Welcome to the fliflicker Message Board Archive

May 2001 - April 2002

Ventura Report Doug M. 9:21 pm tuesday may 8, 2001

The Ventura / Oxnard area is beginning to show some quality
corbina with the warmer weather and colonies of mole crabs
beginning to materialize. Barred perch are everywhere though
mostly hand sized. The halibut bite seems to have slowed over
the last several weeks with only a few shorts coming to the fly.
Tie on a Gremmie with a Wannabe or Mini Puff trailer. There
seems to be unusually large numbers of small baitfish around so
a clouser may be in order. Try the river mouths or 5th street
before the wind comes up or any of the sandy beaches around the
harbors. Good Luck!

hanging in there bill 3:12 pm tuesday may 15, 2001

Been trying the surf lately without much luck. Going to try my
Pro Graphite #6 with my T-130 line next time. Casting a floater
with long leader was dang near impossible with a salt clouser
tied on. Tried casting the setup with the Teeny line and a 6'
leader and it worked nice.
It looked like some of the pics on the site were caught on this
rod???(#6)

re: hanging in there Doug 10:16 pm tuesday may 15, 2001

Welcome to the game... Id avoid the floater unless your in really
quiet water. The teeny line should do better, whatever gets it on
the bottom and keeps it there is best. There should be some perch
around there so look for rips, and experiment with your retrieve.
Sometimes they turn on to a fast, sharp strip other times they
prefer a nice pause in-between.
I discovered a spot today where there were about a dozen corbina
cruising really close to shore. A few of them came closer than a
rod length. I threw everything I had at them and nary a nibble.
Did manage about a dozen perch and a nice rip I came across.
Keep at it, I’m sure your close to success!
P.S. I was talking to a good buddy of mine today who hooked into
something really big at Manhattan beach. It made several big runs
and almost spooled him. He felt he was out matched with his
9wt!!!! The fish finally ducked into a patch of kelp and was
lost... The stuff dreams are made of... Good Luck! :) Keep us
posted!

SoCal Reports for May Doug 7:24 am wednesday may 16, 2001

The following are a recap of Southern California reports from
from folks who have posted on other sites. Hope You Enjoy!

Goleta Sloth
Posted by Carl C on May 15, 2001 at 20:08:27:

Got off work at 2 and went straight to the slough to see if I
could repeat the last effort that produced Barred Perch to two
pounds. The surf was smaller and no wind! Tied on a version of
Gary Bula's surf Gremmies. After almost being run down by a 4
foot sand shark I made several casts with several grabs. I
sharpend the hook to see who was harassing my fly. Third cast and
thought I hooked another big perch but suprise suprise, a 24" 6#
Halibut! Used a Lamaglas 9wt. with an SA intermediate shooting
head and 35# Gudebrod braided mono running line. Also a
fluorocarbon leader system. The Butts are in! Mine is the
smallest with a 30 incher topping the parade last week. Carl C

San Diego Bay
Posted by Craig Smith on May 11, 2001 at 18:55:49:

I fished San Diego bay today with Dale Marsh of Oroville. We had
a borrowed boat but ran into some engine trouble and ended up
with a rental skiff. We missed the the best part of the tide
fiddling with the motor and the rest of the day was fairly slow
but still caught spotted bay bass, sand bass, bonefish,
barracuda, white sea bass, yellowfin croaker, and mackerel today
for a nice variety.
It was fairly breezy and we would have had a real tough time if
it were not for the drift sock. This $30 device saved the day,
slowing our drift enough to get the fly down to the fish in the
12 - 40 foot deep water.

Santa Ana River Jettys
Posted by Shane Chung on May 10, 2001 at 17:36:08:

Well I was too tired to roll out of bed and get to the beach by
6am. I finally made it to the beach by 9:30am. The tide bottomed
out at 6:12am at a -.6. and peacked at 12:53 pm. The swells were
suppose to be 2-3.5', but it seemed like I got all the big swells
breaking in front of me all the time. I think the swells were
bigger than 3', probaly more like 4'. The water was quite clear
for the area and a nice shade of blue green. The water temp. also
seems to be warming up too compared to last week. It also stayed
overcast the whole time I was there.
For the two hours I did fish, I got into a fairly decent perch
bite. Out of the hole in front of life guard station 68 I landed
5 perch. All of them were the same size about 6". The fish hit
small clousers (#6 flies) both orange and natural squirrel tail.
The Lesser Terns were working the outer breakers pretty hard in
this area. Of course the sweet spot was just out of my range. Boy
I wish I was on the other side to cast into the frenzy. No bait
was breaking the surface, so I'm not sure what it was that was
working over the bait. I'm sure something big was under there
pushing the bait up for the birds. (Wishfull thinking says
Strippers) All in all not a bad way To start the day and have the
beach all to your self.

Posted by Andrew Stoehr on May 11, 2001 at 08:49:14:
In Reply to: Santa Ana River Report posted by Shane Chung on May
10, 2001 at 17:36:08:

Shane, How were the crowds? On Saturday, the area was basically
unfishable. I assume weekdays, at least until summer officially
starts, are better? Did you see any corbina in the surf? I saw a
bunch a month ago down by San Diego, but haven't seen any
cruising the shallow water up here yet (but I've heard from
others they are).

Posted by Shane Chung on May 11, 2001 at 10:13:27:
In Reply to: Re: Santa Ana River Report posted by Andrew Stoehr
on May 11, 2001 at 08:49:14:There was virtually no one on the
beach except for the surfers. I saw only one family and four
joggers. No one was in the water. The whole surf line was all
mine. Last Friday afternoon was a different story. Half of the
holes that produced fish had swimmers in them, making them
unfishable.
By this time of the year the beach gets crowded early, espcially
on the weekend. I'm usually done by 10am. There will be lots of
joggers and walkers that hit the beach starting around 8am. the
beach crowd starts to pick up by 10am. You can fish the area but
watch your back cast. During the weekdays it's not as crowded,
but you still have to watch where you fish. When the water gets
warmer, you will see a lot more people in the water. By
summertime fishing the surf seems like a morning thing even on
the weekdays.
I didn't see any corbina in the surf yet. I though I saw one, but
it turned out to be trash(I need better glasses)! When the water
gets warmer we should see more corbinas feeding in the shallows.

Catalina Island
Posted by Perry Landsberg on May 09, 2001 at 14:38:48:

Catalina Island is red hot right now for White Sea Bass. I was
there on a sportboat on Saturday, and just my luck that was the
lull in the WSB bite. There were WSB limits (one fish per angler)
on Thursday, Friday and yesteday as well on the same boat. (I was
skunked.) On my trip, I caught numerous Calico bass on an olive
and white clouser. The fishing was all on the "back side" of the
Island, but fishing can be good on the front side (Avalon side)
as well.

La Conchita
Posted by J Taylor on May 08, 2001 at 09:14:02:

Fished low tide at the beach near of La Conchita on Saturday.
Found a great trough loaded with Corbina and Perch. Landed 2
Corbina, one 15" an the other 21", on my Mole Crab imitation and
numerous perch on Gremies and Surf Rats. The larger Corbina made
a great initial run which took me into my backing and one perch
was a big spawning female that went well over 2 pounds. The
Corbina must have been on the chew because both fish inhaled the
fly.

Torrey Pines
Posted by Frank Fong on May 06, 2001 at 00:19:43:

As a prelude to attending a friend's wedding on Saturday in
Coronado, I decided to head for San Diego early on Friday and try
the surf, particulary Black's Beach, which Scott Sadil wrote in
his book his intriguing experience of flyfishing the surf. After
scouting around, I decided to work the surf at Torrey Pines and
eventually 2 miles south to the Gliderport. Besides the needed
exercise, and enjoying the beauty of the area, it was icing on
the cake when I found a spot where I quickly hooked and landed 17
Barred Perch from 6"-10". All except one fish were taken on the
Orange Squirrel Tail Clouser; the one fish was taken on a Green
and White Clouser. One 9" perch was even taken on a backcast,
which was accidently dropped into the wash behind me when the
flyline slipped from my line hand. Because of the arriving
darkness and fearing getting trapped against the cliff by the
rising tide, I had to ripped myself from the fishing, and gave up
trying to make it 20 fish even. After hiking 2 miles back to the
beginning section of beach next to the parking lot, I decided to
make couple quick casts in the few minutes left of daylight. I
ended a great day with a foul-hooked legal-size halibut (all fish
released) and a pair of sore legs.

San Diego Bay
Posted by Craig Smith on May 04, 2001 at 14:50:47:

Hit the bay this morning with a friend who had never fished it.
We fished out of his 13 foot inflatable (zodiac style) working
grass flats in the south bay. My buddy fished plastics on
spinning tackle and got about a dozen spotted bay bass. I fished
plastics , but mostly flies and tallied about a dozen bass, a
mackeral, three bonefish (a rarity), and a clam. My friend now
wants to learn how to fly cast - especially

Ventura/Oxnard Report Doug 7:35 am wednesday may 16, 2001

The corbina are in in full force!!!! I counted at least 20
individules in the surf line and in the harbor around Port
Hueneme - unfortunately I couldnt get any to take :( I did get
about a dozen perch. Have fun out there!

stripping line like a true trout fisher bill 8:18 pm wednesday may 16, 2001

OK, you can all have a good laugh at my expense. No one told me
that using your indext finger for stripping line was not a good
idea. Was doing just fine until I bore a nice wedge through my
finger. Oh, that's why you put the rod under your arm and strip
with both hands. And I thought it was to allow for faster strips
only. DDDDDDAAAAAA!

re: stripping line like a true trout fis Doug 5:59 pm thursday may 17, 2001

Done that a few times myself... (You feel dummer the second and
third time)Theres nothing like the feel of a bare finger though.
Someone makes a finger tape that works well, sorry I dont know
the name but its fairly common even in conventional tackle shops.
If your interested and cant find it let me know and I'll send you
some.
Catch anything?

Newbie with a new rod Tim 12:47 pm tuesday may 22, 2001

Nice to see a local site for salt ffishing. Very new to the
salt, live in Seal Beach. Only luck so far has been a short
halibut at the San Gabriel river mouth on an olive clouser
(purely dumb luck I'm sure). I returned my ultralight waders to
Fenwick and since they don't carry waders anymore, I picked out
an 8 wt. HMX rod and reel. Since I'm starting from scratch, I'd
appreciate any suggestions for flyline and backing. I've read
Richard Jacobsen's article on Corbina from Dan Blanton's page,
and other bulletin board threads. Looking for local knowledge.
Probably go out to Marriotts, but would hate to buy line and
learn it was the wrong choice. I have a 6 wt. with a composite
reel with both floating and full-sink (got the 'butt on sinking
line). Maybe try these both out more first??? Any and all
suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Tim

re: Newbie with a new rod Andrew Stoehr 2:12 pm tuesday may 22, 2001

Tim,

If I had to go with one type of line for your 8 weight, I'd get a
sinking shooting head or one of the Teeny type lines (they have
sinking front portion and a thinner running/shooting line, which
may or may not float, depending upon the brand). I used to use a
Teeny T-200 on my 8 weight, but I wrapped it around some rocks and
ruined it. If I got another one for my 8, I might try to get one a
bit heavier. I now have a Cortland XLR, which is a similar line
but the running line is braided mono, not coated like the Teeny.
Anyway, they both seem to work. Not long ago, I had a similar
question and I got the following recommendations from several
different people: Teeny T-300 or 350, Rio Density Compensated,
Airflo 300 grain Depthfinder, Orvis Depthcharge, SA mastery
saltwater express tip, and Rio DC 26 coldwater striper and DC 26
bluewater. So, there are plenty of options! (I realize that only
makes it worse!)

These lines are nice because you can cast them a long way and they
sink enough to keep your fly on or near the bottom. Richard
Jacobsen's technique of using a floating line and long leader
definitely works (I got my first corbina using this technique with
Richard twenty yards away on the same beach), but my opinion is
floating lines are tougher to control in rougher surf (like what
you get at the Santa Ana rivermouth). One of my fishing partners
uses a full sinking line and does well with it, and I've seen
others use intermediate lines. So, it's possible to make anything
work under some circumstances, but hard to make one thing always
work. I guess that's how the line manufacturers keep getting our
money.

It might be possible for you to try casting some of these different
types of line at Marriott's. Ask them.

Good luck!

Andrew

re: Newbie with a new rod bill 2:59 pm tuesday may 22, 2001

There are some great surf fly fishers at Marriott's. Just ask and
they'll give you their 2 cents. I've found them very helpful
without the hard sell.

re: Newbie with a new rod Doug 9:20 pm tuesday may 22, 2001

Hey Tim! Welcome to fliflicker! Glad you like the site... Check
out the tactics page for some hints on "Getting Started". The
guys at Marriotts helped me get going too and should be able to
help you. Be sure to post your successes!

re: Newbie with a new rod Tim 11:22 am tuesday may 29, 2001

Thanks for the welcome Doug, and thanks Bill and Andrew for the
advice and encouragement! Any plans for an on-the-water meeting,
maybe Newport or HB? Would sure help out us new guys.
Thanks again! Tim

re: Newbie with a new rod Doug 12:17 pm wednesday may 30, 2001

I was thinking the same thing last night :) I was going to wait
until I had a little broader base to invite but a small group
might be better. Maybe meet at Santa Ana River Jetties? Let me
kick it around...

Mole crabs David Potter 11:35 pm tuesday may 22, 2001

Hello Doug - firstly ,your website is looking very nice -
congratulations there !Only suggestion I can add is maybe a
write up on each fly on how you fish them where you
are.Conditions , surf , target species etc - it will be very
interesting.
Now regarding the 2 mole crab flies that you have in the flies
section .They seem a very innovative and interesting new tie to
me , as mole crabs are a very good bait here on the South
African shores .In your experience is the one tie on your page
better than the other ? Under what circumstances ? Do you cast
them into the surf zone , just behind the breakers on the
beach ?whitewater?? Do you look out for holes and troughs in
the shoreline indicating slightly deeper water ?Do you retrieve
them at all ?Or just maintain a tight line as the waves wash the
line about ? I think what I am asking is what "patterns" in the
words of bassfishermen do you look for before casting out such a
fly.
From the pics of the moleflies , both seem to have lead barbells
tied on top of the hookshank so that the hook point rides on
top ?Is the size / weight an important factor here, both
regarding the fly and the weight used ?Do you think a couple of
pieces of heavy mono , tied to drag and scratch the sand(Gary
LaFontaine ) out of the bottom of the fly would add to the
enticement ? Looking forward to you reply - kind regards- David

re: Mole crabs doug 8:26 am thursday may 24, 2001

Hello David, Nice to hear from you again! Still no mullet:/ The
light brown works better when adults are molting and there outer
shells are soft and brown, As a kid, I use to search through the
hordes of "regular" mole crabs (we called them sand crabs) to find
these soft, brown ones because as bait they were definitely
preferred by fish.
I actually have another one that I'll post that works a little
better than both of them using a piece of vinyl as a shell back.
None of them have been "miracle" flies for me and I really only
tie one on if the fish seem to be keying in on mole crabs at the
exclusion of all else. But all of them have and do work.
Here in Southern California, we mostly tie mole crab patterns to
fool corbina. These fish feed directly off the bottom most of the
time and will hover over the fly almost like they're feeling it
before they suck it up. Flies tied to sink fast and stay on the
bottom work best and if the hook rides up your chances of hooking
one are increased.
As far as how to fish them, the more realistic looking flies could
probably be dead drifted with success but it seems like a short
jerky strip get the attention of the fish. You'll notice these
critters almost always swim and dig against the current so casting
behind the wave after it breaks, letting it get to the bottom,
then stripping it back works. I prefer to use a heavy head for
these flies like LC13 to insure the fly "digs". Another very
effective tactic can be employed when the current is moving
parallel to shore or in a trough situation. Cast the fly slightly
down current and let it sink as it swings across. When the fly
hits the bottom (some times almost parallel to the beach), start
stripping with short fast strips. This also works well with a Mini
Puff and is a stealthy way to target spooky fish.
I think the mono idea would work! I may have to tie some up…
Thank you for your kind words about the site and your suggestions
too! Tight Lines! Doug

website and reports mason stoller 7:27 pm thursday may 24, 2001

Howdy peeps,

I must first say that this is an AWESOME site. I am glad that
there is another socal site since my site crashed. :(

Anyways I have been fishing a few of my favorite spots in
Newport and hammering the corbina and halibut! WOW!! there are
alot of fish out there right now and if you move around a bit
you will be quickly rewarded. I have been chuckin' small orange
clousers and weighted sand crabs.

Will post on site often now, later,
mason

re: website and reports Doug 2:34 pm friday may 25, 2001

How do you tie your mole crabs, What size?

Corbina! Doug 2:32 pm friday may 25, 2001

Best day ever Wednesday, fishing for corbina with four and
several near misses on a new fly I've been working on. I'll post
it soon. I personally have never seen so many corbina. Looks like
a banner season ahead. Fish the Ventura/Oxnard area around the
harbors in the early AM. Picked up a nice halibut too about 25"
in Carpentera to finish off the day. Too much fun! Doug

New links in Tactics. New fly 4 Corbina fliflicker 10:56 am saturday may 26, 2001

Check it out!

Mole crab tie..... mason stoller 10:39 am sunday may 27, 2001

well......

The body is made out of chenille, pink and color the bottom
brown with a perm.marker. Tie in some strands of brown crystal
flash and brown and orange marbou with some white bucktail for a
more rigid tail. Tie in a medium dumbell at fron of hook. Wrap
the chenille around the dumbell eyes to almost the hook bend.
Then take brown thin foam,(not the really floatable stuff) and
tie it in in front of the eyes.(Cut it in a rectangle shape that
is barely wider than the chenille body) Tie it in at back of the
chenille. Then pull the foam over the hook and tie it in behind
the chenille. Add some flimsy foam legs for antennas if ya want
too.

i know it sounds wierd but if you want to you can try one. They
work great for me!

Late,
mason

re: Mole crab tie..... Doug 2:31 pm sunday may 27, 2001

Awesome tie...is it your own creation? Im having a little trouble
picturing it. Do you have access to a scanner? Our would you be
willing to trade? I'll gladly trade you two of mine (any flies,
your pick) for one of yours, snail mail.If no, thats cool. Im
sure Ill run into you one of these days. Tight Lines!!!

Doug

I will meet ya someday... mason stoller 1:30 pm tuesday may 29, 2001

Doug,

I know it is hard to picture in your mind. It took me awhile to
get the idea for it. The foam acts just like a real soft shell
sand crab, I think that is why it works so good on corbina.

Do you fish the river jetties often? If so, what do you look
like? I used to have it posted on my website, but it crashed. :(

Anyways, maybe I will see you out there,
mason

P.S.- I would rather hand it to ya out there then mail it.
Rather talk to ya first. I am kind of proud of my best sand crab
imitation.

re: I will meet ya someday... Doug 6:25 pm tuesday may 29, 2001

Cool! You should be proud! Im the guy with the corbina on the
home page... I usually get down there about once a month. Ill let
you know next time Im going. Sorry I missed it on your site :(
till then...

Long Beach?? mason 1:54 pm tuesday may 29, 2001

Hey Doug,

How is long beach doing? Do you know of any spots that are
starting to heat up as far as corbina go?

I would really like to get back down to Long Beach and do
corbina fishing. I haven't fished there for about a year and
would like any suggestions to location.

So, if I went out there this weekend, where should I go?

Thanks,
mason

P.S.- River Jetties are getting better, starting to see a few
more corbina and the halibut are still there. I have to ride my
bike there to fish it because of no car. :)

re: Long Beach?? Doug 6:27 pm tuesday may 29, 2001

I'll e-mail you a message...

mystery fish Andrew Stoehr 4:26 pm tuesday may 29, 2001

Doug,

Did you ever figure out what that mystery fish was? I looked
through every picture in my "Fish of the Pacific Coast" field
guide, and nothing matched up perfectly. Some of the various
rockfish are dark colored like that, but from the photo, it looks
like the mouth is wrong. There are quite a few different kinds of
surf perch out there - any chance it's one of the many species of
these?

Andrew

re: mystery fish Doug 6:31 pm tuesday may 29, 2001

I did the same... Still dont know... Im expecting an answer from
a biologist. We'll see :)

Mystery Fish Contest fliflicker 6:39 pm tuesday may 29, 2001

Hey, Just for fun... If you can correctly identify the Mystery
Fish (located in the Gallery), I'll send you a copy of the fly I
caught it on. (You wouldnt want the original...) Anyway, the
first to post the correct answer on the message board wins!

re: Mystery Fish Contest Eric Suchman 5:25 am friday june 8, 2001

Could the mystery fish be a mojarra? Red cheeks, dark spot
on the tail? Was the tail trilobal at all?

croakers Andrew Stoehr 9:08 am friday june 1, 2001

It seems that fly fishers have a good shot at getting into nice
schools of croakers right now. On Sunday, I got 4 on size 2
white/chartruese clousers, and lost about 4-6 others. One of my
fishing partners got about 8, plus some losses, last night on
white/olive clousers.

If you haven't found a school of croakers yet, get out there and
do it! For their size, they really pull, especially for the first
minute or two of the fight.

Andrew

Site looks great!!! Jazz 9:42 am friday june 1, 2001

Hey Doug,

Great job on the site!! I had no idea it came together so well!
Does this mean that I have to book our trips now? How 'bout an
autograph? Greetings to all visitors--Doug's a great guy and a
wealth of knowledge.

If only spinners knew what they were missing....

re: Site looks great!!! Doug 5:38 pm friday june 1, 2001

Thanks! Glad you like the site...I'm surprised you still want to
go since we've been skunked the last few times in the surf :/ Oh
well, all part of the game. We need to get the boat out and do
King Harbor for hoots...soon! See ya Sunday!

Check out new pics in Gallery! fliflicker 9:33 pm sunday june 3, 2001

Andrew was kind enough to send in some awesome pics of a
favorite local entrée. Check it out! My son caught a nice
corbina last week that still had one about the same size in its
mouth. Thanks Andrew!
Send us your Pics and we'll post em...

Caught some!!! bill 7:46 am wednesday june 6, 2001

Well, I actually nailed some B.P. on my fly. Was very stoked to
finally get some fish. My best was a 13+" perch that was a blast
on my #6. Fished the river jetties in N.B. Monday and chased
corbina all morning. Couldn't get any to take but had fun
trying. I think I'm addicted to the surf fly fishing. Just got
to catch a corbina now.

re: Caught some!!! Andrew 8:30 am wednesday june 6, 2001

Bill, congrats on the perch. But, I'm sorry to hear you're hooked
on surf fishing now. It's the beginning of the end for you. Kiss
your money goodbye, forget about ever getting any meaningful work
done again, and prepare for strange looks from everybody you talk
to.

By the way, which "N.B." were you fishing? If you meant Newport
Beach, I'll probably see you out there sometime.

Andrew

re: Caught some!!! bill 11:58 am wednesday june 6, 2001

Newport Beach @ 71. I'd love to hook up with you especially if
you fish mid-week. Need to see how it's done.

Alright Bill!!! Doug 12:17 pm wednesday june 6, 2001

Congratulations! Victory is always sweeter when you have to fight
hard for it. However, I'm afraid Andrew is right...Now your in for
it.
You have to love rejection to fish for corbina in the shallows.
Some say they have personalities. I must agree. I have put the
same fly to 10 fish and had mixed interest then one will pounce on
it. Go figure... Great fun though! Glad your aboard! See you out
there! Doug

#6 what line? bill 12:04 pm wednesday june 6, 2001

Gallery pics show some catches on what appears to be a #6 rod.
What lines are used on this? I've been using a full sink but, I
think my T-130 line would work better and get to the bottom
faster.

re: #6 what line? Doug 1:06 pm wednesday june 6, 2001

I use a 6/7 and love it! I use a braided mono running line with a
Scientific Anglers 30', 600gr, head made for a 9wt. Then I cut 2'
off the tip and 3' off the butt end making it a 25' head when
done. Cast like a dream. I also carry three other heads. 27' of
LC-13 for deep water, and a 300gr head cut like above for
the shallow stuff. I also have a floating head that I use in a
pinch for quiet water but I prefer a full line when using a
floater. Theres an article called "Getting Started" on the tactics
page that has some detail on lines and heads, along with a couple
links.
Anyway...My 2c

re: #6 what line? Andrew 7:52 am thursday june 7, 2001

Doug,

How much overhang do you allow when casting that 25' head? It
seems that 25' would be too short without much overhang, but 600 gr
seems heavy, so you must have found the perfect balance point to
cast that. Sounds scary to me!

Andrew

re: #6 what line? Doug 4:14 pm thursday june 7, 2001

Not sure what you mean by overhang...

Overhang, etc. Andrew 8:03 am friday june 8, 2001

I'm referring to the amount of running line between your rod tip
and the back of your shooting head when you're casting. I'm sure
you know that if you only have 15 feet of your head out of the rod,
you can't really cast well, but if you get the head too far out
(i.e. too much "overhand") then you lose some control of the line.

I've been practicing lately with my sinking shooting line (a Teeny
T type line, but made by another manufacturer - not technically a
shooting head, but not really like a full sink either - I'm not
really sure what this type of line is called!). When I have just
the coated, tapered part out, I can throw nice loops but once I get
some of the braided running line out, or actually shoot line for
the cast, the cast just doesn't hold together. It may go a long
way, but it kind of just sails out there instead of unfolding
neatly like when I cast my floating line.

When you said your LC13 head "casts like a dream" did you mean it
goes a long way, or that it goes a long way and ALSO looks good in
the process? I'm just wondering how much to expect, in the way of
nice tight loops and such, from a shooting head or similar type
line.

Andrew

Hook up bill 3:20 pm wednesday june 6, 2001

It looks like the forum here is starting to catch on. Another
new to the surf guy posted about hooking up some day. Might be a
fun outing since we're all local boy's. Maybe down at Bolsa
Chica or some place like that where we could do some
fishing,fire,beer,talking,etc.....
How about some thoughts from you long timers.

Surf Fishing Oceanside/San Clemete Keith/Big Bear 5:22 pm wednesday june 6, 2001

I will be spending a week near San Clemente. Anyone who can help
me with specific locations to surf fish would be appreciated. I
have some surf flies(clousers, surf grubs,rusty squirrels,some
shrimp patterns)but am open to ANY suggestions. Any help would
be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

re: Surf Fishing Oceanside/San Clemete bill 7:16 am thursday june 7, 2001

When you going to be in town? Live close by and would be glad to
fish for a day.

Welcome Keith! Doug 7:35 pm thursday june 7, 2001

Hello Keith! Welcome to fliflicker! Sorry I haven't fly fished
that area much but Bills good people... Take him up on his offer
if you can. If you do well (or even if you don't) let us know.
Good Luck, Tight Lines!

P.S. How did you hear about us?

re: Welcome Keith! Keith/Big Bear 4:09 pm friday june 8, 2001

Doug,I got your web site from a friend, Tim Allen,Long Beach
Casting Club. Great web site! I have a fly tying -&- Guide Service
here at Big Bear. Anytime anyone wants a factual fishing report
or lake information, they can email me. I'll post my surf
adventures....Keith

Spadefish Eric Suchman 5:30 am friday june 8, 2001

Thanks for getting back to me. Nice site. Couldn't find the
spade fish photo in the gallery. What sort of environment
did you find them? Books say that they are common but I've
never seen them, except maybe once when a striped fish
very aggressively took my fly into the rocks and disappeared.

re: Spadefish Doug 6:36 am friday june 8, 2001

The "sand shark" photo in the lower left corner of the gallery is
often called a spade fish or shovel nosed shark or some call them
a guitar fish. (click to enlarge)There are a lot of common names
for our local fish. These are sandy bottom dwellers and are active
feeders in shallow water. Hope that helps... Doug

re: Spadefish Eric Suchman 7:46 am friday june 8, 2001

I guess what I was refering to (and hoping for info on) was
the Pacific Spadefish. A dinnerplate shaped fish with dark
vertical banding.

re: Spadefish Doug 3:19 pm friday june 8, 2001

So sorry... Lots of "common" names out there for our local fish.
You can always contact the DFG. Theres a link on the links page.
Good Luck!

Santa Barbara Harbor Report Doug 1:55 pm monday june 11, 2001

Santa Barbara Harbor was very good this last week on the minus
tide especially around bait receiver and along the Eastern shore
inside the harbor. Olive/White clousers were the ticket. I took
13 fish in about an hour (mostly small but fun!)6 Sand bass, 3
halibut, 1 Perch, 3 white croaker.
The spit was also producing some nice YF croaker and a few
corbina were cruising very close to shore but no takers.
Tight Lines!!! Doug

Mystery Fish Identified!? fliflicker 8:31 pm monday june 11, 2001

Hey the guy sounds like he knows what hes talking about... Still
waiting for DFG to confirm...

From: "Andrew A. Voss" webmaster@mbdc.to
To: Curt Degler cdegler@best.com
CC: ba_diving ba_diving@yahoogroups.com Save Address
Subject: Re: [ba_diving] Doug's Mystery Fish
Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 15:07:22 -0700

Curt-

After looking at the photo, it seems 90% likely to me that he's
holding a specimen of Girella nigricans, also known as the
Opaleye. Diagnostic features of this species are a flattened
tail, a large, fleshy soft dorsal fin, rounded (almost
hemispherical) head with large eyes, and most obvious, a large
pale (usually cream colored to yellow) spot just under the spiny
first dorsal fins.

Opaleye are fairly common in Monterey, usually preferring warmer
shallow water. You can often see them at the Breakwater when
water temperatures are up and vis is good. They feed on algae
and small animals (crustaceans, jellies, etc.). Interestingly,
young Opaleye have the ability to breathe air. This is because
they live in tide pools when small and these pools occasionally
become depleted of oxygen. You can sometimes see them in large
schools, but they seem to be seen most often in small numbers or
accompanying schools of other fish, such as Blacksmith. Although
there is still some debate on the subject, this species is most
often classed in Family Kyphosidae (Sea Chubs), and is onsidered
to be related to the Halfmoon (Medialuna californiensis), which
is another local denizen.

Hope this helps!

Andy

re: Mystery Fish Identified!? Eric Suchman 6:31 pm thursday june 14, 2001

The general shape is like an Opaleye but I though t that
Opaleye had white dots. Does'nt your fish have red dots?

re: Mystery Fish Identified!? Doug 8:56 am friday june 15, 2001

I know.... Thats why its been a mystery... The red "patch" behind
the gill plate is not really typical and the absense of the white
dots??? However the fins, mouth structure, location, habitat,
overall shape and light colored belly (from what I've been told)
point to nothing else but an Opaleye. Still waiting for word from
a biologist with the DFG. Bottom line... It fought like heck and
it adds to the fun of never knowing quite what will be at the end
of the line! :/ Doug

Float tubing Thursday @ Harbor bill 2:52 pm wednesday june 13, 2001

Hitting Dana point Harbor and wanted to get some info on best
bet for fishing around bait receiver inside harbor. I'm guessing
the depth is around 15-20'? Do you try to fish right on the
bottom or what? Any suggestions for a newby would be great.

re: Float tubing Thursday @ Harbor Doug 10:08 pm wednesday june 13, 2001

When fishing bait receivers I've always done best from 20' or so
away off the corners and casting parallel to the sides letting
the fly get down a bit. Strip your fly back fairly close to the
structure. Fish often hang out directly underneath and along side
the netting. Try different depths from a few feet under down to
the bottom. Watch out for anchor ropes. If fishing much near the
bottom, you may want to get some LC-13 (if your using a head
system) If not, just let it sink down. You may want to try
counting to make sure your covering different depths until your
scratching bottom.
You should also kick out a little farther and cast to the
receiver, as close as possible and let the fly sink giving it an
occasional twitch before retrieving it back. My 2c... You should
do well! Sounds like a blast... Wish I could join you! Let us
know how you do! Doug

newport area? gordon 9:51 pm thursday june 14, 2001

Any info on where to fish and with what and how in the Newport
Beach area? Thanks.

re: newport area? Jerrold Paul Shelton 12:22 pm saturday june 16, 2001

Are we talking Newport Harbor, the local beaches, or the open ocean
near Newport ?

I am a licensed guide, and specialize in fly fishing saltwater from
kick-boats or open-top kayaks. I don't claim to have all of the
answers, but I might be able to help out here if I know what type
of water you seek to fish, and what type of fish you seek to catch.
e-mail:south_coast_flyfishing@hotmail.com

re: newport area? Jerrold Paul Shelton 11:51 am monday june 18, 2001

FYI, above NOT intended as a shameless plug....Just to point out
that my profession allows me to fish the area often. I am always
willing to discuss location, method, tackle, etc. with no strings
attached.

3 most effective flies gordon 9:44 am saturday june 16, 2001

What are your 3 favorite "indispensible" flies? What would you
take if you only had 3 patterns and wanted to catch a wide
variety of fish in the surf? thx.

re: 3 most effective flies mason 10:50 am saturday june 16, 2001

Hey,

I would bring some clousers, in olive/white and probably
orange/brown. Along with that probably sometype of sandcrab
imitation, minipuff, or something. Then maybe a gremmie like
pattern or crazy charlie style fly.

