Coldwater Flats line for Stripers?

[patze003]

Hi all,

Will be fishing Cape Cod first week of June. Air temps in 60's, water temps in 50's.

What lines do people like for the skinny water flats fish? There really isn't a good coldwater flats line that is appropriately grain-weighted with a longer head for better presentations?

Has anyone tried the grand slam in these temps? Looks like an effective line for my meridian, not too heavy, but enough to turn over large crab patterns.

 

[deceiverbob]

I have used bonefish tapers in water temps down to the high fifties for fall/winter fishing on the Gulf Coast. Just straighten the coils before casting. I also use Rio Gold which has a similar taper to the bonefish lines, but it is made for cold water.

 

[clsmith131]

I like the Airflo Ridge Striper. It does well in cold conditions, as well as moderate. I have fished the same one for 3 yrs, and it hasn't shown any signs of deterioration. I use it on a Hardy Zephyrus. It's a weight forward line, but not as compact as some of the more aggressive tapers out there. It seems to resist tangles much better than the Rio lines I have.

 

[patze003]

I like the Airflo Ridge Striper. It does well in cold conditions, as well as moderate. I have fished the same one for 3 yrs, and it hasn't shown any signs of deterioration. I use it on a Hardy Zephyrus. It's a weight forward line, but not as compact as some of the more aggressive tapers out there. It seems to resist tangles much better than the Rio lines I have.

Is it the floating or intermediate?


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[brokeoff]

I’m heading to the Cape this weekend. I’m taking a Rio DirectCore Bonefish, SA Bonefish, and Striper Ridge intermediate. My guess is that the DC, after a good stretch will have the least coiling issues.

I will report back.

 

[Rip Tide]

Hi all,

Will be fishing Cape Cod first week of June. Air temps in 60's, water temps in 50's.

What lines do people like for the skinny water flats fish? There really isn't a good coldwater flats line that is appropriately grain-weighted with a longer head for better presentations?

Has anyone tried the grand slam in these temps? Looks like an effective line for my meridian, not too heavy, but enough to turn over large crab patterns.

I'll be there, same week, as I have been for most of the past 25 years.
I use a regular weight forward floating line 90% of the time. Some people like a 10' sink tip on the flats, but I don't feel that's at all necessary
Don't over think it and don't wade out over your knees.

 

[brokeoff]

Additionally, the lines specs are as follows:

RIO Bonefish - 50’ head, half heavy @ 30’
SA Bonefish - 40’ head, true to wt @ 30’
Striper Ridge - 40’ head, half heavy @ 30’

 

[Rip Tide]

Seriously, the type of line that you're using is just about the very last thing that you need to worry about

 

[brokeoff]

Seriously, the type of line that you're using is just about the very last thing that you need to worry about

Isn’t it the most important thing?

 

[Rip Tide]

For flats fishing, I use a regular Cortland 444 WF9F with the tip cut back 6 inches on an 8wt rod.
I also have spooled up regular all purpose WF floating lines in 10, 11, and 12 weights for different rods, bulkier flies.
Plus 2 full sinking lines. One a type 3, the other a type 6.
I do carry a couple of intermediates as back-ups but I haven't used them in years

It's not whatever tackle that you might use that catches the fish

 

[clsmith131]

It comes in both

 

[Rip Tide]

Isn’t it the most important thing?

As far as I'm concerned, the most important thing is understanding the habits of the baits and how that effects the game fish that you'll run into.
IMO It's as important as understanding the hatches on a trout stream. Probably even more so.

The OP wants a line that will turn over big crab patterns for fishing the flats.
Well, never say never, but crabs are few and far between this time of year. They are a summer time bait.
Out of the 4 dozen or so distinct locations that we might fish that particular week, there's only one area that I can think of where crabs might be important, and those are little mole crabs.

What you will run into on the flats are big sand eels. 5-6 inches. And you don't want surf candy style ones either.
You want them tied Clouser style so that when they're on the bottom it looks as if they are digging into the sand.

Without looking it up, I believe that "the new moon in June" this year is June 4. And that my friends is just about the best fishing day of the year due to the favorable tides and how all that affects the baits and the gamefish.

Silversides spawn in the eel grass at night on the new moon tides and their milt fills the water drawing in stripers like buzzards on road kill.
If you can place yourself the right place, right tide, it's carnage that you won't ever forget.

Where I'll be spending most of my time there's going to to be huge schools of juvenile sea herring being blitzed tight to the shore
I see it every year. No doubt in my mind.

Know your baits. Understand the habits of the gamefish.

