Striped Bass

The striped bass also referred to as stripers, striped sea-bass and rockfish is a member of the temperate bass family native to North America.

Some of the primary food sources for striped bass are clams, eels, anchovies, bloodworms, menhaden, herring, shad, and sandworms. Striped bass are believed to have a life span of approximately 30 years and the maximum size on record is 6.6 feet and 125 pounds.

Striped bass are a fantastic fish to target with the fly because of the many environments in which they feed and their many different feeding behaviors. Sight casting to solo or small pods of stripers on the flats is much like permit or bonefishing. The stripers are often in shallow water feeding on crabs, sand eels, worms and small baitfish.

Striped bass are also legendary for their "blitzes." This happens when large schools of striped bass horde the bait into giant bait balls and attack the bait from multiple directions. If you have never seen a big Montauk blitz or had the opportunity to cast flies into a Montauk blitz; you can certainly expect to have a fly fishing experience that won't be easily forgotten.

Montauk NY and the surrounding waters that Ernie fishes are some of the best striped bass waters in the world. No saltwater fly fisherman's journey is complete without having fished for stripers on the legendary waters of Montauk, NY.