Clousers can catch just about anything! hehe..

Late,
mason

re: 3 most effective flies Doug 2:31 pm saturday june 16, 2001

#1) Olive and White Clouser
#2) Something orange like a Gremmie or Wannabe
#3) Squirrel-tail or maybe a Timms Beach Butterfly?

re: 3 most effective flies Andrew 4:55 pm saturday june 16, 2001

I'd take:

1. white/chartreuse clouser
2. white/chartreuse clouser
3. white/chartreuse clouser

Santa Barbara Harbor Doug 8:05 am monday june 18, 2001

Fished SB harbor on friday PM. Its still fishing really well...
Caught lots of nice sand bass and some nice halibut. I saw a WSB
crusing around and busting bait on the flats at low tide (about
18-20") And the biggest corbina I've ever seen cruised within
about 15' of me while I was changing flies. I caught all my fish
on a #4 O/W clouser with a floating line and about 18' of flat 6
lb mono.
Hey folks... Post your reports! I know your getting out there.
You dont have to spill the beans on your favorite spot by giving
all the details. Just the skinny version will do :) Tight Lines!
Doug

re: Santa Barbara Harbor Colin Waters 6:09 am thursday june 28, 2001

Doug,

Do you really mean 18 feet of flat leader? If so, how come
you're not using tapered?

Your site is great. We found it the other day, just as my son and
I had moved from the de-moralized to the de-hooking fish stage of
our surf casting! In the last two outings, fishing a little south
of Santa Monica pier, a friend and ourselves have caught corbina,
nice perch, halibut, rays and (my speciality) sand sharks. We're
going again this evening, high-tide at 6, can't wait.

Thanks
Colin

re: Santa Barbara Harbor Doug 1:38 pm monday july 16, 2001

Yes I do use a flat mono leader about 18' (usually with 6 lb test
maxima) because of its ability to sink quickly and keep me in
direct contact with the fly. A tapered leader with its thick butt
section wont sink nearly as well and creates an arch in the line.
I use a bimini knot to the loop in my fly line and a duncan loop
to the fly. I have yet to break off a fish on this rig and have
caught halibut to 12 lbs with it. I buy the line in 250 yard
spools, tie the biminis ahead of time and keep the "leaders" in a
plastic baggie. Go with 8 lb test if you are using an 8wt rod or
above. This rig is a little tricky to throw at first but will
catch more fish by far in quiet water like the harbor. Always use
heavily weighted flies and keep them on the bottom using a slow
twitching retrieve. Tight Lines!!! Doug

Dana Point Harbor report bill 10:43 am monday june 18, 2001

Float tubed the receiving tank last Thursday PM. Fished O/T
Clouser on type 3 line. One 18" halibut,5 Tom Cod,3 Y.F.
Croaker,1 Mackerel,1 barracuda. Got strikes on almost every
cast.
My first halibut on the fly!!!!!! YES!

re: Dana Point Harbor report Jerrold Paul Shelton 11:43 am monday june 18, 2001

Congrats re: your first halibut on the fly ! I've caught a few
there myself, but have yet to catch a "legal" one. I ususally
catch mostly mackerel and barracuda there by the bait reciever,
fishing "bleeding anchovy" salt buggers on an intermediate line -
big time fun, and a fun fishery that lends itself well to FF'ng
from tubes or kick boats, as Bill seems to know well. Sounds like
a fun filled evening, and I wish I was there!
P.S. Ever try dredging the bottom at the base of the seaward/Doheny
Beach side of the breakwall with a Clouser ? I get a lot of
halibut hookups that way, on calm days.

re: Dana Point Harbor report Doug 1:48 pm monday june 18, 2001

WoooooHoooo!!!!
P.S. Is that O/T Olive/Tan ???

King Harbor/Newport Bay Andrew Stoehr 12:13 pm monday june 18, 2001

Fished King Harbor Friday (6/15) for about 3 hours. Tons of
mackeral, a few small barracuda, and a couple tiny calico bass,
but no bonito. Sea lions didn't give us any trouble, but a few
persistent pelicans did. Given how much fun mackeral are on a fly
rod, I can't even imagine what the bonito are like!

Fished Newport Bay from a float tube Sunday, along with about 12
other fishermen and fisherwomen, for about 2.5 hours. Fishing was
slow, only 4 fish amongst all of us. I got a small white sea
bass, and others got one needlefish, one halibut, and one spotted
bay bass.

New link on making Stripping Baskets! fliflicker 7:19 am wednesday june 20, 2001

See it on the Tactics Page!

Stripping baskets Jim 4:57 pm thursday june 21, 2001

Here's some more info on building a basket....
www.worldwideangler.com Go to the Flyfishing link and click on
articles and look for "Stripping baskets-don't leave home
without them". Just some more to think about.....

Thanks Jim! - Link on Tactics Page... fliflicker 6:05 pm thursday june 21, 2001

Thanks Jim! Love the input! I added the link to the Tactics Page

re: Thanks Jim! - Link on Tactics Page.. Jim 8:38 pm thursday june 21, 2001

            Your welcome!

0 and 1-help? gordon 9:48 pm friday june 22, 2001

Ok. this site inspired me so i went out and bought the stuff
(had to use my 5wt Sage XP though) and went to river jetties
today. Saw over 50 fish. Fish all over the place! Looked like
corvina. after four hours of fishing I had one take but he came
unbuttoned after about 3 secs. Fished clousers in Orange/white,
green/white. got bit on the orange #6. I put that fly in front
of every fish I could find many times w/o spooking them but they
wouldn't take. What am I doing wrong? Any tips would be
appreciated. Many fish were in only inches of water looking for
sandcrabs so maybe the pattern was the problem? any advice
would be gladly appreciated. PS-i used a 6lb 15ft leader.
Also I don't need to catch corvina--halibut or croaker would be
fine lol!

re: 0 and 1-help? Doug 11:13 pm friday june 22, 2001

Been there, done that... The fish that are coming into shallow
water feeding on sand crabs are corbina. They’re everywhere right
now. Getting one to take in shallow water is a huge
accomplishment! You may try a mini puff in that situation in a #6
as they sometimes key in on the orange roe sacks that some mole
crabs have. You don’t need to strip much. Tiny 1" strips will
keep you in contact with the fly. Some people even throw the fly
onto the wet sand as the wave recedes and then let it wash around
in the soup when the wave returns to avoid spooking them.
I would only target these shallow feeding fish if your having
fun!!! They are usually easier to get in deeper water. (hint…
hint). The halibut and croaker down there are much less picky!
Sometimes if conditions are right, and you can fish calm water, a
floating line and long leader may work. However, when targeting
halibut and croaker, most folks use a sinking line or a shooting
head (300-400gr) and a very short leader about 2-4'. Fish the
deeper troughs and holes. There’s usually a place where the river
current and the open ocean meet and form a sort of whirlpool of
busy looking water. That’s often the place to try first if you
can reach it. Keep trying; you'll get into some!
Buy the way, there are a lot of mullet around these days and
folks often confuse them with game fish. They are for the most
part vegetarian and require special tactics and a whole lot of
patience to catch. They school and often jump completely out of
the water. They have a yellowish tail and faint stripes on the
sides that are hard to see.
I'll be fishing Manhattan Beach at 45th street Saturday AM
(that's today...) from about 6 till noon. There’s some sort of FF
club meeting there. If you can get up there I'd be glad to show
you the rigs I use and how I fish them for what its worth. Hang
in there!!! Doug :)

re: 0 and 1-help? Andrew 8:43 am sunday june 24, 2001

Well, let's see, what are you doing wrong? It's hard to say.
First, did you actually expect to catch corbina? Yes? Ha ha ha ha
ha...ahem, oh, sorry.

Actually, I'm just bitter right now, having cast in the last two
days to as many corbina as I've ever seen with nary a nibble. I'd
say Doug's advice is right on. Shoot for the corbina now and then,
because, afterall it's hard to resist fish you can see, but as a
confidence booster it's always best to plumb the deep holes with a
sinking line and get yourself some perch, croakers, or halibut.
They're all fun, and I think that, at least in the beginning,
you'll have more fun cathing a handful of croakers, which at times
come fast and furious, than spending all day to catch (maybe) a
corbina.


By the way, the fish you're seeing are almost certainly California
corbina, which are different from corvina. They're related (all in
the "croaker" family, along with fish like white sea bass, and,
back east, redfish, weakfish, and sea trout) but not quite the same
fish. You can get orangemouth corvina in the Salton Sea, and those
plus shortfin corvina (and others, I believe) in the Sea of Cortez.

Andrew

re: 0 and 1-help? gordon 3:47 pm sunday june 24, 2001

thanks guys for your help. Looks like I spent too much time in
shallow chasing the wrong kind of fish. Acutally, i meant
corbina even though I wrote corvina. Never could keep em
straight. I'll try out further. what type of retrieve do you
suggest and what patterns?

Nice site.... Brad 11:28 pm friday june 22, 2001

Is it more SoCal related than the central coast?
Cool pages.

Brad

re: Nice site.... fliflicker 4:08 pm saturday june 23, 2001

Thanks Brad! Welcome to fliflicker! Most of the folks who post
are from Santa Barbara, LA and Orange county but anyone is
certainly welcome!

New Fly - Timm's Beach Butterfly! fliflicker 8:19 pm saturday june 23, 2001

Check it out on the flies page. Also a few new pics in the
gallery.
P.S. Fished Manhattan Beach today... It was awesome. Never seen
so many corbina caught by fly fishers. Billions of mole crabs!
Low tide in the AM this week is the ticket. Look for holes and
rips. We used LC-13 heads, 4' of 8lb leader and Timm's Beach
Butterflies. We caught corbina, sand shark, croaker and perch in
good #s Tight Lines!!! Doug

Torrey Pines/Black's Beach Andrew 8:33 am sunday june 24, 2001

Fished Torrey Pines beach in San Diego for several hours Thursday
morning, then again in the afternoon. I've never seen so many
corbina. Everything
from singles to groups of possibly as many as 8-10 fish cruising
the shallow water. I watched a group of 6-7 fish work a crab bed
so hard that several
times they were in 2 inches of water with their back sticking out,
thrashing about, noses buried deep in the sand. If my fly line
landed over them they'd
spook, but come back. If just my leader, they'd stay but not one
ever paid any attention to my flies. And I tried every damn fly I
had with me: clousers,
crab patterns, shrimpy things, you name it.

Fished Black's beach Friday. Saw only a couple small corbina, but
more shovelnose guitar fish than I've ever seen in one spot -
sometimes I could see 6
of them from where I stood, often so close to each other they
touched. Hooked one large fish, probably one of these, but maybe
foul hooked. I'll never
know, though, because it broke me off.

great site! bob k 3:12 am monday june 25, 2001

just found this site, and its great!! just in time, as i dust
off the gear and try flyfishing the surf for the first time.
i'll be fishing the oceanside / carlsbad area and post the
report.

thanks again for all the useful info.

bob

re: great site! fliflicker 7:09 pm monday june 25, 2001

Welcome to fliflicker! Glad you like the site. Your posts are
greatly appreciated! Good Luck to you! Doug

Goleta Beach Report Mike 8:06 am monday june 25, 2001

I fished Goleta Beach Sunday morning with white/olive and plain
white Clousers. I only managed on short halibut. Corbina were
everywhere down around the slough mouth. My two buddies were
fishing light spinning tackle with Worm King AAs and caught a
couple of short halibut and a 26" WSB before I arrived.

Mike

N.B. Corbina bill 3:47 pm monday june 25, 2001

Has the beach been zooed early A.M. or can you still get some
fishing in mid-week? Been thinking about hitting it Wednesday
morning.

re: N.B. Corbina Andrew 4:27 pm monday june 25, 2001

I don't know about Newport Beach, but at Torrey Pines, the beach
crowd was pretty reasonable until about 10:00 am. This beach
probably doesn't have quite the crowds that Newport does, but I
suspect the basic "crowd pattern" is similar. I found, at Torrey
Pines, that a few joggers were out there as early as I was (about
5:30 am) but they're not a problem. People showing up to stay in
one spot, or the kids playing in surf didn't really start to show
up until about 9:00 (hard-core surfers are there at dawn, but are
usually not a problem either). By about 10:30 am, there were spots
that were too crowded to fish, although by walking around I'll bet
I could have have found a few holes here and there to fish.

If you are out early, you should get at least a couple hours in,
and probably more like 3-4.

Good luck! Will you be fishing with Keith from Big Bear? I was
going to join you, but I think I'll have to pass this time around.

Andrew

re: N.B. Corbina bill 9:51 am tuesday june 26, 2001

He got hold of me last night so I'm going to hook up with him
Thursday morning for a bait receiver outing. Killed em last
Friday. There's some big mackerel right now and lots of nice
yellow fin mixed in with the Tommys.

No overhead casting ordinance? Doug 7:05 pm monday june 25, 2001

Some friends and I were asked to stop fishing a local beach last
Saturday by a Lifeguard who sited a "no overhead casting"
ordinance. We were getting ready to quit anyway but my friend
challenged him politely and asked him to clarify. The guy
actually threatened to call the police. It wasn’t even that
crowded yet. Anybody ever hear of such an ordinance?

re: No overhead casting ordinance? Keith 8:22 pm monday june 25, 2001

I have heard that there is such an ordinance in the city of Long
Beach. Where were u guys fishing? The life guard who u guys
talked to probably watched one too many episode of "baywatch".

I don't know of any ordinance anywhere else though, except for
piers for obvious reasons.

Keith

re: No overhead casting ordinance? Andrew 8:24 pm monday june 25, 2001

Many of the piers have this rule, which makes sense there for two
reasons. First, people cannot get far away from the fisherman
given the width of the pier, and second, you can easily just drop
your bait into the water below.

It makes absolutely no sense on the beach and would effectively
eliminate any kind of surf fishing, not just fly fishing.
Hopefully, the lifeguard was just being a jerk, or was
misinformed. I think we should keep our ears open for valid
information on this - if it's true, we're in deep trouble and we
need to make some noise about it!

re: No overhead casting ordinance? Jim 9:46 pm monday june 25, 2001

Was fishing Salt Creek last summer and was asked to move down the
beach because the lifeguard thought I was a "danger" to swimmers
and people going to and from the surf. I am always considerate
when other people are around, especially kids and always watch
where I cast. The nice part is the women that are always
interested in what you're doing..... here, let me show you my
fly :)

re: No overhead casting ordinance? Keith 10:08 pm monday june 25, 2001

Hey Jim,

I agree completely with you when it comes to the safety of the
general public. We are flinging this little sharp object at a
very high speed. We should be cautious. I just don't appreciate
being treated as if I don't belong on the beach. I have every
right to be on the beach just as everyone else does. I pay my
taxes. In fact all of us pay even more for access to the beach.
It is called the "Pacific Ocean Fishing license". As long as we
pay constant attention and be on the alert, standbyers use common
sense and not sneak up behind us to see what we are doing, and
the life guards treat us with courtesy and respect as did yours,
we should have a long and fulfilling life enjoying this great
endeavor.

Keith

re: No overhead casting ordinance? Keith 11:23 pm monday june 25, 2001

Hey Jim,

And by the way,

which women are u talking about? All I get from women and
everyone else on the beach is "what is that weird guy wearing
(waders, boots, kayak jacket, stripping basket" look. If I had
known that women were curious about what we do, I'd consider
wearing a matching outfit and be little better groomed the next
time I hit the beach.

Have fun and see u on the beach

Keith

be part of the solution Andrew 8:05 am tuesday june 26, 2001

I agree, we have the right to be out there, and we also have a
responsibility to be careful. My suggestion to all the fly fishers
out there is to do MORE than your part. If the life-guards and
beach goers see that you are always paying attention to your back
cast, and you stop casting when people go by, they will be pleased.
But, if they see that in addition, you pick up a bit of garbage,
are friendly to those you talk to, etc. they will be even more
likely to be "on our side" should real issues about beach fishing
come up.

I suggest you take a long a trash-bag, fold it up and carry it with
your gear, and after the fishing is over, pick up some trash on
your way back to the car. We have all seen what your average
beach patron can do to the beach in no time (fast food wrappers,
beer bottles, you name it).


I would argue that, in general, fly-fishers are a more responsible
group of people than the sun worshipers, the surfers, or the bait
casters. If the life-guards see us doing that little bit more,
they will agree.


Andrew

re: be part of the solution Doug 2:21 pm tuesday june 26, 2001

Well said... I think getting clarification on the "rules" is a
good thing. I'm sure my friend and I would have felt a little
better had Mr."Hassle"hoff simply expressed concern about the
safety of others and asked us to move. Pressing the issue past
asking a polite question or two, might have only strengthened his
resolve for the future. If there really is such a law there,(which
I don't think there is) you cant really blame the guy for doing
his job. In that case maybe we should be challenging a city
council member, or maybe the yahoo fly fisher that pissed someone
off in the first place.
Good String! Thanks for the input!

re: No overhead casting ordinance? bill 9:46 am tuesday june 26, 2001

Remember, Watch the teeth and no overhead casting. I don't think
it's an ordinance but a pirates creed.

re: No overhead casting ordinance? Rich Jacobsen 5:33 pm tuesday june 26, 2001

Sometime ago John Hill and I started a dialog with the
Long Beach City Council about dogs and the numerous problems they
create while on the beach. This basically started a small war with
the dog owners. There is an ordinance in LB...No dogs on any beach
and all dogs must be on a leash not to exceed 8 feet. Anyway, the
dog owners contacted, Fish and Game and the Coastal Commission
trying to make it illegal to fly fish from the beach, citing the
overhead casting law.ALL the agencies said, NO WAY! The lifeguard
was wrong. I teach a surf fishing class and the thing I stress the
most is to look behind you on every cast. Make certain that
the beachgoers can see that you are being SUPER CAREFUL.It never
ceases to amaze me that people see you casting and will stand
directly begind you.Please be careful because in today's world of
" sue happy people" they will own you if you snag them with a
hook. Tight Lines...

re: No overhead casting ordinance? Andrew 12:43 pm wednesday june 27, 2001

Well said, and yet another reason to make your hooks barbless. I
think that the only fish I lose because my hooks are barbless are
small perch, and I don't mind that so much. But given that it's
windy at the beach, the flies are often heavily weighted, and there
are lots of people, I think even a lost fish now and then isn't too
high a price to pay for the other benefits that come with barbless
hooks. That's my opinion anyway. - Andrew

re: No overhead casting ordinance? Brad 6:48 pm tuesday june 26, 2001

I used to fish a pier where there was a $35 fine for overhead
casting.(many years ago)And I'm sure it's much more now.

However I've never heard of a beach where it was a rule or law.
And if it's not an actual law on that beach, then Mr. Lifeguard
needs to go find someone else to bitch at.

Near Cabo a couple years ago, I was "advised" to not toss flies
on the swimming side of a natural jetty. So I just complied.

Brad

2-1 thanks gordon 10:14 am saturday june 30, 2001

OK. Tried it again this morning at river jetties, this time
with better luck...
Got my first fish in the surf, a nice little barred surfperch.
My next fish, however, was a little better. Got a 25" halibut
on an olive clouser. OK. I like this.
He was a litte tough on a 5wt but we came up smiling after
awhile (20 minutes to be exact)
My guess is that he went between 4-5lbs maybe 6 if you ask me
tomorrow and probably 8lbs by the end of the week lol.
I think I'm gonna need a bigger rod...
thanks for all the help and advice guys. I'll keep trying.
Is the bait receiver in NB Harbor any good? I would assume it
is.

NBharbor mason 10:50 am saturday june 30, 2001

Hey,

I have fly fished it quite a few times. Never caught any Bonito,
but a lot of Mackeral and bay bass. I also caught a few shiner
surf perch around the bait barge. In the back bay there are a
lot of Halibut too!

Good Luck,
mason

P.S.-you can rent a skiff from Davey's Locker

re: NBharbor gordon 7:45 pm saturday june 30, 2001

thanks for the info. i'll probably float tube it. Where did you
get the mackerel? And where in the bb are the halibut and what
tide?

re: NBharbor mason 7:36 pm sunday july 1, 2001

NB Bay,

I mostly fish around the bait barge for mackeral, might be tough
in a float tube. :) The area around PCH bridge in the back bay,
where Charlie Brown's used to be and now there is a nautical
museum. (Its the big paddle steam boat) You can drop in your
float tube right below the bridge and catch bay bass off the
walls and some halibut drifting near the center and throwing
clousers. Also you can find some needlefish.

Late,
mason

re: NBharbor gordon 9:02 pm monday july 2, 2001

thanks. so you fish from shore around the bait barge?

re: NBharbor mason 5:09 pm tuesday july 3, 2001

No, I rent a skiff and fish it from that. Usually using an 8wt,
though a 6wt or 7 is fine.

Might want a stripping basket because of the chipped paint in the
boat. :)

late,
mason

Lots of flatties inside the harbor bill 6:45 am monday july 2, 2001

Been float tubing Dana Point Harbor and getting lots of Halibut
and yellow fins. Catching all on #6 olive/tan clousers.

carlsbad beach report bob k 9:58 am tuesday july 3, 2001

just returned from my first try at surf fly fishing.

fished the incoming tide in front of the encina powere plant.
used #4 olive clouser mostly, on a #8 9' rod. saw one corbina
working the shallows, and thought he boiled on my fly once, but
no hook-up.

just as i was getting ready to quyit for the day, a boil and
strike! first fish on, and it looks like a huge corbina,
running out line, cool...

after a nice long tussle....its a 24 mullet...geez..it sure
fought great...

question..have any of you caught mullet on the fly before??
also any recommendations for catching surf purch or corbina
instead of mullet??

thanks, this board is full of great info,

bob k

re: carlsbad beach report Andrew 10:12 am tuesday july 3, 2001

Are you sure it was a mullet and not a yellowfin croaker, or
something else? I only ask because 1) I've only seen mullet in the
bays, not the surf and 2) mullet RARELY take flies, and when they
do, I don't belive they are usually taking clousers, but instead
are taking very, very small flies that look like algae or tiny
crustaceans.

If it was a croaker, that's one heck of a croaker!


Anyway, congratulations.

Andrew

re: carlsbad beach report bob k 12:51 pm tuesday july 3, 2001

i'm pretty sure it was a mullet...ive used mullet for bait in
baja for roosterfish...this fish had the same broad, kind of flat
head, big scales, a big forked tail...and ive never heard of one
taking any kind of jig...this fish definetly ate the fly, it was
in the corner of his mouth...very strange, right???

anyway...it really took the line off my reel...it would have been
too much to hope for to get a nice big corbina on my first shot
at the surf anyway.

any better beaches to fish in north san diego county than near
the power plant?

bob k

re: carlsbad beach report Andrew 3:18 pm tuesday july 3, 2001

I've only fished Torrey Pines and Black's Beaches in San Diego.
Torrey Pines is very long and not developed. It's one of my
favorite beaches, in terms of its general appearance. I've gotten
perch and halibut there, and one very large mystery fish that broke
me off. However, the last time I was there it was crawling with
corbina and I couldn't get a single one to bite. I was one very
frustrated fisherman.


Black's is a really nice beach, but harder work to get to. It's
one of the more popular beaches for fly fisherman, but I got
skunked my only time there.

re: carlsbad beach report Eric Suchman 6:21 pm tuesday july 3, 2001

Bob,
Hey, congratulations if it was a mullet!!! Tremendously
difficult to catch! I'm going out tomorrow and I live in
Oceanside. Generally any where along the Carlsbad coast.
I'm out there between 6 and 8 AM Sundays and Holidays.
Get back to me and maybe we can hook up.

re: carlsbad beach report bob k 8:01 pm tuesday july 3, 2001

thanks eric,

im going out tomorrow (wed) about 0800, and again in front of the
power plant, unless i hear from anyone who can advise a better
location, since i'm new at this i appreciate all advice,

bob k

re: carlsbad beach report Eric Suchman 8:53 pm tuesday july 3, 2001

In front of the army navy academy there are some nice, and
from what i hear, productive holes. Perhaps I'll see you
tomorrow in front of the power plant.

Mullet on the fly... Doug 8:14 am wednesday july 4, 2001

I have spent countless hours trying to tempt mullet to a fly
without success and I am totally jealous Bob. They often hang out
at warm water outflows and are very common this time of year in
all of our river mouths and estuaries. I would assume that the
fish mistook the olive color in your fly as a mossy delight in
that they are predominantly vegetarian and do not eat small bait
fish. It should have had a very tiny mouth and faint dark stripes
running down its sides. Their tails are forked and are usually a
little yellow in color. I hear they run like you say... I have a
friend I correspond with on the subject who lives in Africa. He is
convinced we can take these fish on flies if patient. He has sent
me some good articles. If any one is interested I can forward them
to you. I would submit that the mullet is the ultimate challenge
for socal FF Congratulations Bob!!!

re: Mullet on the fly... Eric Suchman 5:35 am thursday july 5, 2001

Doug, I wouldn't mind being sent a copy of the mullet articles,
too. Is your friend in Africa 'zulu' on the boards?

re: Mullet on the fly... doug 3:08 pm thursday july 5, 2001

I will send... I believe he does go by 'zulu'... Great Guy!

re: Mullet on the fly... stoatstail 6:09 pm friday july 6, 2001

I'm having similar problems with Mullet off the UK coast. They
are all around me in the surf and the estuarys: won't take
anything. I've had one (3lb 8oz) and it went like hell on a #9
outfit.

If you've got any articles or advice, please please PLEASE email
me a copyn and save my sanity.

Regards,
Steve

re: Mullet on the fly... Eric Suchman 5:36 am saturday july 7, 2001

Get in touch with Nick Hart there in the UK. His address
isnick@hartflyfishing.demon.co.uk He guides people on
mullet excursions. (as well as other fish, I'm sure)

re: Mullet on the fly... bob k 8:14 pm saturday july 7, 2001

thanks doug,

i'm sure it was a total fluke.....but, wow!! that mullet was fun
and i hope to do it again.

bob k

re: Mullet on the fly... Doug 8:29 am sunday july 8, 2001

All part of the fun!!!!!!

re: Mullet on the fly... David Potter(zulu) 0:46 am friday september 7, 2001

Sorry to note that you folks are seeming to struggle to come into
contact with the mullet there on fly . I have been looking at
localities accross the world where mullet are caught on fly - it
seems that quite a number are fished on fly in South Africa ,
also Australia , as well as in the Atlantic at the
Canaries ,Britain, and around Gibraltar, and these are sometimes
differing species . Then again some species , such as Mugil
cephalus , which are apparently found worldwide.
I have found a good website where many of the species are
discussed in detail , and it seems that mullet eat about the same
things just about everywhere in the world .My concern is why some
folk in some countries can catch them on fly , while others
cannot.
Have a look at the website below and please refer back on what
various species of mullet you encounter there in So.California.I
will be most interested It seems that one gets about the broadest
range of worldwide species if you use the "contains , and
then "mullet"
http://www.fishbase.org/search.cfm
very kind regards - David Potter (aka zulu)

Carlsbad Beach Report Eric Suchman 5:41 am thursday july 5, 2001

Got to Encina at around 5:45am to find parking already
beginning to get scarce. The flats in front of the power plant
had corbina all around eating I don't know what as there
were no sand crabs to be seen, and they didn't seem to be
interested in my flies either. Left casting practice at 8:00
am. Bob, did you get out? How did you do?

re: Carlsbad Beach Report bob k 4:05 pm saturday july 7, 2001

eric,

i will be going out early sunday morning around 0600, power plant
area...are you fishing tomorrow?? if so, lets hook up, i would
like to see how you veterans go about this!!

bob knox

re: Carlsbad Beach Report Eric Suchman 7:52 pm saturday july 7, 2001

            See you there-Eric

float tubing harbor bill 10:51 am saturday july 7, 2001

For you guys just getting started in the salt like myself, you
should try throwing #6 olive/tan clousers inside the harbor from
a float tube. I fish paralel with the jetties about 30' off.
Cast out and let the fly sink then fast 4" strips. Nailed two
halibut,two flounder yesterday in a couple of hours.
When the surfs up or you just get frustrated give it a try.
Those sand bars along the jetties hold some big flatties.

re: float tubing harbor Andrew 1:28 pm saturday july 7, 2001

Bill,

Four of us fished Doheny beach, right there next to the harbor,
this morning for a few hours. Compared to the beaches I'm used to
fishing, I didn't like it. It seems to me the sand is very coarse,
or in some places, downright rocky, and the surf was really rough.
The waves were breaking right at the water's edge, meaning we
couldn't wade in at all and for the most part, the beach seemed to
have little structure - just one long, mean-looking wave.

Is this how it typically is there, and if so, how do you fish it?
Do you ever fish those rocky areas? I lost about 4 flies and had
no fish to show for it. Between the other three guys I was with,
they got one small perch, one small halibut, one small sand bass,
and a snagged mullet.

Andrew

Bad area there bill 9:32 am monday july 9, 2001

You're right about the rocky shoreline. I never fish that area.
At low tide you can really see how rocky it is with no pools to
hide in. I usually fish another couple of mile South of D.P.
Harbor. Mostly fish inside the Harbor from my float tube.

re: float tubing harbor gordon 10:13 pm sunday july 8, 2001

Which harbor?

re: float tubing harbor Shane Chung 5:20 pm monday july 9, 2001

Which jettie were you float tubing (Dana Harbor?), the big one or
the small one. I usually fish around the bait receiver and the
channel next to it. I have done fairly decent on halibut.
Clousers of various colors seems to work really good for me. The
Bass fishing should be going full stride right now. The spotties
are very fiesty. They seem to put up a fight twice their size.

Shane

re: float tubing harbor bill 12:38 pm tuesday july 10, 2001

Shane,
The jetty by the bait receiver. I've been fishing it on the
incoming tide from the "dogleg" off the S/W/C/O the receiver out
to almost the end of the short jetty. There's a nice sand bar
built up there about 20-30' off the jetty. All the bait fishers I
see there throw their lines way past it and get very little. The
halibut are up pretty close to the jetty.
There is a killer sand bar along the long jetty right now that's
got to have some big flatties hanging around. It probably runs a
couple hundred yards. After some surgery this week I plan on
working that area to see what it holds.

re: float tubing harbor Shane Chung 8:27 am wednesday july 11, 2001

Let me know when you head out again. I'm doing Newport Harbor
this weekend. I plan on hitting Dana next Thursday. The tide
bottoms out in the early morning. Hopefully I can fish a good
length of the big jettie. Use to fish the sea side of the big
jettie as a kid and did well.

Shane

San Diego Jeff 3:02 pm saturday july 7, 2001

I visit the San Diego area about 3 times a year. I'm looking for
some good saltwater flyfishing areas. I heard Mission bay is
pretty good. Can it be wade fished or do you need a boat. I'll
be there in September next. Any comments would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Jeff

re: San Diego Eric Suchman 7:55 pm saturday july 7, 2001

Jeff,
generally you will need a skiff. there are areas to surf cast
but not as many or as productive. check out the SD flyshop,
Peter or Jeff.
-Eric

re: San Diego Doug 6:42 pm monday july 9, 2001

Theres a really good article in "California Fly Fisher" April
2001 on f/fishing the San Diego area complete with maps! If you
cant find it, email me and I'll send you the highlights. Cheers :)
Doug

Ventura area flyfishing JDP 9:21 pm sunday july 8, 2001

Spent a couple of hours in the surf tonight at La Conchita.
Tried several different flies/color combos without much luck.
Landed only one small perch. I did see a nice sized corbina
just minutes after starting casting but no luck getting him to
take a fly.
Anyone else fishing the area and doing any good.
Thanks to all those posting reports.
JDP

re: Ventura area flyfishing Doug 7:07 am monday july 9, 2001

The Ventura / Oxnard area is my "home water" and I try to f-fish
the area once a week and most times I do pretty well. Gremmie
like flies in orange and hot orange, Timms beach butterfly, olive
and white clousers and mole crab patterns work very well for
perch, halibut and the occasional corbina. Even though there are
good numbers of corbina up here they seem to be more difficult to
catch then down south (with a few exceptions) A lot of your
success will depend on matching your tactics to the location your
fishing and the tidal conditions.
I'll be up there this Thursday and Friday if you want to try to
hook up. (e-mail me) Hope that helps... Tight Lines! Doug

re: Ventura area flyfishing Darin 9:02 pm monday july 9, 2001

Doug,
Thanks for the tips. I would really like to catch up with you at
one of the local beaches if you dont mind sharing some tips.
I'm heading out of town on Thursday and Friday so this week is
out. Maybe next week.
Thanks,
Darin

Fishing RJ's Tuesday AM ? Doug 11:28 am monday july 9, 2001

Any one up for hitting The Santa Ana Rivermouth tomorrow AM
Early?

re: Fishing RJ's Tuesday AM ? Don Collins 2:00 pm monday july 9, 2001

Hi Doug,

I am a reader of this web site. I have never posted but I fish the
river jetty area Tues and Thurs mornings, I would love to me you
and exchange some tactical information. I will try to be there
between 6:30 and 7:00. Let me know your plans.

