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Cape Cod's Chatham, Monomoy Island, Flats and Beyond
 Inshore Wade Saltwater
Fly/Spin Fishing Report's and Ramblings:

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Wade Cape Cod - World Class Destination Flats Fishery -
May through August
Here on the Cape, we have miles and miles of light colored sand flats and crystal clear water that makes sight casting to 5-25 pound stripers the order of the day. This is probably the most exciting type of fly/spin fishing you will ever do. They're cruising the flats eating crabs, shrimp, silversides and sand lances, and just waiting for your perfectly cast fly or bait. Sometimes you need to burn up the water with a fast retrieve and at other times using a dead drift with the current is all that is needed. All methods will require distance, speed and accuracy in your casting. We have some of the finest destination flats fishing in the world right here on Cape Cod. Seeing 100s or more fish in a tide is the norm when sunny. Test your skills and let's work together to help you along the path to hooking up in paradise.
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Blending in and stalking our prey while wading the Flats.
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  5 fish, 2 O'Clock, 75 feet, moving left, throw it 50 feet, 12 O'Clock, leave it, leave it, ok now, strip it, faster, strip it, their on it, there on it...
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  He ate it! Ye-haa! :)
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The following fishing reports will consist of Inshore Saltwater (Fly/Spin) Fishing. It will include Tips, techniques, Habitat, Presentation, Baitology, Flies-Hooks, Moon Fazes, Flats, and even some highlights from year’s past fishing reports. Some of the material will come straight from my past experience as chief instructor of the Orvis 2 ½ day saltwater fly fishing schools. Additional material will come from first hand knowledge, gained from my many years of eating, breathing, living and loving the New England - Cape Cod Inshore Saltwater environment. So, sit back, relax and enjoy this Truly World Class Destination Fishery!

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Updated

 This past months  (Sight - Blind)  Wade Fly/Spin Flats Fishing Report and Ramblings...  Posted 7/15
Countless people have been guided by me and most have gone on to live normal lives  :)
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What an incredible, over all, wade, sight fishing, Spin/Fly June we have all had. Very memorable in many ways :)
Ton's of bait, mostly Sand Lances and Silver Sides. The size of a tooh pick to a pencil. White and olive imitates them nicely :)
(Loads of Shrimp)
Clear intermediate lines have been used 98% of the time over our crystal clear shallow water light colored sand flats of approx. 1-3 feet deep.
Sight fishing at its finest!
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I always jokingly tell my guest's that instead of spendng 3-$5,000 too go sight fishing in the tropics for bones..
A simple tank of gas and a sandwich allows you to do 99% the same thing here.
We call this type of striper sight fishing the "poor mans" bonefishing  :)
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We have seen anywhere from 50 fish in a day, all spread out to 100 spread out, to a couple of weeks where the average was 5-600 fish all day.
We are fishing now to the residents. 100% residents as all the migratories have headed further North. These residents have a PHD in whats real or not, so be prepared for some fussy Bass. Good numbers of fish around providing you know what to look for. That does NOT meann, look for ME and then follow me around all day  :) Har-har
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A fast, very fast 2 - 3 foot strip was used to imitate the fleeing reaction of the above bait with incredibe success!
99% of our habitat was those shallow water sand flats, with the sun shinning brightly casting on that carribean colored tourcourse water aglow with BIG smilen Bass. Intrested?
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The last couple of trips we saw approx. 650 fish and then the following day approx. 450. All during these SUPER fast tides. Great time to be fishing!
Most were all those BIG Bass, wth some being those BIG Blues. Im surprised that these big blues are still around. Also seeing thousands of those snapper blues. We normally leave those alone as we really want to catch the 15-20 lb'rs and not those 12-14 inch'rs :)
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Intresting pattern Im seeing is on the incoming or dropping tide Im seeing mostly 80% Bass. But, around the low or around the high, it swtch's to 90% blues and 10% Bass. Hmmm. This type of minute by minute patterening allows you to make the correct rigging changes (presentational).
Bottom line - To catch more fish!!
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Fish Report Notes June 8 and 9
Tuesday: By myself sight fishing, tons of Blues and Bass, 100's.
Wed: Saw a few schools, few fish, 2 on and off quickly, very slooooooow day. Funny how one day 100's of fish and even Ray Charles could have sight casted and caught 100 and the very next day, very few. Those of us who do this almost everyday for many many years know that this is common at this time of year. 20% of residents have arrived with the balance of fish being migratory. They come in waves. We have all seen 1,000's one day and a few the next. This is what happened on these two consecutive days. Peaks and valleys. I was actually surprised at how many fish I saw the day before. Expected many less with these sloooow tides. Very common and the reason for so few fish that day.
Pro's and con's to both fast and slow tides. (I'll write about it at a later date
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This lil Techno jewel came from my archves. This was one of my better "old, how too" reports that covers a lot of fisihng (flats) 101. Tons of very good info. in this one, especially for the begginner to intermediate (flats) angler. Hard not to re-post this (editted) after reading it.

Monday's Fishing Report, Tips, Stratagies, Techniques for Monomoy Island Flats:
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Cloudy, blindcasting first flat's hole with a very strong current. No fish hooked, due to there being no fish in the hole :) Worked the hole top to bottom in a short period of time. Knew within the first couple of minutes that few if any were here. If there had been some we would have hit something right off the bat. Confidence in knowing your water, fish, etc... allows you to not waste your very valuable fishing time on each spot, especially when you are getting paid to produce.
(Thats probably why you are on my web site reading this. You have such VERY good taste and your internet fishing time is sooo valuable! 
Har-har :)
Left shortly there after. Next spot the same thing. 3rd spot produced a couple, but not enouph to hold our interest. During this entire time we were also working on our fly casting, mostly tighter loop's.

Tips:
The distance the rod tip travel's during the power stroke determines the size of your loop. If the rod tip travels 3 feet during power stroke then you will have an approx. 3 foot loop.
Retrieve (2-1/2 feet very fast) We are always trying to imitate the fleeing reacton of whatever bait you are trying to imitate so it looks like the reeeel deal to your fish. Pretend your about getting ready to be eat'n. (Or throw a pebble into a school of sand lances) Would you sloooowly swim along?  I have never been able to understand why (so called) experinced fly anglers do a slow, steady, 2 handed retrieve or strip the fly ever so slowly? (There are situations for these types of retrieves, but like everything in life, there is a time and a place) Those retrieves will obviously catch you fish but do you relize how many more you are missing? I would guess you dont, because if you did, you wouldnt do it all the time or the majority.

Tip:
On the next sunny day while your on a wade flat. Try both retreives and then tell me which one catch's you more fish. You'll be able to visually see the fish track your fly, look at it with one eye, then the other, then it will sniff it and finally refuse it, if not retrieved properly.

Strategy for each hole that day:
3 cast's move 10-15 feet, 3 cast's move 10-15 feet. Some fish swim around in a hole or along an edge, some stay stationary while feeding. By useing this type of stratagy, youll increase your catch rate, gaurenteed! If your catching fish, then dont move. Once you've made 7-8 cast's w/ out a fish then start this sequence all over again. Most anglers normally stay stationary the entire time. That works great for fish on the move. But, what about that 20lb'r thats not moving? Hmmm. These fish will ambush there prey so by moving you'll get those. Also the ones that have a nice lil hole - depression they can remain stationary in so as to not use up any energy against the current. This would be a prime example to use no retrieve at all.

Tricks of the trade:
This particular F.F. tip has helped countless anglers around the world. Most anglers wouldnt even consider this a tip, but sometimes, the simplest one can be the most valuable or the one we over look the most. This can very easily be the difference between no fish and 100!
When blincasting (sight is different) ........................................................Intrested in a guided trip?
Here is a great example that all of us have done.
We get to a nice hole. Great current flow, we can see some bait, birds working over the deep water means fish, normally, we are excited! We fish it for 1/2 hour without a bite. We say to ourselves, there are no fish here today, maybe tommorrow. We reel up and walk away hopeing for better fishing someplace else or tommorrow after work again. Your fishing time is so valuable.
The above scenario is so common place that Ive made this one, a guideing "must do" for all of my guest's to follow, providing they want to catch some fish  :)
What actually happened in the above scenario was that the hole was actually loaded with fish. Big ones at that! But, you didnt catch one or more for 1 very simple reason that is very often over looked, even by the MOST experinced angler. There are 4-5 parts to this one simple thing.  

Whats that old saying ? Anytime you can make it easier for any species of fish to feed or strike out of aggression, anywhere in the world, you'll probably catch a few more?
Next time your fishing some deep water, try the count down method. Counting down (5-10-15 seconds maybe more. Sometimes the fish will be concentrated at a particular level. Once you have figured this out then keep counting to that level and enjoy! Once the fish have stopped biting then start this sequence all over again.

Timing was everything today. Being in the correct spot to take full advantage of the small window of good sun to sight fish, (try to remember to face the West in the morning, anywhere around noon and to the East in the afternoon, for best visability while sight fishing) combined with the crescendo of water current speed (on this flat) was directly related to the very normal crescendo of number's of fish we wanted to see.

Sight fishing the C.C. Flats 101 - This is some reeeel good educational stuff!
Within a 2 minute walk we were on the flat. Crystal clear water, almost pure white sand and a large shadow of approx. 100 Bass welcomed my guest to his first time ever sightfishing for striped bass. Tim had traveled here from the other side of the pond. He placed the fly perfectly in front of this school by 50 feet or so, (yes, 50 feet). Waited, waited, (adrenaline racing up our spines) and then stripped the fly in front of them. Wham! Bam! Thank you, Mam! Fish on! and on and on! Schools from 5 to 100 swam by us withhin easy casting distance. We were useing a funnel - edge to our advantage which also was elevated. This gave us an incredible view (height advantage) and corralled the fish (sand bar edge) down their highway as we stood on their sidewalk (top of the sand bar) . Not enouph water on top of the bar for them to feel comfortable to cross it, so they stuck to the edge which they always do. Limiting the direction they could come at us from, less area to scan with our eyes. Allowing us to see them sooner, to get the fly on them quicker, at a greater distance from us, which keeps them from seeing you and killing your shot. As the tide rose around us we strategically moved to several different elevated sand bar's. One a lil higher than the next. We also did something very smart. We divided up the area to be scanned. My guest took the right (after we had patterned** (also written about in the below 6/7 post) the fish) and I took the left, which again, allowed us to see them sooner, get the fly in the water sooner and cast the fly (spin fishing would be the same) at a greater distance to keep them from seeing us..

Every fish ate the fly good! A past client of mine was fishing the same flat across from us (same fly pattern, retrieve, etc... imitating the dominate bait that was present and there natural fleeing reaction, different bait, different fleeing reactions, knowing this is similar to matching the hatch, so to speak and is crucial to increasing your success rate) and he landed a 20 lb'r :) Ton's, acres of bait on the flats today! Can count on one hand the other times Ive seen this much bait, in pods and size. All our fish that we saw and caught were all in the 30 inch range, full of sea lice. Which means fresh fish, normally migrating fish at this time of the year or just freshly arrived.

Once the crescendo of current - fish had passed us, it was time to move to an afternoon flat. We wanted to take advantage of the afternoon angle of the sun to help us see them better. Also, I knew that this new flat would produce some good sight fishing opportunities since the last flat had slowed up, which is very normal for that flat. We saw fish almost immediatly after we changed the depth we were wading in to be in the correct dropping tide level of water. One depth for incoming puts you on their sidewalk to there travel lane and the other depth of water to stand on the dropping tide does the same. They are different and by not knowing this can mean a LOT less fish. Something to be very mindful off when wading flats.
The sun was then devoured by the clouds and that ended our sight fishing for the day.
Tim and I were ecstatic!

** Patterning the fish: This is a very normal, every fish, every school, way to determine the dominate way that the largest # of fish are traveling, depth of water they prefer, etc... to help you to see them sooner. There is always normally a definite way that the bulk of the fish will travel on each individual, unique flat at different stages of the tide. There by allowing you to spend less time scanning unproductive water and spending a lil extra time scanning the more productive water. This "Patterning" would also include, best fly pattern, lure, speed of retrieve, distance required to properly lead the fish so they dont spook, depth they prefer it, etc......
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I sincerely hope that this post (with ALL the tip's. techniques, strategies, etc....) will help you on your Striper quest, while keeping you safe for a return trip to this simply amazing place!
Best Fish's,
Randy

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Quick email to a booked client who asked me what to practice F.F. before I guide them on the Flats:
(The below is an approx. way to cast. There are varibles and different ways to instruct, visualize, wording, etc... Much depends on who is teaching it and experince level of the angler, etc... in my opionion. Obviously, giving a casting lesson on the net is not the best :)
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Please practice casting it on your back cast until you can do it in your sleep, in case we need to due to the wind direction. All of the below should be practiced on not only your forward cast,  but also your back cast. :)
Please Learn the "double haul",  until you can do it in your sleep.
Please Practice throwing a 2-3 foot loop.   
"      "    "         " locking your wrist and only use your forearm, breaking at the elbow.
"                     " not to throw your arm out like when throwing a soft ball. Elbow should remain almost stationary when casting.
"                     " excelerate your forearm VERY FAST approx. only 3 inch's (then stop it on a dime) during power stroke.
By moving your forearm very fast it will load the rod.
By moving it 3 inch's this will move the rod tip approx. 3 feet, giving you approx. 3 foot loop.
By stopping your rod at the approx. 1 pm position when false casting on your back cast, will send your fly line straight back.
Please make sure the line has straightened out behind you, before moving the rod forward, for your forward cast. (Look at it, I do :)
By practicing all of this you will be all set for any and all conditions we may face. We have plenty of time to practice all of this so I dont want to hear ANY excuse's!  :)
Please practice this in your back yard or park. Dont need any water to practice this.
Also, take your fly off.
Use a floating line so you'll be able to see the 3 foot loop better.
You'll want to see the line totally extended before starting your forward or back cast.
Please make SURE it is on a very very windy day and practise throwing it into the wind on both your forward and back cast.
If anything at all is not correct the wind will let you know it.
Mother nature is one of the best teacher's there is, she is just not very polite.
This is how I practised, to help myself become the best fly caster I could.


  Where the land ends LIFE begins
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May devoted anglers read these words and relive the simple pleasures of finding - and landing - the big one. ( The fisherman's book of wisdom )


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Several intresting email conversation's from a client, wondering about the fishing on Monomoy :)
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Hey Randy, Just checking in to see how the season has been going so far.  I think I mentioned to you that I used to fish the vineyard quite frequently but haven’t done very much saltwater fly fishing in the northeast in the past seven years or so.  I happened to speak with Lou Tabory and Dave Skok in the past few weeks.  Both guys mentioned to me that the Chatham/Monomoy area has seen a radical decline in the fishery over the past few seasons.  Have you had a similar experience?  What can I expect as a client? Thanks, Joe
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Hi Joe,
I'm always VERY happy to hear that kind'a stuff. Less wade anglers following me around all day messing up "your" fishing. More fish for you!! Less anglers I have to babysit knowing that they are not planning there return trip to the island and would become helplessly - cluelessly - dangerously lost if the fog rolled in and they tried to return on there own to the safety of the islands dry ground. So far this season Ive seen 2 very dangerous wade angler mistakes that could have spelled your dead,  if luck had not been on there sides that day. Maybe Ill write about it later as 1 angler could not have been more stupid and thats putting it kindly :) Common sense must not of been in his vocabulary! It's amazing how that island can and does put a majical spell on folks.

I love it when I hear about the "No fish island :)   I certainly wont argue that point :) LOVE IT!!!!!
Please make sure everyone knows that Monomoy is VOID of any fish at ALL times.  :) No prime habitat, no food, no current. No reason at all for these fish to want to migrate past and maybe even stick around for the summer :) Nope, not worth fishing here anymore :)

It has to do mostly with me just doing my job. (Being out there almost daily, keeping an eye on their habitat, currents, food, time of year, etc....)
It is VERY understandable why anglers would make these comments. In there eyes, there are no fish or less. They didnt catch any or didnt see any. Maybe they are looking in the wrong place? Maybe the fish are not traveling the same Rt's. that they did 5-10 years ago? Hmmm. They all simply have not kept an eye on the changes that started "well" before the Southway closed up. They are correct on the "less" part. But, Im finding the same #'s of fish as 5-10 years ago. Less anglers means what fish are there are shared amoungst very few anglers, so it all works out the same :)  Even with sharing what fish are there means that the anglers who are there need to know where to look, which I rarely see.

