Stripers come to the surf in daylight to feed on worms, mole crabs, and sand shrimp in June and July, and silversides and lady crabs in August and September. Fish behavior reveals what they're eating. Early-season bass working close to shore in the wash feed on mole crabs or worms; bass working farther out are probably interested in shrimp. Later in the season, the fish zigzagging through the intertidal zone are looking for silversides, while fish cruising slowly outside the breakers are hunting lady crabs.

Worms don't propel themselves well when unearthed in the surf. A slow wriggling is all they can do to dig their way back into the sand. Long, undulating rabbit-fur flies weighted to sink quickly and a drop-and-twitch presentation are all you need to take big, early-season fish.

The main food sources for stripers in the Northeast surf include (clockwise from top left) silversides, worms, mole crabs, and sand shrimp.

Silversides and shrimp, on the other hand, move quite well in the surf, and flies like the Clouser Minnow are fine imitations. I prefer olive and gray bucktail with a hint of flash as a dark offering, and white bucktail with gold flash as a bright offering. You can experiment with different color combinations to find the most effective shade for the waters you fish. Use a strip retrieve with these patterns and expect some long, tense follows from skeptical fish.

Mole crabs live in shallow intertidal-zone burrows. When they are unearthed by the surf, they tumble about as they attempt to dig new burrows. They are fast diggers and are only susceptible while tumbling in the wash. The best presentation is to cast the mole-crab pattern into the wash ahead of an advancing striper, let the fly tumble with the current, and hope for a strike (see illustration C). It's a difficult technique and requires a solid understanding of striper and surf movements.

The author plays a striper he hooked in the surf. Note the second striper in the left of the photo.

Virtually every 20- to 40-pound bass you encounter while sight fishing will be a crabber. Lady crabs become abundant in the surf late in the season as water temperatures approach the upper 60s. They grow to a large size, but stripers are most interested in crabs with a 1- to 2-inch diameter. Lady crabs are agile swimmers and quick burrowers, as evidenced by their rear leg paddles. The best imitations are swimming-crab patterns that you can retrieve. Slow-strip retrieves work best to imitate a crab that is immobilized and unable to dig a new burrow. Forget about permit flies like the Merkin in the surf; sculptured, stationary crab patterns like that will likely spook stripers.