Mornin' Coffee: Striper Fever
– Living closer to the coast opens up many more new and exciting opportunities this summer. Few of these opportunities excite me as much as the chance to cast a fly on Maine’s coast for Striped Bass. I’m completely set up and ready to roll, all I need now are some flies and a little direction. I’ve been doing research on some potential spots, and grilling a few sources for as much info as humanly possible. On June 4th before our trip to the Fly Fishing Film Tour in Portland, me and the Roughfisher will be invading the southern Maine waters in search of our first ever Stripers on a fly. But don’t be fooled by our newbie status, by the time that date has come we should be fairly educated and fueled by obsession. I’m looking forward to that day of fishing, and even more so to writing the story about that trip in the days after.
Picture courtesy of http://www.coastalflyangler.com
For now I sit doing my homework (The fishing, not overrated college textbook kind) trying to give myself the best possible shot at hooking into a beauty. I’m scouring the internet for materials I can tie with, and reading up on any article I can find that might put me on some fish. For some great early season Striper advice, Doug Jowett of Brunswick Maine has a great article in the May 2009 edition of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. If you have $3.95 lying around it’s worth a read.
Until I make the Journey south this coming weekend, my time will be spent scouring some of my favorite local spots in search of some Brook Trout and Landlocked Salmon. In the meantime, if anyone has some helpful hints or advice they are willing to extend to us Striper Fishing hopefuls it would be more than appreciated! I have the Striper fever, and I’ve never even been salt water fishing!
Happy Castings,
-Ben
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Up'North Maine Fly Castings 
Ben,
First and foremost, make sure you soak your reel and clean and dry your fly line after you’re done.
Second, blue flies. Maybe a little Chartreuse. Make it 5 or 6″ long. White Belly. A little Peacock. At least that is what is used for the stripers that run up the Hudson in NY and off the coast of MA and I imagine they’re feeding on the same thing up there.
Tie a lot of them because if Stripers are in, bluefish might be too, and they’ll chew the snot out of your flies.
I went to the NH/lower Maine coast last year to chase Stripers and got pulled away due to a family emergency, so didn’t get my chance. As I said, they run up a river about an hour south of me but its a lead-fest so without a boat its pretty much impossible to fish for them safely with the fly. I’ve got a friend that is a die hard striper angler so all of the information comes from him. He fishes for them in Mass but again, its pretty close coastal-wise so the information should be pertinent. If you plan on catch and release consider using non-saltwater hooks. If you dry your flies thoroughly they won’t rust too quickly and if you break a fish off you don’t have to worry about it having a hook pertinently in its lip, throat, or gills. Also, small and largemouth bass love striper flies, so they’re multi-use. The occasional Pike will attack them as well. I like Deceivers or half and half’s for big flies like that.
I was told that 17-20lb leader would be fine. I prefer to fish straight leaders 99% of the time anyway so a cheap spool of 17lb mono or fluorocarbon was all I needed. If you aren’t used to casting a straight leader, practice before you get out there in the wind and waves. It takes a little getting used to.
Hope that helps,
E