striped bass | Josenhans Fly Fishing Blog

December Stripers on Fly

6 12 2014

Still some nice rockfish around for those who don’t mind a long run in a cold boat. No heater in my Jones Brothers but we still have fun. Here’s a brace of 30-inch stripers caught today on my G. Loomis NRX 9 weight.

Bull Red Drum & Trophy Stripers

18 05 2014

Bull red drum fishing on the Virginia Eastern Shore flats is as good as it gets! – at times. When conditions are right, this is world class fishing. In nine days of fishing the flats and shoals at the mouth of the bay my anglers boated 11 red drum of 43 to 50 inches. All but one were caught casting artificial’s, mainly 5″ Tsunami and Storm shads. Two gorgeous 46-inch reds were landed on fly. A four-inch half & half in white was the ticket.

Skip Powers proudly shows off one of six reds boated during his two day trip

Bob Lepczyk with a nice red after a hard-fought battle on a G.Loomis NRX 9 wt. Photo credit Bob Lepczyk

As an added bonus, we were blessed with four days of trophy stripers cruising the shallow flats of the nearby barrier islands. Looking not unlike dense schools of large bunker from a distance, upon closer observation it soon became evident this mass of fins and scales was anything but bait. This was flats fishing heaven. Forty-inch striped bass gently gliding around and under the boat in turquoise colored water was a site to behold. Large Stillwater poppers pulled through the tightly packed schools brought explosive strikes and long, hard runs from rockfish weighing upwards of twenty-five pounds. The Susquehanna Flats was never like this!

Skip Powers with a brace of trophy rockfish

John Nelson hefts a big rock fooled by a Stillwater popper

For more photos and details of the trip check out my soon to be published e-newsletter. You can subscribe by visiting my website at JosenhansFlyFishing

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Tags: fly fishing, Red Drum, striped bass, Virginia Eastern Shore
Categories : Fishing Reports

Josenhans Fly Fishing – Susquehanna Flats 2014

13 12 2013

Believe it or not, I am already receiving calls about the 2014 Susquehanna Flats Catch & Release Striped Bass Season. For those of you who have yet to fish the flats with me, I keep my Jones Brothers Cape Fisherman docked at the Havre de Grace City Yacht Basin for several weeks each April. If you have fished the flats, you also know that the fishing can be like Forrest Gump’s proverbial box of chocolates – “you never know what you’re gonna get.” This past spring we experienced a handful of days (five to be exact) of some of the hottest fishing the flats can provide. Rockfish up to 43-inches provided consistent action in water no deeper than six-feet, exciting light-tackle fishing to say the least. Then we had an early spawn and the stripers vacated the flats for over a week, and never really returned in numbers. The remainder of the season was spent working really skinny water, casting to several pods of trophy stripers that ventured back onto the flats post-spawn. This can be exciting fishing, especially during low-light periods when the large rockfish would crash a surface popper. There were several days where we did more fishing than catching, but that chance at a real trophy on light tackle kept people’s interest. That said, you can book your trip today with the assurance that should the rockfish decide to play hard-to-get, I will inform you ahead of time so you can decide for yourself if you wish to roll-the-dice. When making your decision, be mindful of the fact that the fishing can get hot with each new tide. Drop me an email at KJosenhans@aol.com or give me a call at 443-783-3271 if you would like to get in on some shallow water striper fishing.

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Tags: Bass Assassin, Bass Kandy Delights - BKD, Chesapeake Bay, fly fishing, G.Loomis, Li'l Jimy, rockfish, Specialized Baits, striped bass, Susquehanna Flats, topwater
Categories : Fishing Reports

Josenhans Fly Fishing – Chasing Birds

25 11 2013

Birds are our friends. Especially BIG birds. Gannets, pelicans and large gulls all signal big bait and, subsequently, big stripers. That is what we have been searching for of late as we cruise Tangier Sound and the bay proper in pursuit of migrating, ocean-run stripers. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your point of view, my clients have had to find content in 75-fish-per-person days of school-sized rockfish. Most of the stripers have been in the 15 to 18-inch size range, but a dozen or two 18 to 23-inches fill the creel on most days. I did have one lucky angler pull a 34-inch striper out from under some resting gannets near the mouth of the Choptank River on a recent outing. Fish have been caught casting Bass Assassin Sea Shads, Specialized Baits Li’l Jimys and Clouser Minnows. While a few trophy fish have been caught in the main bay, we are still waiting for the arrival of sea-run stripers to Tangier and Pocomoke Sounds. The first half of December was very good last year and we’re hoping for a repeat performance this season. Drop me a line if you’d like to get in one last shot at a rockfish dinner before the snow comes.