Manchester By the Sea, Massachusetts

Manchester By the Sea is a affluent costal community an hour north of Boston. I was in the area the second week of June for a wedding, and really had no intel on how to fish the area. There are a few outfitters, but I didn’t even have enough time for a half day trip. I packed a six weight, some neoprene socks, a stripping basket, and a box of bucktail streamers in various weights and sizes. The first thing I noticed was the strong tides. There were two 8-10 foot tides everyday, so the water was in and out continuously. I was fishing on the private beach of the Grafton Estate, which features Graves Island. The island juts out farther into the sea, but is only accessible at low tide- when the fishing was slowest. I also tried fishing from the beach, but you could see during low tide that the area was void of any features. I settled on an out cropping of rocks that were wadable during hightide (about chest deep) and dry during low tide. I dedicated about 90 minutes every morning casting off these rocks. The first day out I caught a hickory shad (16 inches) I was surprised, because was expecting a small striped bass. I did have a striped bass follow my fly and take a few swipes. That follow gave me a semblance of what to do next. The following morning I targeted transition areas on an incoming tide. The dark spots contrasting the sandy bottom were rocks covered with seaweed. It was still 15 feet deep and I was fishing max 6 feet with a floating line and weighted fly. This didn’t bother me so much. It is the same technique I use for pacific sea bass. They never had any problem coming out of the rocks to hit a fly. And sure enough neither do the stripers. I used a slow strip retrieve, and was surprised by how long a striper would follow before taking a swing. There wasn’t much bait in the area, and I never saw any feeding activity. I tried a few topwater patterns, but lost confidence in them quickly. Every morning it was just one or two fish that were active. I did catch one in the afternoon on a outgoing tide. All in all I would say striper fishing is tough. There were a lot of casts and relatively little action. not to mention super slippery rocks. If you can time it right (near a new moon phase and with the right tide) you have a chance. The pull was nice on a 6 weight, and I can see how people could dedicate their lives chasing this fish on fly.