Left the dock before dawn this morning and headed straight for the flats off the airport on Fishers Island. The objective was to sight fish to stripers using crab patterns.
The fish were on sight, plenty of small, keeper sized and even a few behemouths. Either they all dined well overnight or were not interested in the 3 styles of crab patterns I was offering. Several fish came in for a closer look, but moved away disinterested. A few did inhale the counterfeit and I either pulled the crab out of their mouth or they just expelled it. About 7:30, after trying various techniques, I hooked up with a solid 30 inch striper. I saw the fish in about 4 feet of water maybe 30 feet from the boat and was lucky to lay a cast about six feet from the fish without spooking it. He rushed the fly and this time I waited until I felt the line go tight before setting the hook. The tide and breeze soon made sight fishing difficult so I headed back to the dock.
Not the morning, I hoped for, but still a good outing.
The fish were on sight, plenty of small, keeper sized and even a few behemouths. Either they all dined well overnight or were not interested in the 3 styles of crab patterns I was offering. Several fish came in for a closer look, but moved away disinterested. A few did inhale the counterfeit and I either pulled the crab out of their mouth or they just expelled it. About 7:30, after trying various techniques, I hooked up with a solid 30 inch striper. I saw the fish in about 4 feet of water maybe 30 feet from the boat and was lucky to lay a cast about six feet from the fish without spooking it. He rushed the fly and this time I waited until I felt the line go tight before setting the hook. The tide and breeze soon made sight fishing difficult so I headed back to the dock.
Not the morning, I hoped for, but still a good outing.