 

[patze003]

What you will run into on the flats are big sand eels. 5-6 inches. And you don't want surf candy style ones either.
You want them tied Clouser style so that when they're on the bottom it looks as if they are digging into the sand.

Without looking it up, I believe that "the new moon in June" this year is June 4. And that my friends is just about the best fishing day of the year due to the favorable tides and how all that affects the baits and the gamefish.

Silversides spawn at night on the new moon tides in the eel grass and their milt fills the water and draws in stripers like buzzards on road kill.
If you can place yourself the right place, right tide, it's carnage that you won't ever forget.

Where I'll be spending most of my time there's going to to be huge schools of juvenile sea herring being blitzed tight to the shore
I see it every year. No doubt in my mind.

Know your baits. Understand the habits of the gamefish.

This is great information. So, in terms of flies it sounds like olive clousers, ray's fly (silversides), and white/pink/blue juvenile herring imitations - what size on these?

 

[Rip Tide]

The herring are very site specific. Provincetown, Truro. About 3 inches

 

[Rip Tide]

It's a very big ocean and those three "hatches" that I mentioned are just the very tip of the iceberg.
That same time that the silversides are moving in to spawn, there's a younger generation swimming out in the opposite direction.
A lot to learn
A lot to understand

 

[brokeoff]

Went out for two days and fished the flats from a skiff. I threw the Rio Bonefish shortly and the rest of the time used a striper ridge a line size up.

I liked the Rio Bonefish for casting but the intermediate fished better in the 2-4 ft water.

Now I’m on the hunt for an intermediate, half heavy, with the Rio Bonefish taper.

Also, after getting our fill of tight lines we decided to mess with a crab. I don’t think mine were heavy enough. I had two schools inspect the fly and they spooked pretty quickly. Guide also said May is early.

 

[sweetandsalt]

I was supposed to fish the flats out of the East End of LI a couple days ago but had to pass. Had I gone I would have taken an 8 and 9-weight as rigged for bonefish with long Flouro leaders. I do have an Airflo Cold Water Ridge I can use in the fall during blitzes but it does not cast as well as the RIO Bonefish and Permit lines for flats applications. Incidentally, I think RIO DC Bonefish is 218 gr. in #8 just 8 gr. over standard...essentially a true weight line.

For the tackle nut who spends a good bit of time on the salt flats hunting bass (good luck) a "freshwater" long head, long rear taper line is perfect as its chemistry is biased toward cooler temps. RIO Gold (goes up to 8-wt. at 218 gr.), various Salmon/Steelhead lines and Cortland Omni-Verse goes up to size 10.

 

[brokeoff]

I was supposed to fish the flats out of the East End of LI a couple days ago but had to pass. Had I gone I would have taken an 8 and 9-weight as rigged for bonefish with long Flouro leaders. I do have an Airflo Cold Water Ridge I can use in the fall during blitzes but it does not cast as well as the RIO Bonefish and Permit lines for flats applications. Incidentally, I think RIO DC Bonefish is 218 gr. in #8 just 8 gr. over standard...essentially a true weight line.

For the tackle nut who spends a good bit of time on the salt flats hunting bass (good luck) a "freshwater" long head, long rear taper line is perfect as its chemistry is biased toward cooler temps. RIO Gold (goes up to 8-wt. at 218 gr.), various Salmon/Steelhead lines and Cortland Omni-Verse goes up to size 10.

I thought it was the same as the regular Bonefish. Just looked and you are right about the grain weight. I will say that it seems much heavier than my Striper Ridge as well as the SA Bonefish.

 

[patze003]

I was supposed to fish the flats out of the East End of LI a couple days ago but had to pass. Had I gone I would have taken an 8 and 9-weight as rigged for bonefish with long Flouro leaders. I do have an Airflo Cold Water Ridge I can use in the fall during blitzes but it does not cast as well as the RIO Bonefish and Permit lines for flats applications. Incidentally, I think RIO DC Bonefish is 218 gr. in #8 just 8 gr. over standard...essentially a true weight line.

For the tackle nut who spends a good bit of time on the salt flats hunting bass (good luck) a "freshwater" long head, long rear taper line is perfect as its chemistry is biased toward cooler temps. RIO Gold (goes up to 8-wt. at 218 gr.), various Salmon/Steelhead lines and Cortland Omni-Verse goes up to size 10.

I thought it was the same as the regular Bonefish. Just looked and you are right about the grain weight. I will say that it seems much heavier than my Striper Ridge as well as the SA Bonefish.

Picked up this Orvis line, made by SA. Think it could be a good option.