Wadeable White Sandy Flats, Crystal Clear Water, Cruising Striped Bass. A Fly Angler's Paradise in the North East

Standing in the white sandy flats of Cape Cod, in water up to my waist. Looking out at the horizon, it could have been the Caribbean if not for the school of cruising striped bass passing in front of me.

The ending of a very good day. | Photo by Ken Baldwin

Twenty years ago, I was fishing a steelhead river on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. At the end of the day, in a gravel parking lot, I got to talking with an angler visiting from the East Coast. I told him of my love of fly fishing for striped bass, and he shared with me how he was going to fish for them in Massachusetts in a few months.

A Taste of the Caribbean on the East Coast

He described wading hip-deep through white-sand flats that stretched for miles. Crystal-clear water. Sight fishing to cruising fish, and not a lot of fishing pressure. He described it as like the Caribbean, minus the coral and palm trees.

Two hours outside of Boston, Mass. | Photo by Ken Baldwin

A Fishing Fantasy

I remember thinking, In the United States, in the Northeast—big, Caribbean-looking flats where you can wade and fly fish for cruising striped bass… miles of it? No way. – If a place like that existed, I'd know about it. especially here in the U.S.

The Place Exists.

Yup. Years later, in Alaska, I learned from an angler staying at the lodge where I worked that not only did it exist, but he had fished it a couple of times. That was enough for me. I convinced him we should do a trip, and he agreed. That spring, we took the trip, and I fished a series of flats on the bay side of Cape Cod, and it was everything the guy in the steelhead parking lot said it was, years earlier.

Wadeable water and feeding grounds for the striped bass. | Photo by Ken Baldwin

Striped Bass

There are books—big books — essays, art, culture, and entire lives built around the striped bass, especially in the Northeast. It is a fish with a following, and for a reason.

Know This About the Fish:

• Striped bass can get big, but you don't need big to have a good time or a good fight.
• They’ll eat on the bottom, in the middle, and on top. When they want to eat, they eat.
• They’re strong and pull hard—They can take you down to the backing, and get big enough to take all your backing. But most of the time, they'll pull enough line for you to enjoy the sound of your reel's drag.
• They’re a beautiful fish.
• If you choose to keep one, they’re excellent table fare.

Love the lines on these fish. | Photo by Ken Baldwin

But Also Know This:

• The striped bass can be a complicated fish, and very specific about what it wants to eat. Matching the hatch matters.
• They are usually there, but not always there.
• They can be feeding, you can match the hatch, they can be right in front of you, and they still won't take your fly.
• They can become an addiction.

And Then There is This:

• At times, striped bass enter a blitzing mode. Baitfish, birds, and bass collide in loud, violent bursts of chaos. When it happens, it's a nutso, adrenaline-pumping, violent, and flat-out fun event.
• The places you fish for them are good for the soul.

Big enough to pull some line out. | Photo by Geof Garth

A Day On the Flats

It's June, the tourist crowd hasn't arrived in Cape Cod, so it's not a madhouse. The flats stretch out in front of us—white sand, shallow troughs, an empty space that extends for a mile. We walk that mile to the water's edge, aiming for slack or the tail end of the outgoing tide.

Crawl That Sucker Across the Bottom!

The Sidewinder Crab tied by Chris Kokorda was the ticket. | Photo by Ken Baldwin

At the beginning of the incoming tide, before the water has flooded the flats, I like fishing a big crab pattern on a sinking line. Crabs are everywhere out there. I’ve stood thigh-deep and counted dozens moving across the bottom.

There are a lot of color variations of crabs on and near the flats. | Photo by Ken Baldwin

Don't Be Fooled by the Bite

When a striped bass takes, it is often similar to a largemouth bass when you are fishing soft plastics. A tap, tap, or a dull, weighted sensation on the end of your line. A good strip set, and the similarities end there. What didn't feel like much of a take suddenly becomes a lot of power going for deeper water.

Photo by Ken Baldwin

A Clouser = A Sand Eel

As the tide pushes in and the flats flood, I usually switch to sand eels. I’ve landed stripers so full of them that their gullets were jammed with the little fish. The Clouser Minnow has been the most consistent pattern for me, and I think a lot of that comes from how the fly quickly drops in the water column—especially when it’s hopped or allowed to fall on slack line.

Sometimes it can be so thick out on the flats with sand eels that you hook them stripping back your streamer. This pattern works, but I'd still make a Clouser Minnow my first choice. | Photo by Ken Baldwin

The Experience I Live For

Standing alone in knee-deep, clear saltwater, scanning 30 yards out. The water is so clear that even at that distance, you can see single fish, pairs, and small schools slide across the flats. It’s hunting, stalking, a visual game. When a fish breaks from the group and tracks your fly, it’s hard to describe without sounding like I'm overselling it.

A lot of space on the flats to hear yourself think. | Photo by Ken Baldwin

Why I Keep Coming Back

It's that pause I take after I release a fish. I stretch a little, take a deep breath to calm down, look around, and this is everything I need.

I think back to that conversation in a gravel lot on a river in the Olympic Peninsula, and how unlikely it sounded at the time. It turns out that guy wasn't exaggerating at all.

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My Gear Preference:

• Rod: Orvis Helios D, nine-foot eight-weight.
• Reel: Orvis Mirage III (One size smaller than what the Orvis website recommends. Have an extra spool for on-the-water line changes).
• Line: Two lines.
1. Scientific Anglers Sonar Titan 3D. The 1/3/5 sinking line. To get the crab pattern crawling across
the bottom.
2. Scientific Anglers Sonar Titan Full Intermediate. It rides just below the surface, and you can still
get a Clouser to drop to the bottom and rise quickly to the top.
• Stripping Basket: A stripping basket will save you from a lot of frustration. The ESE Line Master has been the most comfortable basket I've fished

This Orvis combo has worked the best for me so far in this type of fly fishing. | Photo by Ken Baldwin

A Guide Worth Fishing With

There’s a guide on Cape Cod named Chris Kokorda who specializes in fly fishing for striped bass with large crab patterns. He’s known for tying effective crab flies and for a very specific way of fishing them with a fly rod. He's fishy, he can teach, and he knows the Cape Cod fishery. Spending a day chasing stripers with him—and learning how he fishes a crab pattern — is worth the time and the cost.

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"Slow down...listen to the hoppers...be patient with yer wife...eat sardines with hot sauce... catch “Gagger” trout!!!" – Flip Pallot

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