Shadows Over White Sand

I hadn't even re-rigged from my morning's smallmouth trip with the same rod when I saw the first striper slide into view, fifty feet distant and west bound. I had the right sort of leader on though, and I'd have no time to swap out my fly, an olive and yellow Complex Twist Bugger for a more appropriate fly. I lead the fish by fifteen feet on a 30 ft cast and gave the fly a single bump as he got within five feet of it. The fish turned and, with no hesitation, sucked in the fly. Startled by that aggressive response I totally botched it and he popped off after a couple seconds. 

It was mid July and the flats fishing for stripers in southern New England had been mediocre most of the season, at least when I was out. This hadn't been a well planned day, I just went because I could, and I very nearly didn't go at all... and yet I suddenly had a feeling this might just be something spectacular. The sun was high, the water was clear, and there were striped bass hunting over white sand... this was a fine time.

The next bass to cross my path was every bit as willing to chase down and eat the bugger. This time though, I hit her right and it was off to the races. A mid 20 inch range bass hooked in shallow water really goes. I always forget that... its often a long time between one 26 inch flats bass and the next.

Though sand flats provide wonderful fishing for stripers over white sand they're hardly the only place that happens. One of the most exiting places to sight fish bass in my opinion are ocean front beaches. And, though the fish can still be incredibly picky, they're more predictable without knowing the subtleties of flats structure. On a white sand beach were you can find striped bass to sight fish, they'll be traveling the most obvious line, right up and down the beach lip, following the contours. I'm generally observant enough to figure out the lanes of travel on a flat to stake up in the right places, but the beach is wonderfully easy... to read, not necessarily to fish. On this day the flats fish were more willing than the beach fish. I got one though... on the bugger again! It was a smaller fish, but the rewards of catching bass sight fishing in both the surf and on the flat in the same day, to me, are a huge.

Back on the flat, I tied on a real fly and did some exploratory wading to no avail. Though I'd been fishing this area since 2016 there's still gaps and blurred bits on my mental map. Also, things change. This exploration was time consuming and didn't lead to caught fish but I'm glad I did it. I found some important features to take note of. But I also wanted to end the day on a fish. And I did. I saw a pair coming, led them well, gave the fly a little strippy strip, and the bigger of the two committed with a wonderfully visual eat. This one tore off like a bat out of hell, very nearly getting into the backing. What a great fish.What a great fishery. What an absolute pleasure it is to get to do the things I've been able to over the last four years or so. Shadows over white sand haunt my dreams.

Until next time,
Fish for the love of fish.
Fish for the love of places fish live.
Fish for you.
And stay safe and healthy.



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