Ed Mitchell Outdoors

Fly anglers are well accustomed to “Matching the Hatch”, or as I say in the salt “Matching the Marine”. And its typically a very good tactic. Works. We pick a fly that resembles the prevalent forage in size, shape and color and then retrieve it at the right speed. Bingo baby, bend in the rod. But when the forage is exceptionally thick, it’s time to change tactics.

In the above photo you see an extremely thick school of sand eels. This school extended out fifty feet from the water’s edge and ran down the beach for over a mile. Striped bass were having a field day gobbling them down. Yum, yum. Obviously the bass had zero incentive to chase a fast movingly fly. Your only hope was to slow down the retrieve to nearly a stand still. I mean it. Barely enough speed to keep the line taut. And even then you it was best to fish the fly on the outside edge of the sand eel school.

Bay anchovy are another forage bait that can school in thick groups. When they exit the Rhode Island salt ponds in the fall, the schools are so thick as to color the water reddish brown. Amazing. Here again a change in tactics is required. (I wrote at length about this back in a 1996 article entitled “The Anchovy Season”, for Saltwater Fly Fishing.) The trick is to cut off your 1″ anchovy fly and replace it with a something bigger. Much bigger.

Need a suggestion? I recommend a big 3/0 Deceiver. And here again you creep it slowly through the bait. Striped bass will suck it in. Why? Well perhaps they are just greed. Going for the larger meal like you and I picking the bigger slice of pie. Or they might see it as squid feeding on the anchovies, and decide to remove the competition. All I know is it works when nothing else will. But don’t expect the bass to hammer it. They will pick it up softly, so stay in touch.

Sand eels are a wonderful forage fish that supplies great opportunities for the nearshore fly angler. These long thin critters are found over a large extent of the Atlantic coast, ranging from the far north down to the Carolinas. In addition they are easy to match with a fly and have a regular diurnal cycle that assists anglers in predicting the bite.

Typically they vary in size from young-of-the-year sand eels of about 1.5 inches, to large adults of 4 inches and beyond. Coloration is usually black over silver in dark water locations (particularly those with a mud bottom) to green over silver on many clear sandy beaches. That said I have seen pinkish/ tan over silver on rare occasion on Cape Cod. Be aware there is an offshore race of sand eels that comes close to north Atlantic facing beaches. These guys can be 6″ or more.

Sand eel Flies

Sand eel flies can be very simple. Below you see one I tied. It is constructed along the lines of Glen Mikkleson’s flies. I made this one with a black bead chain eye, but you might opt for a lead dumbbell if needed. Let’s take a step-by-step look at how this fly was made.

This is a size 2 34007 Mustad and will produce roughly a 2″ fly. Other similar hooks work just fine. The Gamakatsu SL 11-3H is one I like very much. I wrapped the the shank with white Danville Flat wax nylon and tied in 1/8″ black bean-chain eye. Step Two involves bringing the thread to the rear of the bend. Then tying in a piece of copper wire. (either copper colored wire or in this case sea-foam green.) Then tie in a piece of Bill’s Bodi Braid. Four inches will do.

Step Three Now you’re ready for the bottom wing. You can use either white bucktail or in my case white Steve Farrar Blend. Craft Fur or Polar Fibre are other good options. Tie the wing down immediately behind the bead- chain eye.

Step Four involves placing a green wing on top of the white. Here again bucktail works, but I’m using mackerel color Steve Farrar Blend. Tie this wing down immediately in front of the bead-chain eye. Pull the two wings tight together and over swap both with the copper wire in open loops. This will give the body a segmented look.

Step Five To finish the fly I use a coat of clear UV acrylic. And often I apply an overcoat of Sally Hansen Hard as Nails . Note that this fly can be tied in black for night work or elongated to match larger sand eels. The bigger fly below is about 5″ .

The bottom box in the photo below is filled with sand eel flies, some tied with common gold bead-chain eye and some on larger hooks. Good luck on the beach! By the way if you have trouble with long streamers fouling check out this easy solution.