Don Collins

re: Fishing RJ's Tuesday AM ? Shane Chung 5:15 pm monday july 9, 2001

Early?

If I can drag my butt out of bed I will see you there. I will be
wearing a blue hat. I can hit the beach for a couple of hours
before work. I will try to get there by 6am.

Shane

re: Fishing RJ's Tuesday AM ? richard 8:05 pm monday july 9, 2001

Hey Shane

I fished RJ's Sat morning, sorry I missed you. You didn't miss
too much. 2 halibut, 2 croaker, 1 perch, 4 foul hooked smooth
hound sharks.
I fished today for only 45 mins, but was able to pick up a 26"
halibut. Lots of corbina.

How you Tues guys do? bill 12:45 pm tuesday july 10, 2001

How's bout a report.

re: How you Tues guys do? / never made i Shane Chung 1:14 pm tuesday july 10, 2001

I actaully had to go into work early. I basicly would have had
to leave once my rod was strung up. The surf was to bottom out a
7:18am, so tide wise it should have been promising. Last Sat. I
lost a good size halibut and spooked a few Corbina in about a
1.5' of water. Other than that the action was so, so.

Shane

re: How you Tues guys do? / never made i Doug 7:19 pm tuesday july 10, 2001

At first light I hooked into a really nice halibut in the 10-12lb
range. It took me well into my backing instead of the normal dog
fight. After about 15 min and several runs I worked it up to the
shallows within about 10' of me and it came un-buttoned... just
as well :) About 10 min later I picked up one of my biggest
corbina ever in the same slot. The corbina hammered the fly on
the take (I don’t remember having one do that before) then it
took off for a long run. I was thinking striper for a min
there :0
Don showed up (great guy by the way) and we caught a few more
short halibut before the tide bottomed out.
Later in the afternoon I fished Belmont Shores and picked up 12
small halibut to about 14". It felt great to get into some good
fish after seeing everyone else posting!!! Anyway… next time
Shane! Tight Lines! Doug

re: How you Tues guys do? / never made i Andrew Stoehr 9:48 am wednesday july 11, 2001

Doug,

How was the surf at Belmont Shores? When I fished there down
towards the end of the peninsula, there was a deep trough right at
the water's edge which made for some large breakers and frustrating
fishing. I fished farther up, maybe near Cherry Ave (?) where it
was calmer, but didn't have any luck. I also never saw any crabs.
This was a few months ago, though, so I'm not sure what it's like
right now.


Andrew

re: How you Tues guys do? / never made i Doug 12:07 pm wednesday july 11, 2001

I fished inside Alamitos Bay at a place I'm hesitant to mention ;)
because it was shown to me by someone. Its a small area and could
easily be over fished. (Its the same place where I caught the
corbina on the home page, hint...) There are a lot of places
around there that are worth exploring. You could stumble upon the
spot without much trouble or maybe find a new and better one.
Tight Lines! Doug

re: How you Tues guys do? / never made i Don 10:26 am wednesday july 11, 2001

one 10- 12 lber. lost, but one of those short halibut looked to me
to be about 20+ inches. It was really nice meeting the "Fliflicker"
if any of you have a chance to fish with him, do it, it will be a
rewarding experience. Hope to see you out there again.
Don

carlsbad report 7-11 bob k 9:41 pm wednesday july 11, 2001

fished ponto beach this morning for a few surf perch. only one
corbina seen. i used a sand crab pattern for the perch and an
olive clouser for nothing!! you guys with the great reports on
the corbina are making me wonder what i'm doing wrong.

i'll keep at it, because even a bad day fishing is better
than....

bob k

sat evening? gordon 9:45 pm wednesday july 11, 2001

anyone want to fish sat evening? Location is optional (I'm
willing to try anything reasonable)

re: sat evening? Doug 10:04 pm friday july 13, 2001

Wish I could... Have a great time!

map? gordon 9:48 pm wednesday july 11, 2001

Just an idea. A map on this site with some "hotspots" in both
surf and harbors would be really cool (not to mention
appreciated by us newbies who are still trying to figure out
where to go)

re: map? Andrew 9:48 am thursday july 12, 2001

Gordon,

In my limited experience, the location of the beach or bay is not
what makes the main difference between who is catching fish and who
isn't. The main difference is where you're fishing on the specific
beach at that specific time, and this type of "hot spot" will
change from day to day. The best thing you can do to increase your
odds of catching fish is to get better at reading the water so you
know where, on a given stretch of beach, the fish are likely to be
or not be. Of course, fishing the right periods of the tide is
also important. My opinion is that these two things are more
important than all of the other factors (such as flies, lines,
stripping style, etc. which can be important, but of secondary
importance).

If you can, fish with (or watch) somebody who catches fish. But,
the other thing is just to pay attention to what's going on when
you do and do not catch fish yourself, and try to keep doing the
right things. Until you catch fish, it can be frustrating because
you have no idea what you're doing wrong, but once you start
catching a few fish, you have some real "data" to work with. Since
you're catching fish, you're on your way. I'm no pro, but I
usually catch fish and this has been my approach.


That said, get your California map out and locate Black's beach and
Torrey Pines in San Diego, San Clemente, Crystal Cove and Doheny
Beaches farther north, Belmont and Cherry Beaches near Long Beach,
Newport and Huntington Beaches, Seal Beach, Bolsa Chica, Manhattan,
Torrance, Redondo Beaches near LA, Will Rogers, Zuma, Broad Beach
around Malibu, and Leo Carillo north of there. I have either
caught fish, have friends who have caught fish, or at least know
that fly fishers catch fish, at all of these beaches. There's more
beach listed here than you could cover in years of fishing, and I'm
sure Doug and those farther north near Santa Barbara and Ventura
could add even more.

re: map? fliflicker 6:53 am monday july 16, 2001

Andrew makes a really good point. I've had some really lousy
days,
results wise, fishing the best places I know. I also have had
some
of my best days fishing new water that others have passed over.
Learning what to look for on any beach can often produce
surprising results. Thinking of rips, troughs, transitions,
structure and the like as "hot spots" rather than locations on a
map, will allow you to be successful on almost any beach. That
being said, starting out fishing a location that has been known
in
the past to produce consistently can be a good thing. Especially
if you are considering what it is that makes that location a good
one. That's how most people learn...
The posting of maps has other complications associated with it.
To be honest, I laid awake the night you posted for several hours
thinking about how it could or should be done. I decided it may
be
a good idea but I would have to think about it more.
I rolled over and noticed it was 4:30 AM and did the math: Lets
see... its light enough to fish at 5:30... 10 min. to get
dressed... 45 min to the cove... 5 min. to rig up... Work is 10
min. from the water... gotta be there by 7:30 that gives me an
hour and 50 min. of fishing... Better get up!
Tight Lines! Doug

re: map? bob k 3:07 pm friday july 13, 2001

great advice andrew and doug...even tho i havent done as well as
i would like in the surf yet, i am brand new at this type of
flyfishing. i remember how long it would take me to fully dial
in a stream or lake until i was really scoring well.

i will be camping at the south carlsbad state beach this weekend
with my family. so, early mornings will be corbina patrol. i
will post a report monday.

tight lines, amigos

arial photos of your favorite spot gordon 10:01 pm wednesday july 11, 2001

did you know you can go to mapquest.com and find the section of
shoreline you're thinking of fishing and view an arial photo of
the area? I just checked out Belmont Shore. Looks great. You
can even see the holes and eddies! Of course its not real time
but it might work well as a preplanner. FYI.

Ventura Santa Barbara Report Doug 10:59 am friday july 13, 2001

I fished Ventura Thurs. AM and picked up two halibut, one was 25"
and was hiding about 10 feet from shore in a little trough.
Just goes to show that working those troughs patiently can pay
off. The corbina there have become down right arrogant and refuse
any offering no matter how nicely its presented. The only thing I
haven't tried is some sort of bloodworm imitation. Does anyone
know of a good one?
I fished Santa Barbara Harbor last evening and picked up half a
dozen short halibut near the pier and a few sand bass. The
highlight of the evening was watching a guy try to land a 30"
white sea bass in a float tube while being chased by a sea lion.
The latter grabbed the fish twice but both times the guy managed
to wrestle it loose. At one point he was just spinning in circles
as the sea lion, fish in mouth, swam around him in a tight circle
at least 6 or 7 times. The fisherman finally prevailed and lifted
the fish (with a few pieces missing) to the cheering crowd that
had gathered to watch the show. Pretty scary stuff. Between the
sea lions and the pelicans its like a war zone there.
This continues to be too much fun... :) Doug

Sunday surf Andrew 10:49 am monday july 16, 2001

A buddy and I fished Huntington beach from the Santa Ana north
about a mile. The water has cooled down and the surf was rough,
for summertime, but the beach was loaded with perch. Most were
small but we caught more than I bothered to count, and we each got
a few "medium" sized perch as well as one nice fat perch each. I
foul hooked an 18-20" halibut and caught another small one, and
later got a big yellowfin croaker about 18". We saw two guys
throwing lead head jigs into the river mouth channel hook several
fish, including one (to quote my friend, who saw it) "huge"
halibut, which eventually broke off. Saw only one corbina and
didn't see or speak to anybody who was catching them. One of the
regular fly fishers said he was also foul hooking a lot of smooth
hound sharks. We saw one but hooked none.

red tide report bob k 4:03 pm monday july 16, 2001

wouldn't you know that on the very weekend i'm camped at the
south carlsbad state beach, a major red tide would invade the
area. along with tonnage of kelp from the heavy surf, made for
poor fishing. no corbina seen, no surf perch caught in the
dingy brown water.

the upside of the red tide was watching the waves break after
dark, in bright lime green from the phosphorus (sp) in the water.

will fish torrey pines on wednesday and post the report,

bob k

torrey pines report bob k 6:32 pm wednesday july 18, 2001

fished for about 3 hours this morning, corbina feeding
everywhere, in pods of 7-10 fish. no takers, very tough fishing
due to a lot of debris in the water, grass on almost every
retrieve.

but, the fish are there. i watched a veteran bait surf fisher
present live sand crabs to these fish and never got bit once,
using ultra light gear. he was pissed!! they were feeding on
something else, what tho??? anyone had any luck with shrimp
patterns?? i didn't have any or i would have tried that. still
off colored water from the red tide as well.

re: torrey pines report Andrew 8:01 am thursday july 19, 2001

Bob,

I'm glad to hear it's not just me. I was at Torrey Pines a few
weeks ago and couldn't believe how many corbina I saw. Like you
said, they were everywhere, in groups of up to 10 or so. I saw
some that were definitely feeding on crabs - they would wait just
behind a little ledge, then when the waves came up they would ride
them in, root around in the crab bed, then ride the wave back out.
I fished for hours and had only one bite - which I fought for a bit
but then it got off, and I don't know if it was a corbina. That
particular fish I got on a fly I'd tied to imitate ghost shrimp.

Sure would be nice to figure out what those fish want! I tried
sand crab patterns, clousers, sinking lines, floating lines, long
leaders, short leaders, you name it!

Andrew

red tide E Suchman 5:31 pm thursday july 19, 2001

The Red Tide is every where down here, how is it up past
Pendelton area. Dana?, Laguna?, Santa Ana rivermouth?

re: red tide Doug 4:36 pm friday july 20, 2001

Head North! Its great up here... a bit of a drive I admit but new
is good! If you need some suggestions north of LA... Email me!
Doug

Red Tide Toxicity E Suchman 5:33 pm thursday july 19, 2001

I know that red tide can make shellfish toxic or at least
inedible, however is this so for fish as well?

Ventura Report (same story) :/ Doug 5:35 pm thursday july 19, 2001

Fished Ventura today. Only had about and hour to fish. Corbina
everywhere! I have a favorite spot where there are no waves to
speak of and the fish come right up close. There not that spooky
either. Its a little cove, only about 100 yards or so long and
there must have been 60 Corbina in little groups along the
shore. I Nailed 1 of the larger fish on about my 5th cast. His
belly was fat as a pig. The rest of the time... No interest at
all. I must have made 10+ really good presentations that should
have worked but alas... The water was gin clear, a nice calm
breeze, no one around... Bait fish were busting over the spot I
gaught a nice halibut last week. Wish I had the day!
I really think these fish are gorging themselves and aren’t
really motivated to aggressively feed. Theres so much food in
the water. They hang out with their buds and kinda cruse the
boulevard together and if something looks particularly good...
and they don’t have to go to far out of their way... maybe
they'll give it a taste.
Still...Too much fun!!!
The search for the miracle fly continues! Tight Lines All
We need to get together and fish, compare notes, flies!
Doug

Encino report Eric Suchman 7:45 am sunday july 22, 2001

Red tide everywhere. So were there small to medium
corbina. Didn't fish though as I was inaugurating my new
kayak. While out I was entertained by a pod of dolphins at a
very close range.....very cool! There were baitfish jumping
everywhere, as well as lots of small swirls. Looked like a
perfect time for an intermediate line and a gurgler. A great
time and experience....can't wait to get out there with a rod.

re: Encino report Doug 7:49 pm sunday july 22, 2001

Where the heck is Encino?

re: Encino report Eric Suchman 5:47 am monday july 23, 2001

Sorry.......Encino powerplant in Carlsbad...at Agua Hedionda
Lagoon

red tide anywhere? Andrew 8:41 am friday july 27, 2001

Does anybody know what beaches to avoid this weekend due to red
tide? I've been fishing the Santa Ana rivermouth (Newport and
Huntington beaches) and Manhattan beaches lately and haven't seen
it but would like to know if things have changed since I was last
there.

Any reports on red tide for the Orange and LA county beaches would
be helpful. Thanks!

Andrew

re: red tide anywhere? Doug 6:32 pm friday july 27, 2001

Hey Andrew...
Drove along the beach from Newport to Long Beach...None in sight!
Looks like you're in the clear! I was stuck in Minnesota all
week :/ you been getting out?

re: red tide anywhere? Eric Suchman 7:08 pm friday july 27, 2001

How could you be "stuck in Minnesota"? That is the land of
freshwater fishing!!!!!!

re: red tide anywhere? Doug 7:49 pm friday july 27, 2001

By stuck I mean working... You guys fishin tomorrow? I could head
down that way if your game...

float tubed Friday @ Dana Point bill 8:43 pm saturday july 28, 2001

Lots of big barracuda and many small halibut. With the red tides
I just don't think people are hitting it as hard. Really diggin
the salt float tubing.

re: float tubed Friday @ Dana Point Andrew 10:18 am sunday july 29, 2001

How "small" are the halibut, and how "big" are the barracuda? Are
the small halibut too small to be any fun, adn were the barracuda
big enough to be fun?

Andrew

re: float tubed Friday @ Dana Point bob k 3:42 pm sunday july 29, 2001

ok bill, you make me want to dust off the old float tube...where
in the harbor would you recommend?? any other tips??

thank,

bob

torrey pines report bob k 3:22 pm sunday july 29, 2001

fished the AM saturday and sunday. one small halibut for me on
an olive clouser with a flame orange body. still some red tide
discoloration, but the water is WAY warmer than a week ago.

met a fellow fly guy, "larry", great guy,who caught a corbina
each day. because of that, he's my idol, and i told him so. he
used an olive clouser on one in deeper surf, and caught the
other in the channel to the small lagoon on a cream bonefish
type fly, "crazy charlie" i think, shrimpy looking. he said he
lost 2 other fish on the same fly, both took him to the reel
before they came off...

after i got home i tied some of these flies...and will give it a
go tomorrow after work..

those of you getting corbina, are you having luck deep or
shallow in the surf??

tight lines,
bob k

re: torrey pines report Andrew 10:23 am monday july 30, 2001

I got 3 corbina last week, one Tuesday and two Saturday. Two were
taken with a sinking line and short leader (about 6 feet long) in
deeper water and one was taken in about 10 inches of water (right
at the water's edge) with a floating line and very long leader.

I don't know if this is it, but I did notice that my friend, using
a very similar fly and fishing the same area, was using fairly
thick line and an improved clinch knot. I use 6 pound flourocarbon
and a loop knot.

So, you might try that set up if you're not already.

But no doubt about it, those fish are tough to catch.

Good luck,

Andrew

Float tube fly fishing question Mike Edwards 7:54 am monday july 30, 2001

Hi Guys,
I have fly fished from the surf, and float tubed many times with
casting tackle, but it seems now is the time to combine the two.
Not being a great caster (or maybe even a good caster) I was
wondering if it is common to skip the fly along the water when
casting. If so, are there any things that will help prevent
this? When casting from the surf, I notice sometimes that the
fly is sailing by my body at about waist/stomach level and
thought this would create problems if I tried it from the tube.
Any other suggestions to make my first fly trip on the tube
better are welcome.

Thanks,
Mike

re: Float tube fly fishing question Andrew 10:27 am monday july 30, 2001

MIke,

You are going to have more problems from a float tube because
you're lower in the water, but also because you don't have the
stability of having your feet anchored.

Keep in mind, however, that because you're in a float tube, you can
just kick to where you need to cast, so extremely long casts aren't
really necessary. And you probably won't be spooking fish behind
you anyway since often you're fishng for fish several feet deep.

But still: make sure your backcast stops very high. Many people
allow the back cast to go back too far anyway, and this will only
be more of a problem from a tube. Stopping the back cast high,
combined with quick acceleration and a quick stop, should send your
line sailing up and back, not down and back.


Good luck,

Andrew

float tubing bill 10:00 am tuesday july 31, 2001

Sorry it took a while. Hit the San Gabriel River yesterday for
some river fishing. Great day on the water without seeing
anybody for five hours.
I fish around the bait receiver with a type III full sink
line,5'inshore 6lb leader,and #6 olive/tan clouser. I never use
the tappered leaders, just loop/loop to fly line.
Around the receiver mostly Yellow Fin Croakers,Queen
Fish,Mackerel,Jack Smelt,Barracuda,Tom Cod etc... I have nailed
Halibut, but it's fairly deep(15')there and I tend to get
impatient waiting to get that deep.
For Halibut I troll parallel with the jetty. I cast out,let the
fly sink,and strip it back(4"quick). Along the inside of the
jetties sand builds up maybe 20' off. As you're kicking along
you can see Halibut sitting just past were it drops into deeper
water waiting to ambush something,i.e. your fly.
As far as size goes, the small Halibut run between 12-20" and
the Barracuda around 16-24". Trust me on this, you hook up with
a 24" Cuda or a 18" Halibut on a #6 rod your in for a fight.
I've been into my backing almost every trip. The oceans a big
place and has lots of room for them to run,and they're good at
it.
Casting from a tube is much different then standing, but you'll
get a hang of it quickly. Just got to get out and do it. The
more you fish the better you'll get.

re: float tubing Keith 10:32 am wednesday august 1, 2001

Hey Bill,

I just purchased a float tube and excited about hitting the bays.
I was wondering where you launch from when fishing the San Gabriel
River? Also, do you fish during the right tides so that you don't
get swept out to sea? also, any advice or general tips on fishing
this river.

Thanks,
Keith

re: float tubing bill 3:29 pm wednesday august 1, 2001

Keith,
Sorry if I mislead you. I was fishing way up in the San Gabriel
Mountains. Did some wild trout fishing with drys/nymphs. I think
I got around 30-50 little guys. Great day on the water.
I never fish in my tube outside the jetty. Maybe from a kayak but
I just don't like me feet hanging down there you know. The ocean
is a big place with big fish.
I like fishing low coming high inside the harbors. I know some of
the guys that tube Newport Backbay ride the tide in and out near
the Coast Hwy bridge.
I find tubing the ocean not much different from tubing a lake. I
basically use a count down method until I find where the fish are
feeding. The only easy one are the Halibut. You know they're
always on the bottom.
I think most people would be surprised how close to the jetties
and other structure a big halibut will hold waiting to strike.
Most of the Halibut I'm catching are in water less then 8' deep
along the jetties.

What kind of retrieve for Newport Harbor Kevin 10:09 pm tuesday july 31, 2001

I'm just starting to test out fishing the local saltwater and I
rented a 14' skiff out of Davey's Locker w/ a friend of mine. I
knew the fish were there as we had several hookups with live
bait, but I just couldn't get them to hit my fly for some
reason. I'm fishing a type 6 sinking shooting head and using
fluorocarbon leaders and I tried several things from sea habits
to pearl chenille flies to chartreuse clousers. I managed to get
a little 4" bay bass but something tells me that I'm just not
employing the right retrieves. Can anyone help me out w/ this?
Thanks in advance.

re: What kind of retrieve for Newport Ha bill 3:36 pm wednesday august 1, 2001

I start with a fairly quick 4" srip(one-onethousand)with a slight
pause between. If that doesn't get a strike after 8-10 casts I'll
try just ripping the fly as fast as I can after I let it sink. If
either of those don't get a strike I usually change locations not
flies. Remember to try fishing different depths by counting down.
3sec,5secs,7secs etc... All else fails,coffee. The fish are there
you just have to find where they're feeding at and sometimes they
just aren't.

re: What kind of retrieve for Newport Ha Jerrold 11:51 am tuesday august 7, 2001

Your retrieve speed will vary season to season, day to day, and
hour by hour.

Don't be married to one retrieve as the correct one for Newport
or anywhere else. Cast to the shadow side of structure, and if
you don't get bit, cast again and change the retrieve speed,
depth, or both.

Consider also that you may be getting bit, but you might not be
detecting the takes. Where spotted sand bass, one of the most
common species in Newport Harbor, are concerned, the take is
often quite subtle -like nymphing for trout, with an upstream
presentation, back in the old days before "strike indicators"
came into vouge.

My experience is by no means all inclusive, but I have fished
with others who don't do well on spotties because they are
expecting this rip-roaring strike that isn't going to happen, and
they ignore the subtle takes that do. Try rigging your tackle
with maximizing your ablity to detect takes in mind. You want to
know that a spottie has a fly in it's mouth, even when he's taken
it on the descent.

Hope this helps.

New Pics in gallery fliflicker 6:55 pm wednesday august 1, 2001

Send us your pictures! We will gladly post them large or small!

Skiffs in Dana Point? Kevin 11:05 pm wednesday august 1, 2001

Hello everybody, I keep hearing about the good tubing over in
Dana Point harbor and I wonder if there are any skiff rentals
available anywhere in the vicinity. I have a tube but I'm a
community fisherman and none of my friends have tubes so I like
little boats best. If anyone could shed some light I'de be
grateful, thanks.

re: Skiffs in Dana Point? bill 6:09 am thursday august 2, 2001

Nope. Years back, but no more.

re: Skiffs in Dana Point? Shane Chung 5:49 pm thursday august 2, 2001

You can rent skiffs at Newport Harbor. They rent them at the
Pavillion out of Davey's Locker Sportfishing. The boats cost $40
for a half day, and $65 for a full day. The boats only have a
5hp motor. Don't plan on getting anywhere fast. You also get a
1/2 scoop of live bait free( if you run out go back for more, its
free). This is great for chumming or your bait buddies. My
major strategy for harbor fishing is the same strategy I use for
Largemouth Bass. Structure, structure and structure. The bait
receiver in the harbor entrence is good, as well as the area in
front of the Coast Guard Station. Fish in and around the moored
boats as well as the anchor lines. You will loose quite a few
flies to anchor lines, but thats were I got some of my nice
Spottied Bay Bass. I hope this helps.

Shane

Flyfishing Dana Point Kevin 7:02 pm thursday august 2, 2001

Hmm, now that I know you can't get skiff's anywhere in Dana
Point, are there any places where one can access and simply wade
a bit or go somewhere along a beach? I remember vaguely a "no
fishing" sign on the other side of the jetty where a beach was.
I probably could fish along the jetty without much trouble, if
anyone could offer any insight on this I would be grateful.
Thanks in advance.

re: Flyfishing Dana Point Keith/Big Bear 4:18 pm sunday august 5, 2001

If you walk out onto the jetty, the jetty will make a bend to the
right near the bait receiver. At that point -&- out to the end of
the jetty a sand bar runs along the jetty -&- drops off into the
channel. Halibut hang on the sandbar or just over the dropoff.
You could hook up with other cruising fish there too. You want to
cast about 20 - 30 feet out(depending on the tide,high or low),-&-
let your fly (olive over white clouser) sink to the bottom -&-
retrieve. At low tide you can see the sandbar -&- can cast over the
dropoff easier.You have to give the tubing there a try! Good luck.

river jetties report gordon 8:42 pm sunday august 5, 2001

fished Friday afternoon 2pm-5pm low tide was at 5pm. caught
nothing (that's my second skunk there in a row). saw lots or
corbina but nothing happening with them. talked to 3 other guys
and none of them got fish either. any one else have any luck
there? I'd love to catch some croaker but haven't seen or heard
of any. any tips? what about float tubing np harbor? need to
catch a few more fish than this or it gets boring really quick.

re: river jetties report Doug 8:46 pm tuesday august 7, 2001

What sort of rig are you using?

re: river jetties report gordon 8:29 pm thursday august 9, 2001

shooting head type IV sinking with 6ft 6lb test.  tried orange

and white clousers, mini puff, and olive and chartreuse and white

clousers (every clouser I had).  usually tried moderately fast

retrieve with about 4" strips but tried slowing things down too

to imitate mole crabs.  No luck. any advice?  Seems am maybe

better...

river jetties report Don 9:58 am monday august 6, 2001

I fished the river jetty Sunday morning. There was one other
ffisherman and myself. Ian the other angler got at least 3 halibut
2 of which were in the 20-30 inch range 2 yellowfin croaker and a
nice sized sandshark. I had 3 fish on which came unpinned after a
short fight and got 1 large corbina( 25-28in) which I think hit my
fly and then was foul hooked near the anal fin, what a fight, into
my backing and about 15 min to get in. All fish on sinking lines
anf modified clousers in orange and gray.

180-200 lbs!! Andrew 2:19 pm monday august 6, 2001

Sorry to hear things were a bit slow at the jetties. It was also
slow at Manhattan beach, with most of the fish we got being
snagged guitarfish.

I did have a first, though. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture
before I threw him back, but I would guess, based on his length,
that he would have gone 180-200 lbs, maybe more. I suspect he
would have argued with me on that one, but in a tight wetsuit,
there was no way to hide that belly. A real hawg, as they say.

Anyway, I had my line out there and he just came right in on top
of it, then headed back out into the surf. I felt the line go
taut and set the hook, but he didn't respond. At this point, I
hadn't realized I had him, figuring it was just another perch, but
soon I could see that my line was going the same direction he was.
I eventually got him in, and in fact he fought very poorly, really
none at all. I have to admit, though, I was relieved. As it
turns out, he was foul hooked by the neoprene ankle strap he used
to connect himself to his board.


It seemed rather obvious to me that I was fishing, and that my
line was going out into the particular hole into which he surfed,
but I guess it wasn't obvious to him.

So, this weekend I learned that not only are corbina more fun to
catch than surfers, they are smarter and harder to catch too.

re: 180-200 lbs!! Timm 11:25 am thursday august 9, 2001

You should have told the surfer that your name is Doug Martin. ;)

Anyone fishin out there? Doug 8:59 am wednesday august 15, 2001

Or are you all stuck working like me...

re: Anyone fishin out there? JT 2:28 pm wednesday august 15, 2001

Fishing and working. I fished Hollywood Beach last Tuesday and
caught one Corbina. The fish were extremely hard to see because
of the conditions. Fortunately, I was able to fool one toad into
ingesting my sand crab imitation.

JT

Santa Barbara Report Mike 9:04 am thursday august 16, 2001

I fished from the surf around the base of Stearn Wharf this
morning for a couple of hours. Caught two short halibut and two
yellowfin croaker. All fish where caught on a white/pink clouser
style fly with an intermediate shooting head setup.

Good Fishing,
Mike

Anybody fishing around San Diego/Coronad SunKosi 8:41 am tuesday august 21, 2001

Will be in Coronado over the coming weekend. Has anybody been
down there lately? If so, how has it been.

Thanks

re: Anybody fishing around San Diego/Cor Doug 1:48 pm wednesday august 22, 2001

Welcome to fliflicker! I know that a couple of guys who fish that
area, and who could help you, are out of town and I havent been
down there in a while. You may try the San Diego fly fishers.
They have a web site at www.sandiegoflyfishers.com or you could
try Strouds Tackle (619)-276-4822 Its a great area to explore
with a fly rod and you should have a great time. If you need help
with fly or tackle selection, send me a note, I could give you
some ideas. Anyway, my 2c. Good Luck!

New Link... Swell.com fliflicker 5:13 pm wednesday august 22, 2001

Check out the new link to swell.com a cool surf report site that
has live cams all up and down the coast. The cams show "real-
time" as well as a video from that AM-Noon and evening. Pretty
incredible. I plan to fish a spot tomorrow and could see that
the water had cleared up from last weeks red tide and the am had
some heavy fog. I checked another spot and could see that the
sandbar I fished last time is now completely gone. Anyway...fun
stuff, check out your favorite spot!

fishing tomorrow at rj's gordon 4:27 pm thursday august 23, 2001

Gonna go out tomorrow (fri) am about 7ish and fish the low tide
@ rjetties. anyone want to join me? I'd love company and
advice. See ya there if so. I'll report when I get back.

re: fishing tomorrow at rj's Doug 11:32 pm friday august 24, 2001

Darn, sorry I missed you. Couldnt make it any earlier... fished
the pm high there. Caught two dink halibut and saw one really
nice one. Good to know their there anyway... I never do well at
RJs on a high tide. Looks like I may get to fish the low there on
Sept. 4th early am. May be then?
Howd you do anyway?

re: fishing tomorrow at rj's gordon 8:51 pm tuesday august 28, 2001

got skunked for the 4th time in a row. Saw a few corbina and
talked with "richard" for awhile. He seems to have the place
wired but he got skunked too, although he was fishing a long
leader, floating line in skinny water for corbina. He said July
was good but august hasn't been good. Glad you got at least a
couple of fish. Maybe next time.

Santa Barbara Harbor Reports Mike 7:36 am monday august 27, 2001

I fished Saturday morning from my float tube around Stearn's
Wharf at the Santa Barbara Harbor. There were many short halibut
about and I landed 5, along with 2 yellowfin croaker on
olive/white and blue/white Clousers. This was my first time
float tubing with the fly rod and I had a lot of fun despite the
learning curve of being on the tube with the fly gear. My buddy
was tubing with live bait and he probably landed 15 halibut (one
legal) during the same period of time.

I fished the same area on Sunday morning for a couple of hours
from the surf and landed one short halibut, 3 yellowfin croaker,
and a few walleye perch.

Both from the tube and the surf I was using an 8wt. rod with an
intermediate shooting head setup and an 8' straight 8# mono
leader.

Mike

rj's report Doug 4:20 pm thursday august 30, 2001

Fished rj's today on the outgoing tide through the low... no
good holes within reach... a few corbina cruising, no takers. I
ran into a friend there and settled for some good conversation,
casting practice and general dews paying... Anyone else catching
any like, FISH out there? :)

re: rj's report gordon 5:47 pm saturday september 1, 2001

that's what happened to me the last few time too. :(

Anyone willing/able tomorrow AM? Doug 7:52 am monday september 3, 2001

I plan to fish tomorrow am (tuesday) around newport. N or S of
there is fine if someones got a better idea. Anyone game to meet
let me know. Tide looks good...

surf report Andrew 8:41 am tuesday september 4, 2001

Hit the surf in LA county yesterday from 7-11 am. Fishing wasn't
hot, but enough to keep me on my toes. Tally for the day was
about 8 perch, mostly medium with one fat one and one tiny one,
one bat ray (small, but hooked in the mouth), one corbina and two
yellowfin croakers.

I was in Denmark and hadn't fished for almost 4 weeks. Last time
I was in the surf, there were corbina and guitarfish everywhere.
Yesterday the only corbina I saw was the one I got, and the only
guitarfish was the one I snagged. Are others finding that the
corbina are no longer in the surf? Is summer over?


Oh, I also had one mystery fish on that broke me off at a knot
that I noticed and foolishly ignored three casts before! Any
guesses on what it might have been? It took my fly in fairly
shallow water, streaked to my right like a rocket, faster than any
fish I've ever hooked in my life, then changed directions on a
dime without ever loosing speed, and shot off to the left, then
broke me off (I was fumbling around like an idiot trying to get my
loose line under control, but failed). It seemed too fast for a
halibut or foul hooked guitarfish, and didn't have the "throb"
that perch usually do. I've gotten several corbina this year but
none did this, although I don't know what a real monster corbina
does. Any guesses? Of course, there's no way to confirm your
guess unless somebody catches that fish with my hook in its mouth,
and I wouldn't reveal my secret fly by admitting that was it
anyway!

