Top 3 Flies for Striped Bass – Catch Big Fish
Catching Striped Bass
I absolutely love catch striped bass. Stiper, Striped Bass, Line Sides – however you refer to them, they are a blast. Be it casting huge swimbaits, chunking bait or trolling flies, they are a lot of fun to catch. They fight hard, and are great eating.
Striped Bass on the Fly
One of my favorite techniques as of recent has been twitching flies for striped bass. This technique is gaining popularity among those that know its effectiveness and the people who see it in action.
In twitching flies, I go with the leadcore-leader-fly combo. With the leadcore, you can get the fly down to the depth that the striped bass are holding.
Fishing leadcore requires a bit different set up than standard trolling gear. Leadcore has a bigger diameter than standard braided or monofilament lines, so you will need a larger reel than you might normally use. I prefer my Komodo 450 size reels by Okuma as they hold 7 colors of 18lb leadcore with a bit of backing and the roughly 15′ leader that I like to use.
Now fishing Striper in the depths with the fly requires getting the fly to the right depth. Leadcore generally has a sink rate of roughly 5 feet for each color of lead. If you see fish holding at 20 feet down, you will need to put back roughly 4 colors of line. If you see fish at 35 feet down, you will need a full 7 colors of line and so on. Not an exact science, but a good reference point for sure. Of course trolling speed has a lot to do with line depth on leadcore. The faster you go, the higher your line will sit in the water, and the slower the deeper.
The Flies
Now on to to the flies. Here are my Top 3 Flies for catching striper. One thing you will notice, they all seem to feature chartreuse in some form. I always choose the largest I can get with a minimum of 2/0 size hooks. For the most part, these are all saltwater flies with stout hooks. Heck, I’m going after big fish, so I don’t want a hook that will snap mid fight.
I’ll start at my number three and count up to my number one.
Number 3 – Lefty’s Deceiver
The Lefty’s Deceiver is an awesome little bait that can produce a lot of fish. From green bass to striper, they are very effective. They are a nice, large bodied bait that hold a nice profile and work great on the twitch and retrieve under the leadcore.
Number 2 – Clouser Minnow
The Clouser Minnow is a staple bait amongst many fisherman in both salt and freshwater. They are a thin bodied bait that produces a great amount of movement…and strikes. Really, no fly box should be without a selection of Clouser baits. They are one of the most popular flies for saltwater fisherman. For striper, go with the biggest you can get The one above is the 4″ with 2/0 hook.
Of course, you can always grab a few of the Mega Clouser baits for the box. The Mega Clouser is a bit bigger and offers a 4/0 option that comes in at 4.5″ in length. A little bigger profile, but wickedly deadly as well.
Number 1 – Enrico Puglisi Peanut Butter Saltwater Flies
The Enrico Puglisi Peanut Butter has definitely become my go-to, favorite bait for twitching flies under the leadcore. Enrico Puglisi is well known for his high quality flies. He uses only Gamakatsu hooks which are known for their high quality in the saltwater markets. These baits swim incredibly and are exactly what predatory fish are looking for. I never go without having a few of these in my box. Be sure to check them out for yourself.
Conclusion
One of the most effective ways to catch striped bass is the twitching fly technique. Do a little YouTube search and you’ll find lots of how-to’s on this very topic.
Thank you all for stopping by Davey’s World
See you on the water!
Davey
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