More Middle Chesapeake Fly Fishing

The only complaint that I have this week on the fishing is that the damn wind would only let us get out 4 days. The fishing on Eastern Bay and surrounding areas has been great, especially the last few days. We’ve had loads of breaking fish, and finally lots good bait to fish over. The peanut bunker have made their way out of the rivers and the stripers are taking full advantage of the meal.

Troy Morter, from Chambersburg PA, sent this awesome shot of the sunrise one morning this week at Little Creek on the south side of Kent Island as we geared up for fishing.

We have had good fishing from the Chester River throughout Eastern Bay and as far south as the Choptank. Fishing was good amidst breaking fish, especially when there were schools of bunker present. We caught well on the our usual Chesapeake Bay fly rod rigs. I feel like a broken record sometimes when writing updates, but if you want to catch stripers on the fly consistently, in the widest variety of situations, here’s what works.

Rods- 7, 8, or 9 weight fly rods 9 or 9 1/2 feet
Reels- Dependable, Sturdy, Disc Drag Reels Holding a 8 or 9 wt line with 150 yds of backing
Lines - Sinking Shooting Heads in 250 to 300 grains, with an intermediate on hand.

Don’t over think your gear too much. You don’t need more than 100 yds of backing on a reel for striper fishing, I don’t care what anyone says. If a fish is that far away from you, you are doing something wrong. The sinking shooting heads now days are super versatile. A quick sink head should be as long as necessary to load your rod properly. Make sure the rod and reel are durable.

I use Scott, St. Croix, and Thomas and Thomas Rods paired with Abel Reels. I like the Rio outbound lines. I build simple tapered leaders on board.

Any of the gear I use and friendly advice can be found at our local fly shop Backwater Angler in Monkton, MD.

Troy Morter and his buddy Slappy (sorry Craig, didn’t get your last name) are pictured above with some nice stripers they caught in the Kent Narrows. We used clouser minnows in gray and white, and chartreuse and white to catch most of our stripers. Again, keeping it simple. I like to use sparse clousers in a 1/0 or 2/0 when the bait is smaller, and when we get larger baits like bunker and perch I switch to deceivers or half and halfs in 3/0 or 4/0. I like a lot of white in my flies, and tie most with a white or gray belly and darker topside.

David Hone and Steffi Mueller caught some great stripers on the fly while fishing in Eastern Bay amongst breaking fish and around structure. The fish took small clousers in a variety of colors though Steffi says that blue and white was the best color fly hands down.

Frank Dickinson, and friends Denny and Al had some of the best fishing for breaking stripers I’ve seen all year. There were some solid fish in the middle of the action some to 15 lbs +. The fish took a chartreuse and white clouser all day. On light tackle we had great success with 2 ounce vertical jigs like crippled herrings and sting silvers. Some of their fish are pictured below.

The fishing should hold for another week or so in the Middle Bay, then it’s off to the coastal waters of Maryland and Virginia for some awesome fishing for the big late fall stripers.

CBBT FISHING

I need some anglers who want to fish the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel this December. The fishing should be awesome and we’lll catch some huge stripers on the fly. I have some dates still open from December 5 through 16. Give me a call for more info. or to book.

I’ll keep you posted