South Carolina Fly Fishing, First Striper on Fly Rod Myrtle Beach Murrells Inlet

Aaron Scott, a fresh water Fly caster from NY proved once again that my style of Extreme Fly Fishing, in this csae, along the Murrells Inlet jetties, can net you an exhilarating day throwing a hook in feather into the rocks. With a south east wind 10 to 15 knots plus constant, gusting higher, seas pounding on our starboard beam, and 5 ft rollers pushing the stern across the jettie's rip close to the barnacle incrusted boulders, the bite was on, and we went in for them. It took some serious attention and focus to keep maneuvering and jockeying for "pole position" as the waves pounded the rear starboard quarter to keep this intrepid fly fisher bow into the fast roaring due west rip on the North jetty point. Starting two hours before the Hi tide flip, with this 60 degree temp inbound plume, especially cold for May 1st, the fish were, per my trusty depth finder, 15 ft sub-surface, suspended just on the inside of the rushing flow. As the water velocity increased and rip swung out wide, they moved just to the outside. With intense steerage on engine, I directed Aaron to throw into the foaming crevices and pull out a foot or two and let the fly drop deep through the 25 ft water column. This was no easy feat for either of us, but absolute Extreme excitement although I admit, definitely not for the faint of fishing heart! The trick, as the water speeds up, is to get the fly down at the right angle so it sinks through the strike zone and not hang high and belly up. Then with a hookup, strip strike immediately , maneuver the boat out, before wind and waves drove us into the "Hard Rock Cafe" of hull crunching disaster. The "Rock fish" while not big, are the first heard of on a fly rod in Murrells Inlet. Stripers are rare catch as it is. Aaron definitely deserves the title of Ne Plus Ultra Extreme Fly Fisherman. Equipment used: my 8 WT mid flex with INTWF ( 4.5-5.5 ips) sink line, rigged with double sinking belly sections to drop through like a rock; serving as a 8 ft leader/tippet w/ (20 lb Yo Zuri flurocarbon) combination. ( I eventually "tied" on a short wire leader as the blues/stripers caused several bite offs ). In such deep water velocity Aaron needed every inch and gram of that line to get down into the strike zone and some Extreme South Carolina Fly fishing persistence. Flies tied on: 2/0 Clousers, chartreuse and white plus tried red and yellow, blue and white, and a crease fly; but the fundamental, GO TO, chartreuse and white Clouser boated the most fish including the two stripers. Funny thing was, we were after my target fish, Spot Tail Bass ( Red Drum), but this day none took our presentation. I think those blues and stripers, aggressively feeding, while not trophy size, like sea borne wolves, flashing bait tearing teeth, send the reds running for the open sea. But Aaron got some fantastic action, with a total of 30 fish caught and 26 netted. Several of the blues and both stripers got "on the reel" running line off on the large arbor.