Andrew

re: surf report Doug 8:50 pm tuesday september 4, 2001

Secret fly eh... (you dog!) I am afraid I’ve had similar
experiences my last few times out with the numbers of fish
seeming to wane a bit but still managing a few here and there. I
don’t think were through with summer yet. Looking at old reports,
the corbina should remain in good numbers as long as the warm
weather holds. Even if it does cool off a bit the perch, halibut
and croaker fishing should improve.
Most of the big corbina I've caught kinda take a moment to figure
out that they’ve been hooked before taking off and usually don’t
change directions quickly like that. I've noticed some reports of
stripers being caught off some of the piers around, who knows? If
you were fishing Manhattan there are all kinds of mystery fish
stories from there. Someday someone’s gonna land one of those
suckers. Hey by the way... Any sea trout in Denmark?

re: surf report Andrew 3:55 pm wednesday september 5, 2001

Doug,

I can't remember if I replied to you via e-mail about Denmark. I
only fished one time, and I got one small sea trout about 13 inches
long. My partner hooked a large fish that came unhooked. I was
scheduled to fish one more time before I left but ran into a money
glitch with my hotel, and also figured out, the hard way, that my
waders were leaking big time. Between those two problems, trying to
fish again was just too much. The Danish sea trout are neat fish,
but at this time of year, the fishing has to be done at night and
you really are lucky to hook a fish, let alone more than one. I
just wasn't willing to get soaked to the bone in cold Danish water
for a chance at one fish!


Andrew

hook up tomorrow gordon 6:12 pm friday september 7, 2001

No pun intended but I plan on fishing rj's tomorrow afternoon on
the declining tide. anyone want to hook up with me? Say around
3ish.

fish anywhere? gordon 6:20 pm friday september 7, 2001

Anyone catching fish in the local so cal area (laguna to long
beach)?
thx.

surf report Jim 9:12 pm friday september 14, 2001

Needed to "escape" if only for a couple hours to "clear the
head" from the pain we are all suffering. Fished down in San
Clemente as the tide was heading out. Lots of Corbina in pods of
2 or 3 and many singles just crusing. Hooked one on a version of
the "Tim's beach butterfly" which took a couple runs before it
spit the hook :( Spent the next hour or so sight casting to
some pods in 6-10" of water while crouching on the beach. This
was definitely a rush! Had a couple more soft takes but they
just didn't want what I was throwing... Worked over one pod with
3 fish and the biggest one had to be pushing 5 pounds and looked
to be about 24-26" long. They were rooting in just inches of
water and very hard to approach. All in all, good therapy for
the head and a beautiful morning............

cool web-site adam 10:12 am saturday september 15, 2001

Yeah! Nicely done. I make a trip once or twice a year to the VFS
for a check up on my own area to see who what where whatever...

I found a post about this web site and checked it...

Yahoo, what a nice group of anglers you have here.

I too make a web site, check the e-mail address and you can figure
it out from there. We have a lot of people visiting and I urge
you to post a request for a link there to spread the word.

We are a small stream site, we have some other functions, but I
know for a fact, a lot of us have interest in this area of fly
fishing.

Good luck in the future, it is hard to run a site, I know first
hand.

Thanks again for the excellent resource.

adam

New Pics in Gallery! fliflicker 8:47 pm wednesday september 19, 2001

Thanks to Jim Taylor for some nice pics from local waters! I
think I recognize that spot with the halibut... caught a few
there myself ;) Nice to see a real live bonita from what looks
like King Harbor too! Keep em coming!

King Harbor this weekend? Keith 9:35 am thursday september 20, 2001

Hey Guys,

I've heard that the bonito was in King HArbor so I was wondering
if anyone was interested in going out this weekend. We can split
a skiff rental. I think the cost is $45/4 hours or $75/ 8 hrs.
I think a 4hr trip should be adequate unless the bite is on all
day. I was thinking about 7am-11am.

If you are interested, let me know.

Keith

re: King Harbor this weekend? Doug 5:27 pm friday september 21, 2001

any response yet?

float tubing King Harbor Keith 10:50 am friday september 21, 2001

Hi,

I was just wondering if anyone was crazy enough to float
tube in King Harbor? If so, I'd like to join you. I've heard that
it was allowed in the
harbor or am I wrong?

Thanks,

Keith

re: float tubing King Harbor Doug 5:37 am monday september 24, 2001

 Hi Kieth, No takers on your offer?
I don’t know if its legal to float tube there... I cant recall
ever seeing any one do it. You could try calling the harbor
master at 310-318-0632 or the marina at 310-376-6926

The idea kinda makes me shiver. Some of those sea lions (or
seals?) are huge and Ive had them bump my little boat a few
times. They probably wouldn’t be a problem until you hook a fish.
Then, you may find one "competing" for your catch. :O I also
heard that a rather large shark was cruising the harbor earlier
in the year and was following the seals around. I would float the
back end of the harbor or maybe near the yacht club or along that
end of the break water.

King Harbor Report Keith 9:02 am monday september 24, 2001

Hey Doug,

Nope. No takers for the trip so I decided to go anyway. I hit
the water about 8:00am and fished till 4:00pm and yes, my arm is
killing me. The good news is that there were bonito everywhere.
THe average size was 14" and was mainly caught on a chart/white
deceiver. I've lost count on the amount that I've caught. I even
made my hooks barbless so I could release them a few seconds after
the hit and the first run. I'd just release tension and it would
come off. I might've gotten about 15+ on fly and 15+ more on spin
tackle with a minnow type lure (silver).

As for float tubers, I think it is OK to fish king harbor with a
pontoon style float tube. I've seen many people out there with
those inflatable type of boats u buy from sports mart. If those
are OK, so should the better type of float tubes. There was only
one seal that I saw and it wasn't a bother. I guess it was
stuffed with other peoples bonito.

Keith

Have any of you fished Oceanside Harbor? Jerrold Paul Shelton 4:51 pm monday september 24, 2001

I'm curious as to whether or not it's any good,as far as fishing
for spotties and halibut goes, and whether or not float tubing
or kayaking it is possible.
God Bless and TL's
-Jerrold

re: Have any of you fished Oceanside Har bob k 10:10 am tuesday september 25, 2001

Jerrold,

i float tubed oceanside harbor this morning for the first time.
got one croaker. it was my first time tubing in the salt, so i
dont know how to rate it.

the harbor police told me that technically its illegal to tube
the harbor, but if you stay out of the main channel and dont get
in the way, they wont run you out.

also fished the surf near the harbor jetty for a small perch.

good luck and please post your results,

bob k

surf report Andrew 7:43 pm saturday september 29, 2001

I hit the Santa Ana rivermouth for about 2-3 hours this morning
for nada. Not even a bite. I've been gone for a while and
hadn't fished since earlier this month, but I didn't think I was
that rusty. First time getting skunked in a long time.

Surf was rough and holes were either not there, or too far out
in the rough stuff. I saw one small halibut and one corbina,
the latter fish refusing my fly on three casts. Otherwise I saw
nothing else. One other fisherman there got nothing while I was
watching.

Anybody else having luck in the surf lately?

Andrew

re: surf report Shane Chung 7:20 am wednesday october 3, 2001

Andrew,

That was me who waved at you. By the time I saw you I was on
my way out. It sure was slow. I got three grabs and landed one
surf perch right off the bat. That was about 7am ( high tide
peacked at 8:30am). After that, it was casting practice and wave
hopping exercise for me. There was a small trough running north
south just below the river mouth. I got pounded pretty good by
the waves while working this trough. My wife keeps wounders why
I even wear my waders when I come home soaked anyways. The
deeper holes were too far out of reach with the higher surf. The
perch was a chunky fellow. He was probably one of the fatter
ones I caught this season. I got him on an orange squirrel tail
clouser. You know how they say "I saw my life flash before my
eyes"; well "I saw my school of perch flash right before my
eyes." I think the bigger fish was a small corbina, other wise
it was a huge perch. They passed by no more than 3' in front of
me. Talk about some brash fish, what a tease. Hopefully things
will pick up.

Shane

King Harbor GTagami 2:23 pm wednesday october 3, 2001

King Harbor has been on fire lately. Anyone else been out there?

re: King Harbor Andrew 5:01 pm wednesday october 3, 2001

Ask me this again on Sunday!

re: King Harbor Andrew 8:26 pm sunday october 7, 2001

Keith and I hit the harbor Saturday, fishing from 7am to 5pm.
Things started out OK, but from about noon to 5 it was pretty
slow. In the end, we each got a handful of bonito and mackeral,
plus a sand bass and a jack mackeral. Some other fly fishermen
were doing a little better than us, but not much. It was fun,
but not exactly smoking for anybody. If I had to guess, I'd say
between the two of us we boated about 6-8 bonito each, plus a few
bonito heads, the bodies of which ended up in the sea lions.

San Gabriel River Mouth Report Jerrold Paul Shelton 7:26 pm friday october 5, 2001

Wednesday, after a not so good trip to a bass lake, I hit the
San Gabriel River Channel, fishing from a sand bar on the Seal
Beach side. Caught a couple of croaker and a mackerel in about
an hour and a half, fishing the weighted Salt Bugger during the
out-going tide. (Which I hardly ever do, as I'm kind of an
incomming spring tide kind of guy)

I watched some gear fishers catching bonito, though I didn't get
bit by one personally. It's been years since I've seen a bonito
in the river channel. I hope they're back like they were twenty
years ago.... Anybody catching bonito in the S.G. River
channel ? Wouldn't blame you if you didn't admit it...

-Jerrold

King Harbor report GTagami 4:26 pm tuesday october 9, 2001

King Harbor is still en fuego! We hit it last Friday (10/5) from
8am to 12pm. We got hit almost every cast and you could throw just
about anything in olive or blue or white or whatever the heck you
wanted to use. A buddy of mine was even using a bass popper and
was hooking up. Nothing but bonito! Mostly small fish in the 1 to
2 lbs. range. The bite tapered off towards noon and they seemed to
be only taking olive colored patterns but it was solid until then.
The one problem were the seals. They were definetly on the chew.
Anyone planning to head out there soon?

Float tubing King Harbor GTagami 4:29 pm tuesday october 9, 2001

Okay, some of you might know this already but I thought I would
share this with you. While heading out into the harbor last Friday
morning I asked a Harbor Patrol officer if float tubing is
permitted under any conditions in King Harbor. His
answer?...."absolutely not."

surf zone in San Diego nate 11:54 pm sunday october 21, 2001

Hi,
I am going to be in San Diego for Thanksgiving with the in-
laws. I was hoping that someone could tell me a couple of
places to go to for surf/bay? fishing. I have surf fished
before so I have the general idea down, but any local info would
be great. Thanks,
Nate

re: surf zone in San Diego Eric Suchman 6:21 pm monday october 22, 2001

Let me know closer to that time as far as a fishing report is
concerned.
www.sdnca.com , www.sdfish.com
These are two sites worth keeping an eye on for the latest
reports. I'm on sdnca rather regularly though it is a very new
site. sdfish generally has more to do with bait fishing and
closer to SD the city. It can be a big help for the bays.
Generally you'll need a boat for the bays. The surf in La Jolla
and northward can be very productive all year long but not
consistent in each place.
I generally fish the North county from Carlsbad to Oceanside.
Keep in touch.

re: surf zone in San Diego nate 5:24 pm thursday october 25, 2001

Hey thanks for the response. The info is great. I will try to
get in touch with you as the time gets closer.
Nate

King Harbor Report? GTagami 4:29 pm monday october 22, 2001

Anyone been out there lately?

re: King Harbor Report? Keith 5:33 pm monday october 22, 2001

Hey

I did a Saturday Dusk Patrol by the bait barge with my kayak. I
was able to only get 3 barracudas and a mack until another
flyrodder was generous enough to give a fly that he was having
success on. I tied it on and shortly after, I was nailing them
bones. The bite was constant from 4:40 to 6:30 (bite was still
on but was getting dark). I was using a minnow tied with
superhair, peacock herl. within 2 hours, I got 10+ bonitos, 3
barries, and 1 mack. I didn't lose any to sea lions although
they were around my yak.

Keith

Where are you fishing this weekend? GTagami 9:10 am friday october 26, 2001

I'm going to try King Harbor in the early morning tomorrow. Where
are the rest of you guys going?

re: Where are you fishing this weekend? Shane Chung 9:56 am friday october 26, 2001

If I can, I will be fishing Newport Harbor for some spotties. By
the way Mike Scott's is having a big sale on his tying material
this weekend. They're suppose to be some great deals.

Shane

re: Where are you fishing this weekend? Andrew 12:33 pm friday october 26, 2001

If you intend to rent a skiff, call ahead to reserve one if you
haven't already. Lately they've been renting all the boats out so
if you just show up hoping to have one, you might be out of luck.

Also, just an FYI, they (Rocky Point marina) are closed on
Wednesdays. I found this out the hard way (drove 70 miles each way
for no reason!)

Let us know how you do. Those bonito are a blast!

Andrew

You weren't kidding GTagami 1:21 pm friday october 26, 2001

I called Rocky Point this afternoon and ALL their boats are
reserved for tomorrow. I'm sitting here racking my brain trying to
figure out a way to get out there without renting a kayak or
jumping into my tube (illegal).

I think I may have emailed you before about flyfishing the Salton
Sea? I think it was off a post on www.flyshop.com (VFS)?

re: You weren't kidding Andrew 8:35 am saturday october 27, 2001

Yes, like I said, you have to call early in the week to get a
boat for the weekend. During the week, this isn't a problem but
they are closed Wednesday. Other than renting a kayak or some
other kind of boat, I don't know what your options are. In
addition to being illegal, I'm not sure it would be that safe to
float tube the harbor. Perhaps that's why it's illegal!


Yes, I believe we did correspond about the Salton Sea. I have
yet to get out there.

Good luck if you get to the harbor.

Andrew

Newport Bay Report? Anybody been lately Jerrold Paul Shelton 5:48 pm sunday october 28, 2001

and if so, how has the fishing been? Haven't been there in a
while, and I'm itching to go again..Though all of this talk of
King Harbor and bonito has me thinking that the spotties in N.B.
can wait...

King Harbor Doug 10:10 pm thursday november 1, 2001

I will finally get to fish King Harbor this Saturday. Hope
theres still some bones around. What flies are working best?

re: King Harbor Report Doug 3:47 am tuesday november 6, 2001

My son, buddy Chuck and I boated about 30 fish mostly macs, a few
barracuda and about 4 bones (one about 2.5 lbs) Olive and white
clousers #4 seemed to work best. Hit a nice group of fish near
the yacht club, away from the seals, who were very aggressive
around the bait receiver. Hope to try Manhattan on Wednesday pm.
Tight Lines... Doug

Ventura River Mouth and stripers Keith 4:31 pm tuesday november 6, 2001

Hey Guys,

Have any of u guys fished the Ventura RIver Mouth? If its any
good, how can I get there from LA. Hey Doug, aren't u from
Ventura? Have u fished there before?

later,

Keith

re: Ventura River Mouth and stripers Doug 11:23 am wednesday november 7, 2001

The Ventura / Oxnard area is wide open for those willing to
explore a little, there are a number of quaility places that
still see little or no fishing pressure. You will seldom see
another person F/fishing. To answer your question... Yes! I have
fished there many times. Like most beaches and rivermouth
environs it changes almost day to day. It can be very good and
yes strippers have been caught there in years past. There are
also some nice halibut that move up into the channel and flats
when conditions are right. There is a large bowl that often forms
where the river meets the sea as well as several bowls and sandy
flats to the north and south. Its one of those places where
anything (or nothing)can happen. I would suggest that if you plan
to make the trip up there, you have a back-up spot or two in the
area in mind to fish.(I can help with that...) Gary Bulla who
lives in the area is the real expert. His "Grimme" pattern is a
must in your box if heading that way!(Check out his site on the
links page)
To get there, take the 101 fwy to California Street in Ventura.
At the top of the exit make a left and then a right at the first
street. Continue past the hotels to Figueroa (the first real
available Left) this street will curve around and end at the
rivermouth. Parking options are limited. I usually pay at the lot
just North of the park and restrooms and drive as far North as I
can to park.
E-mail me for other options in the area if interested. Good Luck!

Hunnington/Newport Beach Shadboy 4:19 pm friday november 9, 2001

To all:

I'm going to be visiting relatives in Hunnington Beach over the
Thanksgiving weekend and Looking for recommendations for some
surf fly fishing action while I'm there. Most of my surf fly
fishing activity has been up here in Northern Calif ( Santa
Cruz, Monterey, etc.), but would love to hook into some corbina
action. Recommendations would be greatly appreciated ( i.e.
tackle, lines, flies, etc.) would also appreciate any info on
guides or shops. Will trade for info on Shad fishing or
specifics on the upper Sac, Truckee, etc,!

re: Hunnington/Newport Beach Keith 1:55 pm wednesday november 14, 2001

You will be in the perfect area to do some surf flyfishing for
Corbina. Go to the Santa Ana Jetties River. This is located on
the border between Newport and Huntington Beach. Get on PCH. If
driving from Huntington, head south. If driving from Newport,
head north. You will cross the Santa Ana River Mouth to the
pacific at the border. You can try to find free parking on the
streets on the Newport Beach side or go to Huntington Beach State
Park side and pay a flat rate of $3.00. Start from the River
mouth and hit the stretch of beach north (or south). Look for
depressions and holes. U can also fish the river mouth channel.
You can grab Halibut, perch, croakers, and corbina. I like to use
a chart/white clouser or a rusty squirrel clouser. Next time I
head up to sacramento to visit family, I hope u can give me some
advice on catching stripers in the american or a nice secluded
spot for them Shad when they run.

Good Luck,

Keith

re: Hunnington/Newport Beach Shadboy 10:29 am wednesday november 21, 2001

re: Hunnington/Newport Beach Shadboy 10:34 am wednesday november 21, 2001

OOPS! Sorry 'bout that. Thanks for the info Keith! I'm definitely
going to give the Santa Ana River mouth area a try. I don't fish
for Stripers in the American ( I mainly fish the Delta, SF Bay or
San Luis Res. for Stripers), but I definitely fish for shad and
would be happy to share info! Thanks again!

What is your favorite spotted sand bass Jerrold Paul Shelton 7:29 pm tuesday november 13, 2001

and why ? What qualities do you place the most value on -size,
shape,color,translucency, durability, or action?

re: should read sand bass fly Jerrold Paul Shelton 7:49 pm tuesday november 13, 2001

re: What is your favorite spotted sand b Shane Chung 9:16 am wednesday november 14, 2001

Clouser minnows. Color is baisic; grey white, olive white,
chat white and red white. The clouser is tied spares for most
situatuions. I also tie in a spare flah tail, not as heavy as
Blantond Flash tail clousers. I want the flash to mimic
movement. I also tie the flies somewhat spare to imitate the
translucency of most Bay pinheads(bait fish).

Size is based on time of year. I seem to do better with
smaller flies in the winter and going larger as summer gets
closer. The flies are no bigger than 4". Hook size will range
from a size 6 to 1/0. When the water is dirty I use a clouser
that is tied heavier and with more flash (i.e. Blanton's flash
tail clouser). Bait fish is the main forage for most of the
predators in the bay.

In order to make the flies strong, I add a drop of Zap to the
lead eyes, and the head as I tie on the bucktail. To keep the
flash from getting ripped out I tie down the flash twice. I will
tie down the flash and then duble over the flash as I tie back to
the tail (make sure your flash is twice as long as you want the
tail.). To secure the flash even more, you can add a drop of Zap
here too.


I hope this answers some of your question. Basicly I like
the simplicity and durability of the clouser. This is my go to
fly for either Calicos, Sandies or the Spotties. This fly is
easy to tie when you have to tie a lot of them. I loose a lot of
them since I like to fish them very tight to structure. If I'm
not loosing flies, I'm not fishing tight enough to structure.

Shane

re: Tnx SC. What about Synth. Materials? Jerrold Paul Shelton 12:06 pm wednesday november 14, 2001

Shane,

Thanks for the input! I also fish Clousers, tied sparse to get
the translucent effect. That seems to increase the catch rate
dramatically. I usually fish olive/whit or chart./white, in the
same sizes that you do,though hardly ever as big as 1/0, but
fishing smaller in colder water and bigger as the water warms
and, like you, if I'm not loosing a bunch to the structure, I'm
not fishing close enough to it!

Another thing that I've tried, which also seems to help, is
adding black spots to the fly with indellible ink markers. The
theory is that it adds additional contrasting elements. I got
that idea by watch a guy trolling Newport Bay with a rainbow
trout colored CD7 Rapala.

The Clouser is really a great fly for this type of fishing, and
tied sparse, I haven't found much that can beat it, in terms of
catch rate. But I'm talking sparse here. The more full-bodied
ones haven't worked nearly as well for me.

Shane, do you tie yours with natural materials, or do you use
synthetics? Do you think there is a performance advantage one way
or another?

I have had good results fishing epoxy-bodied flies, like
Popovic's Surf Candies and Deep Candies, but I don't have a
rotary vise to tie them smaller than I can buy them, and I think
these would work great if I could get them in a more spottie
friendly size 4 or 2.

Not long ago, I had a really hot day down in San Diego Bay,
fishing during "prime-time", i.e peak flow of the spring tide,
and did really well fishing the freshwater version of Dale
Hightower's Tres Generations series in size 6, colored like a
rainbow trout.

I'm thinking that if there is anything that will beat a Clouser
in terms of catch rate, that kind of epoxy-bodied fly might show
promise. Something like a Deep Candy in chartruse and in size 2
or 4

Curious to know what you think, Shane and all.

Jerrold

re: Tnx SC. What about Synth. Materials? Shane Chung 7:16 pm thursday november 15, 2001

Jerrold,

I do have some smaller ones tied up with syn., but I don't
think syn has the same livelyness when compared to bucktail.
I've tied clousers as small as size 10 with syn. for trout
though. The surf candy is another great fly for imitating bay
anchovies, but it dose take a bit more work when tying with
epoxy. I don't have a turning table yet, so I'm pretty limited
to how many epoxy flies i can do. the 1/0 clousers are for when
I hear that Whit Seabass are in the bays (newport and Dana). The
tres generation is another great fly, but I get mostly halibut on
those. Again the same tying problem as the surf candy. I buy
mine at Mike Scotts. He's got a green back shad pattern that
works really well for the halibut (my favorite fly for Dana
Halibut and Pelicans).

Shane

re: What is your favorite spotted sand b Andrew 3:04 pm wednesday november 14, 2001

Shane,

Have you been getting bass in Newport bay lately? I heard the His
and Hers group got totally skunked last weekend so I've been
reluctant to give it a shot.

Andrew

re: What is your favorite spotted sand b Shane Chung 7:08 pm thursday november 15, 2001

Andrew,

I'm not suprised about his and hers. Truthfully I think
the upper back bay is not the best spot to fish for spotties. I
have gotten very few spotties in that area. I tend to fish more
around Lido and Balboa Island. The tides are a bit funcky in
relations to tide peaks and work hours. I'm waiting for the next
spring tides that will match the weekends. I do plan on heading
out the Friday after Thanksgiving. I'm going to need the
exercise. The cold front and rain will put a damper on things,
but the fish will adjust. When things settle down fish close and
slow around structure and drop offs. I hope this helps you out.

Shane

re: What is your favorite spotted sand b Jerrold Paul Shelton 11:53 am friday november 16, 2001

I'm not surprised about H-&-H getting skunked, either, if they're
fishing for spotties in the back bay, and concentrating their
efforts there. Like Shane wrote, ya' gotta hve structure, and
Lido and Balboa are the the places to find it.

Running line w/LC!3 heads Jerrold Paul Shelton 8:33 pm saturday november 17, 2001

I'm looking for a more "user friendly" alternative to Amnesia as
running line for LC-13 shooting heads. Suggestions?

re: Running line w/LC!3 heads Andrew Stoehr 7:15 pm sunday november 18, 2001

Jerrold,

I use a Rio Intermediate Shooting line for my shooting head
(which is not leadcore, but that shouldn't matter) and I like it
pretty well. I have heard a few people say that the Rio
Slickshooter is great stuff...if you "prepare" it correctly. You
are supposed to soak it in water overnight, then be sure to
stretch it before using it. According to one fellow I know, if
you do that your head will cast to Hawaii (assuming you are
casting in a westerly direction - actually, according to him, the
stuff would let you cast to Hawaii from either direction!).
However, if you don't prep it right, then he says it's a pain in
the neck. In any case, it's really cheap stuff, I think about
$9.00 for 120 feet, so if you end up not liking it, you aren't
out too much cash.

This same fellow says he hates Amnesia (and he works in one of
the big fly shops here in California)


GOod luck,

Andrew

re: Running line w/LC!3 heads Jerrold Paul Shelton 3:05 pm monday november 19, 2001

"I use a Rio Intermediate Shooting line for my shooting head"
That wouldn't happen to be the clear stuff, would it?

I spoke with Simon from Rio at the BMFS fly fair, and I think Im'
going to give the above a try, as well as slickshooter, just to
check it out BTW, if you aren't using LC13, what are you using
for your head, and where are you using it?

Thanks for your response.

Jerrold

re: Running line w/LC!3 heads Andrew 4:02 pm monday november 19, 2001

Jerrold,

Yep, that's the clear stuff. So far I haven't had much trouble
with tangles at all, although I'll admit that most of my casting
with it has been in the backyard since I still can't cast a
shooting head well. I did use this line with my shooting head in
Baja a week and a half ago, though, and it never tangled.

I just recently purchased some LC-13 to make a head for a 6 weight,
but I've been using that Rio running line with a Rio Big Boy
shooting head for my 8 weight.

I think for the money, lead core is the way to go, but since I have
so much trouble with shooting heads still, I bought the Big Boy in
the hopes that a "real" shooting head might perform better for me.
Nope.

Good luck,

Andrew

san diego area surf fishing nate 1:02 pm monday november 19, 2001

Hi,
I am going to be in San Diego at the inlaws over Thanksgiving, and
will have two days to fish. Anyone got any info on area beaches??
Thanks,
Nate

re: san diego area surf fishing Jerrold Paul Shelton 10:25 am wednesday november 21, 2001

Nate,

You are going to a great area for salt water ff'ing! It's kind
of a "just addd water" affair -and almost all of it around San
Diego fishes well.

Don't know what kind of info you are looking for, but I treat
those beaches the same way that I do my local ones near my Orange
County home. LC 13 heads delievering sparse tied Clousers in
Chart. over white, Whistlers in Chart over white, Surf Candies,
and freshwater Tres Generations, all in sizes from 4 to 1/0. If
you give Jeff Solis a call at the San Diego Fly Shop, I bet he'll
tell you to bring those same flies.

It's pretty much a straight forward proposition of going to the
beach during whatever tide cycle you like -I prefer neap on
beaches, spring in bays and harbors- and keeping your line in the
water during the middle 50% of the tide cycle, when the water
movement is the greatest. In other words, whatever you do up
here, you do down there. The big difference is that the farther
south you go, the better the fishing gets!

Don't overlook Mission Bay...I catch more corbina there than just
about anywhere else! I also like the beach at Carlsbad, for the
same reasons.

God Bless and TL's
-Jerrold

re: mission bay corbina bob k 12:50 pm wednesday november 21, 2001

jerrold,

where in particular in mission bay have you had success? and
what tactic, floating line w/long leader or??

thanks for your posts,

bob k

re: mission bay corbina Jerrold Paul Shelton 1:52 pm wednesday november 21, 2001

Bob and all,

Geez, where to begin...


Most of the west side, actually, from the river up to the
northwest part of Sail Bay As long as it's a sand bottom, and
I'm in water under four feet deep, and I'm on the west side of
Mission Bay, as far west as you can get, I have a reasonable
expectation of catching these fish.

As for tactics...

I am fishing during the peak tide-induced current flow of the
biggest spring tides -i.e, the ones that that have the greatest
variance between the bottom of the low and the top of the high,
and fishing the middle fifty percent of the tide cycle. In other
words, if you divide the total tide cycle into quarters, it takes
about twenty-five percent of the time before the water is moving
into the bay with suffecient speed to get the fish in the mood to
play the game. At this point, the current flow into the bay will
be about sevty percent of it's potential max. By the middle of
the tide cycle, the water is moving as fast as it's going to, and
by the time you are three quarters of the way through the cycle,
the current flow is down to seventy percent of maximum again, and
it's time to quit.

I am usually fishing out of an open-top kayak, and I always use a
self-contained sonar, and it's always on. In the shallow water,
it doesn't really do much to pinpoint fish, but it does tell me
how deep the water is, whether the bottom is sand, mud, or rock,
and gives me a picture of the lay of the land underneath the
water. The big deal here to me, where corbina are concerned, is
staying on a sand bottom in three feet, or less, of water.

Lines depend on where I'm at.. Up in the Sail Bay portion, I'll
use a clear intermediate, a 9' 3x leader, and small
chrt./white "shallow water" Clousers, in size 4, tied very sparse
and with alloy eyes, and I work the fly in the same direction
that the current is flowing.

Near the river, the current flow into some of the little "side
bays" can be brisk, so I use the LC13 head and a shorter leader,
to make sure that the fly stays on the bottom, and to make sure
that I can feel the take. Presentation is the same deal: up-
current, working the fly in the same direction that the current
is flowing, keeping a tight line, but using what I call a semi-
animated dead drift, letting the current do most of the work,
with the fly sort of tumbling and rolling on the bottom.

I hardly ever fish mole crab patterns, MOE's, and such. The
thing I want a fly to be is visible. A fly that's hard to see is
easy to ignore. It needs to be on the bottom all of the time,
and it helps if it gives the illusion of translucence, hence the
sparse tie.

Anywhay, I don't want to burn up too much band width. Hope that
helps. Not trying to be cagy about hot spots,because they are in
the public domain, so to speak, but it's difficult to xplain w/o
being able to draw you a map. That said,the 04/01 CA. Fly Fisher
had an article by Jeff Solis in it, with a map of Mission Bay,
indicating where the honey-holes are, and we both use the same
holes, as far as I know. Jeff hit it on the head in his article,
and the spots he showed on his map in that peice are pretty much
the ones that I fish.

God Bless And Tight Lines
-Jerrold

re: mission bay corbina?floating line--&-- Jerrold Paul Shelton 2:00 pm wednesday november 21, 2001

Bob and all,
You mentioned floating lines and long leaders..That might indeed
be a workable approach for you. I shouldn't speak for Jeff, but
I THINK he fishes floaters and longer leaders than I do in the
same spots. More the one solution and more than one path to
success. A lot of people who wade Mission Bay like to use
floating lines and long leaders, so if you want to do it thqt
way, you'll be in fine company. Works like a champ for some, but
not so so hot for me.

-Jerrold

re: mission bay corbina fliflicker 1:01 pm saturday november 24, 2001

Great response Jerrold! Thanks! I havent had the pleasure of
fishing that area yet but hope to soon... If you look down the
line you'll see we have had several post asking about the San
Diego area. Perhaps you would be willing to write an article for
our tactics page for us to refer to? Let me know...

re: mission bay corbina Jerrold Paul Shelton 3:37 pm saturday november 24, 2001

I'm flattered by the above, and I'd be happy to put something
together for the board. Look on your email for a detailed
response..

God Bless And Tight Lines


-Jerrold

re: san diego area surf fishing nate 4:41 pm sunday november 25, 2001

Hi,
Thanks for the response. You are right, the fishing is better in
San Diego. I live by SF and fish the surf some but if I ever
move to San Diego I know where I will fish. It was alot of fun.
Thanks for the the tip on calling the shop!
Nate

re: san diego area surf fishing Jerrold Paul Shelton 10:12 am monday november 26, 2001

Where did you fish, exactly? What did you catch, exactly? What
did you catch it on. exactly? Curious minds want to know....

Jerrold

re: san diego area surf fishin / Home tu Shane Chung 5:28 pm wednesday november 28, 2001

Hey Jerrold and Nate,

There is some good surf fishing up north. I actually miss
fishing the mouth of the Pajaro river. I have gotten into quite
a few schoolie strippers when I use to fish up there. The only
problem was that you had to get to the river mouth before the sun
came up (leave San Jose before 4am). I've also has a fun time
hooking up with some walleye and red tail perch. You guys get
some really big pile perch up there too. I would love the long
walks on sunset beach (Monterey Bay). There were lots of large
holes and troughs. The trick was to get to the river mouth first
and then work your way back. What would be fun is to hook some
of the steelhead that stage in front of the river mouth were they
run up. I've never got a chance to do this. I nature would
always put on some kind of show. The best were the Dolphins and
seaotters within the first set of breakers. I don't know
Strippers, Steelheads, Spotties or Corbinas it's a tought call.

The Grass is still green at home.
Shane

Rio Striper Line/Any Good? Jerrold Paul Shelton 10:38 am tuesday november 27, 2001

I'm wondering if anyone has used this line for the kind of
fishing that we do.

The reason why I'm wondering is that I'm looking for an
alternative to LC 13 heads for use by clients that haven't got
the timing issue down pat for flinging shooting heads.

I have been using Rio DeepSea in the 300gr. configuration, but
it's a pretty stiff line, and with winter setting in, I'm
looking for something that will get the fly down, but isn't so
stiff.

