i found them!

[Jared]

unfortunately, i couldn't catch them. i found a spot tonight where there were stripers breaking water everywhere, as close as 15 feet from where i was standing. tried every fly i had. nothing.

[Relheok]

Your getting close then...

[Fly121]

There are many times I have found stripers to be more frustrating than trout when they get keyed in on one food source. One trick I have learned is to actually move away from the greatest mass of them and focus on the edge of the commotion. The stragglers seem more apt to bite than those caught up in the actual blitz. Stick with though, you will find times when you hook up with every cast and you will forget all about the days when they ignored you.

[Jared]

There are many times I have found stripers to be more frustrating than trout when they get keyed in on one food source. One trick I have learned is to actually move away from the greatest mass of them and focus on the edge of the commotion. The stragglers seem more apt to bite than those caught up in the actual blitz. Stick with though, you will find times when you hook up with every cast and you will forget all about the days when they ignored you.

thanks for the tip! im still waiting on that first striper on a fly : /

[Fly121]

You will get one and your fly fishing life will never be the same. They are an absolute riot on a fly rod. If I lived closer to the coast I would probably be unemployed and divorced. To me they can be very addictive.

[s2ary]

This time of year fish rolling on the surface of major river systems are usually targeting Smelt/silversides young of year. Try small surf candies and Eric's silversides. ;) Epoxy flies are a good early season pattern. If they are sand eels try a page's slim jim.

If a week or two, if we are blessed, the blue back fry will come in. Then things heat up.

If not the fish will spread out along the coast.

[Jared]

they were attacking clouds of small, blueish fish - mackeral i think?

[BugChucka]

Jared, if you were where I think you were there's been huge schools of mack's feeding on the clouds of small bait. Use a Mackerel size fly and strip very fast. Let the fly get down too.

Today 90% of the bait was absent and I got skunked. Its frustrating how fast things can change.

S2ary, I might be seeing herring fry (NH Coast), I can't figure what else it could be. What do you think?

[s2ary]

It is about that time of year. If we get them again this year we will be golden.

I'll be out after work from hampton north to new castle. there is sort of a testament to the sheer number of good spots from the Merrimack to the York. Every time I see posted pictures I at least think I recognize the spot as a place I hit with some frequency, yet I've never run into any other poster from this board. Here is to the vastness of our short coast line.

(Although I think 2-3 years ago I was in a boat and Otter may have been on shore, but I didn't figure that out until many weeks later when he posted a picture of a huge bass he caught there.)

[Jared]

im probably not going to hit the salt again until this weekend, reason being that im broke and cant afford any new flies....and apparently the ones i have dont work! hopefully that super duper secret spot of mine will still be hot this weekend ;)

(im totally kidding, this spot is very far from being secret. there were three cars already parked there when i arrived).

[wardy]

s2ary is right. Go small and shiny. You can always cut down something you have that you think might be too bulky. You'll be surprised at how affective a small fly stripped fast and jerky will produce.

I’m not usually one for this, but if you give me an address I'll send you some patterns that seem to work really well.

[OTTER]

I found em, too. It's pretty bad when this is all I have to show for several trips. For 30 years we used tro say, "Remember that day in the summer of 1960 when we caught over 100 schoolies at Plum Island?" I hope we won't be saying, " Remember the summer of 2005. "( I'm talking about wade fishing; I have no knowledge of boat fishing then or now.)

http://flyfishinginnh.com/vforum/picture.php?albumid=11&pictureid=566

And yes, I have used the sissors to slowly reduce the size of a fly to not much more than the shank, when they are after tiny bait fish.