The many ridges and lumps along the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic coasts offer excellent summer opportunities for flyrodders to pull on fast, powerful fish like this one the author caught while chumming.
On The Fly
There’s something special about breaking the inlet at first light to head offshore. The day is young and so full of promise, and everyone on board is charged up with expectations of good fishing. For flyrodders, September’s exciting opportunities at the many inshore and offshore ridges, drop-offs, and lumps along the inshore 10- to 20-fathom curves is pure magic.
These dramatic bottom structures made up of ridges, cliffs, fingers, sloughs, and pockets are bolstered by temperature breaks and weedlines at perennial favorite hotspots off Montauk, Barnegat and Cape May, on down to the Outer Banks. Some areas are a brief 5-mile run from the beach while others are 20 miles, but all are within range of every fly-fisher with a decent boat or the budget to book a fly-fishing trip on a charter. An added bonus to these wide-open areas is the lack of competing boats—most of the time. When word gets out about a hot bite, even these mid-shore areas become more congested.
Ridges are home to a fascinating variety of species that can be caught on fly tackle. August is a month of changes, and albies should be on the menu, plus bluefish, football-size bluefin tuna, and mahi-mahi of all sizes are usually available. Toothy bonito have been making a small comeback in recent summers, and depending on water temperatures, it’s not unusual to have shots at exotics like Spanish mackerel and small king mackerel, nicknamed “snakes.” If bigger game is your wish, fly-rodding for sharks is an option.
With so much potential, it pays to be ready with several fly tackle choices. The most popular are an 8- or 9-weight rod designed with enough power to not only pull against fast-running fish, but to handle 5- to 15-pound fish that tend to run deep. A wimpy rod won’t cut it; you need lifting power. Echo’s Bad Ass Glass Quickshot in 9-weight offers nice casting qualities and it’s a stump puller. Another is the G. Loomis Cross Current GLX 9-weight. Both rods are good choices for albies, bonito and mahi in a chum slick.
When specifically targeting bigger fish, a 10-weight outfit is a good option, and many flyrodders consider this the ultimate all-around rod for fly-fishing at coastal ridges and lumps. An added advantage is that reels that balance well with a 10-weight rod also have a generous capacity of backing for those times when you hook a cross-country runner or get a surprise hook-up with a shark or bull mahi-mahi. For school tuna and sharks, a 10- or 12-weight rod is the best option.
One of my charter friends from many years ago, Brad Roehr, covered all possible bases. He’d come on board with three identical 10-weight rods; one rigged with a floating line, a second with an intermediate, and a third with an integrated sink-tip line of 450-grains. Whether chumming or opportunity-casting to pot markers or weedlines, he had a rod ready for every possibility.
Besides the just-mentioned benefit of impressive line capacity, 10-weight reels are generally built like army tanks and can withstand a lot of punishment. My Tibor Riptide passed its fifteenth birthday this year and has been in the ring with numerous albies, mahi, a few sharks, and uncountable inshore bass and blues. It still runs like brand new. Abel, Islander, Nautilus, Tibor, and VanStaal reels are not overkill for offshore fishing where a smooth drag and rugged construction is of paramount importance.
Some of the flies favored for inshore fly-fishing perform well at the ridges too. Carry a variety of patterns in different sizes and colors such as Jiggies, Deceivers, Clousers, Surf Candies, and sand eel patterns. It can also pay off to have some squid patterns in your fly bag, plus an assortment of larger flies in bright colors as attractors, and don’t overlook surface splashers like Crease Flies and Bob’s Bangers. Natural color schemes that perfectly imitate a bait are perennial favorites, yet there are days when bright attractor colors like electric pink, chartreuse and vivid orange are essential. And, there will also be days when a marabou chum fly will reign supreme. I tie these in all-red or red and yellow, from a size 1/0 hook for albies to a 2/0 for blues and mahi.
A fast current tends to lift an unweighted fly fished on a floating or intermediate line, preventing it from sinking deeper than a foot or two. Having a few flies with several wraps of lead wire under the body material, or a Jiggy with a nose cone or Clouser with weighted eyes, is good medicine. Fast currents or drifts can sometimes be overcome only with type 4 to type 6 full-sink or 450- to 550-grain sink-tip line.
