by Ed Jaworowski           

The fly angler's perpetual query is: "What fly shall I use?" Although, at one time or other, all flies catch fish, the definition of our sport requires that we at least make some attempt at counterfeiting the natural foods of the fish we seek, regardless how suggestive or impressionistic our bogus counterparts might be. This game of "matching the hatch", to borrow the worn fresh water title, can only lead us to a fuller enjoyment of our sport. Although generic nymphs and dry flies catch their share of trout, freshwater anglers using creative stone-, may- and caddisfly imitations usually score more consistently. So, observing the appearance and behavior of baitfish and other food organisms that serve as game salt water game fish forage, will make for more success in the ocean. It certainly makes the sport more interesting.

The flies we tie should have at least some remote relation to natural baits, their size, shape, color, action. Don't throw tiny rain fish imitations at fish gorging on chunky mullet. You can proceed more logically and sensibly if you know something about those naturals. With this in mind, I have compiled this list of common baits of the mid- Atlantic and New England coasts. Consider this a primer of some of the most common baitfish types on the east coast. It should help anglers, particularly those new to salt water flyrodding, tell the differences between a silverside (spearing) and a bunker and make them aware that a sandeel is not an eel at all.

I have focused selectively on the baitfish most commonly occurring in the range in question and those on which tyers have based so many of the imitations currently in use. Different species within the same family or genus usually exhibit similar characteristics to those discussed here. Certainly other food forms abound, crustaceans, decapods, mollusks, but in the interest of space, I have omitted obvious and easily identified forms like squid, shrimp, crabs, worms and eels. The artifi cials I recommend are only some of the hundreds of local patterns that work. I mention those which are more recognizable to a wider audience, are more readily available in fly shops and for which tying instructions are more easily found in angling literature.

Many common baitfish are somewhat similar in overall shape. The slenderest include sandeels and needlefish. Silversides, smelts, tinker mackerel, round herring and bay anchovies are a bit fuller. The sandeel, properly called the American sand lance, has a very elongated body, green or olive to brownish on the back, with shiny silver sides and white belly. They are plentiful throughout the mid-Atlantic/New England range. Their shape and wiggling, eel-like movements give them their common name. Sandeels burrow into the sand along shallow beaches and sand bars but a sudden stamp from your foot will send them scurrying out of their hiding places. When washed onto the shore by waves, they quickly try to wriggle back into the sand for protection. They are a prime striper and bluefish food and many popular patterns are tied to imitate them. Specimens to more than eight inches are common late in the year but in early summer, anglers should try to imitate the dense schools of three-inch fish so numerous at that time.

My experience has been that other slender, elongate fish, like balao, ballyhoo and needlefish (the houndfish being one of the most common variety) are generally not so prevalent, numerous or available for inshore fishermen. I have rarely seen bass, bluefish or little tunny feeding heavily on them inshore.

The Atlantic silversides, regularly called silversides or spearing, are as typical a minnow as there is. A bright silver stripe down the mid line of the body typifies the silverside and should be given attention by tyers; a 1/8" strip of mylar is a good idea. Their backs are usually green to bluish olive. They get much larger, but the most common size is about two to five inches.

Bay anchovies, known as rainfish in New Jersey, are similar to spearing but slightly fuller and with more silver in the head and belly areas. Typical size is two to four inches. Quite translucent, almost transparent in the rear part of their bodies, they, too, sport a mid line stripe that can look like aluminum foil. Fly tyers will also do well to focus on their silver white bellies and dominant eyes when fashioning imitations. In dense schools, the rainfish appear brownish or reddish brown. Individual specimens usually exhibit a brownish or purplish tinge on the back. Schooled rainfish tend to hug the shore and unlike species that scatter when threatened they pack more closely. Nor do they move as quickly as some fish, so their arrival can signify good fishing for several days, unless weather pushes them out---or bluefish decimate them.

Though not so familiar to anglers as many of the other baits, the round herring (the only member of the family with a round cross section) has been a popular mid-Atlantic forage during the summer and fall. Uniformly silver with a slightly darker back and obvious overall scaling, it features a dominant eye. A white Lefty's Deceiver with silver Krystal Flash and a bold eye works well.

Smelts and capelins are not far different from the silversides or anchovies and similar imitations work well for all. One different forage, however does merit special attention. The Atlantic mackerel ("Bostons" to some, "tinkers" when small) has long been a popular live- lining bait with New England striped bass fishermen. I know anglers in the mid-Atlantic region that salt mackerel chunks during their northward spring run, for fall bait fishing, believing no food is more attractive to bluefish. Blue water trollers, too, rig mackerel of a pound and more for a variety of big game. Not strangely then, fly anglers have actively sought imitations for this popular forage, whose larger size adds to their popularity with tyers.

