After a whirlwind tour of the Chesapeake Bay I am finally back home, casting to speckled trout on the crystal clear flats of Tangier Sound. On my first trip back I was greeted with some beautiful specks to 21-inches, along with a smattering of schoolie rockfish. It’s my feeling that the specks will provide us with some great fishing until their departure in late October.
Nathan Holsey shows-off a beautiful Tangier Sound speck
Not to be outdone by his son, Greg Holsey lands a fine speck
Casting to the pristine shorelines of Tangier Sound
Right before I returned to Tangier – and just three days since the completion of a fantastic Susquehanna Flats C & R season – I made a short four-day stopover to Fisherman’s Island, VA. Here we sight-cast to schools of monster red drum and big stripers. While this fishing is not for everyone – with long periods of watching and waiting – we did manage to bag a couple of trophies. For Ray Wasdyke his persistance paid off with a 46-inch bull red drum that would have pushed the scales to over 47-pounds. What made this catch so remarkable was that Ray landed the red on a 9-weight fly rod. A world-class catch by anyone’s standards. Congratulations Ray! A day earlier, Harvey Conard watched a school of big stripers cruise the nearby flats for perhaps fifteen minutes before coaxing one away from the pack with a bucktail/twister combination. After a game fight we slid the net under a gorgeous 40-inch rockfish. The stripers looked just like a school of cruising bonefish (big bonefish) on the clear, shallow flats surrounding Fisherman’s Island.
Ray Wasdyke with his trophy 46-inch red drum on fly – World Class Catch!!
Harvey Conard with his 40-inch striper
In the next issue I will take a brief step back, with highlights from a very good Susky Flats C & R season. Stay tuned!!
Josenhans Fly Fishing Blog 
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