Estuary fishing

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Date: December 27, 2002 at 02:08:24
From: ken, [pool-64-223-38-62.prov.east.verizon.net]
Subject: Estuary fishing

Re: estuary fishing

Summer 2001

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Re: estuary fishing

From: Ken
Date: 29 Sep 2001
Time: 16:41:46
Remote Name: 64.223.18.124

Comments

John your question is a big one. First of all the method of fishing that you ascribe to me is not mine but rather it is the oldest method/group of methods for fly fishing in moving water, salt or fresh that there is and historically and currently all fly fishermen learn and use these methods everywhere in the world in every fishery except in the form that modern salt water fly fishing has manifestd in the last seven years. Previous to 1994 it was well known and common and was the way that Harold Gibbs and every other old time salt water fly fisherman fished. Casting and stripping as it is practiced now with it's dependance on one approach to all situations with variations based on the sink rates of lines is the newest method of fly fishing in the salt and is a marketing outgrowth and an adaptation of familiar spinning techniques for use with the fly rod to make fly fishing easier to adapt to for those with the spinning background of casting and retrieving lures through the water. Both of these forms of salt water fly fishing are very effective (modern and traditional)but the methods I describe are not the "New", ones they are the older traditional fly fishing fundamental ones with hundreds of years of effectiveness to back them up.

To answer your questions about all the possibilities in estuary fishing would take a book and that book would still be incomplete no matter how exaustive it would be even with total attention to detail. There is an article in the article archives called "In The Drift" that deals with some of your questions and there is another called "Clam Worm Fundamentals" that deals with some of the others. The first chapter in Striper Moon describes a scenario that happened many years ago that describes a school of bass that moved into an outflow in Narr. Bay one evening and the discription of what happened is accurate. This happened in the early Eighties and is still the order that often happens at the beginning of the tide in many outflows.

The critical factor is the type of bait and how it is acting and how the bass are feeding on it. Are they chasing it or are they waiting for it to come down the current to where they are holding stationary in the current to feed. This is the big question, how are the fish reacting to the bait? That is much more important than any other consideration. Dead drifting a fly is sometimes the way to fish if the bait or food is drifting down to fish that are holding and it is a way of getting your fly to drift or swim in the current seam that a fish is holding and feeding in. Often times a fish will hold in one place out in the curent and you can see him rise over and over again in the same place. If he is feeding on shrimp or clam worns or even on silversides that are being carried downstream over his position and he is only rising in that one spot, sometimes casting above him in the same current edge or seam and letting the fly drift down right over him naturally will take him easily. Other times you have to twitch the fly or begin to move it just when it gets over him and this tactic works. It is always a challenge to get each fish to take and sometimes the fishing is easy and sometimes hard. The key is watching the fish when they are rising and fishing to each one as an individual. Doing this when fish are feeding will give you the knowledge of how they hold and feed and when they are not rising you can easily fish the water using the insight you gain from fishing when they are.

As far as casting and stripping after they move up on the flats, it works and it is a good thing to do but the movement of fish from feeding stations in current to a movement up onto flats is not always linked. One absolute about fishing is that it is not always the same. In fact sometimes it is the same and sometimes it is not. Both of these statements are true even though they oppose each other. The larger answer is to recognise that either/or strategies are not big enough answers to fish with for consistant results. You have to be able to think on your feet and really watch the fish and the bait and how they are interacting. Many people do not like to do this and opt for the easy ways that are simplistic cliche's and do work at times and from time to time. There is nothing wrong with fishing this way but it limits fishing to a set of accepted ideas that are based on the ways that people accept as the right way to do it rather than ideas that are connected to the ways that fish may be feeding at any given moment. When fish are feeding in current and are holding on station traditional line handing presentation methods are extremely effective if you know how to execute them. When fish are moving and chasing bait than cast and retrieve methods work very well but there are many ways to cast and retrieve flies that are not based on the exclusive use of sinking lines and weighted flies. What works at the moment is what is important and being able to adapt to change is the mark of a good fisherman.

The cliche' that 10% of the fishermen catch 90% of the fish means that the people who catch the 90% of the fish -are not doing- what the 90% of the fishermen who don't catch fish most of the time are doing. Those who resist changing their methods of fishing in order to fish like everybody else will never enter the ranks of the 10% ers. They limit their growth to accepted norms and the accepted norms are what make up the 90% of those who catch fish when everybody else does and - don't - when everybody else doesn't. The 10% ers are outside of this group. What this actually means is that the opinions of others are deciding how good of a fisherman you will become. The 90% ers are telling you what you should do because if you won't do what they won't do then you will do what they will do. Interesting how things really work if you step outside the norm and see it for what it is. Mediocrity is a force that ridicules risk because it threatens the security those who are heavily invested in the status quo want things to remain exactly as they are pecking orders and all.
Experiment with many methods and use the fish as your teachers and you will learn quickly.

I do know many fishermen who are hesitant to try anything other than casting and stripping a weighted fly with an intermediate line and their reason is "Everybody knows that this is the way you fish in salt water". These folks would rather catch fish the same way that everybody else does than risk not catching fish from time to time by doing something that others are not doing. I have often heard fisherman say that I catch when everybody else is catching and I didn't catch but nobody else was catching either. What does that mean? There are many techniques and tackle options that work for those who have broken the the modern salt water trance of one technique, one fly, one line, one type of rod, one method of casting, and one retrieve to fit all fishing no matter what the situation and/or results. The most creative part to this lock step fishing seems to be the excuses that people come up with to explain away poor results.

Northeast striper fishing with the fly rod has a rich history that predates the modern era of cast and strip only. Ours is a heritage that is based on fly fishing for striped bass with methods that have been passed down from the older generations who knew how to fish moving water with real expertise gleaned from trout and salmon fishing techniques. They also knew how to tie flies that worked based on observation of the bait and they learned that and how to present those flies intelligently from their experiences in trout fishing. Nothing is all that new in the new world of salt water fly fishing except a closed mind to what has come before. Fishing in estuaries is very similar to trout and salmon fishing in practice because the same factors are present. Look to those traditions for good information on how to fish moving water with good techniques that have been proven effective everywhere in the world.

The traditional fly fishing fundamentals of presentation are already known and they are different and more inclusive than the modern ones. They don't have to be re-written to include a status quo that is rooted in spinning technique although it is a another and valid part of modern salt water fly fishing. It is of a different order not better not worse just a different order. Not recognizing the differences between the two approaches has caused much confusion in the minds of newcomers and has not benefited anyone except perhaps those who are invested in promoting only one point of view with it's techniques to the exclusion of recognizing the validity of any others. This attitude has hurt our sport and it is time to expand and recognize and include all that we have inherited from the larger world of fly fishing. This can only add depth to the enjoyment and depth to our understanding of the complexities of fishing in the ocean with a fly rod. To grow is good. There are many ways to skin a cat after all and all of them are real.

Last changed: November 05, 2001

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