On board today, my client and good friend, Lt. Col. Richard “The Machine” Comstock for fly fishing only striped bass.

At first light, we had a half-tide dropping, and a WSW breeze, and it was cold! Water temps at the dock were 61 degrees. But fish were stacked up around the bay in the fall run, working under birds. Lots and lots of bait inside the bay at the moment. Multiple sizes from micros to pogy. Our first school of fish stayed up on topwater for about an hour and a half. Great topwater action.

The second school of fish we found were in maybe 12″ inches of water! We were plowing mud to get them but it paid off. We switched to a red/white popper and they fish slammed it. Very exciting hits, all sight fishing, watching fish breaking all around us. We plowed mud again getting off that flat just in time before low tide.

Next up, we found fish all the way at the end of a dead end guzzle. It was very narrow and four feet deep at it’s deepest. But we picked our way up it and were rewarded with a school of fish in about six-twelve inches of water on the flats along the guzzle. Pretty amazing! Those fish eventually slipped past us and down the bay and we moved on.

Next up: T time! We found massive schools of big pogies but zero striped bass on them! Zip. Not a single big bass chasing them and we hung around for about an hour. But there were two big seals plowing through them and we got to watch the fun before leaving that part of the bay.

In the last couple hours of our trip, we found topwater fish once again but they were very, very finicky. I decided to trim a Baymen Clouser down to about half the normal size and that did the trick. After a while, we switched back to the topwater popper on the 9wt. The topwater hits are just so exciting when the fish will take it. It is addictive fly fishing!

The last spot of the morning, we plowed mud again and slipped over a flat and into a five foot deep trough. It was absolutely stacked with striped bass! At one point, we counted SEVENTY fish in a school going by the boat. The fish hit the fly one after another and it was awesome to watch the chase and take. Many schools of fish hugging the bottom in 1-5 fow. It was identical to fly fishing for bonefish down south.

Total catch and release today was 37 striped bass, all on fly gear, 8wt and 9wt intermediate and floating lines. All the fish inside the bay are small striped bass up to 26″ inches. An absolute blast on the fly rod or light tackle. Top flies today: Baymen Clouser (trimmed) and a Red/White fly popper with white marabou tail.

The fall run continues and I have just 9 charters left on the books for the 2019 season. I am booking 2020 and 2021 right now. Don’t wait – get the dates you want by locking in. E-mail me for more info and let’s go get the fish on Fly & Light Tackle gear in 2020 & 2021.

Back at it. Stay Posted:

Capt. David Bitters, F/V BAYMEN, www.baymenlife.com Follow me on Instagram @baymencharters