I'm not married to Rio, so I'll welcome suggestions
re: "integrated line" alternatives to LC 13.

-Jerrold

re: Rio Striper Line/Any Good? Andrew 5:01 pm tuesday november 27, 2001

Jerrold,

I thought Rio made a DC26 striper line for "normal" water temps,
but maybe I'm wrong.

In any case, I'm currently using a Cortland XLR Striper line and I
really like it. The front portion is coated and the running line
is braided. It's a bit hard on the fingers without a stripping
guard of some sort. I find it casts very much like a basic WF
line, sinks about right for the surf (and works in King Harbor),
and doesn't tangle much. It works much better if you stretch it
out first since the running line is a bit stiff, but sometimes I'm
too lazy to stretch it and it still works pretty well.

Mine is fairly worn out so I may replace it soon, and will probably
replace it with the same line unless I try something else I like
better. I used to use a Teeny T-200 but I found that in the surf,
I didn't like the fact that the running line floats - it gets
battered around by the waves too much. However, some casters find
these easier to pick up for the initial back cast. I just roll
cast my line to the surface, then backcast.

Andrew

re: Rio Striper Line/Any Good? Jerrold Paul Shelton 11:25 am wednesday november 28, 2001

Andrew,

Thanks for the reply. As far as I know, Rio's DC26 striper line
is designed for "normal" water temps, unlike their DeepSea, which
I have been using, and which is stiffer, for
subtropic/tropical/warmwater use. I like the DeepDea, but the
stuff is stiff, and doesn't float everyone's tube, because of
that.
That Cortland line that you stated that you use sounds like a
good choice, particularly because of your statement that it casts
pretty much like a WF. That's what I'm looking for, because some
of the folks that I fish with have never used an eight weight
before, let alone a shooting head, and they haven't fished from a
kayak, or in salt water, either.
Anyhow, thanks for the tip. BTW, I agree that floating running
line is a bummer in the surf.
-Jerrold

Underwater visibility and fly selection Jerrold Paul Shelton 2:36 pm saturday december 1, 2001

For years, divers have known about a phenomenon called "deep
water color shift". This phenomenon could use a better name,
because the appearence of certain colors underwater can shift in
depth of as little as three feet. Understanding this phenomenon
and how it affects the visibility of your offering can have a
dramatic effect on your catch rate. A fly that isn't easily
seen is one that's easy for a fish to ignore, and a fly that's
easy to ignore is one that stands little chance of being eaten.

Essentially, water acts like a light filter. Certain
wavelengths of light are filtered, depending on whether the
water is fresh or salt, and how much and what types of suspended
material it contains.

The inshore waters that most of us fish, of course, are salt
waters. Because salt water contains more suspended inorganic
material in it, and less suspended organic material in it, than
fresh water does, the general rule is that light in the blue-
green spectrum is often the most visible in the shallow
underwater environment.

A good rule of thumb is: fish green water with a green fly, and
blue water with a blue fly. White is a good, visible color,
regardelss of whether marine water appears blue or green from
the surface, and it makes a good contrasting color when used
with green or blue. Chartruese, as most of us know from
experience, is a good, visible color in the waters that most of
us fish, and it is one of the colors that is visible from the
longest distances.

Contrast is also an important element in getting a fish's
attention. This is achived in green over white and chartruse
over white Clouser Minnows, to good effect. Dark spots on a
light background ad additional contrasting elements that make a
fly very difficult for a fish to ignore. The proof of this is
born out by the effectiveness of rainbow trout colored Rapala CD
crankbaits that some gear fishers troll in Newport and San Diego
Bays. The lure works because fish can see it well from a
considerable distance.

It so happens that most of the game fish that we in Southern
California seek to catch when fishing inshore salt water have
eyes that are tuned to see blue and green especially well.

I can sum this all up by stating that you will get more takers
when fishing Southern California inshore salt water areas if you
chose flies based on the ability of fish to see them, rather
than their ability to exactly replicate natural forage. fish
flies that are chartruese or green, contrated with white and the
addition of dark spots, and you will know, with a certain
conviction, that your fly will be seen by the fish that you seek
to catch.

-Jerrold

re: Underwater visibility and fly select Lee 4:26 pm sunday december 2, 2001

Jerrold, is this same true for the surf? After watching some
rod-&-reelers catch fish with an oil colored grub, I tied up a
gremmie styled fly using brown maribou, instead of red and
rootbeer cactus chenille instead of orange cactus chenille. The
results were fantastic, first try was 19 barred perch and one
Jack Smelt.

Here's the real question. I tied a gremmie up using purple
maribou and orange cactus chenille and tried it. I was fishing
first with the brown gremmie and was hammering the perch. Knowing
I could catch fish, I switched to the purple fly and in 12 casts
got nothing. Swithced back to the brown and the next three casts
produced 3 fish. The funny thing is, when wet, I can't tell the
difference between the purple and brown, how do the fish?

Also, what colors would you recommend for halibut from shore?

re: Underwater visibility and fly select Jerrold Paul Shelton 12:34 pm monday december 3, 2001

Lee and All,

Yep, it's the same in the surf...
In the some fresh water environments, particualry murky, brownish-
colored water, red and orange happen to the colors that are
visible for the longest distances. In sallow marine water,
though, red and orange can both appear brown, because of
the "deep water color shift" phenomenon which could use a better
name. Colors do shift underwater, even in the surf zone. Instead
of depth doing the dirty deed, it's distance. I want fish to see
my fly from long range, and I want it to be something that
captivates and holds their attention.

Maximizing catch rate is often a matter of working averages. I
have found my best success in the surf to come during the middle
fifty percent of a rising NEAP tide cycle, most of the time, and
that fishing small chartreuse over white or olive over white
Clousers, Whistlers, and such, most of the time, will be the hot
ticket, most of the time. The key words, though, are "most of the
time". There have been times when I've been surf fishing and I'm
casting my cartreuse and white flies and I'm just having a
stinker of a day, when some other fisher throwing MOE's has their
rod perpetually bent. Most of the time, though, it's the other
way around.

In answer to your almost last question, for flies that look the
same when wet in the air, they might not when wet and under
water. It's a whole different world down there. Then again,
they might look the same, but some other factor is in play, like
the action of the fly on the retrieve. It could also be that the
fish just weren't in the mood to play during the time when you
had a particular pattern on, but were in the mood when you
switched. They might have been in the mood, even if you didn't
switch. That kind of thing happens, too.

For halibut from the beach, I fish flies that are chartruse,
contrasted with white, with dark spots added for additional
contrast. I want the most visible fly that I can fish. The
color combo might not change, but the way the fly is delievered
might, i.e. leader length, retreive, or something else. Then, if
the Clouser isn't getting it done, I'll tie on a Whistler or a
Salt Bugger, because the fish might want a different swimming
action. Most of the time, that works for me, and I think the
science behind why it works, most of the time, is sound.

I almost never fish them, but I've always got some mole crabs,
and MOE's on hand, just in case what works most of the time isn't
getting the job done. Also, the hatch that I want to match is
whatever lure the gears fishers that I see on the beach or in the
bay are getting bit on. If they're getting hammered on small
dark green grubs, it might be olive conehead Crystal Bugger time!

Fish aren't little Albert Einstiens with fins. They are instinct-
driven creatures that sometimes react to their enviornment in a
way that we humans sometimes find fascinating. Fortunately for
us, one of these instincts common to most fishes is one of not
making a habit out of passing up an easy meal.

The easier your offering is for a fish to eat, the greater the
likely hood that a fish will, in fact, eat it. Visibility of
your offering is just one important detail that needs to be
addressed, though it is perhaps one of the most important, in my
experience.

How many times have you heard gear fishers say "boy, those barred
surf perch sure like the color red!" Well, from any sort of
distance, in their environment, what looks red in the air quite
often looks brown or black to them. Colors do shift in water,
and this fact is important to consider.

-Jerrold

re: Underwater visibility and fly select Andrew 10:12 am friday december 7, 2001

Right you are, Jerrold. The longest wavelengths, that is yellow to
red, become virtually invisible in deeper water. A lot of those
bright red rockfish that come from way down deep might seem
conspicuously colored and so one wonders how they avoid being
eaten, but in fact, they may be very camoflaged.

I've always wondered whether putting red on flies that you intend
to fish deep is actually a waste of time! I don't know the answer,
because it's possible that once the red wavelengths stop
reflecting, those parts of the fly don't become invisible, they
just look different.

Lessons from gear fishers #1 Matching Th Jerrold Paul Shelton 3:12 pm saturday december 1, 2001

Contrary to the views that many fly fishers hold on the subject,
there is much that we can learn from the few really good gear
fishers that ply Southern California inshore waters. A good
gear fisher, as I define the term, is one who catches
significant numbers of fish on artificial lures.

One of these things is that "matching the hatch" isn't a very
important key to success in this kind of fishing. All the proof
that you need with respect to the truth of that staement is
found in the little one-quarter ounce, chartreuse, single-
tailed, soft plastic swim bait that the really good gear fishers
use with such dramatic effect, catching scores of spotted sand
bass, halibut, and even barred surf perch, in spite of the fact
that their "go to" lure looks nothing like a sand crab or an
anchovy, or anything else in the natural world. Most of the
time, the hacth that I seek to match is the gear fisher's "go-
to" bait. Whatever that bait happens to be.....

This point was driven home to me several months ago, as I
watched a float tubing gear fisher repeatedly catch and release
halibut from the waters of Dana Point Harbor, on what I thought
was one of the most unlikely lures possible. This fiher was
having success using four inch long, purple-colored, soft-
plastic "finesse worms". Wierd? Yes! Effective? I'd say so.

Upon seeing this, I made my way back to the shore, and searched
the trunk of the car for my fresh water bass box, clipped off my
Salt Bugger, slid a small tungsten bead on the leader, and tied
on one of Andy Burk's "Vee Worms", in olive with a chartreuse
tipped tail. When I made my way back to breakwall where the
gear fisher was doing all of the catching, I started catching,
too. All dinks, but fun, none the less.

Does a "Vee Worm" look anything like natural food in a halibut's
world? It might look like some kind of aquatic worm, I suppose,
but chances are that it just looks tasty to eat.

Since this first initial experince fishing Vee Worms in salt
water, I've had the opportunity to duplicate the results in
Dana Point Harbor, and in Mission Bay. Sometimes, it works when
nothing else seems to.

The moral is that matching the hatch can reap dividends,
provided that you are willing to bend the defininition of hatch
matching a bit, to include matching the lures that good gear
fishers do well with.

-Jerrold

Great string! (No msg) Doug 9:11 pm wednesday december 5, 2001

A question from Wyoming... Doug 9:09 pm wednesday december 5, 2001

Mike from Laramie, WY asks:
"Where could I buy some saltwater flies? Where would be a good
place to start fishing? I'm staying in Murrieta on I-15. I will
be closest to the ocean probably from San Clemente to San Diego"

Can any one down that way give us a hand?

re: an answer from Orange County Jerrold Paul Shelton 10:10 am thursday december 6, 2001

Perhaps your friend could order some shallow water chart./white
and olive/white Clouser Minnows from one of the mail order
places, like Cabela's, Orvis, Marriott's, or wherevever. Then,
he wouldn't have to buy them once he got here, wasting time
shopping when he could be fishing. Otherwise, in S.D., there is
Stroud's Tackle and The San Diego Fly Shop, Riverside has
Riverside Ski and Sport, O.C. has Bob Marriott, Mike Scott, His
and Hers...He can find the addresses in the magazines.
It almost all fishes good, from San Clemente to the border, and
beyond! For the beach, I'd try Carlsbad, or along the Silver
Strand. But what I'd most likely do is kayak Mission Bay or S.D.
Bay. He can rent a "yak" from Sport Chalet and other places.

re: an answer from Orange County Shane Chung 11:44 am friday december 7, 2001

Mike Scotts also does mail orders. Call him at 714-998-9400.
Also Rich Jacobson guides out of mike scotts. Rich guides the
local surf area. Rich hold four of the current Corbina records.
Give the shop a call.

Shane

re: an answer from Orange County Jerrold Paul Shelton 1:20 pm friday december 7, 2001

I apologize for failing to include Mike Scott in the list of mail
order shops in my post below -didn't mean to leave him out, as
he's aces in the books, as far as I am concerned!

Your friend will need sparse tied chart/white and olive/white
Clousers from 6 - 2. Liight olive conehead Crystal Buggers work
very well on barred surf perch, if he can get them in sizes 6 and
4. I also like epoxy bodied flies, like the aptly named Surf
Candy series, in chart. / white or olive/white. I don't fish
mole carbs or MOE's much, but I always bring 'em along in the
box. Perch action on many of the beaches down here explodes
around Christmas, and it may be good when your friend gets here,
too.
If you click on the "flies" thingy to your left, that'll fill in
the gaps.

While I was forgetting my pal Mike Scott, I also forgot to
mention how effective a plain 'ol ordinary Woolly Bugger or a
Crystal Bugger can be for surf perch this time of year.

Thanks for covering my error, Shane!

Blessings and TL's
-Jerrold

I'm the guy from Wyoming! Mike Coughlin 10:32 am saturday december 8, 2001

Thanks, Doug, for posting my questions. For the rest of you,
thanks for your help. I'll be bringing my Scott 7 wt streamer rod
with a Ross reel on it. I do have type 6 sinktip line and a
floating line. I do have a pair of breathable waders with those
neoprene booties I use for float tubing. I do wear fleece pants
under the waders for winter fishing; probably not needed for
SoCal? I'll either tie or buy the Clousers. Anything else I
should know? Mike Coughlin, Laramie, WY

re: I'm the guy from Wyoming! Shane Chung 8:39 am monday december 10, 2001

Mike,

Your breathables will be fine by themselve. Make sure you
have a waterproof jacket on top. A stripping basket will make
life a lot easier. Also make sure you are wearing your wader
belt. I like to wear mine on the outside over the jacket. This
helps prevent the water from coming up under the jacket. The
most important thing is to keep an eye on the surf at all times.
Getting knocked down and drag is only funny when you can get up
and laugh about it.
If you can; get a full sink line say a Rio deep sea 200,
Tenny 200 or SA 250 wet express for the 7wt. Keep your leaders
short. I run strieght fluoro. 6# to about 6'-7'. Sometime I use
a tamdem fly approach, but when the wind kicks up as it has
lately in the afternoon; I use only a single fly and a shorter
leader. The surf has been a bit rough in the Newport area and
the waves sre breaking right on the beach at high tide. I would
recommend you fish the falling tide for your first attempt. I
have alredy lost a pair of glasses to being punded by a wave.
Luckly that was all I lost. The perch are taking smaller (size 6
-&- 8) flys in the orange hue ( mostly surf bugger type of
flies). Cast to the rips (stay to the side of them, there strong
this time of year.) and let you line drift out. At the end of
the drift due a 6" retrive, with a few pauses in betwen every 3-4
pulls. You can ID. rips by the stream of dirty water flowing
from the beach back out to the surf. The dolphins were working
the outter surf line last Thursday. What a show! There are some
good size hole now south of the Santa Ana River mouth at Newport
Beach. The perch right now are no bigger than your hand, but
there still lots of fun. If the wind and the waves weren't a
factor, they would be a blast on a 5wt.
Right now a floating lnie would be hard to control in the
open surf. The waves are coming in at 3-4 waves per set about 13
sec. in between each set. What this means is, you would be
mending that line constantly to try and stay in touch with your
fly. Much too much work. Right now the water is pretty dingy
with the large wave action. There is also a lot of junk floating
around in the surf right now. Your sinking line will be chalked
as a another piece of junk in the fishes eye. The fish are not
line shy this time of year. Summer is a whole different story.
The floating line would be perfect if you fish the protected
harbors and back bays. The guys I fish with at the Belmont area
use floating lines and long leaders; 12+. Also their flys are on
the small side (6 and smaller). Doug fishes that area quite a
bit also. I'm sure he can tell you more about that area. Also
my Firend Frank Fong has been exploring the south county
beaches. So far he has been dong well at San Onofre. Have fun,
the Pacific surf line is full of beauty and suprises.

Happy Holidays and Bent Rods
Shane

re: I'm the guy from Wyoming! Jerrold Paul Shelton 1:34 pm monday december 10, 2001

Mike,

Dittos to what Shane had to say, although I've been doing best on
light olive conehead Crystal Buggers in size 8 and 6, and those
small, sparse Clousers, fishing north O.C. beaches and San
Clemente.
I also prefer to fish beaches on an incomming neap tide, where
the surf isn't as vigorous.

-Jerrold

Making Do... Doug 0:47 am saturday december 22, 2001

High winds, surging-muddy surf and cold.
Like a lot of us, I rarely get to choose when I will fish and
for me it seems more often than not the conditions I find when I
can fish are less than ideal. Take today for instance... After a
long hectic week at work the boss decided to end it all with an
AM meeting in Ventura after which a "golf outing" would ensue.
The best thing I can say about golf is that my boss really likes
it and devotes an inordinate amount of work time to it and the
best thing I can say about my boss is that he doesn’t insist we
all join in. Instead he happily leaves us to our own pursuits.
Anyway... as I pulled away from the meeting place I noticed the
kind of bending trees and waving branches that usually put me
into immediate denial. Maybe it won’t be windy at the beach?
(yeh right). Puddles spotted the fields along the road to the
marina no doubt from last nights rain. I parked, but on my
waders, jacket, strung up the rod, leader, fly, knot, basket,
license, head fake, yes I have my keys, lock the car, I’m off!
As I began the short trek to the cove I noticed that the water
inside the harbor was only slightly browned, “definitely
fishable” I whispered. As I neared the cove reality struck home.
Ever see that movie The Storm? Actually I never did see the
movie but the commercials come to mind. Huge waves were crashing
completely over the outer breakwater and my little sandy cove,
usually protected, looked and sounded like a mocha being made
with the steaming tube of the machine still in it, complete with
foaming, churning, whip cream. I scanned the surface and the
break line for a long time looking for any possible nook or
cranny to throw to. I had to admit it was a complete disaster.
Like I said before, I rarely get to choose when I will fish and
I have been told that that serves to make one try harder, look
closer and ultimately fish better. I started back towards the
car, but honestly had no thought of heading home. After all, I
was there. I could fish. I could make do like I had many times
before. I just needed to think outside of what was familiar,
what was comfortable. I sat for a bit and as my mind wandered I
remembered a small sand bar where I had seen and fished for
corbina in shorts and a T-shirt but when the corbina left, I put
the spot in my pocket for next year. It was close by too.
Standing on the jetty with the wind at my back I cast to the
spot where the now invisible bar had once been. The wind carried
my line much further than the effort of my cast. The expected
giant bow formed in my running line as the fly sank. The waiting
made me aware of the cold again and I noticed the clouds and sun
and the beautiful colors of late afternoon on a day like this
one. Returning to the task at hand I made a few short strips and
wack! a little barred perch. Where there’s one there’s always
another I thought… Another cast, another fish… this one took a
little line… and so on.
I’ve had more than my share of good days fishing. Good days
where I’ve caught good fish and many more good days where I’ve
caught little or nothing. Somehow days like today find there
place in the whole and bring a kind of unique warmth, a
satisfaction that only comes when I could just pack it up but
instead find a way to make do. Tight lines to all! Doug

re: Making Do... Andrew 8:07 pm saturday december 22, 2001

Doug,

Good to hear you're still getting out. I agree, the weather has
not been friendly every day lately. We got blown off King Harbor
a couple weekends ago, and this past Wednesday almost got skunked
in the muddy, turbulent surf.

Last year at this time, I was just getting started and if I
fished all day and got one halibut, I was happy. Now if I don't
think I'm going to get several fish, I usually head home and find
something else to do. As I've gotten to be a better fisherman,
I've gotten to be a less patient one!

Oh well. In only a few short months, spring will be here and
we'll be chasing those shallow water corbina again...

Have a good holiday, everybody.

Andrew

re: Making Do... Jerrold Paul Shelton 7:03 pm thursday december 27, 2001

Doug,

Great post, and thanks for sharing it! Geeze, I felt like I was
right there with you.

Lately, I've been in the same boat, in a way. I've been fishing
when I expected the catching to be lousy, and it's met those
expectations. Not much catching... Getting skunked stinks.

This Saturday, things will be different!



Blessing and TL's to all on the board in the coming New Year.

-Jerrold

hey doug matt 3:02 pm thursday january 3, 2002

wassup i just saw your site and i think it's great
it's like one of my most favorite site's to go to .
well i see you later an god bless.

matt

re: hey doug Doug 8:09 pm saturday january 5, 2002

Welcome to fliflicker! Scott says you would like to try fishing
the surf... We'll have to go one weekend soon. keep in touch,
Doug

Fly Fishing / Salton Sea Jerrold Paul Shelton 9:13 pm thursday january 3, 2002

Each year, my wife and I make at least one trip to the Salton
Sea to chase the corvina around. Usually, we shoot for mid-
April, and base our fishing out of the Salton Sea SRA.

Since discovering this website, I thought it might be fun to see
how much interest there would be in getting a group from this
board together to sample the most unique fishery in the state.

What do you say, gang? Anbody interested in picking a date, and
making a trip like this happen, just by showing up?

Blessings and TL's,

-Jerrold

re: Fly Fishing / Salton Sea gordon 0:06 am friday january 4, 2002

I would be. I've been thinking about it for a couple of years
now since seeing some unbelievable reports out of there. I'm up
for whatever date you guys think. Fri and Sat are the only days
I can get away with the kids and all. anyone fish rj's lately?

re: Fly Fishing / Salton Sea - Count me Shane Chung 10:38 pm saturday january 5, 2002

Hey Gordon -&- Jerrold,

Pick a date on the weekend and I can go. Jerrold remeber the
Talapia conversation? I plan on trying the old spot again this
week. Not much is happening at the River Jetties. There are
some small perch to be taken. Lots of work for those little
guys. I've actually been prospecting areas in Laguna as of late.

Shane

re: Fly Fishing / Salton Sea Doug 8:12 pm saturday january 5, 2002

Sounds Great!!! Count me in! Whenever!

re: Fly Fishing / Salton Sea Jerrold Paul Shelton 1:09 pm sunday january 6, 2002

Okay, gang! Stay tuned for updates, re: when and where. The plan
thus far is to reserve a group camp, big enough to accomidate all
of us who are participating, so that we can all hang out by the
fire and tell fish stories, etc. I'm thinking about reserving
the camp for wed-sun, in case some might want to do this, but
can't make the week-end.

I know that many of you who post on this board are Christians,
and I'm thinking that we could have a campfire service -nothin'
fancy, just a little non-denominational worship and study time,
in honor of the Lord's day, for those who are inclined to spend
most Sunday morining in a church, rather than on the water, as I
am.

It ought to be an awesome trip. Again, stay tuned for details,
as they unfold!

Blessings and TL's
-Jerrold

re: Fly Fishing / Salton Sea Andrew Stoehr 2:47 pm sunday january 6, 2002

I'm game. Actually, Bob Slamal, owner of Riverside Ski and
Sport, has that place wired and I suspect he'd give me some
tips. However, they always fish from a boat because sometimes it
can be hard to find the fish.

Were you planning on doing it from a float tube, shore, or what?

Keep us posted.

Andrew

re: Fly Fishing / Salton Sea Jerrold Paul Shelton 4:18 pm sunday january 6, 2002

Andrew,

I'm planning on fishing from the same open tops kayaks that I use
when I guide there. I will also have a float tube, and my JW
Outfitters Scout. I may bring a pram, and since I am in the
market for a boat, I might bring one of them, too. As it stands
now, I am thinking of this as a kayak/fly fishing kind of deal.

The big advantage that a boat has is that you can troll red over
white Thin Fins until you get bit, then fly cast to the lose
school, and, after landing a few fish from it, you can chase the
school down again, repeating the process over and over. As long
as the fish don't run into anoxic water, it isn't too difficult
to limit out when fly fishing for corvina from a boat.

If your question is really one of "Why should I fish with you
guys, when Bob Slamal is just down the street, and, for a fee, he
will have my rod bent the whole time I'm fishing from his boat?"
then you're missing the point of this excersice.

What this is, really, is a chance for posters of the board to get
together and apply the same techniques that they use in Newport
Bay, their favorite beach, or wherever to the catch of corvina
and croaker from the Salton Sea. It's more of social event than
a qaurentee of twenty 15lb+ corvina per day. It's an opportunity
for those of us who use the board to meet and forge lasting
friendships around a campfire shared, with a real opportunity to
catch some corvina on the fly, using equipment most of us already
own, rather than boats, which most of us do not.

Bob Slamal is a knoweledgeable man, one the old west cowboys
would call an "experienced hand", and having been in his shop a
few times, and being a licensed guide myself, I would recommend
him without reservation. In fact, I recommend him a lot, because
fly fishing from a kayak, which is what I do, doesn't float
everyone's tube, including prospective clients of mine.

That said, I prefer to fish the Salton Sea the way most of us on
fliflicker prefer to fish the coast -either by strolling along
the beach, rod in hand, or by floating with a tube or kayak as we
do on a coastal embayment.

I fish the SRA for the same reason that shore-bound gear fishers
do -I can catch corvina there from the shore, if I want to.
It works, Andrew. Join us, and find out.

-Jerrold

re: Hey, Andrew... Jerrold Paul Shelton 7:59 pm sunday january 6, 2002

Andrew,
I read my prior post, and geeze...it reads kind of snitty, which
wasn't my intent at all. Guess I better go back to writer class,
especially since you've taken the time to e-mail me direct to
give me answers to questions, etc. You are about the last guy in
the "virtual world" that I'd want to offend. Quite the contray,
in fact.
If you believe that fishing corvina from a boat at the Salton Sea
is better than shore /tube/kayak, it is at times, but I tend to
think only by degree, much of the time.
Anyhow, I know from your posting here and on Blanton's board that
you are a knowledgeable, helpful angler -just the kind of guy to
make this Salton Sea thing a success, and certainly the kind of
guy who I'd love to have the opportunity to wet a line with.
I really hope that you'll come out and try it.
-Jerrold

re: Hey, Andrew... Andrew 11:56 am monday january 7, 2002

Hey Jerrold,

Yeah, it was a bit snitty, but I'm not a sensitive guy, so don't
sweat it! (grin).

Anyway, all I meant by mentioning Slamal was that being in his shop
and seeing the photos got me turned on to try the Salton Sea, and
that he could probably give me some tips if I decided to join you.
I can't afford guide fees anyway!

The reason I'd asked about boats, float tubes, etc. is that I don't
have a boat or kayak (only a pontoon) but I've heard that if the
wind kicks up, you can get yourself into trouble if you aren't in a
boat. I was just curious, that's all.

Andrew

re: Hey, Andrew... Jerrold Paul Shelton 7:05 pm tuesday january 8, 2002

Gosh, I'm glad I cleared the air, because I sure didn't mean the
thing the way it read, and you are one of the last guys I'd want
to offend, given the helpful advice you 've offered to me on this
board and the other one.

My goal is bring more kayaks and tubes than my wife and I can
use, so that when you come, Andrew, you'll have access to one, as
will others who post here that don't have that kind of gear.

As for Slamal giving you tips, he certainly can do that! He's
the real deal in my book. I really hope that you'll be able to
make it for this deal.

-Jerrold

re: Fly Fishing / Salton Sea bob k 2:26 am monday january 7, 2002

im in for a trip like this. i have an 18' skiff that would work
for locating the fish like has been mentioned. and shore fishing
sounds great as well.

bob k

re: Fly Fishing / Salton Sea Keith 1:38 pm monday january 7, 2002

Sounds like a lot of fun also. I'll probably bring along my kayak
and help scout the lake.

Keith

re: Fly Fishing / Salton Sea Glen Tagami 5:13 pm monday january 7, 2002

I'm game.

re: Fly Fishing / Salton Sea Timm Tews 11:51 pm tuesday january 8, 2002

Sounds great! Count me in too. As far as pontoon craft goes, I
use a water otter with a small boat anchor--the wind is not a
problem when you find a good spot. By the way, how many people
can a 15 pound corvina feed?

re: Fly Fishing / Salton Sea Jerrold Paul Shelton 12:44 pm wednesday january 9, 2002

That all depends on how hungry they are! They are a tasty fish,
though. One of my favorites when I was a kid. I'll most likely
be releasing mine, catching a few sargo for the tacos, instead.

-Jerrold

this time of year gordon 0:07 am friday january 4, 2002

Is there anything good this time of year? If so, what and
where?

re: this time of year Jerrold Paul Shelton 12:49 pm sunday january 6, 2002

Gordon,

Yep, there is. Or, should I say, was. Barred surf perch at
Carlsbad Beach, in San Diego County. Whereas I've been catching
dinks of late, fishing here along the Orange County coast,
driving a little farther south proved worthwhile. Action last
week was the best I've seen in a while on fish around the two
pound mark.

-Jerrold

thanks gordon 9:22 pm tuesday january 8, 2002

-Jerrold

thanks. let's hook up sometime. I just started in the surf
this summer and haven't been in a few months due to child and
getting skunked 5 times after landing my 8lb halibut. could use
some tips etc and would love some company

ISE Show / See you there. Jerrold Paul Shelton 3:10 pm sunday january 6, 2002

To The Group,

As many of you know, the International Sportsman's Expo is
coming to Pomona from Jan 10-13.

I'll be doing some speaking there(on fly fishing coastal bays
and boat marinas), and probably helping out at the California
Fly Fisher magzine booth, too, on each of the show dates.

The purpose of this post isn't so much to plug the show, or the
magazine that I contribute to, or to toot my own horn, but to
say that if you post on this board, and you'll be at the show
anyhow, I'd love to have each one you stop by and introduce
yourselves, so that I can put a face to the names of the folks
that post here.

This board is quite a community, and one that I consider a
blessing to be a part of.

So, if you are going to be there, anyhow, you know where I'll
be. Stop by and say "howdy"! I'd consider it an honor to meet
each of you in person.

Blessing and TL's
-Jerrold

re: ISE Show / See you there. Glen Tagami 2:30 pm monday january 7, 2002

Looking forward to it! What days/times will you be there?

re: ISE Show / See you there. Jerrold Paul Shelton 7:11 pm tuesday january 8, 2002

I'll be speaking thurs-fri 1330 and 1730; sat 1130 and 1730; sun
1130 and 1530. The rest of the time, I'll be working the
California Fly Fisher Magazine booth. Basically, I'll be there
from begining to end, each day. I look forward to meeting you
there, Glen, and the rest of the group, as well!

King Harbor Glen Tagami 2:18 pm monday january 7, 2002

Anyone been out there recently?

re: King Harbor Lane 5:43 pm monday january 7, 2002

Glen, I fished there 1/05 & did pretty good. The bonito are a bit
slower than they have been. But, are getting bigger (one 18"). The
mackerel turned on after 1 pm on the falling tide & the bite was
on all over. Watch out for the sea lions, one grabbed a mack I was
trying to release & my 8'wt tip got broken against the gunwale of
my canoe. I'll be using the back up rod till Orvis repairs the now
5

re: King Harbor Michael K. Chung 0:35 am tuesday january 8, 2002

Hi...I am new to this board but the words "King Harbor"
immediately caught my eye.

My buddy and I were out on Saturday. We had to work for our
fish...We caught a few on the fly...We caught several more on
bait searching for fish...It seemed a flylined bait on light
tackle was very productive but they seemed more reluctant to hit
a fly...Even trolling flies was less productive than usual.

There are fish EVERYWHERE...On both flies and bait, we got bit at
the bubble, the big wall (all along it), the bait reciever, near
the yacht club, along the main channel towards the back marina...

But again, slower on the fly, still productive on live baits...

Something that did come to my mind today as I was home sick was
that on the baits, almost all the pick-ups were on the surface
with a big slash boil...We were fishing flies with sink heads or
sink tips...Maybe a more surface-bound rig might help...Just a
thought but don't take me too seriously...heh heh heh...

-Mike Chung

re: King Harbor Shane Chung 1:08 pm wednesday january 9, 2002

Micheal,

Next time try a floating or intermediate line and a
slider/popper. This is a highly effective set up for surface
feeders. The hits can be bone cruching. Use the slider if the
fish are a bit spooky, but if the fish are keyed up for the
surfacce bite use the popper. If you want you can trail a second
fly like a small deciver, surf candy or other slim baitfish
pattern. Getting a double hook up one boneheads can really put
you fishing skills to the test.

