Sight-fishing the flats is a different sport from blind-casting the surf. You are hunting individual striped bass in shallow, clear water, spotting a fish, reading its behavior, and placing a fly or lure so it eats. The Northeast has superb flats, from the vast Brewster flats to the Cape and the Islands, and once you do it, blind-casting never feels the same.
Spotting fish
Polarized sunglasses are mandatory, they cut the glare so you can see into the water. Learn to look for the signs: a wake, a tailing fish, a dark shape, a nervous patch of water, or a puff of mud where a fish rooted the bottom. Keep the sun at your back and scan constantly.
The approach and the cast
- Move slowly and quietly. Fish in skinny water are spooky, wading or poling, keep noise and motion to a minimum.
- Lead the fish. Cast ahead of a moving fish so the fly arrives in its path, never drop it on the fish’s head, that lines it and puts it down.
- Match the food. Small baitfish flies, crab flies and shrimp patterns all work; let the fish tell you what it wants.
Tip Wait for the eat before you strike. On the flats you often see the whole thing unfold, and the temptation is to set the second the fish nears the fly. Let it actually take, then strip-set, pulling the fly away early is the most common flats mistake.