DREDGING THE CAPE July 15, 2004 - I suppose you could call it fly-fishing… technically. As is usually the case the summer months have anglers opting to go the boat route in search of their quarry. With the exception of the sight fishing opportunities within the Monomoy Island area and the surf beaches of Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro and Provincetown daylight wade fishing deserves only a fair grade during the mid-July period. This practice of "vertically jigging with a fly rod" does allow the angler to hook and land what many consider to be trophy fly rod fish (35"-45"). It's not pretty, but it's very effective. The drill would be to locate your target, which is usually depicted by the presence of forage, diving birds, structure, an armada or fish finder and set up an advantageous drift, with tide and wind direction your consideration. Weapons of choice usually entail 9 foot, 10 or 11 weight rods with grain lines exceeding 400. While a few fish are often viewed crashing the surface, I can assure you that the bulk of the throng will be located either mid depth and in many cases below… hence the need for depth with your presentation. The typical midsummer
scenario would be ferret out a likely location, hurl the entire
contraption (usually armed with a Clouser style fly closely resembling
the observed bait), pause for as long as it takes to peel an orange, and
commence your erratic retrieve with the anticipation of a strike. At
best it's a means to an end and a form of fly-fishing resembling many of
the tactics our conventional tackle brethren employ. We would like to congratulate friend and fellow fly angler, Mark Kralian, for his recent indoctrination into the "40 Inch Club." Mark, along with friend Chris and Big Dave Surdel took somewhere in the vicinity of 20 fish ranging in size from 30-40" using these summertime tactics. Good fishing and safe
wading, |