Better luck on the fly.
Shane

yo doug matt 11:54 am tuesday january 8, 2002

hey i was just wondering how old do have to be to surf fish
and do u need a permit if or a surden age .
oh and yea it would rock to go surf fishing that would be cool .
And when u surf fish wat time do u get there an is ther like a
time limit that u can fish, and do they have to be a surden
wieght for u to keep them and wat is your fav fish to catch.
ok well see you later and take care

; matt

re: yo Matt! Jerrold Paul Shelton 7:31 pm tuesday january 8, 2002

Matt,

You can fish from the beach at any age. If you are 16 or over,
you do need a licnese with an ocean enhancement stamp. I started
fishing the beach when I was 12, using a 7' fiberglass
backpacker's trout rod (spinning), and small, green, soft-plastic
grubs on 1/8 oz. heads, with 4 to 6 pound test line. Or, I would
dig up sand crabs off the beach, and use them for bait. Of
course, if you've never been fishing from the beach before, and
you know some one who can show you the fly fishing way, that's my
favorite way to do it. Sometimes, you can catch all the surf
perch you want with a fly rod intended for trout fishing, and
even the same size 8 light olive Woolly Bugger flies. That's
what I used when I started fly fishing the beaches, twenty years
ago. I managed to catch fish that way then, and I still do.

Fishing from the beach does definitely "rock", as you so
eloquently put it! No question about it. But, I really don't
like to fish from the beach alone. I believe in the buddy
system, where the ocean is concerned. Fishing is fun, but it
isn't worth dying or getting hurt over.

The time that you fish depends on the tides. Ideally, on most
So. CA beaches, I prefer to fish either in the early morning or
the late afternoon, but sometimes the tide isn't right then. I
prefer to fish the middle fifty percent of the incoming tide
cycle, if that helps.

The fish do have to be a certain size, but the determining factor
is length, not weight. Each species is different, so the next
time you are in Wal Mart, go to the sporting goods section and
get a copy of the fishing regs.

My favorite fish to catch from the beach are barred surf perch.
In boat marinas and bays, it's the spotted sand bass, hands down,
no question about it. Okay, I do have a soft spot for King
Harbor bonito...

I encourage you try this, Matt. But you shouldn't be messing
around with the ocean, alone.

Blessings And TL's,
Jerrold

re: yo doug Doug 9:55 pm tuesday january 8, 2002

If your 16 or older you need a license and a stamp for fishing in
the ocean. You can get one for one day only if you wish (cheeper)

Im not sure what "rock" is but I assume its a good thing.

You can fish in the ocean any time, day or night! I like the
early morning best. (Not much wind usually)

You do need to check the regulations for limits on size and
number of fish if you plan on keeping some. I usually let mine go
but we can keep a few if you catch some that are big enough.

I will talk to Scott to see when we might be able to go...

Take Care, Doug

re: yo doug Shane Chung 11:18 pm tuesday january 8, 2002

Matt,

Saltwater fishing can be the real "Bomb (excellent)". Both
Doug and jerrold gave you some "sage (wise/killer)" advise.
Anyone under 16 can fish anywhere without a license. If you do
plan to fish more than 4 times a year, get the yearly license.
The yearly license is cheaper than buying four seperate day
licences. Now if your under 16 you just save yourself or your
parents some money, which can be wisely put towards some surf
flies.

What does "rock (out-of-sight-dynomite)" is surf fishing. Each
trip is a new trip. Some of the rules are constant, but most of
them change all of the time. First constant rule: never take
your eyes off of the surf. It's when your not looking when you
get knocked down by a rouge/sneaker(big un-noticed) wave. First
non-constant rule: What worked yesterday may not work today.
Surf fish are always on the move; don't be afraid to try
something or some place different. Second constant rule: be
aware of whats behind you before you cast. You my hook someone
who's not paying attention to your casting, and according to my
lawyer friend you are liable(to the extreme they can sue you).
Big dogs my put up a great fight, but I don't think the owner
would like that. Second non-constant rule: vary your retrive,
short strips with a pause one day or a consitant long strip with
no pause another day. Third constant rule: structure, structure
& structure. Third non-constant rule: fish all of the spots you
think there should be a fish there. I have casted to some likely
spots no bigger than a trash can openning and was rewarded with a
fiesty fish. Fourth and my last constant rule: fish when the tide
is moving. Fish either the incoming or outgoing tides, usually a
couple of hours before or after the bottom/peak of the tide.
Fourth and last non-constant rule: fish can be caught any time
of the tide cycle. I have caught fish at the peak of the tide as
well as the bottom of the tide (slack tide), but I have done
better 2 hours on either side of a peak or bottom of a tide. My
favorite time is when the high tide or low tide peaks 2 hours
after sunrise. I also try to fish all of the minus tides (work
permitting, if I have any sick days to spare) any time during the
day. There you have my do's and do's of surf fishing. If you can
especially when you start out in the surf, fish with a buddy. He
can help you out when you take your eye off of a wave and get
knocked down, untangle you from your fly line, as well as unhook
that fly you smacked into you back on your forward cast.

Here's the long rod of the law. I belive the bag limit for perch
is ten fish of any size. Halibut is two fish bigger than 22".
Strippers is 28"s , but I don't remember the bag count. Any bass
is 12", 10 fish, but that may have been change to 5 fish. All
the mackeral you want to keep for both you and your cat. I don't
think there was a size or bag limit for corbina. I don't keep
mine, so I've lost track of the regs. on this fish. Don't worry
about the fish weight, thats for the record books. If I do keep
fish, it's usually a few perch for the steamer. Remember, if
your older than 16 get a license, I've been check twice and
scoped a few time with binoculars (you can tell from the double
glass reflections coming from the passenger side) from the beach
patrol. I believe if they want to get nasty its a $500 fine and
confiscation of gear, plus a day in court to get your stuff back.

The surf is an ever changing challenge that will both reward you
and at the same time piss you off. As some of my students would
say "this rocks to the max". Oh yeah my main fish is Mr.
Spottied Bay Bass, he's really "groovy".

Shane
p.s. As for gear; a 9' 7 or 8 weight rod, machine tooled anadized
disk drag reel, and both floating and sinking line. If you could
only get one line get the sinking one first, and get the floater
when summer is here. Your leaders will range from 6' to 12'.
For starter stick with the 6', especially if you using the
sinking line.

re: yo doug Andrew 3:21 pm wednesday january 9, 2002

Shane,

You "crack me up" (make me laugh).

I'll "catch you later" (I will probably see you at the jetties)


"Andrew" (Andrew)

re: yo doug Keith 10:16 am friday january 11, 2002

Andrew (Andrew)

lol (laugh out loud)

later (later)

wassup matt 11:39 am wednesday january 9, 2002

hey im 15 and will be 16 in 6 month's, so il just buy a permit
so i dont cause any trouble definitely if it's my first time
fishing . and how much does a year and a visit cost , oh yea
(rock's) means very very good or cool . well il see you u later
and take care .


matt

ps: i cant wait to go surf fishing (lol)

Rumor? Glen Tagami 1:02 pm wednesday january 9, 2002

Bonefish in Newport? I've seen pictures, haven't I?

re: Rumor? Shane Chung 1:14 pm wednesday january 9, 2002

Glenn,

I've seen pictures of bonefish in the Belmont/Longbeach
area. But, that does not mean there's none at Newport.
Supposedly according to DFG, there is a pacific strain that
ranges all the way up to the bay area. That's sort hard to
belive for me, but they say they have data to back it up
(confirmed catches). Mike Scott's Fly Shop has pictures of small
bonefish from Belmont. I hope this helped somewhat. We will
never know until someone catches one from Newport.

Shane

re: Rumor? Andrew 3:26 pm wednesday january 9, 2002

Glenn,

They are not all that uncommon in the San Diego bays, from what
Jeff Solis and Peter Piconi tell me. Frank Selby (His and Hers Fly
Shop in Costa Mesa) told me they have picked them up in Newport Bay
on their float tube trips.

They all agree, however, that the So. Cal. bonefish don't really
get that big, and since you aren't getting them on the flats, they
don't fight the way flats bonefish do. In other words, they don't
really target them here.

That being said, I have to admit that I'd love to catch one anyway,
just to do it. One thing I love about the salt down here is that
"you never know..." feeling.

Andrew

re: Rumor? Michael K. Chung 5:29 pm wednesday january 9, 2002

http://garybulla.com/images/surfpix/pages/surf10.htm

Not Newport but at least a pic...Maybe you have seen it
already...On one of the other boards, a bait fisherman told me he
hit some near baby beach in Dana Harbor...

Newport is right inbetween, so the rumor could hold...

-Mike Chung

http://garybulla.com/images/surfpix/pages/surf10.htm

----------------------------

Too funny? Doug 9:04 pm wednesday january 9, 2002

Maybe its the "cabin fever" but I thought this was a rip. Even
though I've never done that, but I've been there...

http://www.conknet.com/~b_bull/special/chickenfishing.html

hey matt 10:09 pm thursday january 10, 2002

hey i was just wondering if u can eat sand sark's
an sting ray's

This Weekend Glen Tagami 10:29 am friday january 18, 2002

Where is everyone fishing this weekend? I think we might try
King Harbor. Some of the bigger bo's are showing.

re: This Weekend gordon 3:52 pm sunday january 20, 2002

glen. I'm going out tomorrow but will only fish the salt if I
can go with someone. You mention King Harbor. Never fished
there but would be willing if you want some company. I'm in OC
but have all day tomorrow off (mon.). do you have a boat or do
you tube it?

re: This Weekend Glen Tagami 10:00 am tuesday january 22, 2002

Gordon,

Sorry I didn't get your message earlier. I too was looking to fish
yesterday but opted to spend my time (and money) at Bob Marriotts.

As for King Harbor you can read my report.

Oh and another thing...you are not allowed to float tube King
Harbor. I think it's okay if you have a pontoon style boat but not
a 0, U, or V shaped tube.

Let me know if you have any free time in the future. Maybe we could
hook-up.

Glen

got fish? gordon english 3:55 pm sunday january 20, 2002

anyone catching anything locally? (oc). I've got tomorrow off
and thought I'd spend the day doing what we all love best but
if the salt is slow I'm going for trout (spank me later). This
site is the only resource I know of to find out what's
happenin. Someone mentioned King Harbor for bonies. How do
you fish it? I only have a FT and I've heard that's not such a
good idea in the salt or in that particular harbor. Info
please! I'd love to hook up with someone tomorrow if anyone is
planning on going out.

regards,
Gordon

King Harbor report Glen Tagami 9:56 am tuesday january 22, 2002

It was pretty good out there this past Saturday. We took a rental
boat out starting at 7:00 am. It was real slow in the morning (and
cold) but it picked up nicely around 10:00 am right at the mouth
of the harbor. The "bubble hole" at the entrance to the harbor has
been running and the baitfish, Bo's, and Macks have seem to have
congregated in the area. There were schools of jumping/chased bait
fish all around and the fishing was very consistent at times for a
lot of the boats out there.

There were two problems we had out there. One is the fact that the
"bubble hole" is just outside of the rental boat boundary. Anyone
else ever notice that? We anchored right on the boundary line and
made casts into the area and did pretty good. Some rentals were
passing the line and others were even trolling right through the
schools (not a good idea folks).
The second problem is that the "bubble hole" is aslo situated near
the main boat channel. Since it was a Saturday the boat traffic
was moderate. Every boat leaving or entering the harbor cut right
through the some the schools. It wasn't too bad. It was more of a
nusiance for us, and probably for the boaters as well since once
everyone knew what was going on there were a lot of people stacked
up at the mouth.

As for the patterns that worked for us...clousers in olive/white
with red dumb bell eyes. I believe when the bo's and macks are
hitting the baitfish that hard, anything will pretty much work.
The fish were in the 1 to 2 pound class. I did not see or
experience any of the 3 to 3 1/2 pound class fish people (the
landing operators) were talking about earlier in the week.

I was also wondering...it seems everytime I go out there I see a
group of guys in prams. Is this any of you on the board? There are
usually 3 - 4 white prams and one darker brown pram.

I also talked briefly with someone in a blue kayak. I was
wondering if you are on this board also.

A lot of us are out on the same waters fishing at times and I
think it would be great to fish together when we have the chance.

What did the rest of you guys do this weekend?

that was me Keith 1:36 pm tuesday january 22, 2002

Hey Glen,

I was the guy in the blue kayak. I usually post here from time to
time. My other buddies were also there. Andrew (who also posts
here alot) was the guy in the pontton and Lane was the guy in the
canoe. The pram group you were wondering about are the Santa
Barbarians. Jeff, Larry, Mark, and Willie have been driving in
from S.B. for the past 3 months or so. They are the coolest guys
and they know what they are doing. They always seem to nail
Bonitos when no one else can.

fyi, Andrew and I are the guys posted in the galleries.

I'll see u on the water or shoot us an email if u want to hook up.

later

Keith

re: that was me Glen Tagami 2:43 pm tuesday january 22, 2002

Hey Keith,

I figured you guys were on this board. Good to meet you. How did
you on Saturday? and where exactly do you guys launch from?

Glen

re: that was me Keith 3:25 pm tuesday january 22, 2002

Hey Glen,

We got there about 7am and started at the yacht club. There was
a big school of sardine there so we fished it for about an hour.
I got a few sardines on my sardine fly and Andrew got a few
macks. The S.B. pram crew also got their fair share. Larry
nailed a nice 3+ lbs 19.5 in spotted sandbass. potential IGFA if
he submits it (FYI, fish was released). The bite got slow, so we
headed out to the mouth of the harbor. Apparently, there was a
discharge from the edison plant which caused a nice "rip" at teh
mouth. This was where all the fish was congregating. The pram
guys and I fished that area and was getting hits on almost
everycast. The pacific macks, jack macks, and bonitos were
hitting the bait that was hanging there (I metered them with my
fish finder). The ony drawback to that area was 1). the high
traffic (dangerous SOB's who have to conver their insecurities
with big boats.). and 2) It was hard holding our position. The
current was very strong and with the wind blowing the wrong
direction. I got several macks and 2 of by biggest bonitos.
Lost many takes. The discharge from edison stopped and the
bubble hole was turned back on. This is when the bite stopped.

ALl the action was on the outside of the harbor. The inside was
fairly dead. As for the launch, we all launch from the hand
launch located between Chillers and Joes Crab Shack. Just park
in the lot next to the small pier and chillers and drive to the
launch. Parking is just $4 for 8 hours if u use the hand launch.
let me know if u have any questions.

later

Keith

a few grammar errors......trivial Keith 6:07 pm tuesday january 22, 2002

I have noticed a few grammar errors. Just thought I'd point it
out before people begin thinking I can't write. There were a
few "was"s when it should've been "were"s. I know its trivial
but I hate making grammar errors. Just a little pet peave that i
have. typos, I don't mind.

Keith

re: that was me Timm 10:47 pm tuesday january 22, 2002

What I'd like to know is where Andrew's pontoon was fished?
Inside of the Harbor? Are they allowed?

I have taken my pontoon out to Point Dume in the open ocean. I
was about a half mile out when the swells got tall enough to lose
sight of the horizon. Coming back in got worse. In nearly broke
my neck when a fin unexpectedly got caught on the bottom, and a
wave broke over my head. The lifeguards told me never to come
back. I haven't. They also warned me that only rigid kayaks are
allowed on L.A. beaches--no inflatables.

I'd love to know if pontoons are allowed, or at least ignored, at
King Harbor. They make a great platform to cast from, giving
better leverage than lower craft, and the oars make travel quick
work.

re: that was me Andrew 11:02 am wednesday january 23, 2002

Timm,

I was fishing only inside the harbor. Several times harbor patrol
and the police passed me but never said anything. They looked at
my pontoon and commented, to each other, about it but from what I
could hear, they were saying things like "Wow, that's interesting."
and not "We should get him out of here."

My understanding is that they do not allow float tubes though. I
think their concern in the harbor is visibility, and a fisherman in
a pontoon is as visible as one in a kayak - but a float tuber is
not very visible to someone driving a big boat.

I've also had the pontoon in Newport Bay with no problems from the
patrol. I probably would be reluctant to take it outside of a
protected area. Your story only further convinces me this is a
good rule!

Andrew

re: pontoon Doug 5:59 pm wednesday january 23, 2002

Will that thing fit in my explorer? if so...Lets go!....

That was us.. Marc B. 9:12 pm friday january 25, 2002

Glen,

That was us in the prams; Larry, Jeff, and Marc. Sometimes
Willie joins us in the Aluminum Valco skiff. The cool thing is
that Larry builds the prams as a occasional side job. They are
such a great way to fish calm waters!!
I was just directed to this BBS from another board, and I am
glad I was. This seems to be a pretty active and informative
board. Hopefully I will be posting in the future. I also watch
Danblanton.com, Kayakfishing.com and Calfishing.com boards. They
are all great.
We have been doing pretty good at King harbor lately. This is
probably because collectivly we have been paying our dues. Jeff
had a streach of 11 weeks in a row at King harbor. Between us we
have probably fished 15 of the last 20 Saturdays there!

2 Bubble Holes? Glen Tagami 5:35 pm tuesday january 22, 2002

Okay, here's a silly question. Are there two "bubble holes" in
King Harbor or only one? Is the Edison discharge area we all
fished at the mouth of the harbor last weekend a second bubble
hole or is that considered something else? I'm getting mixed up.
The reports I got earlier in the week stated that the fish were
really active near the "bubble hole" but when I got there I found
out that the one I was thinking of was turned off.

re: 2 Bubble Holes? Keith 6:01 pm tuesday january 22, 2002

The bubble hole is the area next to the pier where all the
degenerates fish and purposely cast their lures at you. The
other discharge is, I think, on the ocean floor at the end of the
jetty wall adjacent to the bubble hole. This discharge heads
straight out ot sea and causes a "rip" type of behavior at te
mouth of the harbor beyond the red and green channel markers.
This is what I noticed. As soon as the jetty discharge stopped,
the bubble hole was on.

Keith

re: 2 Bubble Holes? Michael Chung 2:36 am monday january 28, 2002

Sorry for this late reply...

If there are two bubble holes that is news to me. I do know this
for sure...The edison discharge, right next to the Redondo
Sportfishing pier, is turned off at times...Sometimes for long
periods...So you may have been at the right place at the wrong
time...

-Mike Chung

Hey folks...Any Pics? Doug 6:02 pm wednesday january 23, 2002

Send em in and I will get them posted. I would love to see that
sand bass!

Thanks Michael! Doug 10:01 pm wednesday january 23, 2002

Thanks to Michael Chung for some nice pics of King Harbor! Check them out on the gallery. Send us one of yours!

New Articles on Tactics Page! Doug 11:36 pm wednesday january 23, 2002

I want to thank all of you again for your contributions to this
board. They really have become the life-blood of this site!
The message board we currently use is not physically part of
this site (thus the annoying ad banner) and from time to time
some of your writings really go beyond what I would
consider "posts" in that they contain valuable information
explained in enough detail that they really should be preserved
and highlighted in some way. Such is the case with two recent
posts sent in by Jerrold Paul Shelton. Any one who has read
through the posts on the board knows of Jerrold’s thoughtful
contributions. I have reposted both of them as articles on the
tactics page for all to enjoy and to ensure they are not lost
should the board falter. This is certainly not to say that all
of your post are not equally as valuable!
I really do consider this site to belong to those who use it and
contribute to it. All of you even if you’re just getting started
have something we can learn from or enjoy.
I again invite you to write me with a story, article, picture or
link that you would like to share. I will gladly post it!
Tight Lines to all, and Thanks again! Doug

A quiet morning, Doug? Andrew 10:10 am friday january 25, 2002

Hey Doug,

I noticed in the gallery your two corbina photos titled "A quiet
morning in Long Beach".

Do you always change shirts between fish? Don't you know that the
TV fishing celebrities always wear the same smelly clothes day
after day so that the viewers don't really know how long it took
them to film that one episode?

You aren't fooling me Doug!

Andrew

PS. I'm just giving you a hard time, you know!

re: A quiet morning, Doug? Doug 2:50 pm friday january 25, 2002

Ouch! I was referring to the memory of the calm, quiet waters of
the inside harbor and several mornings I spent there this last
year. Point taken though... Or did I take my shirt off? (hee hee)
Love that place...

Info re: San Diego Fly Shop bob k 10:00 pm friday january 25, 2002

I just learned that the San Diego Fly Shop on Twain is closed,
but will reopen in March above Blue Water Tackle in Solana
Beach. Good news for those of us in north county...

re: Info re: San Diego Fly Shop Larry Swearingen 7:47 am sunday january 27, 2002

Will the same people be working there ? Jeff Solis and Peter
Piconi ?
Larry

re: Info re: San Diego Fly Shop bob k 7:19 pm sunday january 27, 2002

i'm not sure, larry. when i called the phone number for san
diego fly shop, it was answered as "blue water tackle / san diego
fly shop". the guy that answered the phone said that "they"
(jeff and peter??) would reopen the shop above blue water tackle
in march.

More Pics! Thanks Andrew and Keith Doug 12:03 pm saturday january 26, 2002

Check em out!

Post your favorite flies! doug 12:17 pm saturday january 26, 2002

Getting a picture of your favorite fly is easier than you might
think. Some folks use a camera with a lens that is designed for
close-ups and that works great. But I find it easier to just
scan them! All the flies on the flies page for example were just
placed on my cheepie scanner with a piece of kids construction
paper thrown over it for contrast and scanned. Try it out!
It would be great to get some of your favorite local patterns up
on the page!!! Attach them to an e-mail with the recipe and
we'll post them!

Santa Barbara Report Doug 2:08 pm thursday january 31, 2002

I fished the Santa Barbara harbor area on my way back from Pismo
Tuesday. It was very slow (slack tide) until I made my way down
to the small outlet South of the pier. There was a sweet little
trough there that was loaded with barred and walleye perch. I
didn’t bother keeping count. They stomped my #4 olive and white
clouser and #6 squirrel tail trailer until there was little left
of them. I even had a double. Decent size too. Lots of good
looking water all the way down to Ventura. So many beaches... so
little time!

river jetties gordon 8:56 am friday february 1, 2002

Hey all. Gonna fish rj's tomorrow (sat, 2/2) around 6am for
last 2 hours of the tide. anyone want to join me or know how
the fishing has been there? The guy at Bob Marr... said that
the halibut are going off all over the place but I havent seen
any posts to that affect here.

re: river jetties Lane 9:08 am friday february 1, 2002

Gordon,

I'm not sure how the jetties have been lately. I've been chasing
the macks & boneheads up @ King Harbor. But I may be up for
fishing there in the am. What was the halibut fly of choic

re: river jetties Doug 9:30 pm friday february 1, 2002

Sound fun... I like Olive and White clousers but have also done
well with Pink and White and Chartreuse and white. Orange flies
also work, as well as small flies tied with squirrel tail. When
the fish are on, I personally dont think it matters that much as
long as your getting the fly down or out to where the fish are.

re: river jetties gordon 10:13 pm friday february 1, 2002

He said crab patterns is what he uses but I'm going to fish
clousers.

time gordon 10:15 pm friday february 1, 2002

Im planning on being there at 6am and fishing the out tide until
flat at 8:30ish. FYI. HOpe to see someone there.

re: river jetties Keith 10:51 pm friday february 1, 2002

Hey Lane,

I am not surprised the halibut bite is on. This was the exact
time of the year I got that big moe. I caught 5 halibuts that
day with 2 legals. I was using a #4 squirrel clouser. I also
use a dropper set up. Use a chart/white clouser with a squirrel
dropper. This way, u can also nail perch.

I was fishing a hole on the north side of the main channel. I
wish I was there. Good luck and keep me posted.

later

re: river jetties Lane 9:40 am saturday february 2, 2002

OK it doesn't happen often, I slept in. You can give me grief
later. Got some painting to do here in a bit, I may fish the
outgoing tide this evening thru sunse

re: river jetties: report gordon 1:47 pm saturday february 2, 2002

Doug and I fished it this morning early am until about 9am.
Lots of fish showing, esp perch and halibut. I got a perch and
had another good hit. There was a spin fisher there with a
plastic grub (grey) and he had 5 perch and 2 halibut, one to
24". He said he saw many other halibut but I didn't see any.
He found a hole just south of the main channel. Should just get
better.

re: river jetties: report - Sunday Andrew Stoehr 12:27 pm sunday february 3, 2002

Hit the same area this mornign for about 3 hours with Lane. We
found perch right away and got them for an hour or so, then it
slowed and we called it quits about 10:30 am. Three of the perch
were the biggest I've ever gotten, I'd guess 12-13 inches, maybe
even a wee bit bigger on the biggest one. And fat!

A 25 perch day with fish all that size would be a blast...

Saw one halibut, but no hookups except for possibly the large
mystery fish that broke Lane off.

Andrew

Flies? Glen Tagami 9:43 am monday february 4, 2002

What were you guys throwing? I fished Sunset on Saturday
morning and got 0. Not hits, no swings, no misses.

re: Flies? Gordon 10:51 am monday february 4, 2002

Glen. i'm confussed. did you fish sunset (PM) or saturday
morning (sunrise)?

Sorry about that.... Glen Tagami 11:03 am monday february 4, 2002

I meant I fished Sunset Beach (north of the jetties) on
Saturday morning and I got nothing. I was just wondering
what surf patterns everyone is using during this part of the
season?

Sunday's hot fly Andrew 3:58 pm monday february 4, 2002

Glen,

Our best luck came with an orange puff fly I started tying last
year. It worked great with corbina and also took a lot of perch
and croakers. I'll try to get a picture of it to Doug for the
board.

But, here's the basic description. It's "basically" a mini-puff,
but not identical - it's a bit simpler. I tie some weighted eyes
on a hook (usually size 6). I prefer shiny and heavy nickel eyes,
not bead chain, because it seems to me that bead chain eyes don't
keep the fly down. I've never tied this fly with bead chains, but
both of my friends have and that fly never seems to do as well.

The eyes are wrapped with orange chenille (the same color as sand
crab roe) forming a big "puff" around the eyes. Then I just tie in
some reddish colored squirrel tail (about 1-1.5 inches) and a few
strands of orange krystal flash behind the puff. Originally I had
put some hackle "wing" on it, as you would with a mini-puff, but
that just added a step and doesn't seem to catch any more fish. So
that's it: weighted eyes, orange head, squirrel and krystal flash
tail.

This was the first time I fished the fly in the surf in months
since I'd been fishing King Harbor. But last year, I got about a
dozen corbina on that fly, and too many perch and croakers to
count. In general, I think if you aren't catching perch you're not
putting the fly in front of them so I won't claim my luck Sunday
was because of the fly - but at the same time, I ALWAYS tie this
fly on first if I'm after perch or corbina!!

See it now! fliflicker 9:15 pm wednesday february 6, 2002

Click on the "Flies" link to see Andrews fly mentioned below.
Thanks Andrew!

Send in one of your favorite flies and we will gladly post it!

Line Choices Glen Tagami 4:59 pm monday february 4, 2002

Okay, I know that this has been asked before but I want to
ask it again. For all of you fly fishing the surf, what would be
your line choice if you could only fish one through out the
year?

re: Line Choices Jerrold Paul Shelton 8:09 pm monday february 4, 2002

Glen,

Gotta be on the bottom, my friend. It helps if you can stay on
the bottom once you get there, too.

As far as I know, nothing will deliver the goods to long range,
get them on the bottom, and keep them there quite like an LC-13
shooting head will. If your rod can cast it, that is..

I like to fish leaders down to 5X, whenever I can. So, I like a
mid-flex rod, as it helps protect against premature release. I
can actually cast my 300 gr DeepSea farther than I can my LC-13
head.

So, why not just shorten the head? Because the 27.5 feet of LC-
13 that I'm using is as short as I've been able to go without
having the loop get all funky. So, even though I cast the
integrated line farther, I still fish the LC-13 because it gets
on the bottom and stays there.

Most of the time my 300 grain DeepSea gets the job done, just
fine. But the stuff is stiff, and I seem to be the only person
using it this far north who isn't compalining about
it's "tropical" formulation. Still, that would be the one that
I'd pick, if I could only have just one.

Ask this question tomorrow, and I'll probably lean towards the LC-
13... Call it a draw!

See ya' Sat, Glen. I'll be at the PL @ 72nd place, or on the
beach at 69th...I'll be in a green Kia Rio. Cool fishin'car with
a name like that, don't you think?

-Jerrold

re: Line Choices Michael K. Chung 3:19 am tuesday february 5, 2002

I agree with Paul that the Rio DeepSea series is a great
line...But I am also one of the many that Paul mentioned that
complain about how stiff it is in cold water...The main problem I
encountered with its stiffness is its tendency to have memory and
coil up into tangles making it hard for me to shoot line.

I started using the Rio Striper DC 250 grain and it is
awesome...Behaves a lot like the DeepSea but formulated for cold
water so it doesn't tangle up as bad...It has a 26 foot head and
it casts well on my 8wt...

BTW, Paul, I experimented with my DeepSea and I cut off the
running line and spliced it onto softer running line...Not too
shabby for me after that! I love RIO lines...

My $.02...

-Mike Chung

re: Line Choices Doug 9:23 pm wednesday february 6, 2002

I must agree with Jerrold, LC-13 is tough to beat for getting the
fly down. I use a braided nylon running line made by Cortland and
it works great for me. You can buy it almost anywhere and it is
the cheapest too! (about $9 a spool). Like all braided lines, you
must stretch them out now and then to avoid tangles and should
test for strength if you haven’t fished it in a long time. Tight
Lines! Doug

re: Line Choices Shane Chung 8:17 pm thursday february 7, 2002

Glen,

I use two types of line. A teeny 300 integrated line for
most of the winter or when the surf is up to kick my butt. On
the calmer nicer days, I use a floating line and a long leader.
The surf is less rough and its easier to keep in contact with
your line/fly. My fly line stays on top, but with a longer
leader I can get my fly down to the bottom. This way when I
retrieve my fly at a slow tempo my fly line will not be dragged
across the back of a halibut. I've been experimenting with a
sink tip. The jist of the game is keep your fly close to the
bottom, if not on the bottom. Sometimes the full sink line will
spook fish in clear conditions. Yes, it dose get clear around
Newport. During the winter the surf is a curning washing machine
with all kinds of junk in the water. Your fly line would just
blend in with all that other debrie.

Now to the point, if I had to choose one line it would be
the Teeny line. Most of my summer fishing is in the early
morning during low light. You can speed up your stripping tempo
to keep the line off the bottom. Also thats was what I started
fishing the surf with. The teeny line was more versatile for my 9
wt. for both Nor and So. Cal surf/delta/bay fishing. Sometimes
though the fish wants it slow across the bottom. Thats when the
sinking line could line some fish, especially the halibut that
you just dragged the fly line across. I've foul hooked enough
halibut on the side to know that I lined them, and that they
didn't move fast enought to get out of the way. This is when
that floating line works so well.

Shane

Ventura area spots Casey 3:10 pm thursday february 7, 2002

I just moved to Ventura a few months ago and was hoping to get
some info on a few good spots to try out. Now that I drive to
SB and back every day I have noticed the the stretch of beach
out in front of la conchita looks real good with lots of big
holes. Another spot that looked good to me was where the old
oil pier used to be. Has anyone fished these spots with luck?
I have fished the SB harbor and Santa Claus lane in SB with some
luck but so far I have yet to have a "good" day. Maybe someone
can point me in the right direction.

Also, I've been dying to know what the major consensus is on
line choice. I've been using a full sink cortland saltwater
line on my 8wt for a year now without much luck. It's a real
pain to cast and I can't get the distance out of it that I would
really like. The reason I bought this line was that I had heard
that this was the only way to go for saltwater. Today I found
this site and have found quite a bit of differering opinion.
What do you throw??

If anyone ever goes out in Ventura and needs a partner in crime,
shoot me an email (crazyfishguy1@hotmail.com) , I'd love to find
some fishing buddies. Thanks for the info.
Casey

re: Ventura area spots Casey 3:13 pm thursday february 7, 2002

Ugh...never mind about the second part of my message. I guess I
forgot after checking this site out that it was the subject of
the next most recent post...doh!

re: Ventura area spots Doug 8:02 pm thursday february 7, 2002

Be assured... "Good days" are ahead! The Ventura/SB area is wide
open with soooo many places that hold quality fish. I guess the
Ventura/Oxnard area is the closest thing to "Home Water" for me
since I don’t live near the beach but fish that area most often.
I have fished all of the places you mentioned and all of them can
be good if conditions are right but there are a few places I have
found that seem to be better than others. e-mail me when you have
time and I'll share a few that are right near where you have been
fishing.
In my opinion, you have moved to one of the best fishing areas
in socal! especially if you like to explore and find new places
for yourself.
Gary Bulla lives there in Ventura and is one of the few fly
fishers you'll run into up there. He is the best of the best and
is among the warmest and most knowledgeable of all who fish the
salt. He has a web site that gives a great forecast for each
coming month. A study of previous months forecast would be worth
while and give you a peek at what to expect through the seasons.
(check it out on the links page) Anyway, Welcome to fliflicker!
Glad you found us.

river jetties sat Gordon 3:17 pm thursday february 7, 2002

I'm gonna fish the incoming tide sat evening 3-6pm if anyone
wants to join me. Maybe try some of the new squirrel puffs that
Andrew turned us onto.

re: river jetties sat Shane Chung 8:03 pm thursday february 7, 2002

Gordon,

If I free I will see you there around 3pm. By the way Newport
Bay is fishing okay. All I'm getting is halibut.

