Fly Fishing the Striper Surf

King Cod · #1 01-01-2010, 09:50 PM

Frank,

I just finished reading "Fly Fishing the Striper Surf". It was informative and enjoyable reading. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

King Cod

Frank Daignault · #2 01-03-2010, 12:19 PM

Thanks, King. When I formulated the book, I was excited because no one had ever narrowed salt water fly fishing down to the same specifics as I -- Stripers, shore, fly fishing. No boat fishing, no inshore, no other species. Look at what is out there closely and you will see that the other books sought to be all things to all situations whereas I remainded committed to the title. I hope this thread generates lively discussion because it is a favorite subject of mine.

clambellies · #3 01-03-2010, 12:49 PM

Welcome to a couple of years of frustration, or at least until you get the basics down. Be sure to crimp down your hook barbs, it makes it easier to remove them from the back of your neck!

Frank Daignault · #4 01-04-2010, 12:31 PM

People often fly fish for the wrong reasons and that can give fly fishing the striper surf a bad name. I would never go down the beach with just a fly rod. You fly fish because the conditions permit it and the bait demands it along with limited results with more common equip. One of the worst places to fly fish is on an open beach in the surf. Better to have protected water, light surf or both.

RobS · #5 01-04-2010, 03:05 PM

I can say for a fact there have been times (multiple) that I hit the beach *without* fly gear that I regretted, and times i hit the beach with *only* fly gear that I regretted.... so I definitely try to bring both.

Merlin · #6 01-04-2010, 07:03 PM

Most of us like a challenge and of course most often we catch and release so why not make it more challenging then to catch the whopper with a fly.

Frank Daignault · #7 01-05-2010, 05:49 AM

When you have fly fished all your life, you don't see any challenge. It is just another way to fish. Sometimes, but not always, better. Newbies think that fly fishing is cool but I don't relate to that. Dynamite is cool.

King Cod · #8 01-08-2010, 10:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by clambellies

Welcome to a couple of years of frustration, or at least until you get the basics down. Be sure to crimp down your hook barbs, it makes it easier to remove them from the back of your neck!

Ouch... Show me your scars

King Cod

King Cod · #9 01-08-2010, 10:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobS

I can say for a fact there have been times (multiple) that I hit the beach *without* fly gear that I regretted, and times i hit the beach with *only* fly gear that I regretted.... so I definitely try to bring both.

Thanks ... that is the plan ...

King Cod

King Cod · #10 01-08-2010, 10:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frank Daignault

People often fly fish for the wrong reasons and that can give fly fishing the striper surf a bad name. I would never go down the beach with just a fly rod. You fly fish because the conditions permit it and the bait demands it along with limited results with more common equip. One of the worst places to fly fish is on an open beach in the surf. Better to have protected water, light surf or both.

The plan is estuaries and salt ponds, and inlets off the jetty ... Also the flats and rip off Stage harbor/light house beech down from Hardings beach.

King Cod

Frank Daignault · #11 01-09-2010, 11:10 AM

Those are good places to fly fish. Avoid having anybody fishing downtide in case you have to chase a bass.

Frank Daignault · #12 01-14-2010, 04:12 PM

A lot of traditional surfmen oppose fly fishing as a means of dangerously exhausting stripers. I have never seen evidence of that, especially resent years where we release so many fish and don't see anything washing up dead.

Kroc · #13 02-02-2010, 06:27 PM

Just finished reading "fly fishing the Striper Surf". I have never fly fished and probably never will, but I really enjoyed this book and learned quite a bit about fly fishing and striper fishing. This book also contained the greatest passage of any fishing book I have ever read: "If a lifetime in the striper surf has taught me anything, it is that some people never get over their fear of darkness. Even Death Before Dishonor-tatooed ex-marines were spoiled by too many nights moving around in darkness with an armored infantry division. In the striper surf you go alone..."

Frank Daignault · #14 02-03-2010, 09:31 AM

Thanks, Kroc. I love my e-hugs. Don't tell anybody I said this, and I will deny it later, but a lot of times I sit and enjoy my own books. I thing that often comes through is that once a few years go by the author is a different person so the reader is no longer reading himself. Rather, he is reading someone he has come to admire. Dumb isn't it?

clambellies · #15 02-03-2010, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frank Daignault

A lot of traditional surfmen oppose fly fishing as a means of dangerously exhausting stripers. I have never seen evidence of that, especially resent years where we release so many fish and don't see anything washing up dead.

Good point Frank, The only place I've ever sen dead bass washing up is at Race Point. Usually schoolies, after the guys with their 4 rods apiece, spread out for 100 feet have fished bait through the night. Lots of gut hooked fish.