Atlantic mackerel are related to the tunas, bonito and a number of other important game fish---wahoo and Spanish, cero and king mackerel; in fact, Australians know the little tunny as "mac tuna", from its similar markings and color. Atlantic mackerel are fusiform in shape, cylindrical in cross-section and attractive in color, with blue and green backs, laced with wavy black markings and silver-white bellies.

All the foregoing baits and those that resemble them are readily imitated by a variety of slender streamer imitations, like Clouser Deep Minnows, Lefty's Deceivers, Popovics' Surf Candies or other flies modified to take advantage of the dominant bait features, like Page Rogers' Menemsha Minnows, Lou Tabory's Sandeel and Eric Peterson's Tinker Mackerel. Larger mackerel are realistically imitated by Bob Popovics' MacWool fly, with its clipped wool head.

Even fuller bodied types, as well as those with wider, flatter profiles include mullet, killifishes, sardines, herring, menhaden and butterfish. While not nearly so common in New England waters, white mullet ("finger mullet") and larger striped mullet ("corn cobs") rate high in importance from the mid-Atlantic zone southward. Generally round in cross section, they show a somewhat flattened head. By early September, mullet start their southward journey and are one of the most important striped bass and bluefish forage fish for the early half of the fall. They frequently swim in the skinny water tight to the sand, invariably north to south. Corners where jetties meet the beach are thus natural ambush points for hungry game fish. Back colors run from bluish green, through olive/brown. They typically have a blue spot near the base of the pectoral fin. The sides and belly are whitish or dull silver. In the water, pods of mullet make a telltale surface wake and catching them in cast nets is a popular activity along the New Jersey coast in fall.

Killifishes and mummichogs are the most commonly sold minnows for live bait fishing on the coast. Their chunky little bodies display somber, mottled and striped patterns of green, brown and olive. In large schools they inhabit marshes, estuaries, bays and lagoons, where flounders, weakfish and young stripers feed on them. Incorporate green and brown into your imitations.

Meaty flies like the Popovics' Siliclones and 3-D flies, and Lou Tabory's popular Snake Flies have earned a large place in east coast anglers' fly boxes to imitate many of the more round-bodied baits. Don't overlook flies like Dan Blanton's Whistler series and Chico Fernandez' Seaducers. I also recommend traditional woolhead designs. Legendary fly tyer Bill Catherwood is the only one I know who, at least until very recently, tied a pattern to imitate "killies". He calls it his Chub pattern, appropriately, since killifish are not completely unlike fresh water chubs in body form.

Most common of the wide, flattened baits are the menhaden, sardines and herrings. Depending on locale, menhaden are variously called "bunker", "mossbunker" or "pogie" (not "porgy", which is a different fish). The fish are prolific and many are used for fertilizer. Summer vacationers bait their crab traps with the oily fish, and most "live- lining" for striped bass along the coast is done with herring or bunker up to a foot in length. Flies incorporating iridescent materials, to mimic the pearlescence of the naturals are the most realistic. Bunker and herring patterns are favorites with fly tyers and some effective designs have proven themselves: Tabory's Slab Side, Peterson's Baby and Giant Bunkers and Bob Popovics' latest innovation called "Spread Flies", realistic, durable, easy to tie. All these well-designed, large, meaty imitations are relatively easy to cast.

Bunker, herring too, school to size from little "peanut bunker" to huge mouthfuls a foot long or more, so prepare imitations accordingly. Since stripers will invariably select any wounded member from among thousands, work your fly accordingly. Tie it so that it flutters somewhat on retrieve and move it erratically. Both are oily fish, bunker more so, and a tell-tale slick on the surface often marks the location of fish feeding on bunker. This is especially true with regard to bluefish, which chop larger baits in half, letting oils escape, before consuming them. Sardines, particularly the Spanish sardine, can be important at times. Most herring imitations, if made a bit more slender, will make good sardine imitations.

Butterfish are quite round in profile and flattened in cross section, with silvery white sides, blue backs and smooth skins. Long a favorite with bait anglers fishing for bluefish because of its ability to stay on a hook, butterfish meat has a sweet, delicate flavor. Eastern fish markets dress and sell larger butterfish (i.e. larger than the typical three to six inch size) as table fare and I have frequently observed sea lion trainers rewarding their charges with the saucer shaped fish. Despite these testimonies to their large numbers and wide consumption by gamefish, butterfish imitations are few. The Popovics "Butterfish Spread Fly" makes the simplest and most reasonable imitation.

Occasionally, particularly when weather or ocean conditions change, like abnormally high surf temperatures, other bait forms appear. A few summers ago, one bait netter in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey turned up juvenile bonefish(!) in his cast net and I have witnessed small Florida pompano caught along the ocean beach in the same area. Whether these oddities or others, like schools of young jack crevalle in the Hudson River, hold any significance for us, only future experience will tell. Close observation of the waters, the gamefish and the baitfish they feed on will continue to increase our knowledge.