The now "educated" finny residents have all graduated from high school and are now on their way to receiving their bachelor's degree on what is edible or not. These are our FUSSY fish! To me this is the most challenging and fun time of the year. We're seeing on the average of one to two hundred fish on the flats in a day under the right conditions. Thirty percent of them are big - ten to twenty pounds. Talk about mastering your technique of sight fishing on the sand flats. There's no such thing as an easy fish. All the pieces of the puzzle must come completely together to succeed on the flats. Longer leaders (12 foot tapered 8 to 10 pounds), Fluorocarbon leaders, smaller flies. Leading fish by thirty to seventy-five feet. Knowing your water to determine exactly when in the tide they will show up on certain flats. Knowing structure, so the fish will be funneled by you, allowing you the most "shots." Believe it or not, we're catching lots of the big ones on bonefish flies. We're just showing them something different and helping with their education. Slowing down your retrieve and sometimes dead drifting the fly to a big sighted fish works. Most of the time no retrieve at all using crabs is best and setting by sight is the answer. Achieving speed and accuracy in your casting skills is a must.

July 7- 8 Report

From the second we waded onto the flats in the early morning until we pulled ourselves away in the late afternoon, we were sighting large numbers of ten to twenty pound bass in one to three feet of water! Did we slay'em? I wish! Did we have the time of our lives trying to outsmart them? You betcha! All fish caught were done so on either the dropping or incoming tide. We cast to several big ones during slack tide but none were too eager to eat. They were only eating 1 ½ inch sand lances and 1 ½ inch shrimp.

Aug. 8-Report

Perfect day for sight fishing. I walked, walked and walked and saw fish, fish, fish. More than I have seen in a while (400-Aprox.) Came to one creek and counted no less than 100, just hanging around feeding in 3ft. water. Caught some, but got bored, no challenge, moved on. The most productive fly for me has been Toms rattle crab! Walked a short distance to where the creek empties into a tidal river and found 75 or so hanging around the drop-off. Decided to only present to the biggest bass and could not fool them, so moved on leaving them undisturbed and less educated, if there is such a thing this time of year. Normally you'll see 100-200 in a day if conditions are right and you know where they feed, travel at different stages of the tide. Monomoy is a huge vast area, which requires a lot of time on the water (T.O.W.) to fish it proficiently, in my opinion. Knowing structure and currents will help you figure out the routes they travel day after day and take the guess work out of it. Knowing the dominant bait and imitating it exactly will put you in the ballpark (silver sides and sand lances-1-3 in. long, half the thickness of a pencil.) Use clear intermediate lines, long leaders and you're rigged for most sight fishing situations this time of year.

More Tips:

Try holding ten to fifteen feet of fly line outside the tip when sight casting to allow fewer false casts. Don't blind cast. If you can't see them, they are not there. The commotion generated from blind casting will surely spook any fish just out of sight that you may have had a shot at. Or what usually happens to me after I've made that eighty-foot cast, a nice bass comes by within twenty feet and swims under my line. Ha!

Lead the fish by forty to fifty feet. Before casting, decide its projected path. Current direction, depth of water and contour of bottom are the keys to success in this determination. By leading the fish so far in advance you are allowing your fly to sink to eye level of the fish and tripling your chance of success. Hoping the fish will rise up to your fly is normally met with a refusal, unless you are lucky enough to be on a hot fish. Anytime you can make it easier for the fish to feed, so fish has to exert as little energy as possible, you'll triple your catch rate. Ever thought about using a 300 to 400 grain ORVIS depth-charge fly line in two to six feet of water to achieve this? I've been doing it for years (Thanks, Bob) and it's produced some real COWS!

Temperature of water is key. In the spring and early summer search out warmer water, you'll be rewarded with fish. In mid to late summer do the opposite. Hope this will help you the next time you visit my home away from home.

Next Time, Baitology! ~ Randy Jones

About Randy:

Randy Jones is a full-time professional fly/spin fishing guide with over 18 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 guiding the Monomoy Island area 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 for Steelhead, Coho, Browns, Atlantics, and Kings. E-mail randysjones@earthlink.net or visit his Web Site: http://www.yankeeangler.com/