It's VERY understandable why the majority (98%) of anglers are having a tuff go of it on the sland. Most anglers simply dont have the time to keep an eye on everything that I do everyday. Most anglers dont have a job that put's them on the island everyday.  :)

I would whole heartdly disagree about the radical decline in the fishery, at least as far as Monomoy Island is concerned. Thank goddness there are very few or "no" fish around. Makes being a fishing guide a wonderful profession :)
Best fish's,
Randy
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Hey Randy, Just checking back in to see how the area has been fishing thus far.  Eagerly awaiting the chance to wet a line with you next week. Thanks, Joe
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Hi Joe
Unfortunatly, all the fish have died, but are eagerly awaiting your well cast fly.   :) (he-he) Just kidding :) All is well in this land of radically declining fish  :)
Last week we were seeing 500-600 fish per day, average. Thats 5 or 6 days in a row. We were in a particular area for a number of reasons. Boy, I dont think I can ever remember seeing that many jaws drop. Pretty amazing stuff, especially in July on a bright sunny day in 3 feet of water or less over white sand in the land of a radically declining fishery. (he-he)

This week w/ slower tides  we are seeing on average 50-100 fish, for particular reasons. The nice part about this is most were those 15-20lb. Bass in  the shallow water flats. Also some of those amazing 10 pound Blues. They came by us all day long. So they were spread out nicely. If it slowed up, we simply moved to a different part of the same flat or walked 100 yards to an entirely different flat and found them all over again.
We have had fish to cast at (opportunty and a prescense of fish) almost all day regardless of spot, tide or weather, etc....
Same opportunities regardless of #"s.
All sized fish around.
Lots of 15-20 lb. fish.
We have also been finding large schools of fish holding in some of the deeper water spots just lazily swimming around taking a relaxing break. In some cases we could only see the faintest outline or color change in the water. The slight shade darker than the waters color. The average guy would walk by them as they are almost impossible to see otherwise. At times we would see a quick flash. (Flashing is what we call it when they feed. They turn sideways and flash like a piece of tin foil under the water.) Sometimes, this is the only way to find them.
Same ol same hole. Nothing changes year to year, as long as you stay on top of them.
We have had our slow days but mostly many of those amazing days regardless of certain varibles.
I guess thats why they call it fishing :)  Never know :)
Hope all is well w/ your family and friends. Cant wait to wet a line w/ you!
Best Fish's,
Randy
P.S. To whomever is reading this. I highly respect both gentleman who spoke to my guest about this fishery. They are both my peer's. Mr. Tabory actually helped me get my start in the Saltwater by reading his incredible books. Both know much more about this N.E. inshore saltwater fly/spin rod fishery than I could ever hope to know. I have nothing but the utmost respect for both anglers!
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The two handed fly rods getting a work out. (Photo credit's Jay Horton)




Marvelous at Monomoy Story
Fred LeBrun is a writer from the Albany Times Union newspaper. Below, you may enjoy reading his take on a day on the flats with me. This was written many many flies ago and came out of my Archives. It's still just as relivent today, as it was then :)
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When the striper hit my little sand eel imitation about 15 yards out, right at the edge of the channel, it felt like I'd gotten stuck on a log.
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Except there are no logs on the vast and sandy bottoms. Then this particular log decided to head for Nantucket with a burst of energy and speed that caught me off guard. You could hear that surging power of a big fish intent on leaving this planet in the sing-song of the heavy Orvis disc drag reel paying out line. I was into the backing before I could begin to think about turning the fish, and then only a little before he was off and churning again across the channel. It was a long and hard-fought five minutes before the guide, Randy Jones, finally slipped the fly out of its mouth, held it up for a few photos and released this fresh ocean fish covered with sea lice.
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Of the dozen or so fish we caught all day either blind casting into currents and rips as the tide rose around us, or sight fishing for cruisers, we caught only one barely legal fish, and even that one was released. Yet speaking on the ride back to the main land to a half dozen other fly-fishers who waded the expanses of Monomoy that day, nobody was griping about the fact they'd only caught schoolies. The talk instead was about how strong a 28-inch fish caught in the ocean is compared to any freshwater species, and everybody had stories to tell. Smiles all around.
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We were fishing these legendary flats just off shore for a chance at the tens of thousands of stripers that cruise through during the changing tides looking for baitfish. Fishing in its purest sense, since this is the ocean and so you never know. It will probably be small and probably a striper, but then again ...
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I hooked a decent sized but unexpected bluefish that danced across the water before slicing through the
10-pound test leader and disappearing into the channel. Others caught weakfish. No, nobody saw sharks.
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All part of an experience that I have to say measures up to all the over hyped information I'd heard about relating to these flats, which made me suspicious beforehand. Monomoy has been elevated to practically mythical status in books and fishing magazines in recent years, but it turns out it's just a great place to fish, reasonably easy to get to and affordable.
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It truly is a sensory overload out there with the surging Atlantic beyond the island, and the cape a far distance in front, as close to pure joy for fly-fishers as I've experienced, short of a green drake hatch on the
Delaware or Atlantics on a frenzy on the Miramichi.
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Behind us, along the low, sandy dunes of the actual Monomoy Island federal wildlife refuge, various species of gulls by the thousands were either hatching young by the score or creating a new generation of fans for Shea Stadium. Other bird life was thick in every direction. I found myself turning around from time to time, mesmerized by the teeming life on the island, forgetting what I was there for.
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The fishing itself is so unlike trout or bass fishing as to inspire a sort of child-like wonder as it reveals itself.
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First off, it is physically demanding, even brutal on some days and potentially dangerous. This has its appeal, although you have to remember you could die if you do this wrong, which is rarely a consideration for landlubbers, even those casting for muskies in the fog.
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Randy and I caught the daily shuttle, and we knew we would be out of touch with all but a handful of those companions who were on the boat with us. On Monomoy, there are no houses. We are far from the mainland and we wouldn't be picked up before 4:30, regardless of the tidal situation or the weather. We literally slipped off the side of the shuttle into three feet of water and the boat roared away and there we were, fending for ourselves.
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If ever there was a situation demanding a good guide, this is it, and Randy's up to it and more. You need a
good guide for two reasons, one important and one critical. This is not a place for wide-eyed innocence.
You want to be there with someone experienced with the tricky tides, the violent weather that can and does
erupt without warning. Plus, you simply will not know where to fish otherwise in this confusion of shallow
gin-clear waters, full of cross currents and hidden bars.
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Oh sure, finding the dark channel of deep water isn't that hard. Look for the boats going through. At low tide, when we arrived, the channel was a mere quarter of a mile across an undulating dry beach that looked like a topographical map, with all sorts of elevations and depressions.
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Except, as the tide comes up, it doesn't come from one place. It rushes in at you from all directions and before you know it, the expanse between you and those bluffs is under water, and more so every minute. Every year, an inexperienced fisherman or two don't make it back because of the strong currents created by tidal action, height of tide or fog. Wading a couple of miles through waist deep water with currents I can tell you is exhausting, even without the imperative of a tide rushing in.
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As for the fishing, well, that's more familiar but has its special demands. Worldwide, there always seems to be a strong wind in your face just when you have to cast a little beyond your best distance. Bearing in mind, we're using stiff Orvis 9 wt. rods loaded with sinking lines and pushing weighted clousers. Your arm will be three feet longer by the end of the day. Randy favors thinly-tied, surprisingly small sand eel imitations in olive and white with a little sparkle and chartreuse added.
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"It's just like freshwater fishing,'' says the perpetually easygoing Randy, who should know since he guides on Lake Ontario's Salmon River from September to April. Randy lives in Pulaski, and rents a cottage on the Cape for his guiding service, from May to September. He's been at this for 22 years, and there isn't a grain of Monomoy he hasn't trod on before.
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He has an aw-shucks manner reminiscent of the country singer Jimmy Dean. Randy, 40, is from Davenport, Iowa, which probably explains it. "Match the hatch, look around for what the likely bait will be these fish are here to feed on, and match it.'' Sand eels in the region are small and distinctly olive, and they are the favored ones.
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We caught all of our fish casting blind into darker waters and jerking back rather quickly the fly a foot and half at a time, after letting the fly drop a good 10 seconds. Fish along the bottom, he insists, because that's where the bait fish are.
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Randy waded around all day carrying his signature three-step aluminum ladder which he periodically used to scan for cruising fish. Although the sun wasn't bright enough on our adventure to allow enough time between his calling out a candidate -- "over there, 20 feet and leaving us "-- and my reacting with a fumbling cast.
Yeah, that's it, it was the sun's fault.
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Fred LeBrun is a writer from the Albany Times Union newspaper.
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May all your doorknobs smell of grossly over sized striped bass!
Randy Jones
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Randy,
Wonderful story! Its how I felt, a little anxious but excited about the element of danger and awestruck by the austere beauty and simplicity of it all.
Regards
Bill
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Distance, speed, stealth, presentation, knowledge of habitat, exploiting your preys weaknesses, proper rigging, and accuracy are your primary goals when sight fishing
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*** We are always trying to decipher - figure out our prey's - fish's - quarries weaknesses and then exploit them ***
One of the many ways to do this is to retrieve your fly properly.
1. Lifting the fly to the surface of the water at the end of every retrieve.
2. At the end of every retrieve, bringing the fly over the edge that you are standing back from.
3. Bring the fly into an uncomfortable shallow water depth for the fish to want to follow while it is tracking the fly.

Theses techniques,  combined with a very fast 2 and a 1/2 foot strip retrieve will cause the fish to not be able to determine whether the fly is real or not by sight and scent and cause it to hopefully make the wrong decision and eat our fly. The fish does not want to come over the edge and it thinks the bait will get away from it when brought to the surface at the correct speed. Many many times you will see or feel the take just before pulling your fly out of the water or just as your fly cross's the shallow edge of the flat you are standing on and useing to compress or concentrate fish movement on the flat. When sight fishing on the flats you will often see these takes. To slow of a retrieve and the fish always normally follow your fly and inspect it for realism by putting its right eye on it and then its left eye. Then it's nose. (I see this daily on the flats for many years) To slow of a retrieve and a refusal is normally always the  result. Pull the fly out of the water to fast at the end of your retrieve and you've just pulled it away from the fish. By utilizing the above techniques correctly while flats fishing will always help you to catch a few more easy fish by exploiting your quarries weaknesses.
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Another one of many ways to exploit your prey's weaknesses is to rig your rod up properly from leader to fly
Believe it or not the smart, educated and big flats Bass can see your hook and barbell eyes. Thats why the experienced flats angler will always use a size 6 hook and small barbell eyes on all of there streamer pattern's.
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Need the correct length, material and lb. test of your leaders
9 feet is the bare minimum, 15 feet would be the max. The longer the better when sight fishing those flats over big educated Bass. Seagaur or Orvis Fluorocarbon is my top fluorocarbon and which is used by the top guides around the world. I like a leader that is hand built and I normally tie it with a 20 lb. butt - 4 feet, 16lb. mid. 5-6 feet and then a tippet of 5-6 feet approx.
The fly does not look pretty when cast and it is hard to turn this fly over but we really could care less how it looks to us or if its more challenging to turn it over. What we are only really concerned with is what the fish sees. Having a leader like this means that again, your casting skill's need to be 100%. Add in wind, heavier fly, longer leader, etc... and maybe a little more casting praxes in the back yard or park is in order. :)
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The Set Position
Since you are normally only going to get one good shot, checking your fly and leader knot after every cast is a necessity. As soon as Ive missed or landed that flats bass I automatically immediatly get back into the set position. Allowing myself to be set up correctly for my next shot. The first thing I check is my entire leader and fly for any weeds I may have picked up. Even the slightest,  hardest to see little piece of grass will cause the fish to not eat my fly. Remember that we are in there environment and the slightest thing out of balance will cause them to not eat your fly. Then I check for any bad casting knot's I may have placed in my tippet. You'll decrease the breaking pound strength of your tippet in 1/2 with any over hand knots. Then I'll make sure the fly to tippet knot is on the front of the eye of the hook. If it is not then this will cause the fly to not track properly. Then I check that the barbell eyes are in the proper set position for a clouser. ((Bob, you can probably re-word these next few sentences or condense it to sound better)) Normally the material on the fly will tend to twist or foul around the hook. So I'll make sure the material is not twisted around the hook and also that the color's are in the correct sequence. The slightest material out of order will cause the fish to not eat it. Sometimes it is very difficult to see that a few of the strands of material are not in the proper order. I like to place the material evenly on both sides of the hook bend. The last thing I want to make sure of when getting into the set position is that I have the proper amount of fly line outside of the tip. I like approx. 5-6 feet of fly line outside the tip. This cuts down on the number's of false cast's I may need to do which helps me to get the fly in the water faster. Remember, every second is a valuable commodity and you cant offered to use a single second unwisely while sight fishing and trying to achieve speed. Also, figure you have a nine foot rod, 6 feet of fly line outside of your rod tip and a 12 foot leader. This makes you ready for those surprise fish that show up within a 30 foot diameter window. Many times you wont even need to false cast.
1. If the fish shows up close
2. Its projected path is within your 30 feet area.
3. If the fish is coming straight at you (head shot)
When I get one of these surprise fish I simply throw the fly out and add one back cast and then lay my fly down in the correct spot. Then, instead of stripping the fly, Ill simply move my rod tip to move the fly in the same speed and jerky motion that I would normally do if I was stripping the fly. Always remembering to bring the fly to the surface or over the edge at the end of my retrieve to cause the fish to eat it should he want to inspect it for awhile while tracking it to determine whether it is real or not. .
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((Bob, You might be able to edit this down? condense some of it? Its very wordy and it moves around a little :) ))
Mother nature is your best Fly Casting instructor:
Have you casting skill's as good as they can get ever get. The only type of fly fishing I still really enjoy is sight fishing the flat's. I am challenging my ability level as a fly angler to try to out smart the biggest, smartest, noise shy, line shy, movement shy, most educated Flats Bass in the world.  Only by fine tuning my casting skill's and working hard to become the best fly caster that I can ever be will allow me the precise speed and accuracy that this type of fly fishing requires to be consistently productive.