Shane

re: river jetties sat Doug 8:26 pm thursday february 7, 2002

Hey Shane... Where do you fish the bay? Are you floating it?

re: river jetties sat Shane Chung 0:47 am saturday february 9, 2002

Doug,

I used to float until I got the scare of my life. Seals have
gotten use to float-tubers in my opinion. I now rent from
Davey's Locker. The rental boats give me a lot more mobility. I
get to cove more area in the same amount of time. To be general;
I fish the bay like a largemouth bass lake. Getting right on top
of structure is key. The most well known spots are the turn
basin, coast gaurd station, PCH bridge and the points of the
jetties (your not allowed outside of the jetties with the
rentals). Sand Bass and Croakers dominate the eel grass and the
Spotties are tight to structure. Halibut are just about anywhere
there is a sandy bottom.
I like to fish the boat bouy moring blocks. There are a lot
of them in the bay. The ones in front of Balboa Island have been
producing for me lately. The bass fishing has been slow if not
non existing. The water has been really cold for them. I guess
this would be the same for largemouth bass. Finess bait time.
Use smaller flies (#4 & $6 standard colors) and a slow and
lathargic retieve. The takes are really soft, much like a trout
sipping Chironomids. I have been reeducated on this subject
matter in my last few ouottings. You must get the fly really
close to the blocks for the bass. If your not loosing flies your
not close enough. Also the bolcks do not hold a lot of fish. I
would say no more than 5 at the most. Unfortunately (or
fortunately) all I have been getting into was Halibut. Kind of
odd that I'm not satisfied with halibut, since its these fish
that have been keeping from the golden goose eggs. All I want to
catch is bass, is that too much to ask for? Odd things do happen
in the cold of winter as we wish for warmer water and faster fish.

Shane

re: river jetties sat G 10:38 am friday february 8, 2002

The bay would be fun too if you know where and how. I like
halibut. If you want to try that let me know.

Hermosa and Andrew's Fly Glen Tagami 11:57 am friday february 8, 2002

Just got back from fishing the backside of this morning's high
tide at Hermosa Beach. I fished a huge hole right in front of
the 26th street tower the whole time. I landed 9 perch all
around the 1 1/2 pound mark.
Hey Andrew! Your fly works great for perch! I land my first four
fish on Andrew's pattern then I somehow lost it on one of my
backcasts.
I landed the rest of my fish on a rootbeer w/red flake grub
imitation that I made up last night. If this pattern proves to
be consistent, I will post the photo.

It was an excellent morning.

btw: How did I know I lost Andrew's fly on a backcast you ask? I
found that sucker lying way up on dry sand when I was walking
back to my car. =)

re: Hermosa and Andrew's Fly Josh Y. 1:27 pm friday february 8, 2002

Glenn

Next time you are heading out drop me a line. I live in hermosa
and plan on fishing the holes at negative tide sun-tues after
work. And I can always make it out for a quick couple hours
before work too. sounds like you might have been fishing in a
similar spot to where I was a week ago. There is a big hole
around 200yds north of the pier. Hard to see but at low tide it
is visible and the perch have been stacking up in it. Glad to
hear some decent size perch are around.

Josh

re: Hermosa and Andrew's Fly Lane 3:07 pm friday february 8, 2002

Andrews fly? Folks have been using the mini puff for bonefish for

years. Wow Andrew, gonna charge a commission when we tie them now?

Glad to know you before you beacme famous! Grin....

Flies for bait fed Bo's at KH Rob 1:33 pm friday february 8, 2002

I've been fishing King Harbor pretty consistently for the last
two months, and even though the bonitos appear to be there in
greater numbers, I'm getting less and less on the fly. I'm not
sure what I'm doing wrong, but maybe it's because the fish are
so keyed in on bait. In fact, some of my buddies are just as
happy to tie a hook on the end of their flyline and sling
a 'chovie or 'dine, which has them hooked up constantly. I'm no
purist, but that's really not my style. I'd much rather find
the pattern/technique that works. So far I've gone through
pretty much every color Deceiver, Clouser, Bonito Magic, &
Awesomehair Bonito Fly I've got. The fish seem to be staying
pretty deep most of the time, so I've been letting the fly sink
before stripping with long, fast strips. I've been watching the
SB crews' techniques, and that seems to be what they do too.
Anybody have any suggestions? I'm heading down there again this
Sunday.

Rob

re: Flies for bait fed Bo's at KH Lane 3:05 pm friday february 8, 2002

Rob, I'm not sure what the answer is. I fished there on Tuesday
morning w/o even a mackerel hit. I have had good luck with rabbit
strip clousers (instead of deer hair) But find the small #4 seems
to work best, especially if I tie in some red flash. Otherwise I
have had pretty good luck with a cone head sparcly tied deciever.
It has white deer hair, then standard crystal flash, light blue
crystal flash, a multi color crystal flash, topped off with
peacock hurl. I'll try to scan them for you.


Later,
L

re: Flies for bait fed Bo's at KH Doug 5:17 pm friday february 8, 2002

You might try going with a smaller fly like a size #6 or even an
#8 in olive or blue and white. In the past it has improved my
hook rate there when they seem to get picky. my 2c

re: Flies for bait fed Bo's at KH Gordon 11:22 am saturday february 9, 2002

I just had a conversation with a manager at bob marriotts the
other day about the salt and he mentioned KH in particular. He
said they have tested out the catch rate with mono as compared
with fluorocarbon leaders. He said the fluoro catches about 3X
as many fish. they use Seguar 7lb. but its expensive:
$1/25yds. I bought some (sucker that I am) and am going to try
it out on perch today.

re: Flies for bait fed Bo's at KH Lane 4:54 pm saturday february 9, 2002

Well who knows, it could be. I have been using 5lb & 7 lb mason
myself. The Bonito are really fast swimming fish. I personally
don't think they slow down to look to see if it's flouro or mono.
If they want if they will slam the fly. I think the flouro works
better for corbina. I have used the stuff for picky trout on
spring creeks. I find the bite is on @ KH or it's not. If it's on
I think you could use 30lb mason, you wouldn't want to for the
sealions h

flourocarbon for leaders Andrew 8:28 pm saturday february 9, 2002

Gordon,

Don't buy the flourocarbon in those small spools from the fly
shops - just get yourself a big spool of something
likely "Berkley Vanish" from Wal-Mart. It's flouro but will cost
you only a fraction of the cost. If you want to have smaller
spools to carry it on, just save one of your old leader spools.

I use Vanish for my surf and harbor fishing and it seems to work
fine.

re: Flies for bait fed Bo's at KH Mike Chung 11:03 am tuesday february 12, 2002

I was going consistently up till about a month ago as well...And
I was experiencing the same thing...

I keep a small baitcast setup to flyline a bait when we are not
hooking up. I have had consistent luck on a bait but the flies
have become less succesful...

One thing I did notice is that all my baits were getting boiled
on at or near the surface...So the last time I went out I had my
floating line on...It was a VERY slow day but my biggest boil and
subsequent hook up was on floating line with a floating surface
fly that I was chugging along the surface...After a few strips,
BAM! And then in a couple of seconds I lost it...

I have seen many guys fish the floating line...Maybe they are
more prone to a presentation of a bait up near the surface...

I am trying to figure things out as well...I hope this adds
favorably to the equation...

-Mike Chung

oceanside report bob k 1:30 am saturday february 9, 2002

fished the surf just south of the oceanside harbor entrance
thursday afternoon on the rising tide for several dink perch.
hoping for some of the halibut that have been showing
elsewhere. the fly was very similar to andrews puff...the perch
seemed to like it.

Great Day Barry 8:31 am monday february 11, 2002

Well, what could have been an awful day turned into one of the
best. I hit the jetty area yesterday afternoon. I never got one
bite. I slipped and filled my waders and as I was going under, I
was sure this was the end. I had to drop my rod to paddle, and
never did find it. Then, when I got back to the parking lot,
somebody had smashed my window and stolen my car stereo (only
about 4 months old, too!).

But, as I was getting ready to load the car to leave, I saw
another fly-fisher coming back. From the gallery I was pretty
sure it was Andrew, the guy who invented the Andrew's Fly. I was
too nervous to say anything but I did notice that exact fly on his
leader so I'm sure it was him! I actually contemplated stealing
the fly but luckily, my good sense came back. I probably should
have said "hey" or something. I'm sure he's a nice guy. But he
was talking to another fly fisher, a woman with a long braid and
wearing a bonnet.

So I got skunked, lost a $250 rod, almost drowned and had my car
broken into but I'd still say it was a great day!! Next time,
I'll get up the nerve to say Hi if I see him again.

Be safe out there,

Barry

re: Great Day Lane 12:34 pm monday february 11, 2002

Barry, tough luck about the rod & car stereo. Andrew usually has
us flown in when we fish with him, our cars are kept safe on the
yatch that way. Just to let you know I do have an origional
"Andrew's Fly" that I will be accepting bids on. It's truly a
cutting edge fly design. Never seen ANYTHING like it. Man even
with the facial hair the woman Andrew was talking to was HOT! Just
hope Andrew's new wife doesn't get wind of this!


Later,
Lan

hot chic Keith 2:41 pm monday february 11, 2002

Hey Lane,

facial hair or not, you will always be a hot chic!!!! Kelly has
nothing on you.

Keith

Hermosa Glen Tagami 11:29 am monday february 11, 2002

Fished Hermosa Beach between 22nd and 26th on
Saturday morning. Landed 7 perch all dinks except for one
that went 1 1/2 lbs. All fish were landed on my rootbeer salt
bugger.

King Harbor Glen 12:15 pm tuesday february 12, 2002

I think we're fishing King Harbor this Saturday. Anyone one
else planning on being out there?

Barn Door Perch? Doug 10:16 pm tuesday february 12, 2002

I must admit that I was a little skeptical about reports of
dinner plate size perch to 17" being caught around the
Southland. That is till today :) I found a beautiful hole at the
northern end of carpinteria where I caught 6 perch today that
were some of the biggest hogs that I've seen much less hooked
into. I dont know if they were to 17", 2 of them might have gone
that big. Anyway... Way to fun... All took a #4 lime and white
clouser and refused everything else.

Our Appoligies! fliflicker 10:36 pm tuesday february 12, 2002

Sorry about the interruptions in service over the last few days.
We still don’t really know what caused it put it appears to be
fixed.

river jetties report Gordon 9:42 am wednesday february 13, 2002

Fished last sat evening on the incoming tide, 3-6pm. No one i
saw flyfishing, incl myself, caught anything. But once again
the spin fisherman was hot. This guy found a hole and was
yanking croaker out of it one after the other. About 300 yds
north of the northern river. I fished the other edge of the
hole with everything I had and didn't get hit. He was using a
sliver and blue castmaster. He got at least one perch too
before I got disgusted and left. Most of the fish went to 2
lbs. Gonna try it again this sat am.

King Harbor Report Glen 11:34 am wednesday february 13, 2002

Here is the latest report from the King Harbor website..

SKIFF FISHING
What a difference a week makes. Bonito, BIG BONITO, moved into the
harbor last Thursday in pursuit of a huge schools of anchovies.
Combining with those already in the harbor, significant numbers
are virtually everywhere. Warmer days and nights have warmed the
water substantially and the bite has gone off. There were so many
meat balls of ‘chovies in the harbor we brailed our own bait and
gave it to the skiff renters last weekend. We actually stood on
our dock and caught one right after the other until 6:30 at night.
Fish were crashing bait everywhere, average fish about 3 lbs. The
larger one ones pushing 5 lbs. What a treat! Where else could you
make bait in a harbor!

Has anyone been a witness to what it says in the report??? I've
been so consumed with fishing the surf, I forgot about the harbor.

re: King Harbor Report Doug Martin 9:01 pm wednesday february 13, 2002

Hey Glen... Where is the website? I'll link us up.

re: King Harbor Website Glen 12:32 pm friday february 15, 2002

Doug,

www.rockypointfun.com
Click on the HTML version. Once you're in, click on "Fish Count."
Unfortunately, they don't updated very often.

Glen

re: King Harbor Report Rob 5:39 pm thursday february 14, 2002

Well, I was there last Sunday and it was pretty slow actually all
day until about 3:00pm. We did see one big bait ball right off
the fuel docks at Rocky Point, which the skiff renters scooped
up. Then out they came in the "Flyway" boat to fling bait around
some us us who'd rented skiffs and looked like we could use a
little action. That was right about the time that some bait
actually started appearing deep in the harbor by the yacht club,
so it was hook-ups for all at long last. Didn't last long, but
it made my day. After we'd returned the skiff at the end of the
day, we hung around and watched the guys who work at Rocky Point
tossing chovies off the docks and getting hooked up on every
cast. If I'd have known we could get that kind of action off the
docks, I'd have paid $65 bucks to fish off the dock and they
could have kept the skiff. I'll probably be back there this
weekend. Hope we get more consistent bait balls.

Two new links! fliflicker 0:29 am saturday february 16, 2002

Check them out on the links page....
King Harbor (Rocky Point)
Fishing reports from King Harbor

baytubers.com
Check out these local guys and the monster fish there getting
from our local waters! Lets hope they leave some for the
future :)

Enjoy! The stuff dreams are made of...
Thanks Glen and Timm!!!

King Harbor Report Glen 7:13 pm saturday february 16, 2002

slow

Dana Harbor? Lane 7:27 pm thursday february 21, 2002

Anyone out there fishing Dana Harbor these days? Just curious if
anyone is hooking up. Was thinking of going this weekend.

Tubing Belmont Shores Tomorrow... Doug 9:49 am friday march 1, 2002

A buddy and I will be trying out the float tube deal at
Belmont tomorrow. Care to join us? We both havent tried
it yet but I cant stand looking at the photos and reports
from the baytubers site without giving it a shot. If you
havent seen the site, its worth a look. (check it out on
the links page)Tight lines! Doug

re: Tubing Belmont Shores Tomorrow... Glen T. 8:35 pm saturday march 2, 2002

Can't get out to join you guys but I've been thinking the same
thing for the past month. Post a report when you get back to let
us know how it was.

btw: I hear the wind really picks up in the early afternoon so it
might be a good idea to start early in the morning.

Huntington Beach, Santa Ana area Andrew Stoehr 6:08 pm sunday march 3, 2002

Lane and I (and another buddy) fished Huntington beach today,
and bit around the Santa Ana rivermouth. Very tiny barred and
walleye perch were everywhere at times, but no real large
perch. In the mix, we might have picked up a couple "medium"
perch. Also three yellowfin croakers, one pretty nice one by
Lane (16 inches??). Also saw one shark about 36 inches. Action
was best about halfway between low and high tide this morning.


Anybody else having much luck in the local surf or bays this
weekend?

re: Huntington Beach, Santa Ana area Lane 3:37 pm monday march 4, 2002

Andrew,

Sure, if you say 16 I'll go with that. I thought it was smaller
myself. I will testify that I did catch the monster on an
origional "Andrew Fly". Can't believe I eventually lost that.
Guess I'll have to fork out another $50 for a new one.....

A fairly good morning anyway. It felt good to actually catch
something at the jetties. I've had a dry spell there for a while.

re: Huntington Beach, Santa Ana area Andrew Stoehr 9:31 pm monday march 4, 2002

OK, well maybe not 16". We'll see when the photos are
developed. Still, it was, in my opinion, an above average sized
croaker (or was it a corbinoaker...?)

King Harbor report Sun 3-3 Rob 10:39 am monday march 4, 2002

Huge schools of bonies were cruising around the bait barge and
the bubble hole all day, but they were almost totally keyed-in
on bait. The only fly I had any success with was a blue/white
crease fly. I got one on the troll, and one casting. We even
bought some bait to chum them up to the surface, which didn't
really work too well. They really would not get into a topwater
feeding frenzy. Eventually, I had to switch over to my
baitcasting rig. After that it was hookup after hookup. The
Rocky Point skiff rental guys were taking fish counts. Don't be
surprised if you hear about some pretty amazing numbers of
bonies and calicos caught.

re: King Harbor report Sun 3-3 Lane 3:40 pm monday march 4, 2002

Rob, did you guys hook any macks? Last time I was there, a
kayacker & I were talking. He didn't even mark a fish inside the
harbor area. Even around the barge. I'm glad to hear the bones are
still around. I'll have to try it soon.

re: King Harbor report Sun 3-3 Rob 9:11 am wednesday march 6, 2002

Yup, I pretty much always get macks when I fish KH. They're a
lot easier to get on the fly too. I've found they'll take pretty
much anything I throw - deceivers, clousers, crease flies, etc.
I usually find them concentrated in the area around the shoals
and the yacht club, and also just off the pier.

I've also seen quite a few halibut and calicos caught there
lately. I might try for them next time I go. I've read some
about how to get hali's on the fly. Anybody have a hot tip?

re: King Harbor report Sun 3-3 Lane 11:47 am wednesday march 6, 2002

Rob, I have mostly caught halibut in the surf environment. The few
I have caught in harbors have been smaller fish generally. Low &
slow seems the best tactic for me with flatties. I have had better
luck with Chart/white & orange/white clousers. Good Luck!

Salton Sea Update Jerrold Paul Shelton 11:27 am tuesday march 5, 2002

To All On The Board,

We're getting close to the targeted date of the week of April 15
for the Salton Sea Bash that I posted on a while back.

I am considering moving the date of this outing up a month, as
the corvina fishing typically improves as the water temperature
of the lake warms up. Ambient air temperature is still
tolerable there in May, usually, so the experience should be a
pleasant one, overall.

I've had some health problems (principally pneumonia that I'm
having a difficult time shaking off), and a May trip date would
work out better for me, as I should be either back to 100% by
then. That said, if the bulk of the folks who expressed
interest in this outing still want to go, but still want to it
April, we can stick to that.

This is an informal kind of deal, one where a group of us who
use the board can meet each other and enjoy a unique angling
experience, and all board users are welcome to join us.

Please e-mail me directly if you are interested in going, and
whether an April trip or a May trip will be most convinient for
you, and also let me know if a specific week-end is more
convinient than another, as my goal is to try to reserve camping
space at a time that's convinient for the majority of interested
participants.

-Jerrold

re: Salton Sea Update Glen T. 12:01 pm tuesday march 5, 2002

I have a trip May 9th - May 16th already booked so April or the
very end of May would work out better for me.

Mission Bay greg pavlov 10:40 pm tuesday march 5, 2002

I'm in Buffalo, NY but will have a day to fish
Mission Bay this Sat. I considered renting a
skiff. Tides are not ideal. Are fish in the
bay generally active at this time of the year ?
I would appreciate any insight you could give me.

Thanks,

Greg Pavlov

re: Mission Bay Jerrold Paul Shelton 11:57 am wednesday march 6, 2002

Greg,

The answer to your question is yes. The fishing in Mission Bay
can be good this time of year, and it can be somewhat less than
good. That said, Mission Bay is one of my favorite embayments to
fish along the Southern California coast.

I normally fish an 8wt set-up. Lines will be an LC 13 shooting
head with Rio's clear intermediate running line, a 275-300 grain
fast singing integrated shooting head line, or a WF clear
intermediate. Leaders on the fast sinking lines will be a level
6 ft. length of 5X to 1X fluorocarbon tippet. On the clear
intermediate, I'll use a 7.5 to 9 ft. tapered leader, topped off
with about 3 feet of fluorocarbon tippet. I tend to use smaller
flies than most, tied on size 6 hooks and about 2.5 inches long
overall. My favorite color combinations are all white, all
chartreuse, chartreuse over white, tan over white, brown over
orange, tan over ornage, and chartreuse over orange. The flies I
fish are variations on the Clouser Minnow theme, but sparse
tied, "shallow water" Clousers work just as well as the flies
that I tie.

Some folks are partial to using floating lines and really long
leaders (15 to 20 ft. +) on shallow embayments like Mission Bay,
particularly when fishing for corbinas or halibuts. Works like a
champ if you can cast that combination with weighted flies,
though I don't all that well. Hence, my use of the clear
intermediate line.

My experience is not all inclusive, but it has led me to belive
that fishing on most coastal embayments in my corner of the world
is best during the middle 50% of an incoming spring tide, when
the current flow is highest. That said, I've caught fish in the
middle of winter from Mission Bay, when the outgoing neap tide
had turned virtually slack. You'll never know if the fishing is
any good on the day that you can fish there unless you try it.
You might just have a super day there.

Blessings And Good Luck To You

-Jerrold

re: Mission Bay Greg Pavlov 6:19 pm friday march 8, 2002

Jerrold, thank you for taking the time for
your thorough reply.

Take care,

Greg.

river jetties Gordon 4:14 pm saturday march 9, 2002

Fished this morning on the outgoing tide. all my action came
in about 5 minutes with a hit every cast from perch. got one
small bluegill size and hooked another nice one (saw him)
before he got off. they guy next to me had a couple of nice
fish on and the one he landed was a corbina to about 15".
First of the season? I saw a real nice shcool of yellowfin
under the main bridge but couldn't get them to eat. 15-20
fish. this area always seems slow to me. do any of you have
any other places where the actions seems better? esp for
croaker?

re: river jetties Andrew Stoehr 6:51 pm saturday march 9, 2002

Gordon,

My experience has been that usually (but not always) the croaker
are farther out than the perch, often just on the other side of
the breakers. So if you can get it out there, make your longest
casts possible for croaker. Last weekend we got 3 croakers at
the jetties, but I've had some really good "croaker days" there.
But my best ever was at Manhattan with Keith Y. We were hooking
them left and right, but ONLY if we could get the fly out past
the first set of breakers (which wasn't easy!). Anything less
got nothing.

Good luck,

Andrew

thanks Gordon 3:11 pm sunday march 10, 2002

thanks adrew. that helps. any particular patterns you favor?

King Harbor report and Croakers Keith 3:31 pm sunday march 10, 2002

For Croakers, the south bay beaches are excellent. There were
many days where Andrew and I got a croaker on every cast. We
usually got 10+ each. But as he said, in the south bay, u have
to get the casts past the first breakers. I think they hang
around the deeper troughs.

As a side note, Lane, Alec, and I hit the Harbor on Sunday from 7-
12 in the morning. There sporadic schools of Bonito busting the
surface but very few takers. I only manage to get a 15" bonito
and Lane picked up a mackeral. Alec picked up his first Bonito
at an estimated size of 18+ inches. It was very nice. Although
there was tidal movement, the Bonito's just didn't seem
interested. Even the bait guys weren't doing well.

I think I'll put my kayak to rest for now and start concentrating
on the surf again.

Keith

re: King Harbor report and Croakers Lane 6:20 pm sunday march 10, 2002

Keith,

It was a nice morning on the water. Slow, but I have had worse.
Man, it was awsome to watch Alec with that bonito! It's always fun
to watch someones first tussel with those fish. He's still stoked
about it, as I am too!

Lane

re: river jetties Mo 8:44 pm sunday march 10, 2002

Andrew,

I caught my first croaker today at the river jetties. From the
information I am hearing, is it true that croakers are usually
schooled up together? By the time I released the fish and tied
on a new fly, the tide had dropped quickly and I wasn't able to
fish that hole effectively.

Thanks,

Mo

re: river jetties Andrew 11:02 pm sunday march 10, 2002

Mo,

Yes, my experience is that usually when I get a croaker, I get
more than one. But this isn't always the case, and sometimes
it's 2-3, sometimes it's 15. I haven't had a really great day
with them in a while.

But, I remember fishing with Keith once and it was clear that the
croakers were in schools, and moving up and down the beach. I
was on Keith's right. If he hooked a fish, within minutes I
would. We would catch a few, it would slow down, and then soon
I'd hook one. Seconds later, he would. So it seemed they were
going up and down the beach and you could actually tell what
direction they were heading based on who hooked up first. These
weren't the biggest croakers I've ever gotten, but it was fun!

I've gotten them on that orange puff I use, but a size 2
white/olive clouser seems to be the best croaker fly I've used.

Good luck,

Andrew

re: river jetties Mo 10:42 am monday march 11, 2002

Andrew,

Thanks for the information. I caught the croaker on chart/white
clouser yesterday. There was another fly fisherman I met there,
and he was using something similar to a Timm's Butterfly fly. He
was getting a perch every once in the while. I also saw another
fly fisherman who hooked up to a nice fishing, but it broke off.
I hope the fishing picks up a bit in the near future. If not,
it's just nice to be out in the surf get splashed around! heheh.

Mo

Welcome Dave... Doug 5:05 pm friday march 15, 2002

Dave from the San Francisco area writes...
"...While your format seems to be aimed primarily at southern
CA. surf anglers, I thought that some of them may have the itch
to wander north from time to time. (Maybe they could grant me
honorary So. Cal. Status, since I lived in Claremont a suburb
north of San Diego for a few years in the early 70's). With the
exception of those years spent in the San Diego area, I've been
plying the waters of the S.F. Bay area. Attached you will find a
jpg. image (see gallery)of me with a semi-typical southern San
Francisco bay Striper that dicided to dine on a #3/0 Chartruese
over White - Half & Half. While most of our spring run fish that
show on the flats average in the 3 to 8 lb. on occassion we do
see a few larger, this one was weighed at 10.4 lbs. and was
released... The location is the "Bay Trail"...in San Mateo, CA.
The Bay Trail is an intercontecting series of public trails that
will in time ring the entire San Francisco bay. This project
will, when completed will allow public access to the bays
waterfront and open up many areas that have been privatly held
over the years. A win / win situation for all anglers. Just
thought you might be interested..."

Wow... Anyone catching stripers like that from shore is alright
by me! Your always welcome here Dave! More tight lines to you!
Doug

re: Welcome Dave... Dave E. 3:59 pm saturday march 16, 2002

Thank you Doug for the introduction.
You've got a great site packed with useful information and a
group of knowledgeable and sharing anglers.

If you or any of the guys from fliflicker.com get up this way
feel free to contact me about the possibilities and if I'm free
I'll show you what our area has to offer.
I'm off to San Luis Res. & the forebay for the remainder of the
weekend.

Thanks again.
Best, Dave

Carlsbad? Sun Kosi 4:46 pm saturday march 16, 2002

Doing some research for my father who is planning on spending a
week in Carlsbad at the end of March.

How is the fishing? Any suggestions on areas, ideas and/or
flies would be very much appreciated.

He is coming from the desert but has a pretty good familiarity
with the area.

Thanks,

Sun Kosi

Alamitos Bay 3/17 Glen T. 9:01 am monday march 18, 2002

Fished the end of the beach near 69th street on Sunday afternoon
before the weather got too nasty. No hits, no swings, no nothing.
Anyone else been out there fishing the beaches?

South Orange County Craig Cosbey 9:49 pm monday march 18, 2002

Hi all,

Just joined this sport and looking for someone to fish with and
to learn what's up from.

I live in Capistrano Beach (between Dana Pt. and San Clemente).
I've fly fished and tied my own in Mammoth in early 80's. I can
cast pretty well, have surf fished (bait) for 40+ yrs. and
surfed for 40 yrs. I know the ocean, tides, and how it works.

Been out 3 times locally and zero fish, but know it comes with
time & experience.

Drop me a line if you like to share info and experience with
surf and the fly. Maybe we can hook up and catch some.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Craig Cosbey

re: South Orange County Keith 2:46 pm tuesday march 19, 2002

Hey Craig,

I'll shoot u an email whenever I head down to the Jetties.

Keith

re: South Orange County Craig Cosbey 6:16 pm tuesday march 19, 2002

Thanks Keith, just give me some notice. I've got a business to
schedule around.

Craig

nyc transplant to santa monica james 9:35 am wednesday march 20, 2002

hello all, i have recently moved out here from nyc where i got
spoiled with bluefish and stripers on the fly. i am slowly
learining the so cal surf on the fly and have had marginal luck
with corbina and surf perch at santa monica beach. i went to
zuma this am to scout out the beach as i have heard good info on
it. i have yet to get a better feel for the beach tides here and
the fish moods. if anyone is looking for a fishing partner in
the am during the week (early) just let me know. it would be
great to meet other flyrodders as there do not seem to be that
many around despite the great saltwater fishery we have.

thnks & rgds,

james

River Jetties Michael K. Chung 2:23 am thursday march 21, 2002

Hello...

I fished the jetties today...The north outlflow has carved a
nice channel parallet to shore similar to the one on the
southern outflow...This left a nice, exposed sandbar just off
shore...Walking along that, I fished deep spots in the channel...

I hooked into three flatties...One was just nice big hit and
short run...The second I had on the reel...it was pumping and
taking out line and then my tippet broke (6# fluoro)...The third
I fought for a good 5 minutes...I finally got it to the drop
off...I could see the loop connector...But I was still aways off
so while walking up to it to land it, my fly flipped off...I
kept tension but the increasing angle of my line as I approached
must have eventually pulled the fly loose...Oh well...It was
breakthrough day for me...Intentional quarry with intentioanl
tactics...

I fished a chartreuse clouse with a all white (with bright
orange thread) ghost shrimp pattern I have trying out as a
dropper...Short leader...Actully just a couple of feet of butt
with 18 inches of tippet to the first fly and maybe 12-18 inches
more for the dropper...

BTW, my buddy said Belmont Shores was absolutely on fire...

-Mike Chung

re: River Jetties Mo 7:17 pm thursday march 21, 2002

Michael,

Did you also fish on Wednesday evening? I was there for the last
hour before the sun went down. I did see a gentleman hook on to
two large fish and lost them both. He was fishing the trough in
front the main river (North corner). I wasn't able to get a
bite, or get to the spot. I did see a couple sharks about 3-4 ft
long swimming back and forth in the trough. Oooo.. I was kinda
spooked.. lol...

I'm gonna try tomorrow morning, will post a report. BTW, are you
speaking of Alamitos Bay around the 60th street area?

Thanks,

Mo

re: River Jetties Michael K. Chung 3:21 am friday march 22, 2002

Yup...

That report was for Wednesday evening...I lost both fish I
solidly hooked...I went back today...The trough was more sketchy,
less defined and the sandbar had been beaten down a bit...Water
was really rushing over it and I almost tripped into the trough a
couple of times...Zero on the fish today...Not even a sure tap or
nibble...

Were you with a younger guy fishing a baitcaster in a wetsuit?

Fish On!

-Mike C.

re: River Jetties Mo 2:47 pm friday march 22, 2002

Mike,

I went out there this morning and did not get a single bite. I
saw a few others fishing, but I did not personally see them catch
anything. The trough is not as deep as it was Wednesday... I
think I was fishing next to you about 30-40 yards to your left
and i was using a fly rod. I saw the person in the wetsuit with
spinning gear.

re: River Jetties Michael K. Chung 11:25 pm friday march 22, 2002

If you were next to me, I hope I was not the reason you couldn't
fish the rest of the trough...I don't mind people fishing past me
anywhere...Just as long as when they pass me they give me room to
handle my line...Fish on!

-Mike Chung

re: River Jetties Michael K. Chung 3:24 am friday march 22, 2002

Oh yeah...

I am talking about Alamitos bay around the 62nd street area...My
friend were fishing the "surf" side that is open to LA Harbor
with Grissom out a ways...They fished tight to the main jetty at
th end of the beach and up towards some of the bouys
nearby...Then they switched over to the Alamitos bay side around
62nd and hit a few corbina...

My buddy went back today and he told me it was slower...He only
had 4-5 fish and they were all short halibut to 17inches...

-Mike C.

Hermosa Beach 2/23 Glen T. 1:05 pm saturday march 23, 2002

Went to Hermosa this morning with a couple of buddies and we
got into a lot of small perch. They were all over the place. On
one of my casts I set the hook on what I thought was another
dink and was suprised when I all of a sudden I was taken into
my backing. This fish did not stop and even broke the surface a
few times. It didn't fight like anything I had experienced in
the surf before and it was too far out to identify. After about
a 5 - 10 minute fight I finally got it within viewing distance.
We could see it's GIANT silhouette in the waves and it looked
like a corbina. I thought it had to be a record for sure. I
fought it for a couple more minutes and finally landed, not a
giant corbina, but a 12 lb. striper. Not bad for a Saturday
morning. The film is being processed as I type and I will post
a photo when I get them back.

re: Hermosa Beach 2/23 Shane Chung 5:30 pm sunday march 24, 2002

Glen,

Congrats of the fish. I heard about it from Mike H. I look
forward to seeing your photos. I lost one a couple years back at
the river jetties. All we saw was its head. They fight like no
other fish in the surf. Strippers are pure speed and brute
strength. The one I hooked headed for Mexico without saying
Ahasta La Vista Sucker! What did you get him on. I lost mine on
an Orange Flashtail Squirrel Tail Clouser. A greenish chart over
white witha silver and wine flash tail clouser worked well for me
up north. Way to go Glen.

Shane

re: Hermosa Beach 2/23 fliflicker 8:27 pm sunday march 24, 2002

WAAAHOOOOOOOO!!! :)

Topock Marsh area fishing? Lane 3:29 pm monday march 25, 2002

Has anyone fished the Topock Marsh off the Colorado River? I was
looking for some info on this area. I hear it can be productive.

