Getting beyond the little guys at chain bridge

[Brian D]

On recommendation of folks here I went down to the rocks upstream of Chain Bridge on Saturday afternoon. Beautiful day and the water was full of small schoolies. But after a couple hours and dozens of little guys I never connected with anything larger than 12-14". Is there any trick to finding the bigger ones, other than having more patience than I had?

[Trent Jones]

Brian,

Getting into 12”-14’’ Stripers should be counted as a good day on the river. But to answer your question, I have found that a school of Stripers will have a couple of years class fish in them. Meaning, if you catch some small 6”-8” fish and some 10”-12” fish that is generally going to be what you hook up with. You may find some larger fish but they tend to be outliers. Sometimes the larger fish seem to be lower than the “little guys” you are catching, but if they are in heavy it is tough to get a fly down to them without the smaller fish grabbing it first.

-Trent

[Daniel Davala]

I completely agree with Trent's comments, and I'll add that often times people catching only "small Stripers" are fishing flies in the #2 size class or similar.  One way to get passed the little guys is to throw a fly approx. their size.  A 2/0 half and half is a good place to start, but only the beginning and still relatively small in the broad scheme of things.  Tie up a fly that mimics a baitfish in the 6"-8" class and see what happens.  You may cast a lot more and hook up a lot less, but when you do it may be with your biggest Striper yet.  That's the blessing and the curse of going big!  Give it a shot for your next few trips, I look forward to the pictures.

 

Dan Davala

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