I found that to become the best fly caster I could ever be was to face the most challenging conditions that mother nature could ever throw at me in a controlled practice environment. If I could achieve my casting goals in these conditions then all else would be easy.
Wait until you have a very windy day where mother nature is blowing a steady 15 to 20 knot wind.
Practice in your yard or park. You dont need water to work on your casting skill's. Use a floating line so you can see it easily while practicing. Clip your fly off. Work on all aspects of your casting. From your double haul to throwing a perfect 3 foot loop, constantly, with speed and accuracy.
Then practice throwing it into the wind on both your forward and back cast. If you make the slightest mistake in any part of your casting, mother nature will let you know it immediatly. She will normally just throw it right back into your face. If you can get a 40 to 50 foot cast into this type of wind then you are doing everything perfectly in your casting. Anything less and you need practice. Mother nature is not the most polite casting instructor. She wont say please, thank you or good job. But she is always right when explaining to you visually that you need work on your casting skills to be able to consistently and with confidence target these big flats Bass and to become the best fly caster that you can ever be..
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Presenting the fly on your Back cast
By learning to present the fly correctly on your back cast opens up your face of the clock completely,  so you dont have to move your legs to turn to cast when that flats Bass is swimming behind you, which they always tend to do. Normally if the fish is within 60 feet, you will decrease the odds greatly to completely of that flats bass eating,  if you turn your legs around so you can cast on your forward cast. The unwanted and blatant noise and movement that you generate will always normally kill your shot before you even make it. Also, when the wind direction may cause the fly to become imbedded into yourself, presenting the fly on your back cast will be your answer.
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Accuracy, practice in the backyard or park. Aim for the fence post, dandelion, cat, mail box, dog, etc.... Your goal is to become very accurate as I see a lot of to far or not far enouph cast's and you'll normally only get one good shot, so you need to make it count.
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Standing on the sidewalk of there super highway or travel lane
Standing in the correct depth of water on either tide and useing the structure to guide 100% of the flats fish by you will increase your productivity vastly. Stand knee deep on the incoming and thigh deep on the drop. This putt's you on the fish's sidewalk to its travel lane. They always normally swim a little deeper on the drop then the incoming as they are afraid of getting stuck on the dropping tide. On the incoming,  the fish are not afraid in the least of getting stuck and sometimes seeing a 20 lb. Bass in 12 inches of water is normal. Use the height of the sand bars, edges to help you see them which increases the size of your visual cone. This opens up your visual cone to cover a greater area. If the water is to shallow on top of the bar then the fish will not swim over it and cause them to compress or concentrate and swim along the length of it either R to L or L to R. This cuts down on the area to be covered while scanning with your eyes, helps when patterning the fish and then you'll be able to see all the fish, not just some of them. This ridge act's like a funnel.
If you stand to deep then the fish will always swim behind you and you'll also be making your visual cone smaller to the point of not being able to see most of the fish and also they will see you at the same time you see them. Leading the fish becomes impossible if your standing to deep.
You always want to take advantage of the structure - habitat that mother nature gave you to increase your visual cone with this height advantage, compress - concentrate the fish's movement.
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Lil Tip's:
Water lightly tapping - lapping the bottom of your stripping basket.
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Rotate at your upper body - never move your legs, you kill your shot before you even take it which is the same as
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Slapping the water on your forward false cast  , killing your shot before you even take it.
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Distance from you to the fish
One of most important aspects of sight fishing is to see the fish as far away as possible, determine its projected path and then place the fly as far away from yourself as possible. This cuts down on the fish seeing you.
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Leading the fish
If the fish is 30 feet or closer I will drop the fly anywhere from on it's nose to 1-2 feet in front of it, imparting the action to the fly immediatly. If I see the fish at a greater distance and have determined it's projected path then I will lead the fish with my fly by approx. 30 to 50 feet. The weight and size of my fly determines how far ahead of the fish I need to get it due to the noise it will generate when landing. Once the fish is within 3-4 feet of my fly then I (one handed) strip it as fast I can. Unless it is a crab then It is left motionless.
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Spookiness and how to handle it
These flats fish feel extremely exposed when over white sand, crystal clear water all summer long and not having the comfort of deep water, grass, etc.. around them. This add's to the challenge of fooling and catching these big educated fish. They are nervous as it is being up on a shallow water flat and then your trying to blend in, stalk, present your offering and imitate the exact fleeing reaction of the bait your trying to imitate useing feather's and fur while being quiet and not spooking these fish to an even greater level than they already are.
1. The water lapping on the bottom of your basket.
2. Slapping the water when false casting on either your forward or back.
3. Moving your legs either silently or splashing.
4. When walking a flat sightfishing, you are walking to fast.
5. Landing the fly and line on top of or too close to the fish.
6.
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Setting by sight:
Many times when fishing with a crab that is left motionless on the bottom you'll need to be able to detect the take without feeling it. Normally a take with a crab is a simple very light tap you feel thru the cork handle. When the fish eats it normal turns on it side and flash's. This is a common sign of flats fish that we also look for. It's called flashing and can be seen from a distance and many times it will help you zero in on your fish. If the fish flash's while in the area of your crab then set. Otherwise you have just missed your fish. Sometimes they will stand on their heads for you. A headstand is another visually easy way to detect the take.
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Habitat
As a flats angler you are always looking to see the most fish over the shortest time period. Use the signature structure available to you that is easily recognized to help funnel, compress or concentrate the fish by you. This would be your sand bar's, edges of flats, edges of river's, creek's, edge of boat channel, etc... These all allow you to get up higher increasing your visual cone. The fish use these edges to travel and to look for food. This also causes the fish to run parallel to it, especially if there is not a comfortable depth of water on top of  this structure for the fish to want to cross it. These sand bar's can also be used to spot fish as they cross over the top of them. If the water is deep enouph, sometimes the only way to see the fish is as they cross over this whitest of white sand.
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Flat elevation
I have flats at all different elevations along with different sandy structure's. This allows the flats angler to utilize these flats at ALL levels of the tide, incoming or on the drop and sun direction.
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Angle of sun
Have the sun at your back and face the West in the morning. Anywhere around noonish and to the East in the afternoon for your best visibility. With enouph knowledge you can use the tides, corresponding sand elevations, sand structures,  angler of sun, time of the season, current flow, wind direction, past normal movement of fish and your ability level to determine where you will fish for that part of the tide.
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Post up
I normally like to let the fish come to me. This decreases the amount of noise and movement that I would generate by walking a flat. Please
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Flat's etiquette
Yes, there is flats etiquette that everyone should follow. If your posted up on a flat then anyone else who approach's should do there best to give you a wide berth. It is considered very rude for an angler to walk close to or post up by an angler that was obviously there first. The nice thing about flats is that they are expansive, so lots of room. No reason to crowd. If you see a person on the horizon it is considered very rude to wade a mile and then fish next to them. Maybe they want to be by themselves? Maybe you are standing in the fish's travel lane, without knowing it,  there by cutting the fish off to him that he had had swimming to him? If you are fishing with friends then it is considered very rude to spread out and form what I call a picket fence. This is where one angler stands shallow, one angler stands knee deep and the last one stands thigh  or waist deep and then wade down a flat. If someone is posted up on a flat and you do this then you are simply cutting of the flow of fish to that angler by coming in contact with any fish that is swimming that flat. The proper etiquette when fishing with friends is to all post up, stand at the same depth of water (the fish's sidewalk) and sight fish. This way the fish can navigate both ways on a flat and you will do as little damage  as possible so everyone gets to enjoy their presence.
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Safety
This flats article would not be complete without mentioning flats safety. Fog can be your worst nightmare as with the tide. Depressions, creeks, river's, etc.. that will fill in and not allow you to wade back across them. A compass,  whistle and cell phone should be the bare minimum that you should each have with you for safety. Knowledge of tides, and the area that you are in. The safest, direct and highest sand for your return trip. There are many other safety tips that have been printed on line and can be easily reviewed by doing a search on the internet. The main, basic safety tip would be to never - never wonder into an area that you are not intimately, yes intimately familiar with. No fish is worth dying for and I am personally unfortunately surprised that know one has died yet, with all of the stupid things I see taking place on the flats. You would think that common sense would keep you safe, but unfortunately, for some reason, when it comes to fishing, it does not. These flats are not a playground, they are not disneyland. They are a wonderfully beautiful and exciting area, but they can also be deadly. Please be safe and do NOT wade into any area's that you are not intimately familiar with!
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Polarized glass's
I find that yellow amber glass's with side shields are the best for sight fishing. I can see the fish 5 to 10 feet sooner with this color than a straight amber lens. These are not only needed for your safety but to see the fish.
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Patterning the fish
This is a technique that is done on every flat, all day, every day, all season. What do the largest number of Bass prefer for depth of water to swim in today? Are most swimming into the current or against it? Are most just hanging around, taking a break, not moving anywhere in particular? Or are most coming from your right or from your left or straight at you?
By patterning the fish within the first few separate sighting's that you see will help you to determine what direction and depth you should be training your eyes to look at the most. There by cutting down on the amount of time you spend scanning elsewhere. This allows you to see the fish sooner. Allowing you to get on'm fast'r.
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Please make sure you all have one of these U.S. Saltwater Federal Fishing Licenses on you when we fish. Its free, takes about 60 seconds to complete either by calling or on-line. You may already have one (Saltwater Fishing License) from your own state that will work w/ Mass. saltwater. (you wont need a freshwater license)
https://www.countmyfish.noaa.gov

Thanks to all of you who have spent your hard earned fishing $$ up here. The local economy thanks you all! I'm always VERY happy to see all of you up here enjoying yourselves. Plenty of room for everyone. Hello to all of the service men and women who are over sea's. Safe returns!
Thanks for stopping in and spending your valuable internet fishing time here. :)
Go get'm!
Best Fish's,
Randy

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Updated

 This past weeks (Sight - Blind) Wade Fly/Spin Flats Fishing Report, Etc...  Posted 6/7

On one of the days it was very foggy. Not the best day to sight fish, but there is always more than one way to skin a cat.
Some of the tricks we used were:
1. We did see a number of fish by standing closer to the travel lane than normal due to our smaller visual cone caused by the lower light.  The key part of this was knowing EXACTLY where there travel lane was at ALL stages of the tide as we moved from place to place. This helped us see (opportunity) and or catch them in approx. 6 out of 8 spots.
2. We saw them travel just under the surface of the water while in a transitional stage. They are much easier to spot this way then on the bottom in 2-3 feet of water on a low light day, where most normally swim. We call these fish swimming, "high and happy". These are some of the BEST biters around and come to the fly easier than almost any other time.
3. We looked for and saw some flashing. They do this when they are eating and its one of the easiest ways to spot them whether sight fishing or blind. It looks like a piece of tin foil flashing under the surface of the water. The trick is to try to determine what direction they are traveling, if any and then cast asap. If your not sure then I always suggest casting at the flash. We found them flashing in several different types of habitat. Some were sitting in the current stationary eating whatever this dropping tide was bringing them. Some were eating - flashing while they were in a transitional stage in there travel lane for that flat, stage of tide.
4. We used one of mother natures signature aids. Sand bars and there edges. These bars help to control the fish's travel. If there is not enouph water on top of the bar for them to feel comfortable going over it,  then they will travel along it. There by concentrating and compressing them. This way you get to see ALL the fish.
Another BIG advantage would be your increased visual cone caused by the height of this bar of sand. (Just like when I used to stand on a step ladder, many flies ago :) The higher you get the better - soon'r you can see them. We were able to achieve both of these on this exciting, low-light, slow fishing day. We probably saw 40-50 fish and were not able to see the other 200 or so that swam by within casting range due to the poor lighting. But hey, some are better then none!
5. More fish than normal today were boiling while in transition. With little to no wind to disturb the water it was very easy to see the boil. We would then either cast at the boil or look for the slightest shadow of the school of fish and what direction of travel they were in.
6. Knowing that the fish like to use - follow edges and depth of water to help them navigate on there migration. We utilized this key ingredient to help us find and see them.

With out utilizing the above and much more we would have not seen a single fish nor had the opportunity that we were after.

We had a presence of fish in 6 out of 8 spots. We had opportunity in all 8 places. The two area's that were as dead as a door knob (didnt stay long) were prime habitat's but not when a baby seal is present and making a mess of things. No fish were sighted or caught in these two places because they had all left due to this larger predator. It was funny to see as mom was sitting just off the edge of the flat in the deeper water actively keeping an eye on her pup. The pup was so curious that it came in close on us and kept following us around.
 
All in all we had a fun time, learned a lot and played with a few fish while haveing a far # of other very good sight fishing opportunities that swam by us within 20-40 feet.
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Another sunny sight fishing day on the C.C. flats while wading last week.

Long story short. We had fish around us all day long that we could see. We had a presence of fish and incredible opportunity all day. This was an all you can catch, cast at smorgasbord of fish. We had all sizes of bass and blues. Largest Bass were some 20 lb'rs in the shallows. I'd guess'ta'mate that we saw approx. 250 fish conservatively.
1, 2's, 3's, schools of 5, 10's, 20's mostly and a couple 50 to one 80 fish pod passed us by within fly casting range. We did extremely well for the slowness of the tide. We had fresh fish coming at us at times within seconds of each other. The longest we waited between fish was one 10 minute period. Normally we waited seconds to a couple minutes before we had more fresh fish to cast at. Not bad for the slowness of the tides.

The water at times was so shallow, the sun so bright, the sand so light, the fish so big and so many of them we could see these fish 200 yards away. It was funny to see them and then have to wait almost an entire minute before they would get to you :)  Dam,  I love this job!

I hope you enjoyed the above fishing reports along w/ its many many complementary tips and strategies I use on a daily basis while enjoying these magnificent C.C. spin/fly sight wade flat's. I hope they help you along your fish finding path. Stay safe!

Best Fish's,
Randy

The below was in reply to a safety thread on Reel - Time.com

HI Pete and Peter,
Ive been meaning to say "HI".

Love that picture Pete, brings back many fond fishing memories. I rescued a guy (not a client, but a clammer) in a similar situation you had. My Mom (very religious :)  said that the lord must have placed me there for that reason. I guess she would say the same about you. :)
I noticed this year how the boat channel changed to the S.B. side. Hmmm, more fish entering the Bay? Especially at the low? Or is that sand bar still there? Wonder if there is even more current? Would guess yes to all. I wanted to get over there and sight fish but now with the parking ban at the light house it makes it more difficult to fish during the prime sight hours. When I drive to work I havent seen any angler cars in the normal spot for that area. Must be no fish,  like Monomoy ;)

Peter, boy, you couldn't be more right. I can remember in Pete's picture how P.B. current runs hard out until around approx. 2 hours into the com'n tide. I think I heard of someone last year swimming back from one of the outer bars after they stayed to long fishing?

I always am extremely careful in that area because for me its not the deeper water that scares me on the com'n. Usually the surf waves start to increase in size as the tide turns in. If you wait to long on your return on those outer bars,  those waves can slam your back. Causing you to do a major "super man" slamming face plant into the sand with that crushing wave on top of you twisting you all up not knowing which way is up. Nope, not talking from experience, but have heard. :)  If your fly line was in your basket it could very easily wrap you all up around your feet and your a gon'r.

Couple Cardinal Rules when fishing the Surf:
Always fish the surf w/ a freind, for that and many more safety related issues. Another one most everyone remembers is to never turn your back on the surf.

Both of you can appreciate what I had to do on Wed. guided wade flats trip. It was foggy as all get out. Kept rolling in, start to clear, roll in again, then almost clear, this continued the entire time we were out there. It was forecast to clear up, but didnt. Knowing full well that it could get to the point of rock solid pea soup, I kept continuously re-setting my compass heading for a safe and dry return to the mainland. Overtime we moved to another spot,  I would reset my compass. I also left a certain area a lil soon'r than normal as I always do when their is a fog concern. Especially when you have to zig-zag out, long walk, soft sand, cross a creek-river in the correct place, find your gear and cross another large dry bay-flat, continue on another flat until you hit dry sand.

As most everyone knows on here. Why do they call them a flat? There rarely is any up or down to help you navigate.

I'll see you guys out there!
Best Fish's,
Randy

Patterning fish
I think most folks think this means 1 or 2 things. I continuously all day never stop this strategic process. For myself it means:

1. What fish are the most dominate at all stages of the tide, then adjusting to what there needs are to fool. This helps me with presentational issues and fly choice.

2. What direction are most coming from. This helps with putting a certain % of my time visually scanning back and forth a lil more or not, in one direction or the other to help me see them soon'r.
Yesterday, at times, dependent of the flat we were wade, fly, sightfishing we had the terrible problem of having to look 360 degrees because they were coming by us from all directions. We had very defined very specific travel lanes all around us. Each type of habitat was a lil different but for each specific fish or group of fish it was the deciding factor on how they would proceed. Standing in the middle was the best place to try to be out of the way of most of them, while keeping within 80 or so feet for fly casting. (sidewalk casting into their travel lane and or highway) It was fun to cast in every which direction. :) Man, my neck is sore!
This area (Junction, funnel, major thruway, compression zone, etc... ) was more like a rotary, with cars entering from 4 directions. Some on their way to work, some on their way to b-fest, some taking a short cut to their summer homes, some lost, etc... :)  We basically stood in the middle of this rotary of fish, so to speak :)

3. Are they tailing, boiling, blitzing, holding and just flashing ever so often, etc....? Each one of these patterns plus many more would cause me to rethink my presentation and fly choice.

4. There are more,  but they escape me at present :)

Bottom line, by patterning these fish correctly, it will help you to catch more by becoming a more proficient hunter, hoooowwwl.

Whats that ol saying,  Find your preys weaknesses and then exploit them.
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I think the most common type of patterning that anglers think of would be:
1. What depth are most swimming at presently. By this determination you can forecast or predict its projected path 95% of the time. Looking at the contour of the sand and depth of water is the ticket. Most fish will stay at that same depth and or follow that same edge. By  understanding this you can easily and productively "lead" your fish from 20 to 80 feet. (Distance I lead fish is a whole other article :) This is one of the most basic and fundamental aspects of sight fishing the flats. Determine there projected path and then lead them. (Why is leading them correctly so critical to your success? Another article)

Im hoping that the above might help one of you catch a couple more fish while you out enjoying this magnificent fishery.
Enouph rambling for today ;)

Best Fish's,
Randy

We patterned the Bass and Blues all day with success.
 
99% of'm in the morning until noon were migrating Bass. Simple! (All on the drop tide)
Then around noon time (as the tide turned from low) we started to see more of those Big'r residents mixed in.
Turned out that over a short period of re-patterning these Bass, approx. 70% of'm were big residents and needed a different fly and to be presented too entirely different.
One of the more interesting things Friday was it was predominately Bass almost to the low. Right before low it changed to almost 100% Blues until approx. 1 hour after low. Then it switched back to almost all bass. Hmmm, interesting

Tuff Fish on the Flats?

Several things to try next time.

