After having been largely skunked on our charter Henry (in particular) was not ready to give up the ghost and the prospect of landing a striper within a stones throw of our cottage was to much. Henry rented an 18' Whaler for the day on July 3rd and we hit the water at 0600 with some tips from locals as to where to target. After some failed casting and scouting...eureka the fish finder lit up with fish just as the York River opened into the Atlantic. Henry caught the first Mackeral on a 6" minnow w dual trebles. The lure was about half the size of the fish! We decided that action with these feisty fellas was much better than casting practice and fished them for about two hours. After another fish on his medium heavy inshore spinning rod Henry ditched it and joined me and fished primarily with my TFO 11.5 6/7 switch. I had added 15' of 90 grain sinking line so it took the tandem clouser rig I right down into the fish.
We steered circuits over the fish at idle speed so the flies settled about 2' under the water in a slow troll. I used an old Orvis streamline 904 8wt with a shorter 60 grain sink tip and it did the job just fine.
Between the two of us we probably caught 30 mackerel and only stopped as lunch and family called. Later that day Henry did catch a 28" striper on a 6" white sluggo thrown into a bait-all just off shore from our Cape Nettick cottage. He was thrilled and Izzy and Liz were with him for the catch. One of my lessons learned for next year was to bring more rods to account for larger stripers and smaller mackerel. A 5 at would have made those mackerel (tuna family) feel like monsters.
After having been largely skunked on our charter Henry (in particular) was not ready to give up the ghost and the prospect of landing a striper within a stones throw of our cottage was to much. Henry rented an 18' Whaler for the day on July 3rd and we hit the water at 0600 with some tips from locals as to where to target. After some failed casting and scouting...eureka the fish finder lit up with fish just as the York River opened into the Atlantic. Henry caught the first Mackeral on a 6" minnow w dual trebles. The lure was about half the size of the fish! We decided that action with these feisty fellas was much better than casting practice and fished them for about two hours. After another fish on his medium heavy inshore spinning rod Henry ditched it and joined me and fished primarily with my TFO 11.5 6/7 switch. I had added 15' of 90 grain sinking line so it took the tandem clouser rig I right down into the fish. 
We steered circuits over the fish at idle speed so the flies settled about 2' under the water in a slow troll. I used an old Orvis streamline 904 8wt with a shorter 60 grain sink tip and it did the job just fine. 
Between the two of us we probably caught 30 mackerel and only stopped as lunch and family called. Later that day Henry did catch a 28" striper on a 6" white sluggo thrown into a bait-all just off shore from our Cape Nettick cottage. He was thrilled and Izzy and Liz were with him for the catch. One of my lessons learned for next year was to bring more rods to account for larger stripers and smaller mackerel. A 5 at would have made those mackerel (tuna family) feel like monsters.
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