Float 'n' Fly Scores Big

The stripers were feeding on huge
schools of baby achovies that
have moved in along the oceanfront
in the last few days.

 I found big numbers of fussy stripers again last evening.  These fish were feasting on big schools of small bay anchovies. When stripers are feeding on this half inch bait, they can be mighty fussy.   But, on this night I was quite prepared for the fussy fish.

You might remember I posted a number of articles last fall when I ran into the same thing along the south shore.  At the time, it was the wooden egg float with a fly that killed the fish when little else was working. So, before leaving home, I made sure I had the eggs and flies in my surf bag. 

Right away I snapped on my wooden egg float with a pink Deceiver

The wooden egg float and fly (pink
Deceiver) proved to be deadly tonight.
It is one of your best bets when stripers
are feeding on tiny bait.

fly trailing off a three foot leader.  It worked wonders as I had a hit or a fish just about every cast when the fish showed in front of me.  These fish were all hefty schoolies in the 20 to 27 inch range, a size range we haven't seen much of this season. They were around in massive numbers on this night.  At one point I scanned out into the ocean and could count 5 large schools of stripers working the surface.

The calendar says we are in July yet the fishing seems like the middle of October. These are some of the biggest numbers of fish I have ever seen in July. Keep in mind these are fussy stripers keying on very small bait, and you will have to go small in order to catch them.  Nothing better than a float 'n' fly in this situation.

This is one of many stripers landed on the
float 'n' fly.  The fish are running 20 to 27
inches with an occasional small slot in the mix.