1. Leave'm and find some other easier fish :) In my opinion, these are some of the most difficult types of bass you'll ever encounter, given your scenario and my personal almost daily wade - fly - sight - flats - experience with them. A lot of patience will help and make sure they dont see or hear you, obviously.  :)

Also, most of the Bass I see on the flats will eagerly eat that are schooled up and not moving.  Like some we found yesterday :)
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The ones you describe I only come across rarely each summer. The below would only be used in the situation your describing, in my humble opinion :)
 
We came across some of these 15-20lb. Bass yesterday that did exactly what we are talking about now. We took step #1 and left them and found a lot that would eat easier - strike all day loooong :)

This worked for me once.
I crouched and kneeled behind a sand bar the entire time. The only thing that was visible to the fish was the top of my head and my rod tip as I positioned myself approx. 80 feet away. Try throwing 2 different types of crustaceans at'm and work them accordingly.

These two remaining tips come from two of my personal peer's,  many flies ago,  that worked for them and others.

2. Try this one also next time you come across some of those fussy blues. (Especially if they are daisy chaining in the Spring)
Floating line, small gurgler. Work it sloooooly, long pause, repeat.

3. Pick out your biggest, brightest gaudiest fly you have in your box. Throw it and strip it like a mad man right into there faces. Once 4-5 of them give chase, stop it dead and leave it. Your hoping that one of them will be so aggressive and angry, etc... that it will smash it. Your not imitating any food that they want to eat on this one.
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If any of you are "Free Lance" writers, would like to edit some of my flats flies notes, articles to compile into a NEW Article titled, My Top 5 Flats Flies for N.E. (Why they work so well, how to present each one specifically, When, Etc... then shoot me an email. We already have the outlines done and Professionally taken photo's by my Pro. Photographer, John Halnon. We have both been printed in different languages, local, regional, national, worldwide, corporation catalogs, print media Markets, both books and Mag's.
We are looking to submit to a national fly fishing publication. We have all the connections.
If there are any editors reading this that would be intrested in printing this article in your f.f magazine, then please contact me. Maybe one of your writers could finish this piece for a Spring deadline of 2011?
Neither of us are asking for $, just name, biz., url credit's. No pay would be in it for you. Just a by line name credit.
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I'm in the planning stages of trying to come up with some new fresh idea's in the advanced flats - fishing article and tips arena. I havent seen, read anywhere in any book, internet site or magazine some of my idea's. Lets see , hmmmm :) If any of you have any suggestions, please email them to me.
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Catch More Fish with Confidence!
My guest was amazed at the quality and very consistent distance he could easily get when he was taught how to double haul correctly. Once we learned the proper technique to tightened up his loop to approx. 3 feet, the strong wind became child's play and his distance throwing the fly increased almost like magic.  His jaw dropped again when I taught him the art of throwing the fly on his back cast properly when the wind would not allow you to throw it on your forward cast for fear of impaling the hook into some part of your body. He could throw the fly just as far by shooting it on his back cast as letting it go on his normal forward cast. He also was taught the correct form, skill and method in (sky writing with a fly rod) jabbing or stabbing the sky during the power stroke to let Mother Nature make that 100 foot cast with ease when the wind was honk'n on our back's. Easy as spread'n soft but'a on a warm muf'n. :)

By combining his newly acquired taught skill's of creating tighter loop's, double hauling, sky writing and casting on his back cast. He vastly improved the quality of life long expert skill's that he will be able to use for the rest of his fly fishing life that will surly help him to (bottom line) Catch More Fish! These were just a few of the many many things my guest learned. All the fish he caught were just icing on the cake. We all have the rest of our lives to catch a fish. But, once these advanced skills have been acquired you'll cast, catch more fish, and fish, etc....., etc..... with greater ease, guaranteed! Now, instead of being an ok caster, he took it to the next level and become a good caster. Now, instead of Mother Nature controlling his fishing, he laugh's at her feeble attempts to try to discourage him and charges forward with Confidence! Congratulations!
Interested?
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Humor
Today was one of those relaxing, enjoyable, peaceful rainy days. The only thing that was irritating was when the tranquility of the day was interrupted by that darn whining sound of my guest's drag's. Then people would yell, Fish On. Come on folks, can't a guide get a lil rest and peace and quit around here? The nerve of some people! Then I was expected to chase after this 16 lb. Silver beast that kept doing these darn 25 foot tail walks across the pool, then these obnoxious somersault's 4 feet into the air with a big ol loud belly flop with water splashing 20 feet in all directions. I would  have reeeeelly been upset if my hair had gotten wet. Then more speeding bullet run's until that bright orange stringy stuff would appear behind the fly line.
I just could not win today. Every spot I stopped to fish, my guest's would continually hook more fish. Out of 3 spot's my guest's fished, we hit them in all. I got so fed up that I finally stopped in a spot where no fish has been hooked in over 100 years, and my guest's were still able to hook some up. So much for a nice relaxing day on the water. I think I need to find a new, less stressful job, where a person can get a lil R and R. :)
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Need to run, the fish are biting.
Thanks for stopping by,
Best Fish's,
Randy

May 21-28 2010 Fishing Report, plus plus....my usual Ramblings :)

I'd highly recommend a trip out to one of the many flats around here or even just from shore. There are enouph fresh uneducated Bass and Blues around you'll see on the flats or catch from shore to keep you all happy. Lots of big'ns too!
Fresh Bass have recently surrounded the entire Cape Cod area. N-S-E and W. Inside and out. All habitats producing. Just remember to fish each spot when it is fishing at its most productive part of the tide. Small to some 20lb plus sized Bass! Bring your wire for those crazy fighting Blues :)

I'm in the planning stages of trying to coming up with some new fresh idea's in the advanced flats - fishing article and tips arena. I havent seen, read anywhere in any book, internet site or magazine some of my idea's. Lets see , hmmmm :) If any of you have any suggestions, please email them to me.

What am I personally seeing on the C.C. wade flats while sight fishing?
Schools of mostly migrating Bass in groups of 10 to 20, some in the 50 range with an odd 100 fish or more in them. If you do it right, its like taking candy from a baby, but its not as easy as it looks, unfortunately, but thats what makes it fun! I call it challenging your ability level as an angler. All the pieces of the puzzle must come completely together to be consistently successful. On each and every outing with a multitude of different varibles to factor in and successfully interpret. Your reward?  Fish ON!!
ALL of the fish Im seeing (as usual at this time of the year) are in a transitional stage, some are holding and feeding and the rest I've found are doing what I call haveing a Jacuzzi party. These are Bass that are simply resting, not moving. Like you or I would after climbing a long flight of stairs or jogging a few miles. Just like fish that are running a river. I also call them transitional resting holding fish. They are in schools of 20 to normally 50-100 fish per school. (I'd enjoy writing an entire article A to Z on these migrating holding resting large schools of bass sometime, but not today)
One of the funnier things about any of these migrating Bass is they do not have a set, written in stone path or travel lane that they follow. Many will follow the same Rt.s that the residents do all summer. But, these spring bass can run over flats in the strangest places. Or rest in places that your not used to finding them. The warmer the water the more they like it. Ive found them relaxing on flats in the shallows in water over 70 deg. Sometimes holding in shin deep water for hours! It feels more like a jacuzzi than the ocean, believe it or not :)
Tip: Try getting closer than 80-90 feet to them on a flat and tell me what they do, I know from experience. :) I guarantee you wont like it. (Remember, always try to wade very quietly up wind of them) If sight fished to correctly, the tide is correct, I've personally had wade clients pull nice sized bass out of the same school of these tran. holding rest's for up to 3 hours, believe it or not  :)
You have BETTER been practicing your double haul, accuracy and wind casting trick's and not waited until you come across this scenario to start!
I could continue writing all day about all aspect's of this magical time of year but I have 100 other things to do. Maybe Ill add some more tomorrow?

P.S. I am also, as usual at this time of year, seeing some very BIG resident bass on the flats. How can you tell the difference between a resident bass and a migrating one?  Stay tuned!

What Fly Rod rigging has been working for myself and guest's while wading the flats or from shore lately?
For your striper wade fly rigging from shore or flat, I'd recommend a 9 foot mono tapered leader - 15 lb. test. (heavier if in the surf, off shore or night)

Size 4 hook, Monomoy flat wings for any of the fewer in #'s larger (15-20lb.)  resident bass Ive been seeing lately, clousers and deceivers in either bright attractor colors or white or tan for the rest.

With all the squid around in the Spring and all the Silversides around from small to large, white does a nice job imitating either the squid or the belly of a silverside as the fish look's up at it and it also falls into the category of an attractor color.  I guess I'd recommend all white over all, especially with such uneducated, fresh fish around.

Deep water - Clouser
Shallow water - Deceiver or that Monomoy Flat Wing, they land like a feather on the water.

Type of fly line?
Normally, not always,  depends on the speed and the depth of the water your fishing

Dangerous C.C. Wade Fly/Spin Sightfishing Flats Tides and Weather coming up for this holiday period

FYI - These are the tides and weather patterns I see most flats wade anglers get into trouble on. As usual, we will have increased #'s of wade angler's fishing this holiday weekend. My reason for posting this is to simply remind you all that it can be reeel easy to get into trouble out here when wading these large expanses of sand flats, on a beautiful day, even if you can see the shoreline.

With the high coming around the 1 to 3 pm area, you will be wade fishing from a dead low on an incoming tide all day. I've personally witnessed numerous times, the highest % of flats wade anglers needing some sort of assistance to get back to shore has normally been on these tides around the 11am to 3 pm area and during this type of weather.

Any chance for a surprise visit from our foggy freind? Never know :)
The reel funny part about this story is my freind who is a guide politely and professionally asked this lone gentleman if he knew where is was walking on the flat and if he knew how to get back into shore in this heavy fog and with the tide turning and coming in. The angler turned his nose up in the air and rudely suggested to my freind that HE,  knew what he was doing.
Any of you ever stood on the shoreline on a reel foggy day and heard an angler out in the distance on a flat with an incoming tide yell, Help me, help me! and then blowing his whistle for all he is worth? I have and it sends a bone chilling rush up you spine. Im sure the many advanced anglers reading this have some of the same stories to tell as this one. It's not as uncommon as one would think, especially when your out there almost everyday as I am working and witnessing other anglers. I honestly get scared sometimes with what I see.
FYI - I normally carry a whistle with me now, for the same reason he did. Turns out a clammer in the distance heard his whistle and followed the sound in his boat to where this angler was standing, lost, with the water rising around him, current picking up, panic stricken. His wife and kids were happy to have him back. :)

We all know how easy it is to get mesmerized out here and how large the expanse's are of our sand flats that you can easily walk on. We all tend to let our guards down, get excited by the chase, strategy, water looks like the Caribbean, some big fish swimming by within casting range, light breeze blowing, adrenaline rushing up our spin's.
* Most importantly we gain a false sense of security when the sun is shinning brightly over our heads as it is forecast to do Sun. - Mon.. What could possibly go wrong? This is again when I see the most accidents happen. By early afternoon as the tide approach's high,  we realize we cant get back to shore. OOP's!

By paying close attention to the details of the habitat that you are wade fishing. Whats between you and the shoreline along with the tide coming up around you and current speed this weekend, well help get you back, to fish another day.

I'm not trying to scare you but it has taken some of us years to figure out how to safely wade fish miles and miles of these flats, surf, etc... all over the C.C. area on an almost daily basis.

Please be careful out there,
May all your doorknobs smell of grossly over sized striped bass!
Best Fish's,
Randy

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June Wade Saltwater Cape Cod Chatham Monomoy Island Fly/Spin and Beyond Fishing Report, Pictures, Articles, Humor, Tips and much more:
Coming this month. What you can expect. To a S.E. and Beyond beach near you. :)
Look for the balance of our resident Bass to finish arriving here during the first week of July. Look for those resident flats Bass to become more fussy as the month progress's. Be ready to re-rig up your fly/spin rods with fussy Bass stuff. Get ready for even bigger Bass. Make sure your knots are good. :) Look for the Blues to search out colder water off shore and further North shortly. Instead of seeing 1,000's of Migratory Bass in a tide on their travel Rt's, expect to see 100's of those resident Bass in a tide traveling their normal feeding - travel Rt's. Expect not as many fish around as during the migration. You can look forwards to bigger resident quality fish. You will normally but not always see lot's of bass on our faster tides and normally less on our slower tides. Fog will become your worst nightmare so be prepared. Now is the time to prepare for getting lost, turned around, trapped by the incoming tide, on these extremely large flat's, where is that compass, cell phone, GPS at. (Ton's of helpful life saving tips below) Expect more tourist's, old people and in general driver's going 20 miles an hour under the posted speed limit when your in a hurry to catch the first shuttle boat out at 8am. to hit those flats! :)
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Over view - June
Over this last week we fly fished from Barnstable all the way up to P-Town and then back down and around the other side of the Cape to the Bass River. (And many spots in between.) All spot's were hold'n, some LOADED (A fish on almost every cast) and some you had to work for them(slooow.) All wading, during the day, Surface and Sub, blind and Sightfishing on flat's, surf, marsh, channels, Bays, etc...etc..w/all fly. (I dont discriminate, I do spin also.)
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The entire Cape Cod area inside and out are with Blues and Bass of all sizes in our Spring fishing locations. Bring your wire for the blues if fishing anytime soon.
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I have found the fishing this last week to be just that. Fishing :) Every place had fish, it was just a matter of how many Mother Nature was going to give us. Some days we had incredible number's of migratory fish all around us, while a couple of days Mother Nature gave us a lull or low numbers of Migratory fish. With Migratory fish you either are in a peak or a valley it seams (high numbers to low numbers - very normal)
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Easiest time of the year to catch a keeper while wading, Experience helps! Fish in all the normal Spring spots. Same ol same hole.
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Two days were reeeeel slow (still caught some fish), while the rest were epic, whether we were blindcasting or sight fishing. Those faster tides certainly helped. We have had some sight and blind casting days with the fly rods that were fish on almost every cast. We even saw some 20 lb. Bass in 12 inch's of water. Schools of 100 Bass in each school. Schools of schoolies to schools of all keepers (20-30) in a school. The sight fishing around the Cape has normally been amazing! But, we have also had our slow periods thrown in too, which is very normal. That's fishing. Things look to be getting better and better each day. More resident Bass showing up daily. Blues around also as an optional treat.
Top water flies and lures working great if you like your fish on the surface! We had a LOT of fish slurping bait on the surface in 2 feet of water or less recently. For fly fishing Im rigging with a 9 foot tapered leader down to a 12-14 lb. test tippet (leader).
Flies:
Ive been useing with great success whether sight or blind casting are a all white clouser, white and olive clouser or a white squid on the surface. Big white Deceivers to thin sparse white and olive sand lance imitations. If you have large schools of migratory fish around then a simple white and chartreuse clouser will do the trick. Larger Bass go with a more natural looking fly to match the dominant bait that is around in your area for this time of year.
Spin lures:
I like the white Mr. Twister tails on a jig head, sluggos - weighted and unweighted, storm lures, fin-s on a jig head and white 4-6 inch rubber squid on the surface. For Blues I like all the normal top water and subsurface ones. Im running Braid from 10 lb. test up to 20 lb. test, depending on the lures Im throwing, inshore.
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Dangerous Tides:
Please be careful with exaggerated tides. Please remember to carry a whistle, GPS and a compass should the fog roll in fast and make seeing more than 10 feet away impossible. It is soooo easy to get turned totally around in a heavy fog (I have) on those flats. Thats why they call them a flat, there is normally no up or down to help you navigate your way back to safety. Please remember, their is only one right way back (and that will probably zig - zag) and about a thousand wrong ways to walk back to the safety of shallow water or dry sand when we have pea soup fog and the tide is coming in. I like to take a compass reading once Ive reached my fishing location. Even if the weather is bright and sunny and their is no forecast for fog. It can roll in heavy and fast. Be safe as always, they are not worth it.
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Guest testimonial for today:
Well, it has been on my mind for a while to try the Monomoy flats. It became impossible to resist after Maine got off to such a slow start this year. I decided to jump in with both feet by hiring Guide Randy Jones to show me the ropes. He was super good company, patient (as he had to be, given my casting ability) and oh, could he find fish. We estimated that in that in our one day of wading (just this past Thursday) we saw around 700 fish. If I were reading this, I wouldn't believe it, but I was there, and I saw most of them. Coming at us from all directions. In ones, twos, threes, schools of 30 and 50. Makes it kind of hard to focus on casting well with all of that activity. And these were not just schoolies. There were a lot of BIG fish, some swimming within a rods length of me before being spooked. I went out the next day by myself and saw a bit less than half as many fish, but then again, I didn't have Randy's expert eyes helping out and showing me all of the fish that I was missing. I can't wait to get back down there!
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As soon as we approached our first flats of the day while wading with fly rods, it was FISH, 50 feet, moving left, 40 fish. Then it was FISH, 60 feet, head shot, get it out there fast. Then, well, I wont bore you, same ol same hole for the next hour. Steady fish on the flats with in easy casting range with the fly rod in 2 feet of water. Moved to 2 different flats close by and it was 1 here 1 there, slow. Moved to another location close by and we started to get into'm! Did a lil walking to check out a coupl'a other holes and on the 3rd one we hit it. Fish on and on!
That was our day in a nut shell. Another one of many great days to be out on the flats sight fishing and forgetting about work!
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First 2 holes nothing. I bet the seal that was patrolling this area made the fish feel like bit'n. NOT! :) 3rd hole was like magic. Could see 30-40 keepers patrolling these waters and flashing. Caught one with a few short's. Beautiful day to be out sight fishing these crystal clear waters on an almost sugar colored flats bottom. Ye-haa!
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Sightfishing today. Saw one fish in a guzzler, saw another 6-7 at the low in a low tide spot, stood around for an hour and 1/2 nothing? And this is in one of the best low tide to incoming spots. Then, in the last 1/2 hour all hell broke lose, School of 40 migratories, another school of 30, 20, 10, 20, another 10, 1, 20, 1, etc.. Over 100 fish on the flats in a 1/2 hour! Wow!! Overall a very slow day.
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June - Last Week's Daily Fishing Log:

Wow! Amazing? Super! The fishing today was nothing short of spectacular! As we sloooowly approached the hole this morning I asked my clients to walk slowly and to keep their eyes open. It was a dark drizzly morning and this means we might have fish on the surface. Sure enough, we had about 100 bass in 1-2 feet of water sipping, rolling, slurping Bait on the surface. We stayed 40 feet away from the waters edge so we would not spook these fish. We cast approx. 30 feet into the water at the boil's. Fish on! Ye-haa! Each of my guest's hooked up. My guest's got a lil overly excited and then started to blind cast into the water. This made waaaay to much noise and put the fish down fast. Darn! I explained to them that casting at these boil's was exactly like sight fishing. Dont cast until you see the boil and then only cast at the boil. They apologized and we all laughed! They said that they were very excited and kind'a forgot. Ha!
John wondered off by himself and continued sight casting to fish that were in 1 foot of water. (both of my guest's are very experienced sight fly) We stopped at a hole and it was a fish on almost every cast. Waaaay toooo easyyyyy. This kept up for over an hour. Next hole was the same way except the fish were bigger! We had big school's of Adult Sand Lances. (Hint:)That was our day in a nut shell. If you can make it to the Cape, I'd recommend coming.
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Found 3, 100 fish school's as soon as our feet touched the edge of the flat while sight fishing. Moved to another location and were rewarded with a fish on almost every cast. Around the high it slowed so we went to another productive flats area, slow, until we got closer to the normal hot spot. Sighted fish galore, mostly schools of all keepers in 10's to 30's. Probably a couple hundred in 1/2 hour of looking and fishing. O'what a day! :)
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Special Cape Flats loaded. Sightfishing wade, fly/spin. I rarely see these types of numbers of fish on the flats, and I do this daily. We had 1 day last year on a flat where myself and some of you saw around 3,000 Bass in 2 feet of water swim by us within casting range on a very popular flats area that many of you fish, nope not Monomoy. :) We were on top of one of those peaks I have been talking about. Mother Nature gave us the mother load. Normal for this time of year, also just the opposite is true, as you just read above. We had easily over 1,500 migratory Bass with a few blues and an ok number of resident Bass for this time of year. We had the normal residents swimming on their normal routes on the flats. The migratories were doing what we all like to see. They were all having a flats Jacuzzi party. Not in any hurry, not feeding all that much and just hanging around by the 100's.
We stayed 80 feet away from them and made our fly cast's from their. Any closer and they would leave. Those and others would filter by us, with many of them stopping to party with us. :) Some stayed with us for over 3 hours! It was fun to visually see them, cast, watch them chase down our flies with reckless abandonment and then watch them open their mouth and eat it. Visually seeing the run all the way to the finish was astounding. Don't get much better!
Normal flies and rigging for this time of year. Presentation was critical. If we didnt present it properly, no go. If we didnt have the correct fly, no go. If we didnt imitate the exact fleeing reaction of the bait we were trying to imitate, yup, you guessed it, no go. Put it all together with consistency and it was almost toooo easy. :)
All fish were in 12 inch's of water to 2-1/2 feet. We could see them easily at times over 100 yards away over these crystal clear water flats and almost sugar colored sand. They were schoolie - keeper sized up to 20 lb'rs.
Wow! Wish everyday was this easy. I guess thats why they call these the salad days.
I've seen thousands of fish on these flats and the next day Ive seen 2 or 3 total for the day this early in the season. You never know and thats why they call it fishing. :) I think even Ray Charles could have sight cast on these magical flats today and caught one. :)  
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Sight fishing heaven! Slooow for the first couple of hours around the high - dropping. Then we moved and all heck broke loose. Residents, from schoolie size to a few 20lb'rs. Some in as lil as 12 inch's of water. Also saw some blues. Enjoyed the company of 4-5 schools of migratory Bass from 20 to 40 fish in each school. Also did some blind casting in a hole with current and for 1/2 hour straight my client caught a fish every 1-3 cast's. :)
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Late July Fishing Report:
This weeks fishing report from Monomoy.
(Photo John Halnon)
Nice picture of the reeeeel deal. Notice the clarity of the water, lightness of the sand, knee deep water. Pretty neat stuff!
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Ton's and I mean TON's of Blues around. Mostly 3-6 lb'rs with the occasional 10 lb. Blue or schoolies to keeper sized Bass. When wade, fly/spin, flats, sight fishing,  we have been either casting at schools of 100 or less Blues or many - many single 15-20LB. Bass in 1-2 feet of crystal clear water with an almost white bottom and turquoise colored water. Just like the Caribbean,  except $1,000's of dollar's less. :)
I expect things to remain the same until the slower tides arrive Aug. 8. Until then, LOOK OUT!
Fishing has been fishing. Most anglers (except my guest's) are having a VERY difficult time unless intimately familiar with the water they are fishing and are VERY adapt and changing according to what the fish are telling them. Monomoy is VERY slow fishing of late for the unfamiliar angler. Fish have gone into there very normal late summer life style. Very challenging fishing for some, but not all. :) (he-he)
I have a couple of pool's out there that are presently holding 500 to 1,000 Blues and 3-400 Bass. :)
Best wade blind fly/spin fishing on the cape is normally around an out-flow w/ current, w/ a hole combined with cold water - bait and no predator's. Best sight fishing has been on any of the late summer, current, bait,  producing flats while wade fly/spin fishing. :)
Happy Hook'n to all,
Randy
http://www.yankeeangler.com - Fishing reports page for many more additional tips, articles, pictures, etc.. on sight fishing the flats and blind around all of the Cape Cod wade fly/spin inshore water fishery.
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Outermost Harbor Marine Shuttle Boat to Monomoy island
I ride the Outermost Harbor Marine Shuttle boat almost daily. They operate Full - time: 7 days a week, 3 boats, 8am until 4:30pm, 6 Capt.'s., never (rarely) a wait, no # of people restrictions, fresh water hose to rinse all of your gear, 100 foot walk to the docked boat, small general store (shack) for any last minute items, $20 to Monomoy round trip, free parking in the marina's secure lot with a parking attendant.) http://www.outermostharbor.com
They have a web cam set up on their roof, so you can see the Tub and South beach on their home page. Neat!
Check the weather reel - time before you fish!
Happy hook'n,
Randy
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This fish was taken at the high in 12 inch's of water, 1 foot off the dry sand to your right in photo! It was the smaller of the five. :) I was standing 30 feet back from the waters edge on the sand. (Believe it or not :)FYI -  3 other anglers were standing waist deep in the water 200 feet out in front of me fly casting to water void of anything swimming. Very normal, I used to do it too!
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July Wade Saltwater Cape Cod Chatham Monomoy Island Fly/Spin Fishing Report, Pictures, Articles, Humor, Tips and much more:
I hope you find my reports and articles entertainingly informative and mildly educational from a fly/spin wade angler's perspective here on Cape Cod.
Over view:
I've been fishing in a number of different habitat's from all around the entire Cape Cod area, depending on several factors or variables.
Just like my last overview, the fishing has been just that. Fishing! Everyday is different and you never know exactly what you will find. Whether we are blindcasting or sight fishing. Some days have been sloooow, some days have been ok but most of our days have been OUTSTANDING!  These fast tides that we are having now 7/4 have improved the fishing from last week in my opinion. Very normal.
Look for your flats fish to become much more spooky and fussy. Time for your stealth presentations, flies, etc... The balance of our resident population of migratory Bass will finish arriving this first week of July (Approx.)  Best time to catch a keeper before they get a phd in whats real or not. :)
Best places to fish here on the Cape will be places that have a cold water influence off the Ocean along with moving water over a hole, hump or some type of structure while wading. Find these things and I'll bet you will find some fish.
Normally, the only reason's the fish wont be in these locations is if they are threaten by predators, water is to warm or there is not enough food for them.
Good luck everyone and go get'm!
Happy Hook'n,
Randy
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New Moffit Angling:
I would have not believed it unless I had seen it with my own eyes in the saltwater. Pat has caught 100's if not 1,000's of Steelhead and Saltwater Species useing this method. His lost rate is equal to any other method. His method will actually increase your odds of hooking up with flies as they will have more action. You can use this with bait also. Moffit Angling
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July:
Holy Cow-a-Bunga! We absolutely hammered the fish today. Bass and Blues. Blindcasting and sight fishing. We started off blindcasting and within a few cast's were tight. Then another and another. Boring :) (just kidding:) While sight fishing we first came across some singles, doubles and schools of 10-20 Bass (One school had no less than 150 Bass in it) with only an approx. 20-30 foot visual window due to being fogged in. Once the skies cleared we found a school of approx. 500 Bass, all having what I call a jacuzzi party. They had no place to go and just hung out with us in 2 feet of water or less (for an entire 2 hours) and allowed us to constantly - consistently hook them up while sight fishing. We stayed 80 feet away and used the wind at our back to help place the fly on the button. We used the edge of the flat to hide from them and had to duck down several times to help keep from being seen by them as they swam within 30 feet. Another fish ON! Then, we waded after them and or stood still and allowed them to come back to us time after time. After they finally left the flat they hung out in another location allowing us to see them easily and continue catching them. We saw over 800 fish today, with most of these being the 500 Bass that just hung around with us for a loooong time. Simply AMAZING. I hope you all get the chance sometime in your life to experience this endless, all you can eat, smorgasbord while wade sightfishing with the fly rod.
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We sight/fly/wade fished all day. We started off with a school of 100 Bass all Keeper's just sitting there not moving while they rested.  We hooked some up. :) Then it was keeper Bass in schools of 1,2, 20, 30, 50 for the next hour steady (approx. 300). But, no schoolies. Then we hit a lull and all we could find were those nice fighting 10 lb. Blues on the flats while sightfishing in 1,2's, 7-8's and 10's (approx. 40), but no schoolies. We had to force ourselves to put on the wire and play with these darn Bluefish in 1 foot of water. :)  Then as we moved along the flat looking over the edges, we finally found some schoolies in 1,2's and 3's, (approx. 30 of them in total.) They were off the main flat and seemed to be in hiding. Then as we progressed along the flats to another section all hell broke lose. School's of 3lb. to 10 lb. Blues in singles, doubles, 10's, 20's 30's, 40's all the way up to school's of 100. (Saw easily over 1,000 Blues in less than 2 hour's. AMAZING!!  :)
In total we sightfished while wading and useing fly rods to approx. 1,400 fish in a 5 hour time period. (Most of which came within easy casting range of a fly rod in less than a 2 hour period.) Almost steady fish all day with sometimes only seconds inbetween them. At times they surrounded us and Ray Charles could have sight fished to them. :)
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Started off slow on the flats. Saw a school of approx. 7 Bass in the first 1/2 hour. Then we left for greener pastures and again, found nothing for the next 1/2 hour. Left again for another flat and as soon as our ankles touched the edge it was fish, 12 O'Clock, moving right. Fish ON! As we fought this fish we saw more pass'n us by. As we proceeded to walk along this edge we saw more and more fish, had lots of opportunity, caught zip.
I always jokingly tell folks that if you want to improve your odds, then blindcast. You don't have to be fast or accurate, you just have to get it out there. If you want to TRY to catch fish, then sight cast. :)
As we approached the main flat for the day we began to see BIG Bass, more and then some more. Then, as expected, we began to see those schools of blues and more Blues. Amazing numbers. The Bass sighting's slooowed down so we switched to Blue fish rigging and proceeded to hook them up. Along with these BIG numbers of blues, we also began to see these keeper Bass again. Combination of very good numbers of both species consistently on the flats. If you can imagine seeing several pods of blues in schools of 20 to 100 ( in 1 foot of water) and also at the same time seeing 2-3 keeper bass all around you, then you have the picture! Turquoise water, almost matching the color of the sky and looking exactly like the Caribbean. The only difference is that you didnt have to spend $1,000's of dollar's for the experience. :) A good sized Bluefish will give you almost the same run - fight as a bonefish in my opinion. The only difference is about $1,000 per fish. :)
Another amazing day while sight fishing with a fly rod in these crystal clear waters LOADED with Bass and blues. Ended the day with another Blue attacking our lil Sand Lance fly pattern with another one of many spectacular speeding bullet runs ending at the rod while landing with the normal bite off. :)Darn, and that was my favorite fly. :) Amazing, simply amazing. I hope you all get a chance to experience this fishery.
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Mustad Hooks, the BEST their is! :)
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Salt and Fresh Mustad Hooks:
If you are looking for a great hook, look no further. Many guides, Seasoned Salmon River Steelhead Anglers, my Two expert Fly Tier's and Myself, all use the Mustad Signature Series Ultra Point CO68 and the 37132 for all of our Salmon and Steelhead flies. These hooks are grown locally, almost in your own back yard. I use exclusively the Mustad Signature Series Ultra Point CO68 for every fly that I use for steelhead. Matter of fact, Im haveing about 1,400 flies tied up for my business as we speak, all on those amazing Mustad CO68's.
All of my favorite Salmon Flies are tied on either the CO68 or the 37132.
The reason Mustad went to a Signature Series Ultra Point was to be more competitive with the other high end foreign hook manufacture's. They have succeeded!
Personal recommendation, the ones I use for all of my guide services, year round.
Saltwater - Mustad Signature series - S71S-SS  or C70S-D or C47S-D
Salmon River, Pulaski, NY. - New Mustad Signature Series Hooks - CO68 Wet/Nymph Caddis - 2x Heavy / 2x Short
If you'd like to visit there website for more info. or get some great Salmon - Steelhead fly recipes, here it is
SHARPEST Site on the Web - www.mustad.no
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www.Seaguar.com
Seaguar - like nothing you'll ever see. Salt and Fresh Water.
If you want to use the exact same leader - tippet material that I do for steelhead, then this is the exclusive floro. I use in the Winter time. I think it is also the most expensive? I get paid to guide anglers like yourself and feel its my responsibility to offer you the best shot at catching fish. Thats why I only use the best materials, etc.. made, simple. It is not brittle in the Winter time like some other really good floro.'s are. The diameter beat's ALL other's. As Ive always said, anytime you can disguise what your fly, bait, etc.. is tied too, any species of fish, anywhere in the world, the odds are pretty good that you will play with a few more. If you want to use the same floro. as many of the world's TOP guides, then Seagaur is the ticket.
I could type all day long on the advantages you'll have over all other angler's, type all day long about all of the experiment's Ive run. All day long about, well, you get my drift. I only use the best materials, etc.. in my guide business. In many many cases, this one product can make the difference between no fish and a dozen. Been there, done that, I've bought the T-shirt. I like my side of the fence better than the other side. We have all been on the other side, but no more, with Seagaur Fluorocarbon :)

The top five things I enjoy about Seaguar Leader/Tippet attributes are:
1. Invisibility
2. Strength
3. Invisibility
4. Knot Strength
5. Invisibility
www.Seaguar.com
Seaguar - like nothing you'll ever see.
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My one day off to go fishing with a freind
First flat of the morning had a school of 100 Fish in 1-1/2 feet of water just hang'n around that we sight cast too. Hooked a couple, in 2 cast's. They moved into another area that had a couple more schools hanging around. Played with these for awhile. Then off to another area flat complex and found some more here and there to cast at. We then moved to the honey hole. This hole has had approx. 1,000 to 500 fish in it lately. It was LOADED today. Every single cast replied with numerous Blues crashing our surface lures. We had a competition on who could retrieve it the fastest and make the most cast's without hooking up. We tied with each of us unable to keep the plugs away from them by our second cast. Incredible jump's, somersault's, speeding bullet runs. Ye-haa! My buddy tried fishing bait on the bottom and in 4 cast's caught 4 Bass. Blues on top and Bass underneath them. Tremendous amount of bait spraying. I even had fun taking the hook off :0 the lure and letting the blues hammer the plug time and time again. :) Wrist's and arms sore, no more challenge, tooo easy, left.
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Sunday morning caught myself surfing the Saltwater Web sites, sipping coffee, day dreaming of surf, blue bird skies, crystal clear water over light colored sand flats, girls in bikinis - errrr, I mean, cruising blues and bass on the shallow flat's.
5 fish - 2 o'clock! , throw it 12 O'clock, 50 feet ! O.K. , let it sit there, dont move it, stay low, here they come, get ready, Now strip it, strip it faster, 2 fish just broke from the school, strip it - strip it, their nose is on it, there on it, keep stripping, their on it,

He ate it! The pictures above were actually a single 15 or above pound Bass in 12 inch's of water while wade fly fishing the flats. Saw it about 160 feet away. Head shot. Big'n, Cast 70, Adrenaline, leave it, don't move it, wait, Adrenaline, he flashed! Set it!

