While there are many successful striper fly patterns to choose from, I recommend arming yourself with a few variations or three basic types of saltwater flies.

A Bay State striper

For surface feeding fish, you'll want some sort of a popper or"gurgler." These are flies made of foam that float on the water and make lots of commotion when retrieved quickly. Green and yellow colors seem to be the most popular.

For subsurface stripers, you will want to pick up a few colors of deceivers, possibly white, yellow, and black. Made from hair and feathers, deceivers are neutrally buoyant and can be fished shallow or deep.

Finally, for moving-water conditions and deep-feeding fish, I recommend a weighted fly in yellow, orange, white or black. The most common ones are called Clouser Minnows, after their creator, Bob Clouser of Pennsylvania. They have metal eyes and sink quickly and stay near the bottom.

Choosing a Leader

Selecting a leader for saltwater fly fishing isn't nearly as difficult as it is for freshwater angling. Stripers are aggressive fish and aren't scared off by monofilament leaders like ultra-wary trout.

I prefer a tapered leader of 6 to 10 feet that thins down to about 12 pounds. I rarely use a tippet in salt water. By the time I've changed flies several times and caught a few dozen fish, my leader's pretty well shot, anyway.

I do use a special knot to tie my fly to the leader. It's called a double surgeon's loop and I prefer it because, when finished, the fly is tied to a loop and it looks much more lifelike in the waves.

To tie a double surgeon's loop, follow these simple steps. First pass the line through the eye of the fly and pull about 6 to 8 inches of line through the eye. Now double over the line and make a loop.

Next, pass the fly through the loop twice and tighten down the line, keeping the knot as close to the fly as possible. The more practice you get, the smaller you can make that loop.