When it comes to saltwater fly fishing, few places stir the soul like Montauk, New York. Perched at the windswept tip of Long Island, this historic fishing outpost has long held a mythical status in the minds of anglers chasing the storied striped bass. It's a place where currents collide, birds guide the way, and blitzes erupt seemingly from nowhere. To fish Montauk is to step into a living, breathing tradition — one built on instinct, grit, and reverence for the water. Few embody that ethos more fully than Captain Tim O’Rourke, a Sage Elite Pro whose knowledge runs as deep as the tides he fishes. In the following conversation, Tim opens up about his home waters, the challenges and changes of the striper game, and what it means to be both student and teacher in one of the most iconic fisheries in the world. Whether you’re a striper fanatic or a just a curious angler, many of Tim’s insights and his perspective can be applied to any fishery you seek to master.
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STRIPER SYMPOSIUM | WITH SAGE ELITE PRO CAPTAIN TIM O'ROURKE
Matt Otepka June 06, 2025
Q. Tell us where you guide and what fish you target.
A. I fish the waters of Montauk, New York in an area that encompasses Peconic Bay to the west, north to Rhode Island, east to Block Island, and up to 20 miles offshore to the south. I’m fortunate enough to target a wide variety of species, but my primary game is striped bass followed by bluefish and false albacore. Fishing offshore, I target bluefin and yellowfin tuna as well as mahi mahi.
I’ve traveled globally to fish in Alaska, Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras, the Bahamas and several islands in the Caribbean. For the last five years I’ve been taking some clients to Xcalak Mexico, targeting primarily bonefish and permit.
Q. What is something people might not know about Captain Tim O’Rourke?
A. I’ve been fly fishing for more than 30 years, and not once have I cast a fly into freshwater.
Q. You’ve spent time working on sport boats and also as a commercial fisherman. How have those experiences shaped how you operate as a guide and coach your clients?
A. My past work as a commercial fisherman and on various sport boats built the foundation for how I run my guide and charter business. I was fortunate enough to learn from some older, wiser captains who emphasized situational awareness of your environment. One of the first captains I worked for used to say, “The ocean will give you the answers if you just take the time to slow down, look and listen to what she is trying to tell you.”
These mentors and experiences taught me how to read the water and understand how structure and bottom contour affect the fishing, or how wind and tide conditions can shape my approach and specific techniques on any given day.
Those experiences also taught me was the importance of safety and never taking the ocean for granted as conditions can change quickly and unexpectedly out there.
Q. What is it about the striper game that makes it so special to you?
A. It’s constantly changing and creating new challenges – what worked yesterday or last year doesn’t necessarily work today. The bait changes, the contour of the bottom shifts due to winter storms, even where the fish congregate from year to year is in flux.
The other special element is the sheer variety of approaches to striper fishing. I can start my morning on a shallow flat sight casting to fish in two feet of water. Then later in the day, move out to the rips or rocks off Montauk Point and use a totally different approach and technique.
Q. Tell us about your standard fishing program – what’s a typical day on the water with you during striper season?
A. A typical day for me starts around 4 or 4:30 am. I like to take a moment to enjoy my coffee and calmly get going. Once I get a few sips in me, I check the weather, specifically the wind and tide. This will help shape my general approach for the day.
I don’t run a typical 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. fishing operation -- I go sunrise to sunset, to maximize opportunities for my clients. Montauk can get a bit crowded at certain times of the year, so being flexible definitely helps in the catch-ratio department, and my regular clients definitely understand and appreciate this strategy.
Q. What do you look for in your gear and what are your go-to Sage and RIO setups?
A. My gear ranges from 8wt up to 11wt rods. The 8wt rigs are our go-to setups for sight fishing stripers in the shallows and the 9, 10, and 11wt rigs are generally our open water setups.
For the 8, 9, and 10wt rods, I run the SALT R8 with the SPECTRUM LT reel. I find the lightness of the LT balances the rod and is comfortable to cast all day long. This setup is complimented with RIO Elite Flats Pro line.
I like to go with floating line on the 8wt setup and intermediate stealth tip lines on the 9 and 10wt rods. Even though this is a tropical line, I find it to be the most user-friendly and durable. It stays tangle-free and is easy to cast into the wind, plus it sinks fast enough to get down into the strike zone. The other benefit of the RIO Elite Flats Pro is the triple-color marking system on this line which gives the angler a visual cue on how far to strip and when to restart a cast.
When the really big fish are around or if I need to get deep in the water column, I’ll use 10 and 11wt SALT R8 setups with Sage ENFORCER reels loaded with RIO Striper line in 450gr.
Q. What’s the best piece of guiding advice you’ve received and what keys to success would you offer to novice striper fly anglers?
A. The best guiding advice I’ve received is to always be observant, to never stop paying attention. Everything is constantly changing out there: the weather, wind, tide, bait. If you’re always observing, you’re able to adjust. If you’re able to adjust to what’s happening around you, then your chances of success go up.
My advice to a novice striper fisherman is to first hone your cast, and once that is dialed in, go back to what I said about observation. Regarding your cast, don’t expect to get out on the water and deliver flies with precision if you haven’t put in the work to refine your stroke and your accuracy. And with respect to observation, think of it as a multi-faceted technique that uses all of your senses, not just your eyes. Sometimes when the bait is really thick you can smell it on the water. I always tell my clients to take a breath and smell. It’s a way to get them to understand and become a part of the environment they are fishing.
Q. What is key to a quality day in your boat?
A. The key to a quality day on the water is definitely attitude. Show up ready to fish with realistic expectations, and take the time to listen and learn.
I was fortunate to be taught by some very patient and gifted captains and fisherman. They took the time to teach me and I’m lucky to be able to do the same with my clients. We all had to start at the beginning and if you realize you never stop learning you will succeed in this sport. Whether it’s about people or fishing, I learn something new every day.
Q. What do you want people to know about your fishery?
A. The fishery of Montauk is probably one of the best in the world for fly fishing – when you can look out on miles of striped bass feeding on the surface you feel the magic. It’s a bucket-list destination for many, but I’m fortunate that it’s my backyard and it’s an opportunity I don’t take for granted.
I’ve been lucky enough to fish some incredible places, but Montauk never ceases to amaze me. The consistency throughout the season is unreal, and when it’s going off there is nowhere else like it.