Ye-haa!! What a honk'a!!! Sometimes setting by sight is the answer.
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When I talk about perfect sight fishing conditions and mother nature being kind to you, this is the type of stuff you can hopefully expect. Obviously, I've also had just the opposite of these days too, which Im sure some of you can relate to. :)
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Had a slooow day on the flats while sight fishing. Only saw approx. 450 Bass all day. Most of these were all Migratory keepers. The rest were migratory Blues and resident Bass.
The morning started off unexpectedly reeel slow. The fish must have over slept. :) Around 11 we started to see them in small numbers. Then unexpectedly, at the BEST part of the tide where we normally see a crescendo of fish, it died. We left for greener pastures and found a few more. Still not enough to make me happy so we left for another flat. Before we even got there all hell broke lose. Would you believe that in the last 25 minutes of sight fishing today, that over 300 Bass (mostly keepers) came by us within fly casting range in schools of 20 to 50? WOW!
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Sight fished to approx. 750 Bass in 2 feet of water or less, the ENTIRE tide while wade w/fly. Ye-hha! Randy
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Same guest's for these two days. We had a blast fishing around Monomoy Island and picked up fish in every spot. The next day due to the wind we stayed inshore and played with Bass, Flounder and Shad useing the fly rods. Ye-haa!
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Last Week's Daily Fishing Log: 

Ton's and tons of Baby Sand Lances. Incredible size of pods. Birds working feverishly. Lot's of fish underneath them out in 20-30 feet of water off hardings beach.
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Massive amounts of tooth pick sized Sand Lances covering the flats today. Slooow sight fishing, but we still had a blast trying our hand at seeing and then casting to a moving target. Schoolies, Blues and a number of keeper sized bass. Saw 1 school of over 100 Bass that looked to be all Keepers. Other school's in 10, 20, 30 along with the usual 1,2 and 3's. Good number of snapper blues that we donated a few flies too. :) Did a lil blindcasting with success also. Another fun and exciting day! Can't wait to do it all over again tomorrow.
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Very dangerous and frequent lightning Thunderstorms, hail, rain and very high gusting winds (40 knots) was our forecast for today as of last night. It always pays to have a lot of very good inshore spots that produce at their optimum at different stages of the tide that are out of any wind direction.
Wouldn't you know it, that the weatherman was 100% wrong again today? It was a beautiful day of light to medium winds with 100% sun ALL day! Ye-haa. Another Bonus day. We sight fished almost all day and were rewarded with a good number of opportunities. Short's to a nice number of resident 20 lb. Bass! Saw very very few migratory Bass. The largest school of migratories had approx. 100 Keeper sized bass in it.
As we approached a particular section of the flat, I explained to my client that sometimes the migratory Bass will just sit on the other side, off the edge. Just relaxing, taking a break, having a lil Jacuzzi party is what I call it. Wouldn't you know it. As we approached the edge I suddenly asked my guest to stop walking. 100 feet in front of us was one of those school's of approx. 100 Keeper sized Bass. Just hang'n around, not moving. I've had Bass sit in this location and others for hours on end. But, not today. My guest made one cast into the school, hooked up immediatly and then they all got spooked by his fly line slashing thru the school with his fish on it. This sent them on their way. Besides all of the other fish that we saw that was the most memorable part of the day for me. I love it when what you hope for materializes and I get to share this incredible world of sight fishing the flats while wading with a new fly/spin rod angler. Needless to say it was another amazing, memorable day in many of late. :)
Happy hook'n,
Randy
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(Photo by John Halnon)
When I die, I hope I end up on a flat with sunny skies, (You need the sun to be able to see them) a 5-6 knot wind (this is the preferred speed of wind we like when sight fishing for many reason's) and big Bass doing head stands. (tailing)
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John Knight and myself, hard at work. Trying to stay
out of the fish's window.
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Back in the good'ol ladder days :)
I think this was one of the pictures that appeared in "On The Water" magazine.
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Another Sighted Fly Fish while wading the Flats.
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My good freind Bill O'Mally caught this 40 inch Bass while useing his 15 foot spey rod, 10 feet off the dry sand in the surf off ANY outer Cape beach. He was sight fishing to 100's and 100's of migratory Bass and Blues during the migration at this time of the year. Pretty simple stuff if you hit it just right!
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Wade Fly Blind Monomoy Island Wed. 8/6
We had an enjoyable day out on the island today. First spot, thru the fly in and my guest came up with a nice Bass. Out of the next 5 cast's with fly he was hooked up to 4 more bass. My other client was enjoying useing surface stuff and watching 4-5 Bass explode on it on a single retrieve - 50 feet. As soon as I retied him to fish subsurface both of my guest's were doubled up on a couple more nice bass in the mid - twenty inch range taken on a fly.
That was one the many highlight's of the day while blind wade fly. We worked (so whats new in August?) for the rest of our fish. We enjoyed fishing several different spot's and found more Bass, no Blues.White and olive clouser's - clear Int. line, white pencil poppers - floating line.
Best Fish's,
Randy
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Wind and casting aid's while fly fishing tips:
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1. When fly fishing and the wind is blow'n hard on your casting arm:
All we do is turn around and cast on our back cast when the wind is honk'n on our casting arm. Whether in a boat, wade, blind or sight fishing. This casting technique should be practiced until you become proficient at it. It's as simple as spreading soft but'a on a warm muff'n. Before long you will throw it as far or close to it as you presently are on your forward cast. All your doing is letting it go on your back cast instead of your forward. Your arm makes the exact same motion going forward as it does back. The trick is to train your forearm to make that "power stroke" quick and fast (when going back) enough to load the rod and keep a tight loop while fly fishing and letting it go on your back cast.
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2. The "Double Haul" is another valuable casting aid I would try to learn over the summer if you enjoy fly fishing the saltwater. Once learned it's easy stuff. You can do it with your eyes closed and you'll catch more fish. It helps you in all aspect's of casting. With out getting to deeply into the D.H. I start my haul at the beginning of my power stroke, on both my forward and back. Or another way to say it is at the exact moment and time that you initiate your power stroke, haul 6-10 inch's (fast) on both the forward and back. There is a lot more to this casting aid, but that's another article all together.
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3. Next time your fly fishing, got the wind at your back, let the wind make the cast for you . I've taken folks through the Orvis Fly School who in NO wind could cast it 40-60 feet, then put them with a strong wind at there back. Helped teach them how to throw it UP into the sky. And let the wind take it out 80 feet. Amazing!
I swear many fly fishing anglers are amazed at the distance they can achieve once this sky writing technique is learned. Lefty Krey said something about stabbing-jabbing the sky with the tip of your rod during the power stroke. You accomplish 2 things.
A tight loop and the line always goes in the direction you excelerate and stop the rod tip. So with a quick stabbing motion upwards, you maintain a tight loop. Also you are throwing the line up, towards the heavens. Leaving it for the wind to take it along for a looooooong ride. It's fun to teach and watch the reaction of my guest's when they get it.
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4. Another tip would be to use a 2 handed fly rod or spey rod. These are longer fly rods that you use 2 hand's to cast that are normally 12 to 15 feet in length. The longer rod is what I personally use in any and all saltwater fly fishing. The longer rod has soooooo many advantages that someday I'll write an article on it.
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5. Obviously, tight loop's (3-4 feet) are your goal on both your forward and back cast for over all casting. Look at your back cast once in a while to make sure your loop's are tight. Many angler's only perfect their forward cast and sometimes forget about the importance of the back. The back cast set's up the forward and is more important. I used to practice a tight loop by standing on the grass, floating line so I could see it real good and make sure I have a strong wind at my back. With a strong wind at your back, you are forced to throw a tight loop on the back or it fall's apart and with the bright floating line it should make it easy to see. Your goal is to train your arm. Remember - The distance the rod tip travel's during the power stroke is solely responsible for the size of your loop. Nothing else. The shorter the distance the rod tip travels during the power stroke, the tighter the loop. With wind at your back, you will have to make this speed up and stop (power stroke), fast and with power to keep, maintain, consistently throw a tight loop into the wind on your back cast. And have the fly line completely straighten out into the wind. Perfecting this with a strong wind will only make you a stronger caster.
The above are all tip's, techniques, things that we all use while fly fishing the salt. Hope it helps a lil.
Randy Jones
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Mail Bag:

What kind of FFing strategies do you guys implement when stripers on the flats seem to be in lockjaw mode? Any particular go-to flies?
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All great suggestions. Without giving the farm away. :)
The very first thing I do at this time of year to determine my fly choice is.
1. Are these migratory fish? I determine this by one factor. If they are they want a a specific fly presented in a very specific manner, In my opinion. Most of these dont like to travel further than 20 feet or so from the safety of the pack and or their leaders to their summer grounds. A lil luck and well placement of fly usually does the trick but not always. Food is not always the most important issue when dealing with these guys.
2. Are these resident Bass? I determine this again by one factor. If they are resident's then the next determining factor on what fly I use is solely determined by the size of these residents. Smaller like one thing and larger prefer something entirely different.
That's the first step, in my opinion to start to determine your fly choice. After that then there are about 4-5 other things I would consider if they are being fussy. Presentation as in most any type of fishing scenario is normally always the most important.
I also always try to pattern these fish before whittling it down to one thing or another. I never know exactly what Ill see on any given day, meaning what will be the most abundant Bass present (at this time of year, Re-read #1 and #2) until Ive had a look see. Sometimes I use 1 fly but fish it in two entirely different presentational styles, depending on type of Bass, (Migratory, Resident, size, etc....)
Hope this helps a lil,
Randy
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Near death experience out on Monomoy yesterday! (by an experienced wade angler?) Dont let this be you. I see stuff like this happen several times each summer!
Is your life worth reading this? Making a copy of this and reading it each time before you go to the Island? Sharing it with friends? Ive compiled my own and other's post's from Reel-Time.com of helpful tips that could save your life.
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If this can happen to someone who has experience out here, then what about those of you who are new or have a few years under your belt? I could sadly go on and on and on. I hope you ALL can learn something from this.
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The main mistake among MANY that this wade angler (not my client's) made yesterday was he waded blindly into an area he was not "intimately" familiar with on an "incoming" tide.
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Got trapped on all sides by the incoming strong current tide. I yelled, do you know where to cross? He said yes, and pointed to an area that was 12 feet deep at this stage of the tide. He tried to wade back across the channel (after I yelled at him and told him where the shallowest part of the channel was to cross and he might have to swim) and got up to his chest with water and current poring into and filling up his chest waders. Barely making it back to his almost isolated trapped casket. (I was the only one around who knew he was in deep trouble, talked him thru it, called for the rescue) Still trapped, panic stricken?, tide rising all around him. He did not have the shuttle boat's number pre- programed into his cell phone and did not know it to call for a rescue. His cell phone probably got soaked and was not working. He did not know where the high ground was to wait out the high tide or wait for rescue. He did NOT even know where he was at when asked twice by me so he could give proper directions to the rescue boat. (Maybe he was panic stricken?) Originally he had crossed a creek channel (did he even know this?) and did not know the proper spot to re-cross. He probably didnt even know he had crossed over a creek channel that was filling up fast on this oncoming tide. He did not know when he HAD to be back across this channel. As he tried to reach the high ground (after I yelled to him where it was at) he kept pushing hard against the current which kept getting deeper and deeper almost reaching his chest again. He may have been panic stricken at this point. I yelled "dont panic" you'll be ok. Walk to your right, its shallower. I called the shuttle service and they were there within 5 minutes to save his life. He said later that if he had too, he would have dumped all of his gear and swam to a certain beach. Only problem was with the current he never would have made the 1/4 mile swim to his beach. And may have died of a heart attack trying. He should have know to swim with the current to another beach, down current. He would of had to swim across the boat channel. Not safe. He may have gotten hypothermia being in the water that long and we all know what happens next.
I was very happy to have helped and very happy that it was me that was there watching his every move while I was working, even when he first crossed the channel when it was "safe", even before he realized he was in trouble. But VERY angry that all of this could have been soooooo easily avoided and that I almost watched someone who has the same love and passion for the sport as all of you and myself, almost die in front of my eyes.
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I'd like to thank "Outermost Harbor and Marine" - http://www.outermostharbor.com
They were there in 3-1/2 minuets. I couldn't believe how fast they got there to rescue him!
They provide a shuttle service to Monomoy Island, South Beach (2 stops on S.B.- across from Monomoy and all the way out to the South Way - (Bird watching, fishing and beach goo's) and Seal watching tours. They have 3 boats and run all day. Its open for the general public, on site parking, etc... I ride their shuttle boats almost daily.
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Another invaluable tip for your safety would be to go to Google Earth and look at this area. Print it out and take it with you. Any white sand you see would be the driest sand. This might be your high ground. Visually confirm this on your walk out. It would help you to get more familiar with the lay of the land and all of those dangerous creeks that fill in. Also, when you are there, most of the grass that is growing off the main island on the flats is normally some of your high spots where you could wait out the tide in most cases.Also, the whitest sand you see is normally the driest and can sometimes be your high spot.
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Another invaluable tip that has been mentioned numerous times on this and other sites is Cape Cod Bay. This area has 8 to 11 foot tides. Presently we are having exaggerated tides. (higher high's and lower lows) These are the tides that most wade anglers get into trouble with. If you are waist deep on Cape Cod Bay and you are 1/2 mile out on a flat (in some cases a 1/4 mile out), on an incoming tide, you CANT out run it. You WILL end up swimming. A lot of the time its the last 200 feet closest to the shore where there is a depression that gets ya. I know anglers that grew up here that are very experienced that have had to swim back from the Brewster flats.
Best Safe Fish's,
Randy
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Archives:
Flats 101- Safety first while wading or kayaking: This COULD save your life!

Here on Cape Cod, fog can become your worst nightmare when 1/8-2 miles out on a flat. Some of us have had close calls on the flats, so I would like to share some of the things I do to remain safe.

Number one rule is do not wonder into an area you are not familiar with. When I say familiar, I mean having an intimate understanding of all of the following.

2- Before I even walk out onto a flat I have already checked several weather related wind internet sites. I know direction and if its going to swing and at what time. As I walk out I pay attention to what direction I feel the wind on my face. This helps should I have to guess ta mate my return.

3- I know exactly in what stage in the tide I'm walking out and when it will change. I'm very familiar with tidal current direction at every phase of the tide for the flat I am on. Knowing current direction also helps with navigation when seeing land is not an option.

4- Over the years the sand becomes like a road map, every trough, sluice, creek, river, depression is memorized over and over each year. Even if you can not see 10 feet you will come across these things that will help you navigate your way back. I plan my return as Im walking out in the morning. Taking notice and studying everything Ive written here, should I need it.

