My quest for "striper on the fly" has been sitting on the sidelines, ready to go for when this crazy, rain every single weekend and blow out the rivers weather pattern let up. I had huge striper blowing up schools of gizzards all around me during my last tourney and I suffered actual, physical pain no being able to fish for them. Fortunately, the rain held off this weekend and I was able to slip away for a couple of hours and carried only my fly rod and flies. My setup is an old Cortland CL 8/9 my grandad gave me when I was 16, an Okuma Integrity 8/9 reel, and Rio Outbound Short intermediate sink tip line. My fly box is an amalgam of streamers, clousers, deceivers, and baitfish thrown into a ziplock baggy; a high class fly fisherman I am. I paddled my Coosa up a large drop downstream from a dramatic waterfall tributary and began chucking flies into the discharge. Although my form was probably traumatic for a fly fisherman to watch, I can get a heavy streamer out there with authority. Right off, I had to learn the art of "chuck n' duck" as heavy streamers do not build smooth, beautiful loops. Dumbell-eye "half and half" come by your ear with some serious force and if your not careful can leave you with a nick or a knock on the head. I rapped my knuckles really good with the heavy clouser right off the bat. My first take was a no doubter. A stout, little striper hammered a Cowen's baitfish style streamer as it swung out of the heavy discharge current. Fighting striped bass on fly rod is such an awesome experience. The strong runs and rod bend of only a 3 pound fish was unbelievable. I was hooked! After a round of photos I was back to chucking and pulled in two more nice 3+ pound fish. I truly can't wait to feel a 10, 15, or 20 pound class fish on the fly.
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