Fly Fishing on the Chesapeake Bay

With outstanding weather over the holiday, I had the pleasure of guiding John Pietropaoli and his friend, Mark Arden.  We started by visiting some of the local hot spots, but with slow current we moved to 'the ships' anchored in the middle of the Bay.

John was fly fishing and is an excellent caster.  He was the 1st client this year to catch a keeping size striper on the fly.  He was using a 9 weight Helos rod, Mirage reel spooled with 350 grain depth charge sinking line.  The striper took a 3" half and half.

John Holding a Nice Striper 

Monday I had the opportunity to watch a father, Jim Reading, and son, John, team up to fly fish at Poplar Island and on Eastern Bay.  They normally fly fish freshwater for trout, but you would never known that after watching John cast sinking fly line.  He had no problem rolling the fly over about 60 to 70 feet from the boat.  Achieving that distance is a real plus when fly fishing 'the salt'. It allows you to catch more fish for 2 reasons; the fly covers more water, and this keeps it in the strike zone longer.

John Caught His 1st Striper Ever on a Fly

Most Productive Technique:
Short Striping Sinking Line (with sinking line)-Cast the fly out and count it down to the desired depth.  If the line gets tight during the countdown, get additional line in the water.  To accomplish this, put the rod tip just above the water and figure 8 the tip putting more line in the water.  This allows the fly to sink where it hit the water.  Start stripping the line in 1-foot increments, swiftly, back toward the boat.

Most Productive Fly:

Tommy Mattie 3"/4" Half and Half

For those who were nice enough to book a live lining trip there are no spot available at this time. They normally show up after the 1st week of June.  I will contact you then.