5-Knowing exactly at what stage in the tide I can cross and (most importantly) re-cross (to safety) channels that surround the entire island. This knowledge is invaluable and requires your time and energy to figure each individual depression out. Crossing any channels out here is an advanced move and should not be taken lightly or done unitl you are intimately familiar with the area. By crossing, it allows me access to certain flats and a safe return. But, by no means do you have to cross any of these many depressions or channels to catch fish out here.

6-Taking in all audible clues as I walk out. (Cars, Fog horns, Bells, Motor boat engine noise coming from the main channel.)

7- I take a compass reading when I reach my destination. I carry a compass on my watchband for easy access. I carry a back-up.

8-Know the height of your tides. Worse case scenario is to seek higher ground and sit it out. Knowing were this area is at, is crucial.

9-A cell phone is invaluable should you happen to hurt yourself and walking back is not an option. Pre-program the shuttle boats number in it. Tell your buddies where its at in case something happens to you. Also the coast guard and harbor master's numbers.

10-Go with a friend or someone who knows the area as good as the inside of their pocket.

11- Know your moon fazes. There are certain tides in certain areas that will not allow you to out run them. No high ground to sit it out and the current is so swift you can not walk against it. Put yourself on the edge of a flat with a drop off and this current can at times run like a ragging river, as water drains off it. Someone lost their life a few year's ago under this same scenario.

12- An inflatable vest of some sort makes a lot of sense.

13- Look for the way water drains off the flat. If it drains to your right, then the high ground is to your left. If you can find the area where it drains off left and over to your right, you have just found you exit off the flat when faced with high water. Knowing this direct route will save you valuable time when faced with a fast incoming tide that you can not out run.

14- A good pair of polarized glasses are not only an invaluable tool for seeing fish but also for safety.

15 - GPS

Having to feel your way back in by following the edge of the flat with your feet is not an enjoyable feeling, especially when the tide has turned and the fog is overwhelming. This happened to me once (Nauset - Chatham Cut - Pleasant Bay) when I was much younger, green, not a guide yet, STUPID and did not know the above. It well never happen again! I could have easily lost my life!! So be safe, be smart don't fool around with Mother Nature. She always has the winning hand.

In closing, Monomoy is not a play ground and someone could die. If you post a report on it, you should also be responsible enough to point out the obvious safety issues.
Randy Jones

(Photo John Halnon)
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Ray, who is a moderator of a site adds a few of his own safety tips:
There is no question that safety is the biggest concern. Most flats are alluring. You "wander" around in knee deep water casting to fish, what fun.

What do most people do wrong?

1. Don't "know" the area in detail
2. Don't know the tide and how it acts
3. Don't carry basic safety gear like a compass and cell phone (please leave it off)
4. Don't USE their compass (their real good for telling just how lost you are)
5. This is a big one for me, they cross channels that may be 6 feet deep later that day!!!
6. Don't know about fog and how it can really get you crossed up
7. Don't carry enough water and food for a full day.

I have been fishing the NM flats for about 6 years. I do it about 30 times per year. Before each season I go out and wander around to see what changed over the winter.

If you ever find yourself in a place you feel the slightest bit unsure of, get out of there. It's just not worth it.
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Another angler adds;
Great topic. Not to digress or self indulge too much, but something to think about for people like me only fish there a handful of times each year.

I have fished this area for several years now and have hired Randy to show me how to fish the flats once or twice per season. With him I am in capable hands. Additionally, Ray has helped too with line advice, depth and speed (as a PM). Thanks for the help guys, and others on this board as well.


Thanks for stopping by,
Randy Jones
www.yankeeangler.com - Fishing Reports, Tips, Past, Present and Future Fishing Forecasts,  Articles, Pictures, Humor and Much More :)

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Feel free to contact my references regarding my presentations and experience:
  Whitakers Sports Shop and Motel (315)-298-6162
     Trout Unlimited Chapters:  

     Finger Lakes TU, NY
     Iroquois TU, NY
     Chenango Valley TU, NY
     Scranton TU, PA
     Catskill Mt. TU, NY
     Tug Hill TU, NY
     Southeast TU, MA
     Greater Boston TU, MA
     Northeast TU, MA
     Croton Watershed TU, NY
     Clearwater TU, NY
     Mid-Hudson TU, NY
     Iron Furnace TU, PA
     Stan Cooper TU, PA
     Thames Valley TU, CT
     Hammonasset TU, CT
     Chittenango TU, NY
Also:
     Orvis-Manhattan, NY
     Orvis-Boston, MA
     Green Mt. Fly Tiers Assoc. VT
     Rivers Edge Trading Co.(Orvis)
     Central NY Fly Fishers, NY
     Oysterville Yacht Club, MA
     Rochester Sportsman Show, NY  (2 ½ day show, paid featured guest speaker and fly casting demo’s.)
     Albany Outdoors Show, NY  (2 ½ day show, paid featured guest speaker and fly casting demo’s.)
     Wilmington Sportsman Show MA.  (2 ½ day show, paid featured guest speaker and fly casting demo’s.)

The above was written about 8 years ago and I've forgotten some of the International, National, Regional, State and Local Publications  - (Books, Magazines, Internet and Newspapers) I've been involved with since this was posted. Books - Spey Casting - Simon Gawesworth - First and also Second Editions, Rich Murphy - Fly Fishing for Striped Bass.
I was interviewed (along with Lefty K.) for an article on 2 handed fly rods (Spey Rods) in the surf and flats that appeared in Saltwater Fly Fishing Magazine. Once again, in the same magazine for my “go to saltwater striper fly”. Also in Fly Fishing in Saltwater. Additionally, I’ve also been featured in a few guide profile articles for the Albany, Syracuse, Utica and N.Y. Times Newspapers.  Some of my “How To” articles have also appeared in the N.Y. Sportsmen, N.Y. Fishing and Hunting, Salmon River Success Magazine’s. As will as many of the major East Coast Internet Fishing Sites.
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Thank you all for your words of encouragement, kind words and your continued support. Ill continue to do my best in sharing what I've learned through, experience, experimentation, borrowed ideas and taught techniques. I sincerely hope that what little I've been able to share with you will help you along the path to more enjoyable, safe, knowledgeable fishing.

Happy Hook'n,
Randy Jones

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Gift Certificate good for 2 people,  complimentary day of fishing, either on Cape Cod or Salmon River. Good anytime. (Except weekends and Holidays - my day's off)

www.YANKEEANGLER.com 

            The fishing of your dreams...

     Come wade or drift boat the world-renowned Salmon River, NY, for hard fighting salmon and steelhead during the splendor of the fall, winter and spring seasons. This summer, if you feel you're up for the fun and challenge, master your technique of sight fishing! Wade fish the many crystal-clear flats teeming with bluefish and striped bass off Cape Cod (Chatham) beaches, bays and Monomoy Island.

      Whether it's steelhead, salmon, blues or stripers that you're after, I am dedicated to introducing both new anglers and experienced anglers to the exciting world of freshwater and or saltwater fly/spin fishing. For novices, I place emphasis on fly-spin  fishing skills and supplement the day with knots, fly-bait selection, fish habitats, and prey species. For the more experienced sportsman, I'll work with you to hone your skills. I guarantee a rewarding experience.  

                                            ...  we'll make it reel.

                                 Salmon, Steelhead, Brown, Trout, Salmon, Steelhead, River, Pulaski, Pulaski, New York, NY, Salmon, Steelhead, Salmon steelhead, guide, Pulaski, NY, fish, fishing, guide, drift boat, fly, fly, spin, salmon, steelhead, lodging,hotel, mote, river, Salmon, steelhead, pulaski, ny, NY, pulaski, Salmon , Steelhead, Salmon , Steelhead, Pulaski, Ny, New York, NY, Pulaski, guide, fish, fishing, Steelhead, Salmon, river, River, guide, Brown, trout, trout, trout, Brown, Coho, coho, coho, coho, Pulaski,
                                                       Randy Jones
                         (Photo courtesy of Orvis)     http://www.ORVIS.com         

******************

Salmon, Steelhead, Brown, Trout, Salmon, Steelhead, River, Pulaski, Pulaski, New York, NY, Salmon, Steelhead, Salmon steelhead, guide, Pulaski, NY, fish, fishing, guide, drift boat, fly, fly, spin, salmon, steelhead, lodging,hotel, mote, river, Salmon, steelhead, pulaski, ny, NY, pulaski, Salmon , Steelhead, Salmon , Steelhead, Pulaski, Ny, New York, NY, Pulaski, guide, fish, fishing, Steelhead, Salmon, river, River, guide, Brown, trout, trout, trout, Brown, Coho, coho, coho, coho, Pulaski, 
Randy Jones is a full-time professional fly/spin fishing guide with over 24 years of experience. He has represented the Orvis Corporation as a guide and chief instructor of their 2 1/2 day Saltwater Fly fishing schools.
    During the summer, Randy can be found wade guiding the S.E. (and beyond) Cape Cod area's,  where sight casting on the flats to trophy Striped Bass is his specialty. During the Fall, Winter, and Spring Randy runs drift boat and wade trips on the world class Salmon River, Pulaski N.Y. for Steelhead, Coho, Browns, Atlantic's and Kings.
 

Pulaski New York Salmon River Pulaski NY fish steelhead guide Pulaski New York Pulaski New York Steelhead, salmon river steelhead pulaski new york, Pulaski NY, Pulaski Steelhead Salmon River NY steelhead fishing, steelhead fishing new york
"Salmon River, where Memories are Made"

RATES: SALMON RIVER Sept. to May - Wade or Drift Boat
One Angler:.....$225
Two Anglers:...$300
Orvis Fly Equipment - Spin rods provided (Flies and Egg sacks included)
Pulaski Hm: (315) 298-5999


RATES: CAPE COD May - August  - Wade flats, beaches, bays and ocean islands.
One angler -  $275
Two anglers -$350
Orvis equipment -Spin rods and flies, bait, lures provided

Cape Cod Hm: (508) 980-9473  Pulaski Hm: (315) 298-5999

Salmon, Steelhead, Brown, Trout, Salmon, Steelhead, River, Pulaski, Pulaski, New York, NY, Salmon, Steelhead, Salmon steelhead, guide, Pulaski, NY, fish, fishing, guide, drift boat, fly, fly, spin, salmon, steelhead, lodging,hotel, mote, river, Salmon, steelhead, pulaski, ny, NY, pulaski, Salmon , Steelhead, Salmon , Steelhead, Pulaski, Ny, New York, NY, Pulaski, guide, fish, fishing, Steelhead, Salmon, river, River, guide, Brown, trout, trout, trout, Brown, Coho, coho, coho, coho, Pulaski,
Hamming it up on the Monomoy flats while tight to a keep'a!
                                                 See ya ladder,
                                                            Randy


====================================================



            Salmon, Steelhead, Brown, Trout, Salmon, Steelhead, River, Pulaski, Pulaski, New York, NY, Salmon, Steelhead, Salmon steelhead, guide, Pulaski, NY, fish, fishing, guide, drift boat, fly, fly, spin, salmon, steelhead, lodging,hotel, mote, river, Salmon, steelhead, pulaski, ny, NY, pulaski, Salmon , SteelheadSalmon, Steelhead, Brown, Trout, Salmon, Steelhead, River, Pulaski, Pulaski, New York, NY, Salmon, Steelhead, Salmon steelhead, guide, Pulaski, NY, fish, fishing, guide, drift boat, fly, fly, spin, salmon, steelhead, lodging,hotel, mote, river, Salmon, steelhead, pulaski, ny, NY, pulaski, Salmon , Steelhead

Salmon, Steelhead, Brown, Trout, Salmon, Steelhead, River, Pulaski, Pulaski, New York, NY, Salmon, Steelhead, Salmon steelhead, guide, Pulaski, NY, fish, fishing, guide, drift boat, fly, fly, spin, salmon, steelhead, lodging,hotel, mote, river, Salmon, steelhead, pulaski, ny, NY, pulaski, Salmon , Steelhead- Pulaski, NY. Reports and Ramblings:

Sept. through April
 I hope you find my reports and articles entertainingly informative and mildly educational
Salmon, Steelhead, Brown, Trout, Salmon, Steelhead, River, Pulaski, Pulaski, New York, NY, Salmon, Steelhead, Salmon steelhead, guide, Pulaski, NY, fish, fishing, guide, drift boat, fly, fly, spin, salmon, steelhead, lodging,hotel, mote, river, Salmon, steelhead, pulaski, ny, NY, pulaski, Salmon , SteelheadSalmon, Steelhead, Brown, Trout, Salmon, Steelhead, River, Pulaski, Pulaski, New York, NY, Salmon, Steelhead, Salmon steelhead, guide, Pulaski, NY, fish, fishing, guide, drift boat, fly, fly, spin, salmon, steelhead, lodging,hotel, mote, river, Salmon, steelhead, pulaski, ny, NY, pulaski, Salmon , Steelhead

              Phil Leonardi                           Bill Cody                          
                                                           
  Salmon, Steelhead, Brown, Trout, Salmon, Steelhead, River, Pulaski, Pulaski, New York, NY, Salmon, Steelhead, Salmon steelhead, guide, Pulaski, NY, fish, fishing, guide, drift boat, fly, fly, spin, salmon, steelhead, lodging,hotel, mote, river, Salmon, steelhead, pulaski, ny, NY, pulaski, Salmon , Steelhead
            Jeff Pierce                                     Capt. Bill
                         Mustad US Sales Co-ordinator
                     
Salmon, Steelhead, Brown, Trout, Salmon, Steelhead, River, Pulaski, Pulaski, New York, NY, Salmon, Steelhead, Salmon steelhead, guide, Pulaski, NY, fish, fishing, guide, drift boat, fly, fly, spin, salmon, steelhead, lodging,hotel, mote, river, Salmon, steelhead, pulaski, ny, NY, pulaski, Salmon , Steelhead
The smile says it all. Nice colored up male Steelhead.



FISHING REPORT:
You will find fish top to bottom of the Salmon River Pulaski, N.Y. in all the normal places for this time of year, thier normal life cycle and these current water flows, combined with our normal and ever changing current breaks
-.
All presentational tech. working. Some much more productive then other's. (Care to learn?)
-
3 most important aspects are:
1. Habitat - We are ALL looking for the hole within the hole. (Normally, but not always) Sometimes standing 1-2 feet the correct or wrong way, can make ALL the difference :)
2. Rigging - Sometimes its the most important part of your successful fishing day. (Most anglers I see are rigged backwards and can ONLY hope for a lucky fish, unfortunatly) Rigged correctly? and it could mean fish after fish after fish!  :)
3. Presentation - This is the most important part. If you only fish 50% of your presentation in an 8 hour day. Then you are only actually fishing 4 hours. (Funny how that works out :) Most anglers only fish 30 to 40% of their entire drift!
A 100% drift is what you - we are after. This gaurrentee's you - us,  your best possible odd's to hook up. (Care to learn? )
-
Putting all 3 of the above critical aspects of your fishing enjoyment together consistantly, gives you the advantage on ALL other anglers. (Care to learn? If so, give me a ring or email)
Best Fish's,
Randy
-

Never to early to book something :) Email best or call 315-298-5999
-
If becoming self sufficient on this river is your primary goal, covering ALL aspect's, along with catching some trophy Steelhead and maybe some BIG browns. Ill happily do my part to work with you as a team, all striving for the same goals.
OR
If you just want to try to catch some fish while haveing fun, we can do that too, as we always do. :)
-
Want to increase your normal catch rate by 50-75% Gaurrenteed? Email me:)
-
Thank you all for your words of encouragement, kind words and your continued support. Ill continue to do my best in sharing what I've learned through, experience, experimentation, borrowed ideas and taught techniques while guiding you.
-
All of us (the local economy) who benefit from this fine fishing would like to "Thank you all" for spending your valuable fishing dollar's here :)
-
I hope all of my complementary past reports, tips, articles, pictures and ramblings entertains and keeps you safe while helping you in your fish quest! Sharing this free info. with you has and always will be my personal pleasure.
-
As always, my (Our) prayers and hopes go out for a safe stay and return home for all of our service men and women who are fighting over sea's and who also visit my site on a regular basis.
-
Thanks to all of you who have used my guide services in the past, refer trips to me and to anyone who stops by and spends their valuable internet fishing time here. :)
Best Fish's,
Randy

Thanks for another great 10-11 Salmon and Steelhead season! I'll see you all back on the Salmon River next Fall 2011 - Winter, Spring 2012 season for some more Salmon and Steelhead FUN!!
Never to early to book something :) Email best or call 315-298-5999.
-
If becoming self sufficient on this river is your primary goal, covering ALL aspect's, along with catching some trophy Steelhead and maybe some BIG browns. Ill happily do my part to work with you as a team, all striving for the same goals.
OR
If you just want to try to catch some fish while haveing fun, we can do that too, as we always do. :)
-
Want to increase your normal catch rate by 50-75% Gaurrenteed? Email me:)
-
Thank you all for your words of encouragement, kind words and your continued support. Ill continue to do my best in sharing what I've learned through, experience, experimentation, borrowed ideas and taught techniques while guiding you.
-
All of us (the local economy) who benefit from this fine fishing would like to "Thank you all" for spending your valuable fishing dollar's here :)
-
I hope all of my complementary past reports, tips, articles, pictures and ramblings entertains and keeps you safe while helping you in your fish quest! Sharing this free info. with you has and always will be my personal pleasure.
-
As always, my (Our) prayers and hopes go out for a safe stay and return home for all of our service men and women who are fighting over sea's and who also visit my site on a regular basis.
-
Thanks to all of you who have used my guide services in the past, refer trips to me and to anyone who stops by and spends their valuable internet fishing time here. :)
Best Fish's,
Randy
 
-
Looking for a great place to stay? Look no further!
-
http://www.coldspringmanor.com
Located approx. 1 mile from Pulaski center. Bass fishing in the private pond. Canoes for your personal use. I personally endorse and recommend C.S.M. lodging and you will too!
-
Welcome to Cold Spring Manor Bed & Breakfast.  We are situated on eight beautiful acres for you to enjoy during your stay with us. Three newly decorated rooms each with a full bath. Sleep in or rise early and enjoy a homemade breakfast in the dining room overlooking the pond. Make yourself at home while relaxing on the porch or taking a walk on the property to spot wildlife.   We are located on the snowmobile trail and only a short distance from the Salmon River. Our location makes it a place you will want to come back to again and again to enjoy the many attractions of the region. We are within an easy drive of the infamous Finger Lakes region vineyards, the Thousand Islands and Adirondacks to name a few. There are many antique shops close by to spend an afternoon browsing.  Trails for the cross country skier and slopes for the alpine skier are also available.

