If a striped bass strikes at and misses your bait, stop reeling for a second or two. This gives the fish a chance to think it has stunned the baitfish it was after and often leads to follow-up takes. (Shutterstock image)
True tidal flats are those mostly sandy areas that are void of water at low tide but then fill with the incoming tide. At high tide there may be only 4 feet of water a half mile out from shore.
The more gradual the bottom drops off, the longer the flats extend toward a depth where ocean water is found even at low tide. Tidal flats can be found up and down the eastern seaboard, and I tend to focus on the ones in my home state of Massachusetts.
Cape Cod Bay has scores of tidal flats, from small ones without a name to the large expanses such as the Brewster Flats and Chapin Flats. I’ve had good luck fishing flats on the Merrimack River and some no-name flats in Buzzards...