it was great to solve the puzzle of the night.


Here is the fly

Honey hole bass

I got this smallish striper at my honey hole, note the "Crazy Eye".

The Dark Drifter

This is a fly I like to fish at outflows at night on a drift and swing.

Feeling crabby

I love this crab fly, its very spey-esque. I got this pattern from Chris Taylor, there is a step by step on the SOL forum. I substituted church window feathers for the carapace and soft hackle hen for claws.

5/21/2010

I got on the water around 8:30 for the top of the outgoing tide at one of my favorite outflows. Within a few moments my line comes tight to a heavy head shaking, wide shouldered striper. After a brief standoff I brought this fish to hand, snapped a quick pic, and safely released her. She went around 30".

Here is a pic of the fly she took.