I slipped out of the house at 3 am while everyone was still asleep. No alarm needed. I’d been lying there thinking about this beach for days — a stretch of Cape Cod shoreline that most fly anglers walk right past on their way to the Brewster Flats.
Monday, May 25th
I had a hunch. Not a strong one, more like a whisper. But a whisper is enough to get me moving.
I began walking down the beach as the sky was just beginning to think about getting light.
The conditions that first morning — Monday, May 25th — were moody. Low fog sitting on the water, a fine drizzle in the air, visibility maybe 300 yards. The kind of morning where you feel completely alone on the planet, which, as it turns out, is exactly how this trip was. I didn’t see another person the entire time. Just the sound of small waves lapping the sand, a few birds calling somewhere in the gray, and the hiss of my fly line going out.
I fished hard for the first couple hours with a mackerel pattern — the fly that almost always works, the one I reach for out of habit when I need a confidence boost.
Early on I spotted a school of bass moving along the shoreline and my heart jumped. I made cast after cast. Nothing. I was shocked they weren’t interested. I kept moving, kept covering ground.
By 8am I had nothing to show for it and I was starting to get bored with casting the mackerel. I heard a quiet voice saying: something needs to change.
So I put the drone up to have a look around.
I want to be honest with you — I almost didn’t bother. There was a shallow sandbar in front of me that I almost completely dismissed. Too shallow is what I figured. No self-respecting striper is going to be up on that flat in daylight.
The drone footage told a completely different story.
There they were. The footage was a little blurry thanks to the fog, but I could clearly see a school of maybe 30 fish, hanging over that sandbar like they owned it. And here’s something I was really happy to see: mixed right in with the bigger fish were schoolies — the younger fish that everyone in the striper fishing world, myself included, has been a bit worried about. Seeing those smaller fish mixed in with the adults was good to see. I just hope there are a lot more of them out there!
Now I had a decision to make. I knew these fish would be educated. Spooky. Sight-fishing on a shallow flat in clear water, even in the fog, is a completely different game than blind-casting along a beach. Mackerel pattern wasn’t going to cut it.
Time to Switch Things Up
And that's when I thought of Chris.
Chris Kokorda @ckokorda — hosted one of our Zoominars not long ago and spent two full hours breaking down shallow water striper fishing, including crab fly fishing on the Cape Cod flats. The presentation was meticulous. The kind of thing where you take notes and think I'll use this someday.
I switched to his crab pattern, rigged on my 9-weight Redington with a sinking line and a heavy Rio tarpon taper — yes, heavier than most would use, but I want to land a big bass if I hook one, and I want to land it quickly — and I waded out onto that sandbar.
Want to know what happened next?
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About the author
@admin Great article, and congrats on your first bass on the crab fly. Sight fishing for them and targeting an individual fish is such a rewarding way to do it. The last couple years I’ve been almost exclusively sight fishing bass on flats with crab flies from early-June to mid-August.
I’m happy you enjoyed the report Johan. That means a lot coming from an experienced fly fisherman like you! It is absolutely a rewarding way of fishing. I am looking forward to connecting again on the crab fly asap. In the meantime I will enjoy following your fly fishing posts and reports in the forum. Gluck out there this weekend!
Catching on a crab fly is a whole new thing! That year I got my first, I then threw a crab exclusively for the next whole month only mixing it up in the late summer, early fall. It is extremely addictive!!
Congratulations!!
Oh boy, looks like I might follow suit and end up tossing the crab fly all of June! LOL. Of all the things to be addicted to, fly fishing with a crab pattern is a pretty healthy addiction I would say. Thanks for reading Ken and good luck out there this weekend!