Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating - View Single Post

'ol pajamas · 01-25-2004, 11:50 PM

I experienced three cinder worm hatches this past summer. Since I always carry some different types of cinder worm patterns that I tie I was somewhat prepared. On the first night I was fishing with a friend.

We were fishing three days before a new moon at around 8 pm and just before outgoing was to begin. At first we were only aware of a bizillion silversides. It sounded like rain as I waded through the water. There were also a great deal of grass shrimp. In fact, this past summer produced more varieties of bait, in massive amounts than I have seen in a few years. There were also more gnats eating our faces off than in the past.

We were both working silverside patterns but nothing was working as we heard bass busting the surface. As each quarter hour passed the noise of busting fish grew. It was so crazy that my friend and I couldn't stop laughing. It was really nuts. However, we weren't catching anything.

At one point, I was changing my fly and I saw a cinder worm in the water with my headlight. I took one and made a rough measurement: 1 1/2". I yelled to my buddy worm hatch. "Oh, #^&#^&#^&#^&" he said. I asked him if he had anything to use. He did. He had some red gartside gurlers with long red bucktails. I put one of my worm flies on and caught a bass. I then told my friend to chop his fly down to 1 1/2". He did and he began to catch more than I was.

The gnats were horrible and drove my friend home but he left me one of his flies. I chopped it to the correct length and caught a couple of stripers. But I was NOT satisfied with the results.

The next day I contacted a friend and I described how the hatch went down and I asked him if he thought it would happen again tonight. He said definitely yes and gave me explicit directions on how to deal with it.

What I learned was that the fly I was using was fine. It was the right size and had nice life to it. I ended up tying some different flies that were closer to what I had observed. The problem with what I was doing lie in feeling the almost imperceptible hits. I was most likely getting hits but either I didn't feel them and/or I was pulling the fly out of the bass's mouth without knowing it.

In addition to the 1 1/2" hot orange General Practioner fly I planned to use I was instructed to attach a float about 10" above the fly to keep it high in the water column for the entire drift. The key however was how to control the line through out the drift. What was critical was yo keep an absolute tight line by constantly retrieving it, not stripping but taking up line. The second piece of advice was how to set the hook. The stripers (and large shad too!) were inhaling these worms but I guess were not moving away and the hook would just come out of their mouths. However, when the slightest interference in the line was felt I was instructed to not set the hook but to hold the line tight and as tension grew on the line to match it by gradually adding pressure from my side with my line hand. It worked well. I got down their that night an hour later (9 pm) with turning tide and left at 1:30am.

I wasn't able to get down to the water for the next couple of days but I did find another worm hatch four days before the next new moon and had the similar positive results. It ended up being the best fishing for the year.

01-25-2004, 11:50 PM	#6
'ol pajamas Registered User iTrader: (0) Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Eastern Long Island Posts: 43	I experienced three cinder worm hatches this past summer. Since I always carry some different types of cinder worm patterns that I tie I was somewhat prepared. On the first night I was fishing with a friend. We were fishing three days before a new moon at around 8 pm and just before outgoing was to begin. At first we were only aware of a bizillion silversides. It sounded like rain as I waded through the water. There were also a great deal of grass shrimp. In fact, this past summer produced more varieties of bait, in massive amounts than I have seen in a few years. There were also more gnats eating our faces off than in the past. We were both working silverside patterns but nothing was working as we heard bass busting the surface. As each quarter hour passed the noise of busting fish grew. It was so crazy that my friend and I couldn't stop laughing. It was really nuts. However, we weren't catching anything. At one point, I was changing my fly and I saw a cinder worm in the water with my headlight. I took one and made a rough measurement: 1 1/2". I yelled to my buddy worm hatch. "Oh, #^&#^&#^&#^&" he said. I asked him if he had anything to use. He did. He had some red gartside gurlers with long red bucktails. I put one of my worm flies on and caught a bass. I then told my friend to chop his fly down to 1 1/2". He did and he began to catch more than I was. The gnats were horrible and drove my friend home but he left me one of his flies. I chopped it to the correct length and caught a couple of stripers. But I was NOT satisfied with the results. The next day I contacted a friend and I described how the hatch went down and I asked him if he thought it would happen again tonight. He said definitely yes and gave me explicit directions on how to deal with it. What I learned was that the fly I was using was fine. It was the right size and had nice life to it. I ended up tying some different flies that were closer to what I had observed. The problem with what I was doing lie in feeling the almost imperceptible hits. I was most likely getting hits but either I didn't feel them and/or I was pulling the fly out of the bass's mouth without knowing it. In addition to the 1 1/2" hot orange General Practioner fly I planned to use I was instructed to attach a float about 10" above the fly to keep it high in the water column for the entire drift. The key however was how to control the line through out the drift. What was critical was yo keep an absolute tight line by constantly retrieving it, not stripping but taking up line. The second piece of advice was how to set the hook. The stripers (and large shad too!) were inhaling these worms but I guess were not moving away and the hook would just come out of their mouths. However, when the slightest interference in the line was felt I was instructed to not set the hook but to hold the line tight and as tension grew on the line to match it by gradually adding pressure from my side with my line hand. It worked well. I got down their that night an hour later (9 pm) with turning tide and left at 1:30am. I wasn't able to get down to the water for the next couple of days but I did find another worm hatch four days before the next new moon and had the similar positive results. It ended up being the best fishing for the year.