FYI... Worm-Hatch 101...This phenomenon has been a mystery and the source of frustration for me when the bite has turned off because of a hatch. All dressed up with flat wings and no place to go?!
www.stripermoon.com has an interesting current article and is a great source of information...it has helped me better understand what's happening and how to formulate a strategy. Way to go KenMeister! Cheers
It's always tough to pick fish out of a crowd of bait. I've had many such nights where I just sat down and watched. I am not a worm hatch expert by any stretch, haven't targeted them directly since I moved back from the west coast but I have run into them in the Nantucket Sound estuaries where I fish a lot and up inside the bayside creek bays.
Two things I would offer, FWIW (and that ain't much) - tenacity and tricks. If you drift a marabou tailed chenille fly long enough in the mass of worms a fish will eventually grab it. Also, when fish are feeding on thick masses of bait in obvious ways there are often other pods staked out on the lee sides of structure nearby who will greedily take any reasonable imitation as it comes over the top of the reef or rockpile. You sometimes have to walk away and find these situations despite the slurping and popping of bass everywhere in a basin to go fish a narrows at the start of the ebb.
I've been meaning to target a couple hatches this year. The spring clave at the Anchorage promises to be a prime candidate for a nighttime worm hatch BTW.
Flies: I just use two tone chenille, black for the head and then rusty red for the body with a flowing marabou tail.
So...A floating line with a short leader sounds like it might be in order with one or more wormy variation offerings...What sort of retrieve? (I know it all depends...) A dead drift with the occassional twitch or a VERY slow retrieve...I'm just looking for a jumping off point but would like to start the fracas with a little corporate knowledge to get my feet/fly wet. Tanksalot!
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