Capt. Amanda Switzer positions the skiff for a cast.

When poling and sight fishing, you gotta watch your back.

Last summer I was poling a fly fisher and as is my habit, I glanced to the rear. There she was, a 20-pound striper, rummaging for an easy meal in the suspended puffs stirred up by the foot of my pushpole.

“Throw behind the boat,” I told him. “Just aim close to my pole and don’t worry about hitting me,” as I crouched as low as possible.

“But I don’t see a fish,” he responded.

“Just get your fly in the water,” I shot back.

Unfortunately, his fly and leader hit my pole and the whole works wrapped around it like a tetherball. I tried to untangle the mess without taking my eyes off the bass, which was so engrossed in its feeding that it actually head-butted the pole. Clank! We watched helplessly as it blasted off the flat.

“I had a feeling we were being followed,” I said.

Whether you sight fish for stripers, bonefish, permit or redfish, chances are this has happened to you. Thankfully, you can expect to make the vast majority of your casts to stripers that are much more front and center. And front and center is just where flats fishing for stripers is today. Florida-style flats fishing is alive and well at the eastern end of Long Island.

The Lay of the Land

Eastern Long Island’s vast bayside shorelines, harbors, estuaries and shoals are prime niches for shallow-water stripers. Rumor has it that Long Island doesn’t have “real” flats. Fact is, our flats are very real indeed, though most are long and narrow as opposed to the expansive, endless white sand flats of the Bahamas and Caribbean, for example. Flats similar in scope, though they hold bonefish, permit and tarpon, are found along the Atlantic side of the Florida Keys, and along the oceanside of Miami’s Biscayne Bay. Long Island flats are long, thin striper “highways” where you park, either in a skiff or on foot, in hopes of getting a head-on shot at a fat striper. So much for pining for the tropics.

Many Long Island flats have sandy bottoms, while others have a mix of sand, grass and dark rock. Spotting fish over these darker bottoms can be tricky, particularly when the surface is wind-whipped. Some of the creekmouths have built-up deltas inside and outside of the openings, creating flats that are always fishable, regardless of the tide. The smallest flats are simply sandbars where fish stand out over light bottom as they swim through.

Striper Fly Gear Tools of the trade include 7- to 10-weight fast-action fly rods, floating and intermediate fly lines, depending on depth of the water, 9- to 12-foot leaders tapering to 8- to 20-pound tippet, stripping basket, and polarized sunglasses. Lighter rods and floating lines are best in bright, still conditions, and when the fish are feeding in very shallow water. Nine- and 10-weight rods help cast big flies better and punch through wind. Intermediate-sinking lines work well on slightly deeper flats.

As is done in shallow-water fisheries elsewhere, Long Island anglers are able to cheat Mother Nature by “running the tide.” This simply means that we can run from flat to flat to sight fish in moving water, or on a particular tide phase throughout the day to increase the odds of staying on feeding stripers.

The majority of Long Island flats are found on the bay side (north) of the island. Though you can sight fish for stripers and bluefish on the Atlantic side, the seas need to be cooperative; anything bigger than a “rolling pin” sized surf closes the door.

Spring Kickoff

There are natural signposts that tell you that it’s time for flats stripers. Ospreys return to reclaim their nests. Terns come back in search of small baitfish. Lilacs begin to bloom, as does amelanchier, and that’s when I start checking the shoreline flats for fish.

Given a mild winter, baitfish start pouring out of the estuaries sooner than usual. In this case, stripers start arriving as early as late April, and are lean and hungry. The early fishing starts in western Long Island Sound and then improves farther to the east, in the Gardiners Bay region later in May. Generally, the flats fish well from April to August, with the best months being May and June. Weekdays are the best times to fish because boat traffic’s at a minimum. By midsummer, stripers seek cooler waters, so the best flats fishing occurs during low-light conditions. August is a great time to fish the flats because most anglers have shifted their efforts to the rips and deeper waters where cooler temperatures are found. The flats stripers can be picky during the heat of summer, but you’ll have whole stretches of beach flats to yourself.