Interesting article in the latest Fish Sniffer magazine

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

http://www.fishsniffer.com/guest/060223stripers.html

It is about fishing artificial lures for Stripers and that would have a direct parallel to fly fishing for them.

[Katz]

Thanks for the link. I would really like to fish out of the same boat with someone using "conventional" tackle and see if fly fishing acutally works better. My gut is telling me that we would take them?

Katz

[slimfishin's]

My gut feeling tells me that dudes throwing gear, that know what they are doing, will out-fish a fly guy 5 to 1.

Trust me.

SF

[flygolf]

I think I would take that bet. 5 to 1 sure I'll put up $10 on that.

[slimfishin's]

I have had the fortune to fish with some fellows that throw some serious gear for stripers. Some would even admit that they often risk divorce or unemployment as a result of their striped bass addiction. Let's assume that they are good fishermen. Of course, for the sake of this discussion, we will assume that I am a "good" fly fisherman .

On several occasions, I have been either fishing with them in their boat, or in a boat next to them. Not once have I been able to come close to putting up the same numbers. In fact, three days ago, I witnessed this yet again. Two fly fishermen were cruising around the same hole as two gear chuckers in another boat. The fellows throwing gear landed 5 to 8 fish (up to 15lbs) within a span of about an hour. The fly fishermen got zero, fishing the same water. Maybe there was a big difference in skills, but it looked like the fly guys were pretty good... judging from their sweet boat and excellent casting.

My impression is that gear lends itself to being more productive, more of the time, in a wider range of conditions. However, there are always exceptions. (Think back to Tony's post about the guy buying the beers and fishing at night....) Whether or not it is more fun to fish gear is really a matter of personal preference. I'd be curious to hear if anyone has had similar experiences?

SF

[flygolf]

I think you bring up great points and probably would win the bet. I just like the challenge and the odds. The thing that I've notice most about striper fishing with the fly isn't so much the great casting that one exhibits but really the presentation that is involved once the fly is in the water. Not to toot my own horn because believe me I am not an expert!!!!! That being said, I have gone through holes that have been flogged by gear guys that didn't have any luck and been able to entice fish to strike.

There is no doubt that the gear guys have an advantage..more realistic actions and lures not to mention the live bait or scented variations (sardine wraps etc.) of swim baits. I just like the odds, like I said if $10 could get me $50, I'll take that bet.

One last footnote, if you want to take me up on it, do I get to ride in the boat? To me that would be well worth the $10 that I would probably lose.

[Darian]

Hmmmm,..... I'm in agreement with Slim on this.... Not taking anything from expert fly fisherman but If all things are equal a knowledgeable bait fisherman can ply his/her trade over more days each year than a fly fisher of similar interest. Nobody can argue that bait or lures are not more effective than flies for Stripers. That alone is going to equal more fish. Sometimes fly gear will just not work in "off" conditions (ie. high winds, high turbidity, etc.).

At any rate, in order to make this situation a valid test, it should be done under controls. The boats should be the same brand/model and equally equipped. The waters fished should be the same each day.

One day, the gear guys fish thru first, the second day the fly guys fish first. This should continue over a defined period of time. Each fisherman should carry an objective judge/partner for keeping a log of the results.

Having said all of that, I don't think it's worth all of the effort to do this anyway. Let's just go have some fun with all of our fishin' brethren....

[slimfishin's]

hmmm..... I like the experimental design part, which got me thinking. It would be interesting to see the creel sensus data for the Delta. The data to answer this question probably already exists! If DFG would furnish it, you could run some simple statistics to see if there is a difference in catch rates by method across all anglers surveyed. If you had enough anglers, it could provide whether flies or gear produce the most fish, on average, even taking into account the different numbers of people of each type (sample size issues). That way, you might include anglers of all skill levels as well.

On another interesting note, after talking with folks that have collected creel data in the Delta, it is indeed true that 10% of the fisherman catch 90% of the fish.... or something like that.

Well, I better go collect more data. This needs further study...

SF

[Katz]

I have some friends that fish conventional tackle out of Dixon Landing and I will try to get a "back seat" on one of thier boats in the next month or so and let you know how the #'s turn out.

Katz

[NCS]

Interesting topic! I fish with both gear and flies for stripers in the delta and bay (go ahead...call me Benedict Arnold ). When I take family members/guests it is much easier/fun for them to troll plugs. The rest of my trips, which is 75+ percet of the time, I throw flies. In the last year I noticed that catch rates per rod were definately higher with gear. I would guess they were almost 25% higher. Trolling is so efficient about placing and keeping lures in the strike zone and covering water. The flip side is that all the fish over 8 pounds came on flies! I also find it much easier to work a school of fish without spooking them with a fly rod. A stealthier approach with a seldom seen fly/presentation almost makes up for the efficiency of gear.

Another side note...I get so excited about fly fishing that I pay more attention to details. I spend more time checking for sharp hooks, leader frays,fouled flies etc. As a result I fish better and harder while making less mistakes.
Good Fishing
Nick