Let 'er Rip:

fly-fishing tidal rips for stripers

by Thorne Sparkman

The Allure of Rips

Terns dove and darted for at least a half mile on my favorite rip on the outer Cape. I rushed to strip fifty feet of line from the reel, because with the tide moving at its monthly peak, I knew exactly what to expect, but the fly line stuck to my fumbling fingers like they were covered with stickum. "Gloop! Plip. Gloop!" said the popper at last as it slid toward the rip. Two dusky brown shapes appeared in the wave behind the popper, and as it disappeared into the white water, the fly line cut sharply toward the bottom, and my rod strained to slow a heavy striper running with the current.

The rip I was on is a traditional striper hot spot off Cape Cod. Anglers here use boat rods with bunker spoons, wire lines with hoochies and mops, heavy lead-headed jigs, and perhaps the favorite, live eels, to take this quarry. But Fall, when the crowds thin out, is the best time of year to take big bass out of the rips with a fly rod and a popper.

Rips are formed when strong tides flow over steep drop-offs. As the current speeds up over shoal waters, the surface becomes slick, punctuated only occasionally by boils of water being churned to the surface by an irregular bottom. When the bottom drops off, the

surface becomes a choppy picket fence of curling waves. In rips where bait is swept by the tide, stripers gather in large numbers to feed on the helpless bait. This concentration of bait and game fish so close to the surface makes rips perfect for fly fishing, especially during September and October in Massachusetts, when large numbers of big fish stack up on the rips before migrating south. The keys to this game are: choosing the right rip, paying special attention to the tides, and the ability to make a fishable presentation from a boat.

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