Atypical striper flies...

[SALMONMEISTER]

I was wondering if any/many of you use flies other than Deceivers, Clousers, sandeels, etc. for stripers. I ask because recently I caught a few small bass on a bonefish fly...a Gotcha...some home made, generic-looking shrimp flies, and an all grizzly hackle fly that's a cross between a wooly bugger and a Seaducer. I know that some use crab and shrimp imitations, but do any of you use trout and salmon patterns for bass?

[RobS]

Haven't been flyfishing too much, but have used, and known others to use, a wooly bugger successfully. That pattern catches almost anything that swims. The gotcha's a great, though I've not used them for stripers, have for trout.

How do you fish the gotcha (I can imagine, just want to hear how you actually fish it)?

[SALMONMEISTER]

Originally Posted by RobS

Haven't been flyfishing too much, but have used, and known others to use, a wooly bugger successfully. That pattern catches almost anything that swims. The gotcha's a great, though I've not used them for stripers, have for trout.

How do you fish the gotcha (I can imagine, just want to hear how you actually fish it)?

I confess Rob... I've only used the Gotcha as a teaser. One guy I know will fish 2 or 3 flies at once, dead drifted or gently swung...trout style. He uses the Gotcha, a thin worm imitation, and a Greaseliner (a salmon/steelhead surface fly). My shrimp imitation is like the Greaseliner, but in addition to the elk hair wing I add a few strands of elk hair and some flash for a tail, and golden pheasant tippets as eyes near the hook bend.

[RobS]

In one stream here, gotcha with a grizzly feather, imitated a particular bottom baitfish to the tee. It would be fished weighted and brought along the side of a pool in short slow strips and get hammered by the then big browns in that stream. It's a stocked, but good holdover, stream but unfortunately NJ is no longer stocking browns, only crazy bows, which don't act sane in this, or other, south jersey streams but I digress.

I tied up several crab patterns and mole crab patterns, a few years ago, but have never fished them with confidence. Have seen juvi flounder patterns that should work at some time, some where. If one has a sure shot outflow then drifting crab patterns in low light or night would seem the ticket as our Grandmaster and his wife demonstrate. When hunting fish, baitfish patterns (or eel... I suppose the wooly buggers are imitating about the same thing as owen velvet eels) seems the way to go, to keep on the move.

[SALMONMEISTER]

Originally Posted by RobS

In one stream here, gotcha with a grizzly feather, imitated a particular bottom baitfish to the tee. It would be fished weighted and brought along the side of a pool in short slow strips and get hammered by the then big browns in that stream. It's a stocked, but good holdover, stream but unfortunately NJ is no longer stocking browns, only crazy bows, which don't act sane in this, or other, south jersey streams but I digress.

I tied up several crab patterns and mole crab patterns, a few years ago, but have never fished them with confidence. Have seen juvi flounder patterns that should work at some time, some where. If one has a sure shot outflow then drifting crab patterns in low light or night would seem the ticket as our Grandmaster and his wife demonstrate. When hunting fish, baitfish patterns (or eel... I suppose the wooly buggers are imitating about the same thing as owen velvet eels) seems the way to go, to keep on the move.

Sounds good Rob. I tied up some larger wooly buggers in my olive body/black hackle and tail pattern...I've gotten everything on them...in freshwater. I've heard of others using them in the salt. Those "worm hatch" flies you hear of are a similar tie.