Fly Fishing for Freshwater Striped Bass: A Complete Guide to Tackle, Tactics, and Finding Fish

by Henry Cowen, Dave Whitlock (Foreword by)

Overview

Here fishing guide and fly designer Henry Cowen shares decades of hard-earned knowledge of stripers for the first time. Learn about the species, its food, and where and how to find them, so you can land far more and bigger stripers.

Knowing where and how to find stripers is key, and Cowen offers proven techniques for locating fish in both reservoirs and rivers, including water temperature, seasonal patterns, weather patterns, locating the bait, water clarity, and wildlife and how it can help anglers. The popularity of fishing for striped bass in freshwater is growing quickly, especially as global warming allows the fish to live in waters that used to be too cold. This is the first major book on the subject, one that is sure to be part of a big trend among fly fishers.

Cowen carefully outlines fishing tactics, along with detailed photographs of the steps involved, covering:

• Retrieving a striper
• Fishing a point, uphill and downhill
• Working a topwater fly (constant retrieve)
• Hooking a fish (strip strike)
• Fishing a hump
• Fishing a saddle or blow-through
• Fishing a breakwater
• Using the countdown method
• Fishing a deep hole in a river
• Fishing a creek in a river
• And much more!

Cowen also takes a close look at freshwater striped bass, explaining how natural and stocked fisheries are managed as well as the difference between the various species. Along with help choosing equipment and some notes on wading tactics, anglers will have everything they need to improve their fishing techniques or make a start on this popular all-American outdoor sport.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781510735019
Publisher:	Skyhorse
Publication date:	11/17/2020
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	643,717
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Dave Whitlock is the author or illustrator of many fine angling books, including Dave Whitlock’s Guide to Aquatic Trout Foods, the L.L. Bean Fly-Fishing Handbook, and the L.L. Bean Fly Dishing for Bass Handbook. He resides in Welling, Oklahoma.

Table of Contents

Foreword Dave Whitlock vii

Preface and Acknowledgments xi

Chapter 1 About the Fish 1

How the Fishery Started 1

Different Strains of Fish and Their Range 4

Growth Rate and Lifecycle 6

Fisheries Management for Freshwater Stripers 9

How the Fishery Happens (Natural vs Stocking) 11

Chapter 2 Where to Find the Fish (Top Reservoirs in the USA) 15

Chapter 3 The Food Source (What Striped Bass EAT) 19

Forage Fish 19

How to Find the Forage in Reservoirs 23

Chapter 4 Tactics Used to Locate Striped Bass in Reservoirs 31

Seasonal Patterns Used to Find Striped Bass 31

Water Temperature: How It Affects Striped Bass Fishing 37

Weather Patterns: How They Affect Striped Bass 40

Moon Phases: Their Effect on Striped Bass 44

Water Clarity in Reservoirs: How It Affects Striped Bass 46

Dams, Power Plants, and Pump Storage Reservoirs 49

Structure Forage Fish Use to Hide in a Reservoir 52

Wildlife and How It Can Aid Anglers 56

Nighttime Fishing 61

Chapter 5 Tactics Used to Catch Striped Bass in Reservoirs 69

How to Target Surface Feeding Fish 69

How to Use Electronics to Find Subsurface Fish 73

How to Fish the Countdown Method 78

How to Fish a Point (Uphill and Downhill) 81

How to Fish a Hump 84

How to Fish a Saddle or Blow-Through 87

How to Fish a Seawall or Breakwater 89

How to Fish a Pocket 91

How to Fish a Fly in a Reservoir (Retrieve) 94

How to Hook a Fish (Strip Strike) 97

Chapter 6 Tactics Used to Locate Striped Bass in Rivers 101

Seasonal Patterns Used to Find River Stripers 101

How Weather Patterns Affect River Stripers 103

Water Flow and How It Affects Finding River Stripers 106

How Water Temperatures Affect Striped Bass and Their Forage 109

How Water Clarity Affects Striped Bass in Rivers 111

How to Locate Forage in a River 113

Chapter 7 Tactics Used to Catch Striped Bass in Rivers 117

How to Fish a Deep Hole in a River 117

How to Fish a Creek in a River 119

How to Fish a Bend in the River, or Distinct Point 121

How to Fish a Shoal 124

Using Blowdowns to Help Find River Stripers 126

Fly Positioning and Retrieving the Fly 128

Hooking a Fish (Strip Strike) 131

How Fishing Pressure Affects a River 133

Chapter 8 Equipment for Striped Bass 137

Striped Bass Tackle: Rods, Reels, Lines, Leaders 137

Knots Needed for Freshwater Stripers 147

Flies for Freshwater Striped Bass 149

Chapter 9 Boats and Related Equipment 167

Types of Boats (Jet vs Prop) 167

River Boats and Setting Them Up Properly 174

Equipment Needed on a Boat 178

Wade Fishing and Equipment Needed 182

About the Author 187

About the Photographer 188

Editorial Reviews

By Spencer Durrant | Managing Editor, Spencer Durant Outdoors —Midcurrent
Henry Cowen’s new book Fly Fishing for Freshwater Striped Bass is one of the most thorough, exhaustively-researched guidebooks I’ve ever read. After going through Cowen’s book, I’m already looking at my summer schedule, hoping to find some extra time where I can go fish Lake Powell for stripers. That’s a large part of why this book is such an effective tool. It doesn’t just tell you the techniques you need to master to catch freshwater stripers – it makes you want to go catch one yourself.

What really makes this book work, however, is that Cowen is truly the right man to tackle this project. After moving to Georgia in 1997 – and away from the striper fisheries in the New Jersey-NewYork-Connecticut area – Cowen wasn’t able to chase the fish he’d become a self-proclaimed fanatic for.  After tons of trial and error, Cowen established himself as an authority on fishing for “sodium-free stripers.” By 2017, the late Lefty Kreh told Cowen that “the (fly fishing) industry needs a book to be written on this subject and [you need] to be the one to write it.”

If that’s not a ringing endorsement, I’m not sure what is.

From the Publisher