-

A sampling of one of my "Archived" weekly notes:
Mon. 2 new anglers, averaged a doz. Steelhead.
Tues. 2 very experienced expert S.R. anglers, hit 21, yes, that was 21 Steelies!
Wed. over a dozen
Thurs. over 17!
-
Last week over 20 steel played with in a day.
-
I had 2 clients who fished two days in a row.
Tues. 18 and Wed. 15 equals, 33.
----------------------------------------
My guest's have continued to find around a dozen Steelhead each day to play with, almost every trip. Sometimes, even a few more! Same as last year. These are VERY strong averages and not the norm if you look at the last 10-15 years :)

-
                    This could be you! :) Ye-Haaaa!

A couple of Spring 20lb. Bucks from Pucker Brush Creek, N.Y. - Ye-haa!
                                               (Released for your future fishing pleasure)
-

This heated fish catching machine awaits you! 
-
New Moffit Angling:
This new and innovative rigging will guarantee all of your fish are hooked in the mouth. (0% mortality rate, 0% foul hooked) I would have not believed it unless I had seen it with my own eyes in the saltwater. Pat has caught 100's if not 1,000's of Steelhead useing this method and I think only 1 was hooked in the tongue. His lost rate is equal to any other method. His method will actually increase your odds of hooking up with flies as they will have more action. You can use this with bait also.
http://www.moffittangling.com
-


16 year old ("Hot Rod" for the day) Tom's Holiday present from his Dad, Mike.
Tom was all smiles after fighting this big (approx. 16lb Steelhead).  This was his first time ever fishing for them. The second one even though  smaller, still gave him a great fight and both will last in his memory for a life time. Congrats Tom! I have a feeling it will be a long ride home for his father Mike! ( Both fish released )
-

(What a honk'a! Approx. 16 lb'r. Great way to end the day!)
Good fishing,  John
-



Gift Certificate good for 2 people,  complimentary day of fishing, either on Cape Cod or Salmon River. Good anytime. (Except weekends and Holidays - my day's off) 

            The fishing of your dreams...

     Come wade or drift boat the world-renowned Salmon River, NY, for hard fighting salmon and steelhead during the splendor of the fall, winter and spring seasons. This summer, if you feel you're up for the fun and challenge, master your technique of sight fishing! Wade fish the many crystal-clear flats teeming with bluefish and striped bass off Cape Cod (Chatham) beaches, bays and Monomoy Island.

      Whether it's steelhead, salmon, blues or stripers that you're after, I am dedicated to introducing both new anglers and experienced anglers to the exciting world of freshwater and or saltwater fly/spin fishing. For novices, I place emphasis on fly-spin  fishing skills and supplement the day with knots, fly-bait selection, fish habitats, and prey species. For the more experienced sportsman, I'll work with you to hone your skills. I guarantee a rewarding experience.  

                                            ...  we'll make it reel.



Congrats!!


5 Below 0 when this pic. was taken. It's funny how a "Fish ON" can warm you right up! My guest's played with over 20 Steelies this day. With the bright warming sun and no wind it was actually very nice. Got up too 10 above  :)
-
Humor
Today was one of those relaxing, enjoyable, peaceful rainy days. The only thing that was irritating was when the tranquility of the day was interrupted by that darn whining sound of my guest's drag's. Then people would yell, Fish On. Come on folks, can't a guide get a lil rest and peace and quit around here? The nerve of some people! Then I was expected to chase after this 16 lb. Silver beast that kept doing these darn 25 foot tail walks across the pool, then these obnoxious somersault's 4 feet into the air with a big ol loud belly flop with water splashing 20 feet in all directions. I would  have reeeeelly been upset if my hair had gotten wet. Then more speeding bullet run's until that bright orange stringy stuff would appear behind the fly line.
I just could not win today. Every spot I stopped to fish, my guest's would continually hook more fish. Out of 3 spot's my guest's fished, we hit them in all. I got so fed up that I finally stopped in a spot where no fish has been hooked in over 100 years, and my guest's were still able to hook some up. So much for a nice relaxing day on the water. I think I need to find a new, less stressful job, where a person can get a lil R and R. :)
-
Steelhead Season
This will be a short report. Not much to add to the below reports. We continue to see reeeeel good fishing. This past week we averaged between 12 and 16 Steelies per day. Ye-haa! I'd obviously recommend coming up! Besides anglers with guides, Im also seeing plenty of shore angler's finding a good number of fish also. That's always nice to see! Every spot that myself and other's are fishing, are with fish. We still have them in transition, so those spots are still producing nicely. All of us (the local economy) who benefit from this fine fishing would like to "Thank you all" for spending your valuable fishing dollar's here :)
Best Fish's,
Randy
-
Wed.
My guest's from Tues. joined me again today for another incredible fishing experience. At times we had a dozen 2-4  lb. Browns within a 10 by 10 foot area of the water. Sighted over 75 - 85 Browns over the course of the day with not another sole around. LOADED!! :) Incredible opportunity ALL day.
I hope you all have the chance to some day experience this truly magnificent fishery! Today we felt as though we were in Alaska, and NOT around one of the most popular fishing area's in the country! The fish we played with and landed were WAY to many to try to keep track off. Don't ya just hate when THAT happens? :)
ALL of these fish are just waiting here for YOUR, perfectly cast bait or fly. :)
-
Wed.
Dozen Chromer's played with!
-
Thurs.
Another approx. Dozen Steelies played with!
-
Friday
16 Steelhead played with!
-
Photo's complement's of my client, Karl A. Mueller, III (All fish released for you, your friends and or your children's future fishing pleasure!)

A BIG male King Salmon. Nice underwater head shot. Dont know if Ive ever seen one of these before. Unique view!
-
For anyone who is wondering, I am taking reservations for 2010-11. Most of this years Salmon and Steelhead guest's are re-booking their same day for next year. Email if intrested. :)
-

First Mate Matt, dad and myself out on my 16 foot heated driftboat, enjoying a Steelhead filled day during the Winter on the Salmon River in Pulaski, NY. 35 minutes drive North of Syracuse off the Interstate. Approx. 5-1/2 hour drive from the Boston area, approx. 4-1/2 hour's from N.Y. City. Steelhead average 8 to 12 lb's. We fish for them from Nov. all Winter into the first week of May approx. My personal favorite time to fish for them in order of preference, April - May, Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. and Nov. I have a BIG propane heater on the drift boat that I use during the Winter to help take the chill off. :) Works great!
We also (wade only) fish for (10-20 lb. average) King Salmon (Coho Salmon too) that run from Mid-Sept. until the end of Oct. Then we have Brown trout that average 3-5 pounds with some reaching into the teens during Nov.
Very reasonable flight's into Syracuse, car rentals, very inexpensive lodging, food and guide rates. :)
I supply everything but the chest waders.
-
Anyone with any heart problems will not be allowed to fish for steelhead w/ me :) With there acrobatic nature, speeding bullet runs, they have been know to stop and or jump start a few hearts, including mine on an almost daily basis. (Im kidding, of course!) Someone thought I was serious :) Randy 

-------------------
Steelhead Nov. - May


Steelhead Open Dates:
Lots of openings for early, Mid, Late Winter and Spring.


Good stuff Les, Congrats again! Mustad Hooks, the best their is!
-
-----------
Ron with a Reeel Steel Hum Dinger!  
                                        I'm often asked, "What was your best day on the water?” After 20 plus years of guiding in Vermont, Cape Cod and the Salmon River in New York, many best days tend to flash across my mind. As I search deep for one of my best fish stories, it suddenly hit's me. It wasn't my fish, my day or even my story that gave me one of the most rewarding experiences!
Just look at that young man's smile!    Congrats on that 16lb'r Tom!
-
Steve and Vinny had a "Day for Kings".
Biggest Steelhead was approx. 15lb's as it catapulted itself skyward toward the heavens, somersaulting several times before splash down! I could see angler heads turning as it sounded like a big brick being thrown into the water. Then a tail walk for about 20 feet. Dam..... I love this job.

Chris with a nice 10 lb'r. Final tally for the day was 9 total Steelhead, fly and spin rods. Congrats Gentleman!

        

Congrats everyone, on those fine "Holiday Cheer" Steelhead! I can't tell who is smiling more, the fish or my guest's.
-
Mail Bag:
Just to pump a little info from you with out paying,,,What do you think the best floro carbon line would be? I mean one that is strong and holds a good knot,,,thanks Mr. Jones
Hi Paul, Seaguar Fluorocarbon - http://www.seaguar.com/home.html Any time..... Best Holiday Fish's, Randy
-
Fishing Report:
Monday - Played with about 12-13 steelies. Good numbers all over the place. East to West, North to South. :)
Tuesday - Played with 7 or 8 Steelhead! Hit them in 2 out of 3 spots. Learned over 3 miles of some of the best chrome hold'n territory on the river
Wednesday - 5 Steelies with one guest. Ye-haa! It's hammer time.
Thursday - 6 Steelies with my one guest. Same as yesterday. Did one more fish today and cemented in presentation, presentation, presentation! :)
Intrested in some Slam'n Salmon River Fish?
-
Much of the week was about learning, studying, becoming the 10% that catch's 90% of the fish consistently. Listening to the fish. When we listened, we were rewarded. :) I know we succeeded in many more ways than to simply catch a fish. It's this knowledge (fishing a number of different good spots - habitat, changing your rigging, changing your drift according to the spot) that builds confidence and allows you to consistently return to this river, without a guide. And catch more fish than you have ever dreamt of before and for the rest of your life. It's this knowledge that helps you to pick up fish all day long.
-
We moved around a lot and hit fish in almost all spot's fished. Transitional and holding.
Holding produced better, 100%, more consistent. Transitional produced about 50-50. Send me an email if your intrested in acquiring the skill's necessary to proficiently and consistently with confidence catch these fish.


Wow, so silver. Now you know why we call them the silver bullet. This one is almost translucent and you can't buy a fresher looking fish on this river. :) Congrats!
We've been targeting Salmon lately due to the incredible numbers around. We have been picking up the occasional Steelie almost everyday, sometimes 2 or 3, different area's, while fishing for salmon. :)
The above picture was the last spot of the day. Planned on making just a few cast's on our way back to the parking lot. I knew this spot had remained unfished for the last hour before we got there. The odds were very good that at least a couple of fish had moved into it, as they often do. First cast, fish on, it's a steelie! Then another Chromer, then a couple Salmon in just 20 minutes or so. Out of the 4 fish, this was the only one landed. How sweet it is! Congrats on that beautiful Silver Bullet!
-
Time for a commercial break ;)

Randy,
Every time I go fishing, the optimist in me says "This might be the day."  Athletes pray for days like this, hoping they play in "the zone." I think fishermen do too. Surely, this is what keeps many of us thrashing the water with a piece of string. I can count on one hand the number of days when this has happened. Two of them have been with you. The first was two years ago today, Oct. 8, when I hooked 40 or 50 fish, including a 35 lb male king that now sits above my fireplace as an reminder of that one remarkable day of fishing. The other was last Friday. Not only did I land a pair of nice Kings, I also caught my first Cohos, a beautiful male brown and three fall-run steelhead -- my first grand slam on the Salmon River. All told, I had maybe 20 hookups, while my buddy Myles had almost as many and landed cohos, a brown and several steelhead. It wasn't as if this was a great day on the river. I saw many long faces and shaking heads as other anglers came up empty, lost lead and flies to the river bottom and called it quits by midday. The credit for my experience is all yours. I know there are many fishermen who can work the Salmon River and catch plenty of fish, especially when a run is on. I can do it on my own sometimes. But putting it all together when the fishing is slow as you did is a testimony to your skill, knowledge and hard work. Looking forward to my next trip with you and the chance to yell "Fish On"!
Regards, Jim

The Silver Bullet, Chromer, Metal Head, are all names we use for the Steelhead we catch all Fall, Winter and Spring on the Salmon River in Pulaski, N.Y., 30 miles North of Syracuse. (Interested?)
-
Randy, had another great fishing trip with you recently. Your knowledge, patience, and professional attitude gave us everything we had hoped for and more. We had a great time, and we are both still so impressed!  We learn something new every time we fish with you.  4 years and 7 trips....and you still have the same drive and desire we saw the first time you took us out!  You are a true professional, and you have customers for life.
Until the next fish bites, Garry
-
-
Stay tuned for more entertainingly informative and mildly educational reports and articles on this never-ending virtual fishing trip with your host Randy "The Yankee Angler" and friends.
-
The Author, Guide, Outfitter:
Randy Jones is a full-time professional fly/spin fishing guide with over 24 years of experience. He has represented the Orvis Corporation as a guide and chief instructor of their 2 1/2 day Saltwater Fly fishing schools.
    During the summer, Randy can be found wade guiding the S.E. (and beyond) Cape Cod area's,  where sight casting on the flats to trophy Striped Bass is his specialty. During the Fall, Winter, and Spring Randy runs drift boat and wade trips on the world class Salmon River, Pulaski N.Y. for Steelhead, Coho, Browns, Atlantic's and Kings.
-
Thank you all for your words of encouragement, kind words and continued support. Ill continue to do my best in sharing what I've learned through, experience, experimentation, borrowed ideas and taught techniques.
-
I sincerely hope that what little I've been able to share with you will help you along the path to more enjoyable, safe, knowledgeable fishing. Randy

******************

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Randy Jones is a full-time professional fly/spin fishing guide with over 24 years of experience. He has represented the Orvis Corporation as a guide and chief instructor of their 2 1/2 day Saltwater Fly fishing schools.
    During the summer, Randy can be found wade guiding the S.E. (and beyond) Cape Cod area's,  where sight casting on the flats to trophy Striped Bass is his specialty. During the Fall, Winter, and Spring Randy runs drift boat and wade trips on the world class Salmon River, Pulaski N.Y. for Steelhead, Coho, Browns, Atlantic's and Kings.
 

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"Salmon River, where Memories are Made"

RATES: SALMON RIVER Sept. to May - Wade or Drift Boat
One Angler:.....$225
Two Anglers:...$300
Orvis Fly Equipment - Spin rods provided (Flies and Egg sacks included)
Pulaski Hm: (315) 298-5999


RATES: CAPE COD May - August  - Wade flats, beaches, bays and ocean islands.
One angler -  $275
Two anglers -$350
Orvis equipment -Spin rods and flies, bait, lures provided

Cape Cod Hm: (508)980-9473  Pulaski Hm: (315) 298-5999

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Hamming it up on the Monomoy flats while tight to a keep'a!
                                                 See ya ladder,
                                                            Randy