Bomber Dry Fly for Striped Bass

I have tied many different flies to take stripers when they are selectively feeding on mating Nereis worm (clam/cinder worms) swarms. Basically the color of these small worms is in the red spectrum ranging from an orangy brown to a reddish pink. Red is also the part of the color spectrum striped bass see the best. Since this fly is fished in the surface the fish can discern the color well and will reject it if the color is not what it desires, even on the darkest new moon night. Empirical evidence leads me to think, at least for now, that red works on new moons and orange on full moons. Of course this evidence comes from fishing both red and orange to find out which one would work. Fishing this pattern in both orange and red throughout the summer, over many nights, under both moons, the stripers never took red on the full moons or orange on new moons. I am not writing that in stone because next year it might change.

I fished them mostly by dead drifting over as long a drift as I could or I slightly skating them. Both ways drew hits.

This image shows an orange bomber using orange thread, hot orange calftail and orange hackle and orange spun deer hair on a #4 salmon hook. The red bomber uses red thread, calftail, hackle and spun deer hair.
I also tied one using Fiery Orange calftail and did not draw a hit.
The main difference between a salmon/steelhead bomber and my striper version is I trim the deer hair as close as possilbe to resemble the worm profile.
[img:038dc666e8]http://www.panix.com/~pg/flyfishing/redbomb.jpg[/img:038dc666e8]