A heron is paddling its legs as it slowly dips from post to post. It seems to be walking through the air, as its wings are barely extended or moving. It is dusk, almost dark here, and the salt in the air is palpable. My partner and I are chasing striped bass tonight with fly rods, and watching the heron hunt puts me in the predatory mood.
We are checking our leaders for wind knots and abrasions; making sure that our blood knots are secure, and that the non-slip mono loop knot holding the fly to the leader is sound. You want to use a heavier rod for these fish; six weight to nine weight will do the job. Depending on the situation, a floating line or sinking line of any type can be used. We use heavy tippets for these fish, not necessarily because the fish will break us off, but because of the abrasions caused by their sandpaper mouths and the trauma caused by dock posts. A simple two-part leader is all we ever use for this type of fishing. I like three feet of thirty-pound Berkley Big Game mono with two or three feet of twenty pound blood-knotted to that.
The fish we are chasing are feeding under dock lights. The lights on the water at night attract plankton, the plankton attracts baitfish, and the baitfishes attract bigger fish. Where we live in Virginia, most of the bigger fish that are attracted are striped bass. On a good tide and in season, you can get into fish that range from school-sized to much larger. The fights that ensue are short and brutal, much of which involve trying to muscle the fish from under the dock to prevent them from breaking your leader or fly line off on the dock posts, which usually house razor sharp crustaceans.
Flies should mimic whatever baitfishes are present in shape and length, with color being of secondary importance. We use all types of imitations, and a wide range of flies will do the job, but these fish are not pushovers. Sometimes the striped bass can be as finicky as a freshwater trout for matching whatever food source is present. I like to use a non-slip mono loop to tie on the fly because it lets the fly act more naturally with a heavy tippet.
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States, and Virginia has most of the Bay in its boundaries. There are a lot of opportunities for this type of fishing. Go get them!
-Gabe Beverly