Big Striped Bass: Best Flyfishing Retrieves
by Ted Demopoulos

Striped bass -- so what's a big one on flyrod? Just for this discussion, let's consider big to be 20 pounds and up. That might be a 40" thin striper, or a 32" football, both of which I'm happy to catch. I won't claim I've caught lots of big striped bass flyfishing, but after a few decades I've caught a few, and two retrieves have produced ALL of them for me.


The Best Retrieve for Big Striped Bass . . .
Is NO retrieve at all. Yes, just cast out your fly so the current works it, and keep your light tight and your rod tip pointed at the fly so it swings with the current.

Your fly might be moving incredibly fast at a river mouth with the tide ripping, or barely moving in an almost slack current, but fish, including big fish, love this.
Ever see bait just hanging in the water, maybe grass shrimp, or sand eels, or tinker mackerel? Just floating almost motionless in the current? Well, striped bass have seen them too and love to eat them.
I particularly like this (non) retrieve in river and stream mouths on the outgoing tide. Cast your flyline across the current, angling about 45 degrees from downstream so your fly drifts naturally across the current. Point your flyrod at the fly as it drifts and when your fly stops moving, retrieve and repeat.

This is a killer technique! It also works in the surf, off of rocks, and anywhere there is current. You might get a forty foot drift, you might get a four inch drift, but any drift may be enough to attract a large striped bass to your fly.

The 2nd Best Retrieve for Big Striped Bass . . .
So if no retrieve is the best fly retrieve for big bass, what is the second best?
Well, everyone always says, "vary your retrieve," so vary your retrieve to the extreme.

The 2nd best retrieve for big striped bass is fast -- as fast as possible. Put the flyrod under your arm and strip with both hands literally as fast as you can! I'll sometimes use one hand only as it's easier, but sometimes a two handed super fast retrieve works when a one handed one doesn't.
I love this retrieve off rocks, especially during the daytime. Sometimes it works when nothing else does. I also love it when fishing from a boat.
I've taken some big striped bass on flyrod using these two retrieves. How big?? No monsters yet, and I can't tell you how much the biggest have weighed as I released them, but I've taken a number of 20 and 30 pound class striped bass on flyrod, and a couple of stripers that may have been in the low 40s.




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