SaltWater Flies for the Maine Coast

---

A fly that works across dozens of species, a favorite of mine throw from the rocks in deep water for bigger fish. A few Clousers of varying sizes and colors are always in my fly box.

The above fly draws inspiration from Bob Popovic's "Bucktail Deceiver" and Lefty Kreh's "Lefty's Deceiver." Useful anywhere, I like to fish these on an intermediate line from beaches or in our larger tidal rivers.  

Fly Fishing for Striped Bass by Rich Murphy is in my opinion the most informative and well written book on the subject. My take on his RM Silverside, it includes bucktail, rabbit strip, craft fur, and tinsel tied on a jig hook. When wet, this fly takes on a slimmer profile.

My go to early season fly or anytime the fish are locked in on small sand eels. The above version could be considered bulky by most standards Tie with your choice of a few different bucktail colors and several strands of peacock herl.  

If the word beautiful were to be applied to a fly this would be the one. Can be tied with one wing or several, the pattern lends itself to numerous color combinations and sizes. Can be fished anywhere, this is the first (and sometimes only) fly I tie on when fishing shallow boulder fields. The wash over rocks gives this fly great action. Keep the slack out of of your line and it will almost fish itself. 

A fly shop owner in southern New England once told me, "A silver dollar sized green crab is my number one prospecting fly for Stripers." A bit skeptical, I took his advice and sure enough became a believer. A must when fishing sandy beaches, especially if your baitfish patterns aren't producing.