On days when you can't reach the feeding fish before they sound or they seem erratic and unpredictable, they are probably feeding deeper than you can readily see but are still present. Motor upcurrent from likely water and drift through fishing deeper than you usually would. This may mean letting an intermediate line sink for a twenty or twenty five count before starting your retrieve in order to achieve fifteen feet of depth. The standard strip is one handed and about two feet in length. Use a somewhat shorter strip but be sure to get the fly to the bottom.
Special situations exist for places like rips.
Here you may well want to try to match the hatch for squid, mackerel, sand eels or herring that you see on the surface by choosing like sized flies and color combinations. Trolling is often more effective than a short cast with a big fly while bouncing through a rip. It is somewhat safer too to be sitting and holding a rod rather than standing and casting in short steep chop. On the flats, there are times when longer leaders and flouro as well as smaller flies and cautious approaches are the only way to hookup. First try the clousers that you might use in the Bay.