The most popular, and arguably the most productive, method for mid-range offshore fly-fishing is chumming, but before setting up the chum slick and throwing the first fly, consider the structure you are going to fish. Ridges have many different bottom-structure profiles that potentially hold fish, not just the pinnacle of high ground. The total structure can be made up of gentle slopes or cliff-like drop-offs, and sometimes there are multiple high spots on a ridge. Because the best action may not always be smack dab on the highest spot, it’s a good idea to scout around and keep a sharp eye on the fishfinder to pinpoint the exact location of bait and gamefish.
A half-hour to run a brief light-tackle trolling mission to confirm where the fish are can be time well spent. By running a criss-cross trolling pattern over the structure, you’ll find exactly where the fish and bait are positioned. Maybe they’re on the deep side of the structure, the down-current side, on the high ground, or on a gentle slope leading up to the high spot. When you mark a body of baitfish or get a hook-up, punch the MOB key on the GPS to save the position, or write it down in a small notebook at the helm. Make several more passes over that spot to be sure it’s where the fish are holding. Crank in the trolling outfits and get upwind or up-current of that spot and get set up on the anchor.
You might be able to get some fly-rod action even while trolling. After getting a hook-up on the troll, take the boat out of gear and fire off a cast into the wake with a heavy sink-tip line. Pay out line until well into the backing, then strip a fly, something like a big Bucktail Deceiver pattern in chartreuse and white. It won’t work every time, but you may get a bite on the fly from an albie or bonito while your buddy is playing the fish that hit the trolling lure.
The most widely used technique is to chum with fresh-dead bait like anchovies, spearing, sand eels, and peanut bunker. These favorites are fish magnets if fresh, though fresh-frozen is okay if that’s all you can get back at the dock. For a full day of fly-fishing, you’ll need a 5-gallon bucket of fresh spearing or peanuts (or two frozen blocks, though live peanuts are better). Some guys like to use a 5-gallon bucket of frozen bunker or mackerel chum, and then add handfuls of anchovies or peanuts to spice up the slick.
Captain Joe Hughes of Jersey Cape Guide Service says, “Structure and live bait are essential for the fly-angler, especially for getting dolphin in a feeding mood. Once I get them going, a pink-over-chartreuse Clouser on a floating line will get plenty of bites.” Many of today’s center consoles boast sophisticated live-well systems that can hold a large supply of frisky baits. Live baits can also help light up an excellent albie bite.
You can also drift instead of anchoring while chumming, but the choice depends upon the size of the structure, current speed, and push of the wind. Rick Ferrin of Long Island fishes with a buddy on a 23-foot Parker. “Small structure is best chummed at anchor, while larger structure may offer better odds if we drift to cover more ground,” he says. “The fishfinder also helps decide whether we anchor or drift. We’re looking for bait that shows up on the screen like big, red meatballs over the bottom structure – that’s when we anchor. If the bait is scattered and the structure is large, we’ll drift.”
“Start the slick with a heavy flow, then slow it down to three to five baits every two minutes or so. By slowing the chum down, you draw fish closer to the boat.” Rick says he’s seen times when the albies, and sometimes dolphin, held within 20 feet of the stern. Other times, however, they will hold deep in the slick and need a good teasing with handfuls of fresh or live bait to get them charged up and feeding.
Work the chum slick by casting off to the side and allowing the fly to sink back into the slick. Once you have reached the depth you want, strip the fly back to the boat. Vary your stripping speed in order to determine the best rate for a strike. Start with a slow and erratic cadence, then continue to increase the retrieve until you find the magic speed. Some fly-fishers work the slick by dead-drifting their flies back into the slick. This presentation works best with a full-sink or sink-tip line and is highly effective because the fish in the slick have targeted dead-drifting bait.
Be ready for the surprise of uninvited guests in the chum slick. John Russo of Stren Line was on a chumming trip to Manasquan Ridge when they were invaded with blue sharks. Russo quickly changed to a bigger fly and was soon tight to a feisty blue shark that gave him several good runs and a great fight on his fly rod.
Sharks are a great target on their own, and there are many inshore lumps, often in sight of the beach, where they can be caught. Capt. Hughes notes, “Catching sharks on the inshore lumps is great sport and, again, chum is essential to get the fish within fly-casting range.” He prefers a floating line and an unweighted orange Bucktail Deceiver to get bites and solid hook-ups. “Be ready for mahi,” Hughes advises, “because they may show up at any time in the slick.”
Fly-fishing the inshore coastal ridges is a great way to end the summer season. The action can be fast and furious, the fish are usually cooperative, and they’re great fun on fly tackle. Catch ‘em up!