Fly casting to schoolies on a calm, colorful morning was the perfect way to finish the summer striped bass season!
On the last day of the summer striped bass season, the weather cooperated for fantastic fishing in the Severn River. You’ll see reminders all day and into August about the one-month striped bass moratorium in the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. It begins on Saturday 8/1 and continues through Monday, 8/31. So, what’s a striper angler to do before the deadline? Fish as much as possible, of course. I took the opportunity to do so. My window to fish was early, 5–8 a.m., the wind was mild from the north, water temp at 80F on the dot, and the tide incoming-to-slack high, altogether making for a gorgeous morning with beautiful fish feeding.
Launching at 5:15 a.m. afforded me the time to motor slowly and quietly to my first chosen spot—a lazy, five-foot deep shoreline with a few underwater boulders and riprap. I say lazy because the water was calm with little activity.
The full moon from just one night before still showed bright in the western skyline, while the first embers of sunlight began to burn along the eastern horizon. A stunning dawn panorama that I never tire of witnessing.
I casted the floating fly line with a tiny, black popper fly on the end, being patient and precise with the mechanics of each cast. Some improvement in that department. Within a few satisfactory casts made, one fish swiped at the fly but didn’t connect. I was happy a fish was even interested in my offering, after several recent outings of fruitless top water casting.
Moving to another spot—a small sandbar point—yielded similar results. No fish taken, but a modicum of interest shown with one splashing fish near the fly. By this time, the sun had risen a finger high and I felt it best to switch to a reel packed with intermediate line and the go-to Clouser fly—only this time, I downsized the fly a smidge to better match the small minnows that the striped bass have been feeding on these past few weeks.
With the new setup ready to go, I motored to a favorite stretch of deep water docks that usually harbor fish at their ends, where the water drops from about 7 feet sharply to 17 or 20. The gentle wind from the north provided just the right amount of push to ease my boat along a southern course along the docks. A perfect, quiet drift.
Eventually I was swept into the hot-spot where some fish were holding and feeding on balls of bait. I casted perpendicular toward the shoreline/docks, let the Clouser settle down in the water column for several seconds, and slowly worked the fly back in very short, tight strips. On the first pass through this spot, I hooked into a small, 13” fish. I motored back upwind and made another pass through the spot. Another fish, slightly better size at maybe 14”. Another pass, another fish. This one was about 15 or 16.” Judging from the side-scan graph, the stripers of this school probably didn’t crack 20” in size. But on the fly rod, they put up a very fun, little fight. Though I tried to get the fly deeper in the water column to any bottom dwelling fish that may have been slightly bigger, no fish struck. And having worked this spot long enough to feel thorough with my efforts, I called it a day and headed home.
Catching and releasing a few frisky, albeit small, schoolies on the fly just before Maryland shuts down the striped bass season was a blessing and gave me an injection of confidence that I’m doing some things right when it comes to fly fishing on the Severn River. This is a new endeavor for me—an enjoyable challenge that’s wholly different from spin and conventional casting. Come September when the autumn striper season picks up, I’ll be ready.
See y’all on the water again, real soon!