Thanks,
Lane

re: Topock Marsh area fishing? Brad N 12:18 pm tuesday march 26, 2002

Are you referring to the marsh North and West of Rocky Point aka.
Puerto Penasco?
Brad

re: Topock Marsh area fishing? Lane 2:36 pm tuesday march 26, 2002

I'm not sure, it's part of the Havasu Natrional Wildlife Refuge...

Newport Bay this Thursday? Jerrold Paul Shelton 3:17 pm tuesday march 26, 2002

I'm thinking of hitting Nweport Bay this Thursday, launching my
pontoon boat from North Star beach at about 1000hs. I'd love
some company, if anyone is interested in meeting me there.

-Jerrold

re: Newport Bay this Thursday? Glen T. 3:35 pm tuesday march 26, 2002

Yo Jerrold!!

Glad to hear you're out fishing again! Prayers have been answered!
Let's hook up sometime. Can't fish Thursday but I will be out
pounding the surf tomorrow morning and Friday.

-Glen

re: Newport Bay this Thursday? Doug 10:26 pm thursday march 28, 2002

Glad to see your feeling better! Sorry I couldnt get away to meet
you... maybe next time. Take care! Doug

re: Newport Bay this Thursday? Jerrold Shelton 11:59 am friday march 29, 2002

Shane Chung met me at Newport. It was a pretty non-typical day,
as the fishing was slow. Shane caught a juvenile halibut, about
13" to 14" long, and a sea slug, and a ball of mud and clams. I
blew two hooksets on fish that hit pretty hard, and had a couple
of mealy-mouthed "rat-a-tat-tat" kind of bites, all when fishing
along the bases of pilings or retaining walls. I caught the
smallest spotted sand bass of my life, which Shane estimated to
be about two inches long. Of course, since I caught it, it's
grown in size, now twice as long as it was, LOL.

In spite of slow action, and casting that has become pathetic
ofter several months of being ill and not fishing out of my
pontton, I had a really good time. Thanks, Shane, for coming
along!

I'll be going back for more next Thursday, I think.


-Jerrold

Belmont Michael K. Chung 1:07 am wednesday march 27, 2002

I was fishing Belmont on Monday evening...

After sunset, right before it got completely dark as far as the
sun goes, I moved to the short wall on the north side by 62nd st
( i was fishing the Alamitos Bay side) and got tapped by three
fish in a row...

The first was only a tap..The second I lost after a short
fight...The third I lost because my fly broke off...I saw the
third and it was silvery...I got it as I was raising my fly off
of the bottom (near the surface)...Maybe it was a smelt...Guy
about 20 yards below was fishing bait and hit a couple of
Corbina...

I will fish the sunset again on Wednesday evening...

-Mike Chung

re: Belmont Mo 1:44 am wednesday march 27, 2002

Mike,

My buddy and I fished the same area this morning at sunrise. He
got many bites and did get two on the reel for a few seconds...
however, he lost both. He was using a fast sinking line with
crazy charlie in the ghost shrimp color. As for me, I only
manage a few bites. There were alot of fish boiling around.

Afterwards, we went to the river jetties for an hour. We spooked
a corbina while wading into the surf. I landed one halibut and
my friend had two quick bites. We were fishing just about 20
yards from where I saw you last week. The channel is almost
completely filled. We will try again tomorrow morning.

Mo

re: Belmont Michael K. Chung 8:46 am wednesday march 27, 2002

Right On...

Something I have heard from several regulars of Belmont is that
they all use this crazy setup...

Floating Line
15+ feet of straight 6# for leader to fly

Try casting that (with weighted fly...)...I am going to take my
floating today...I used sinking the last few times but getting
fish on the lift and slightly off of the bottom seems to warrant
their technique...

-Mike

re: Belmont and RJ Keith 9:36 am wednesday march 27, 2002

Fished RJ last Saturday and fished the morning from 8-12pm.
Fished all fishable spots until I finally landed a 2lb short Butt
and dink perch. The bite was a 11pm as the minus tide was
bottoming out. I was using a rusty clouser (my go to fly at the
Jetties.) I'm not sure how the bite was after that but I had to
leave so I couldn'y find out. Frank Selby was having his surf
class there. Talked to him for a while then dug out. I don't see
the nice holes that I use to see last year. Too bad. Still
waiting for that big suf storm to do its thing (or did I miss it
while I was fishing for bonitos the past 6 months.)

As for belmont and its crazy set-up. It is a technique made
famous by Richard Jacobs for nailing corbina in the bay (nice guy
that Andrew and I met and talked to). He fished that area a lot.

Might check out either Manhattan Beach or RJ this weekend. Will
keep the board posted.

Keith

re: Belmont and RJ Shane Chung 12:15 pm wednesday march 27, 2002

Keith,

Yeah, there some big holes in January and February. Lots of
small perch and some halibut. There was a big channel that
paralled the beach north of the River Jetties. There were some
nice scallop hole south of the jetties too. All had some decent
fishing. Yeah, you and the rest of the guys were fishing King
Harbor when the big wholes were here. The holes are filling in
pretty fast now. I hope to see you guys out there some time.

Shane

Belmont Broohaha Michael K. Chung 11:24 pm wednesday march 27, 2002

So I sent back today...On the way I check messages...My buddy
says he is thinking about going back this afternoon as well so I
call him but he is not answering...I get to Belmont, mull over
which side to fish (the open harbor side or the Alamitos bay
side...),read the wind and decide to fish the Alamitos side...

Skunk...The wind starts off to my back...I am casting my
floating line with a weighted fly about 60 feet and I am
happy...But no fish...And I knew there was going to be a magic
period and when it hit, with fish boiling sporadically around
me, and even seeing a halibut jump out of the water, the wind
does a 180 on me, sun is gone, and I decide to fish a longer
leader with heavier fly...My first cast in the dark results in
the fly hitting my rod, wrapping around a kajillion times, and
so I pick it out...Tangle again...So I shorten the leader, and
then I see this big woosh 20 feet away...Not a bird, but a big
fish...I cast and then...

Tangle again...I curse...I rip the leader off...I poke my
finger...And I am late to my next stop in L.A...So I get there
10 minutes late...Then my phone rings...Its my buddy...He was
there on the L.A. Harbor side at the same time and it was
great...Nailed 8 croaker, on short halibut, and lost a shark...

Ha ha h ah haha haha hahh ahha ha hahah ahh!!!!!!!!!!!

-Mike Chung

Floating line - Long leader Rig fliflicker 10:52 am thursday march 28, 2002

If you haven’t seen it already... There is an excellent article
by Richard Jacobson linked on the Tactics page. I believe he
pioneered this floating line - long leader technique that is
extremely effective in quiet waters. The first time I used the
tactic I caught 12 halibut in about 2 hours from a little spot I
know in Ventura (a feat I have not since repeated) Most of the
nice corbina in the gallery were caught that way. Check it out!
"Corbina on the Fly"

Anybody want to fish Saturday? Craig Cosbey 3:49 pm thursday march 28, 2002

Hi All,

Anyone want to fish Saturday? Anywhere between SA River jetties
and Belmont Shore. I'm going up that way on errands and thought
to wet a line Sat. AM.

Please email me or call.

Thanks,

Craig Cosbey
(949) 240-5115

Pics of Glens Striper!!!! fliflicker 10:08 pm thursday march 28, 2002

Check out the Gallery to see the awesome striper Glen caught at
Hermosa Beach last Saturday! The stuff dreams are made of...

Hey Glen... What did you catch him on?

good job!!! Keith 9:32 am friday march 29, 2002

Hey Glen,

Thanks for giving me hope. I hope thats not the only one in the
S. Cal surf. I'd hate to drive up north to get one. Again,
congrats.

Keith

Great Board and Community! Frank Fong 2:26 pm friday march 29, 2002

Hey Doug! This is a great board and enjoyed "catching up" on the
messages and what's been going on since its inception.
Definitely will visit this place the next time around.

See you on the beach! Frank Fong

Hermosa 3/29 Glen T. 3:48 pm friday march 29, 2002

Just got back from fishing Hermosa. Lots and lots of perch,
including a lot of larger Walleye which I haven't seen in
awhile. A few croaker around.

Most of the action took place during the rising tide and
gradually slowed at the tide's peak. When I first arrived it was
a-fish-per-cast kind of action.

Moderate shore breaks are carving out some really big troughs.
If any of you are thinking of hitting the South Bay area this
weekend, Hermosa at the 26th street lifeguard station is
definetly worth a cast or two.

Tight lines this weekend everybody.

re: Hermosa 3/29 Michael K. Chung 10:17 pm friday march 29, 2002

Hey Glen...

I might make it out there tommorrow afternoon (tied up in the
morning...)

What setup were you using? ( if you don't mind my asking...)

Fish On!

-Mike Chung

fishin' the surf StingrayzJeff 9:21 am saturday march 30, 2002

Hey Doug!!! Awesome site!! Your son is a talented kid! I hope
you don't mind me posting a few adventures I might have in the
surf even if its not from a fly rod. I also like
baytubers.com.....practice catch and release for our future
children...Jeff

re: fishin' the surf fliflicker 8:11 pm saturday march 30, 2002

You are always welcome... Im sure we would all enjoy hearing your
tales from the surf. Besides, the best fly fishers I know always
keep an eye on our conventional tackle brothers... We have much
to learn each other and a common love to enjoy and protect.

SARL Michael K. Chung 3:38 am sunday march 31, 2002

I stopped by the River Jetties Sat. to fish for a couple of
hours...I arrived near the bottom of the tide and started at the
north end...Fished first outlet, crossed it and started fishing
the gap between the two...Met a friend named Joe coming up the
other direction...We both shared that we had zip on fish up to
that point...So we kept going our seperate ways...

A little farther down I saw a few birds diving and brown rip so
I started fishing near it...There was a decent current going
south so I "quartered upstream" and on one drift I swung and
though I snagged kelp or something stationary...Suddenly my
lined starts to move up current and my rod begins to pump...So I
set the hook and realize quikcly that this is a pig...

It would moderately steam roll up and down a 20 foot stretch of
beach and use every opportunity when the water would rush back
between waves to just keep taking line out...I would get it to
within 30 feet and then I would feel it hunker down in one of
the deeper holes or troughs untile the next wave washed back
out...By this time Joe had come over and judging from out
experience, it is fighting like a big flattie...Could be a ray
but it definitely did not feel like any sharks...Every time
there was a good current going back out I would feel the heavy
rythmic tailbeats and it would just steam roll...

After about 15 minutes (fishing 6# tippet) I got it to where the
knot my leader is out of the water...But I am still about 15
feet away...And that is the closest I got...I kept going deeper
and deeper but I got too hairy...And when I thought it was
finally starting to sort of tire, it started to haul -ss back
out...After another 5 minutes I broke off at the my loop2loop
connector on my butt section to leader (8#)...

Can't be 100% sure on this one but it felt like a flattie or a
possibly a "smaller" bat ray...

Oh well...it was a good two hours of fishing...Wish I could say
that involved LANDING as well...ha ha ha!

-Mike Chung

re: SARL Michael K. Chung 3:42 am sunday march 31, 2002

BTW,

I was fishing the same rig I have hooked all my halibuts on
recently (mainly shorts)...But again, I can't be sure if this was
a flattie this time...

I fished a very sparse white/chartreuse clouser on 2' of 8#
leader (from the butt section) with a white ghost shrimp pattern
trailing on 2'of 6# tied to the bend of the clouser...

Right after I lost my fish, my friend Joe tied on a deeper
green/white clouser and nailed 3 small perch in ten minutes...

Fish On!

-Mike Chung

malibu surf fishing report STINGRAYZJeff 7:22 pm sunday march 31, 2002

Well the weather till 12;30 was real foggy and cold today.
Could only sratch one 15 lb sand shark on terminal tackle at La
Piedra.... I usually score with the mussels on perch but not
today.....I did see a big perch jump out of the water just when
I got there... I was dissapointed as I did not nail one as I
usually do there.....Oh well next time ...Thats why they call it
fishing and not catching./......practice catch and release..Jeff

Hermosa 4/1: Thanks Glen Michael K. Chung 4:34 pm monday april 1, 2002

Taking a cue from Glen's posts, after staying up all night to
finish something for a client, I decided to head out to 26th st.
in Hermosa to try my hand at the perch...

This was a breakthrough day for me...Its as if I finally got to
see and work what I have been trying to learn the last few
months...The tide was a minus .3', swell was a moderate waist
high and there were waves breaking on an outer bar, backing off,
and then shorepounding...There were long troughs all along the
beach...The water was so clear you could see the drop off
through the building shorepound...It also made the swirling sand
and mud very clear...I could clearly see every rip, big and
small...I have never seen the surf where it was so evident where
I had to fish...I could even see the perch darting in and out of
the shallows after my fly at times...

I fished from 8-12 and I lost count of how many I landed after
number 20...Thanks for the info, Glen!

I fished at least 6 different flies but the setup was
similar...A very sparse white and chartreuse crystal flash
clouser on top with any red/orange fly on the bottom...I had a
few with orange sili legs and they were killer...I just looked
for a rip and cast right next to or on top of it and stripped
back...If there was no rip, I would just cast it past the first
set of shorepound and right behind the swirling sand left behind
from the last wave...Then I would strip it back...

Most were smallish, averaging about 6-9 inches...But I had at
least three females that were a solid 12 and fat...I got hit
mainly on the oragne flies (most were copies or variations of
Bill Calhoun's Swimming Sand Crab in all orange/white or some
fly I picked up at Frank Selby' shop-His & Hers in Newport which
is basically a short, bushy all marabou clouser type with some
red flashbou) but quite a few hit the chartreuse clouser...No
stripers spotted today but someone posted on Calfishing that
they were showing up in King Harbor...

What a day!

-Mike Chung

re: Hermosa 4/1: Thanks Glen Andrew Stoehr 5:45 pm monday april 1, 2002

Mike,

That red and yellow fly from Selby's is very similar to what some
call a "Surfpercher" (a John Shewey fly, maybe?). It's a good
perch fly, for sure. It used to be my favorite perch fly, and I've
taken halibut with it to. I've gotten sort of stuck on the orange
puff lately, but I'm sure that surfpercher would work for me if I
gave it a shot. Bill Calhoun was showing me those other crab flies
Saturday, so I tied some of those up and I'm ready to use them as
well. I need to wean myself off of the single fly routine!

I agree, it's been very "perchy" out there lately. Keith and I lost
count of the perch Saturday at Manhattan as well. And as with your
trip, most of ours were small but with a few nice ones thrown in
the mix. It's too bad they aren't all 12 inches and fat, eh?
Keith and I were thinking it was time to start fishing with 6
weights if this dinky-perch thing keeps up...


See you out there,

Andrew

re: Hermosa 4/1: Thanks Glen Keith 9:55 am tuesday april 2, 2002

Andrew,

You're right about getting out of the one fly craze. I've been
using the squirrel tail puff pattern (by A.S) or the squirrel
tail clouser pattern (by J.M), both with orange heads. I've tied
the rabbit hair puff pattern (B.C.) also but it seems to take a
lot of work. I am just going to tie a few and see how it does
against your "breakthrough" pattern. squirrel tail puff..I can't
believe you're not a millionaire yet..

Keith

re: Hermosa 4/1: Thanks Glen Andrew 12:17 pm tuesday april 2, 2002

Craig,

Do you tie flies? If so, check out the "Flies" link on this site.
If not, I'll send you a few flies. No charge, just buy me a beer
if we ever meet on the water...

Keith,

I agree, Bill's pattern is a lot of work, and superglue and rabbit
fur don't mix. My fingertips are still furry. I tied 4 and quit.
If they work, I'll tie more later.


Andrew

The Ruffy Glen T. 5:12 pm tuesday april 2, 2002

Since we seem to be passing our patterns around I thought I would
join the mix. I may be opening up myself to a lot of work, but
here it goes anyway.

I have a pattern that I use in the surf. It is the only pattern I
now use other than a clouser. It is something I made up, and
orignal to me, but may not be completely original to some of you
out there. I'm putting the name "Ruffy" to it.

I am willing to send or exchange this pattern with 12 of you who
are interested. If you have an original pattern that you use in
the surf, let's trade. If not, I'll just send you one. I just ask
that you use it and let me know how it works for you.

Craig, I promised to send you the pattern earlier and it's on the
way.

Maybe we can get some sort of a fly swap going on this board???

re: The Ruffy Craig Cosbey 5:28 pm tuesday april 2, 2002

Glen,

You guys are all GREAT!! So much great stuff goin on.. Thanks.

Too bad the rest of the planet doesn't work like this and Dan
Blanton's site.

Cheers and many big fish to all of you.

Craig

re: The Ruffy Kyung 6:58 pm tuesday april 2, 2002

Glen,

Can you give us an idea what the fly looks like?

Thanks,
Kyung

Selectivity in the Surf Mike Hand 7:22 pm tuesday april 2, 2002

From forty years of trout fishing experience, I have a wealth of
trout selectivity stories, but as a newcomer to fly fishing the
surf I’m ignorant as to how selective surf species can be in
their feeding. Do any board participants have good surf zone
selectivity stories they’d like to share? I’ve heard some folks
say that surf perch will always be willing to nail anything they
see that’s roughly between a half inch to two inches long and
with some hot color, such as orange, about it. Other stories
that have appeared on the bulletin boards tell of surf perch
that would only take the three inch long olive/white Clouser
point fly that was intended to appeal to the halibut, or some
other very specific fly pattern. With trout, the balance
between selective and opportunistic feeding varies widely with
how rich the water is. Do surf perch, for example, feed
selectively when there is an abundance of some sort of natural
forage and un-selectively when the pickings are slim? I
suppose it is tougher to tell what the fish are up to in
saltwater where one is generally blind fishing, but might any of
you want to venture an estimate of how frequently surf perch
exhibit selective feeding behavior here off the Orange County
coast? Thanks for any information I can sponge from you!

re: Selectivity in the Surf Lee 8:57 pm tuesday april 2, 2002

Mike, I generally start with a red pattern, then go to brown then
green if the first one doesn't work. Perch are great because they
seem to hit anything that moves. I've taken the on a #4 hook with
chain eyes and a bit of red chenille over some white polar bear
hair. A nothing fly but it took fish. The thing I did was worked
October-January to get a fly or two that would take all fish. I
use a red hula that looks like it's on steroids compared to the
original pattern but it's taken perch, croaker, halibut, bat ray,
sand shark, walleye perch, jack smelt and even a crab. Just not a
corbina yet. Yet! I well catch few fish, change flies, catch a
few fish, change flies and so on when I fish. I like to keep
fresh with what's going on and I've had days where I landed 60+
fish. Just tie something up and see if it works because I can
guarantee you some of those trout flies well land perch.

re: Selectivity in the Surf Michael K. Chung 10:47 pm tuesday april 2, 2002

I dunno if this is a good example since I am relatively new at
this but:

The last several halibut or halibut "potentials" have all come
consistently on a ghost shrimp pattern that I have been tying...

It started out as a copy of a fly I cannot find anymore...I
originally bought it Marriots and an employee there named Brian
says it might have been called a "Backcountry Shrimp" or
somthings like that...Anyways, I caught my first on the original
and then I lost both og's that I had...So I tied from memory and
added/deleted some stuff to it and it has been working...I have
fished in consistently on a two fly rig with a clouser and while
the Perch have nailed the clouser and dropper, the flatties have
only nailed my dropper...

This is kind of weird to me because people swear by clouser for
the flatties...

-Mike Chung

re: Selectivity in the Surf Andrew 8:42 am wednesday april 3, 2002

I can't say I've noticed much obvious selectivity in the surf.
I've had days where corbina refused every fly, but never days where
they refused everything but one! I've also had days where somebody
in the party was catching fish and others weren't, but it hasn't
been clear why.

That being said, I DO think the mackeral, and especially bonito, in
King Harbor can be very picky. I suspect it's mostly about size
and not color, but I'm not sure. I recall one day when the bonito
followed every cast to the boat, but wouldn't take. I was using a
green/white surf candy. I had brought along some small scissors,
so I kept trimming the fly (the only one like it I had) shorter and
shorter in quarter-inch increments, until...bingo! After that, I
got a nice handful of fish. For whatever reason, they wouldn't
take the fly when it was just a bit too long. I had tried varying
the retrieve, depth, etc but in the end, it was the size. I guess
sometimes, size does matter...

re: Selectivity in the Surf Mike Hand 8:29 pm thursday april 4, 2002

Thanks for the inputs guys! I don’t have much in the way of
saltwater selectivity stories to tell, but maybe I can partially
repay you with a notion I’ve found very comforting. I read this
in a magazine years ago and I’ve forgotten the name of the
author, but he was undoubtedly a genius. He made the insightful
observation that all fishermen catch fish at exactly the same
average rate. You say that’s not obvious? Take your average Joe
who goes out one Saturday per year, spends four hours soaking
some bait, polishes off a six pack and catches one smallish fish;
this establishes the basic catch rate as 0.25 fish per hour. Now
you may be thinking that the Constant Catch Rate Theory can’t be
valid because you know for a fact that Joe Schlobotnik’s
neighbor, Al Castwell, went out on the local spring creek that
very same Saturday and caught seventy three lunkers. Consider,
however, how these two anglers spend their off-stream time. Joe
fishes four hours per year and thinks about fishing approximately
three minutes of those four hours. Al is always thinking about
fishing and spends every free moment reading fishing books and
magazines, tying flies, practicing his casting, hanging around
the tackle shop hoping to overhear indiscrete references to
fishing hot spots, etc. The important point is that all of Al’s
fishing related activity time counts towards his catch rate!
Therefore, the way I figure it, if we each spend half an hour per
night scanning the bulletin boards for fishing information, by
the end of the week the Fish Gods owe us another 0.5*7*0.25 =
0.875 fish per week from our board reading activity alone!
Thanks again and may you regularly collect all the fish you are
owed.

Swap... Doug 10:28 pm tuesday april 2, 2002

Count me in...
It would be nice to get some pics up of these great flies...
What do you think? Maybe we could do a swap and post the results.
If succussful we could add another page for swaps...You guys
game?

Tubin' Newport Thursday (AWC) Jerrold Paul Shelton 9:40 pm wednesday april 3, 2002

(AWC) = Anybody wanna come? I'll be at the Aquatic Center/North
Star Beach @1000, ready to fish. I'll be driving a green Kia
Rio, and fishing out of a blue JW Outfitters Scout pontoon.

Newport Report 04/04 Jerrold Paul Shelton 10:28 pm thursday april 4, 2002

Water temp 55. degrees. Mostly Sunny. Incoming tide.

Two barred sand bass, 9.5 and 10.5 inches. Two Halibut, 13
inches. One mackerel, 15 inches. One great big son of a fish -
pulled drag, and hard. So hard, in fact, that my STH MR Pop
Cassette reel is fragged. The frame is bent, and the spool
won't release, and the drag is, uh, history.

I fished from "Pride of Newport / AKA Rueben E Lee to about 400
yds N. of the Aquatic Center. 1st bass came from PCH bridge,
second came from docks by the trailer park. Halibiut came from
the main channel in front of Dover North side channel. The mack
came about 400yds N. of the Aquatic center.

Not a spectacular day, but it beat getting bagled.
I'll be back for more fun, thrills, and excitement next
Thursday, if anyone wants to join me.

-Jerrold

Hermosa 04/06 Glen T. 11:43 am saturday april 6, 2002

Hit Hermosa this morning. A rough shore break and strong rip
made things a little difficult, but it still turned out to be a
good day.

20+ perch with some Walleye, and Yellowfin in the mix. Most were
dinks, but there were a few larger fish here and there.

Ruffy at Santa Ana River Mouth Mike Hand 4:06 pm saturday april 6, 2002

Glen Tagami was kind enough to send me one of his Ruffy
flies to use as a pattern and I whipped up a dozen counterfeits
yesterday. This morning, it was off to the Santa Ana River
mouth to give them a swim. I rigged with the Ruffy on the point
and a small unweighted chartreuse and white fry pattern on the
dropper. I started at the Talbert Channel about seven o’clock
and headed north, prospecting. About a third of a mile or so up
the beach, I came across a lovely rip. My first cast here went
into water that was too quiet, my second was closer to the mark
and resulted in a micro-perch on the Ruffy. On the third cast,
the Ruffy must have hit the right spot because it came back with
the largest Barred Perch this beginning surf fisherman has
caught to date, fourteen inches, measured against the rod before
I released her. Glen’s fly looks good in the tying vise, but it
looks even better against the background of a nice fish! On my
fourth cast, I clousered off the tip of the nine weight and put
myself out of business…
I hadn’t brought a spare rod, so had to go home to pick
up another. When driving back, I decided to pull in at Seal
Beach, which I hadn’t explored yet. I parked at the end of
Warner and walked north. I did a lot of walking and a little
casting, but didn’t recognize any structure that seemed to be
holding fish at the moment (more likely my shortcomings than the
beach’s) and didn’t catch any more fish. The water off Seal
Beach was a great deal dirtier than the water off the Santa Ana
River mouth, and had quite a bit of loose kelp washing around
this morning.

re: Ruffy at Santa Ana River Mouth Craig Cosbey 6:05 pm saturday april 6, 2002

Mike,

Thanks for the great collection of flies.

What a great Perch. That's Huge in case you didn't know.

I had a rather great day my self. Met Lane and Keith up at
Manhattan off of Grand Ave. by the power plants. Fished our way
south. They had already caught some dink perch by the time I got
there. I caught nothing for quite then finally broke my no fish
month at fly in the surf and caught an 8-10 inch flattie and then
an 8 inch perch. Fished my way back to the parking lot. Found a
nice rip and hooked and landed a 23" 4 1/2 lb. Halibut. Legal!!
Boy am I gonna eat good tonight!!

What do you call the materials on Glen's Orange Ruffy? I need to
get some so I can tie some up.

Congrats on the BIG Perch and thanks again for the flies.

Craig C.

re: Ruffy at Santa Ana River Mouth Lane 8:33 pm monday april 8, 2002

Yo Craig, glad we got you into some fish, man. Keith, Andrew & I
know what it's like to be new to the surf zone. We helped each
other thru the learning curve & we think it's good karma to pass
our wee bit o' knowledge along. It was cool to see Keith call you
over to the hole he was fishing...first cast for you BAM! Those
crazy things have some chompers, huh? Now we need to figure out
how to catch all these BIG perch & corbina that are plauging our
coastal waters. Seems the others out in BB land have them wired!

Tight Lines,

1st corbina Gordon 6:53 pm monday april 8, 2002

Fished rj's sat pm from about 1pm to about 4pm working north
from the south side of the jettie in newport. great channel
right now but not enough water in it when I got there (dead low
tide). Worked north about a mile to 3 great holes just south
of the stacks and north of tower 3. Worked them quite a bit
but they were also a bit low for awhile. But we came up
smiling about 3pm when I had a solid hit and run. My first
motorhead! Corbina went about 21+" and probably about 4-5
pounds. What a blast! You sort of know right away that you
don't have a perch or a flattie on... He INHALED my c/w
clouser and bent the little guys eyes 90 deg. Fun fish on my
new rod. Great way to break it in. Wind was tough though.
Only 2 other guys out. Didn't see them get any.
A buddy of mine has been fishing zuma every week and getting 20-
30 good perch everytime out with the rubber stuff and a spin
outfit. sounds like the further north you go the better. All
for now. Tight lines guys.

re: 1st corbina Michael K. Chung 11:48 pm monday april 8, 2002

Congrats on the corbina, Gordon...

I have yet to catch a cobina on the fly. The perching, if you
haven't noticed from posts like the ones from Glen, is also
pretty hot in the South Bay...I had a great day at Hermosa last
week...

Fish On!

-Mike Chung

re: 1st corbina Craig Cosbey 6:17 am tuesday april 9, 2002

Way to go Gordon!!

Been seeing the Corbina, but so far no takers. Saw a guy up at
El Segundo snag one in the back on Sat. but that's it. Glad you
got a nice one. In case you didn't know, they are one of the
finest fish in the sea on a plate.

Talk soon and more fish to ya.

Craig C.

This Weekend Glen T. 2:32 pm tuesday april 9, 2002

Where are you all fishing this weekend? I think I'll probably fish
the South Bay on Saturday and head down to RJ's on Sunday.

re: This Weekend Jerrold Paul Shelton 1:31 pm wednesday april 10, 2002

Glen, what time are you planning on being at RJ's? I might be
able to meet you there, after church.
-Jerrold

Hermosa 4-10 Michael K. Chung 10:09 am thursday april 11, 2002

I hit Hermosa yesterday afternoon at the spur of the
moment...Realized I would need to be in Santa Monica by 7:00pm
so I hit Hermosa first at about 4:00pm...

KELP! KELP! KELP! and more KELP! Geez...Every other cast was
a clump of the brown stuff which can sometimes feel like a fish
in churned up water...

Oh well...Surprise of the day? A big set of waves builds up
about 9 inches of water on the beach, and as I am stripping a
fly in, I see a corbina chase it maybe to within 4-5 feet of
me...This guy was BIG...I would say it went an easy 24 inches...

He moved like a big fish and powerfully swam back in to the
trough...Fired off a few more casts but nada...Oh well!

-Mike Chung

rj's thursday pm Doug 8:12 pm thursday april 11, 2002

I hit R.J.s this evening for about an hour and a half. (forgot
my jacket and got pretty wet) There were 5 guys f/fishing the
north side. I talked with Frank Shelby (sp?) from His and Hers
for a bit... what a nice guy. He said they have been getting
some really nice halibut. Talked to Scott too. I picked up one
nice corbina and got two really solid hits in the northern most
out-flow on Timms B/Butterfly. Also picked up 8-10 perch, some
dinks some nice. Wish I could have stayed out there till about
9 :) Looks like things are really starting to pick up!
Get out there if you can! TL Doug

re: rj's thursday pm Gordon 7:37 am friday april 12, 2002

Doug. that sounds like a really good outing for rj's. Maybe
the warmer weather is starting to perk things up a bit. I
usually only get one perch and a small one at that. Maybe the
same one--I think he just waits there for me every week. Glad
to hear there's some more quantity coming in.

Newport Bay 4/11 Jerrold Paul Shelton 11:29 am friday april 12, 2002

I fished the Upper Bay from about 1500 to 1830. Some 11-12 inch
spotted sand bass from the docking channels by the trailer park,
and a croaker from the Dover South Docking Channel. Lots of
little halibut and spotties in the main channel, just N. of the
Fish and Game facility at Shellmaker Island.

Nothing big enough to test the drag on my brand spankin' new
Okuma Integrity I 8/9 reel (replacing the fragged freshwater STH
MR 3 that I had been so happy with), but fun, none the less.

I was going to hit RJ's on the way home... From below, it seems
like I should have.

Jerrold

RJ's Saturday Jerrold Paul Shelton 11:34 am friday april 12, 2002

I'm planning on hitting the RJ's Saturday, early AM. I would
love some company. I'll be there all day, and I hope to meet
Glen T. there this Sunday, too.

I think the action, after kind of a lull, is finally starting to
pick up....

Jerrold

re: RJ's Saturday Glen T. 12:00 am friday april 12, 2002

Meet you out there on Saturday instead of Sunday. I have worship
practice on Sunday afternoon so I won't be doing any fishing.

What time are you getting out there?

re: RJ's Saturday Lane 1:40 pm friday april 12, 2002

does anyone know where the beaches are closed near the SA river
jetties? Was trying to figure out if I wanted to fish there this
weekend.

Later,
Lane

re: RJ's Saturday Shane Chung 4:04 pm friday april 12, 2002

Lane,Glenn,& Jerrold,

I didn't see any beach closure notice on Thursday. I fished
the afternoon low tide. I fished both south and north of the
river jetties. The outter holes look really promising. I got
really pounded by the waves trying to get a decent cast into
them. I really got to get some holes drilled into my Orvis
stripping basket. My basket was starting to become a problem.
Yellowfin croakers and perch are everywhere. The trouble is
getting your cast out there and controlling your line. I spent
half of my time trying to manage my line while getting clobered
by some of the larger waves. My biggest perch pushed 12". Not
bad for 2 hours of fishing. Lots of good hole everywhere both
small and big. My bigger perch was from a depression that didn't
seem much bigger than those scalloped holes all over that area.
Standard clousers and squirrel tail clousers were working. If I
can get up I will see you guys out there.

Shane

RJ Report - Saturday Michael K. Chung 9:02 pm saturday april 13, 2002

Hey everyone...

Got back from church this afternoon (I go to church on Sat.) and
I passed out...When I woke up, I checked the tide tables and saw
it was 1/2 hour away from a low tide...So I jammed down to River
Jetties...By the time I woke up, got ready, and got down there
it was around 5:15 pm...

I fished south of the north outflow and caught two dink
perch...I lost a few and then I moved north of the outflow as it
got dark...I was swinging my fly and I foul hooked a corbina
about 16-18 inches...It looked like it missed swatting it...

I released it but the wound did not look good...I guess it was
fun for two hours...

I fished a two-fly rig with a VERY sparse chatreuse/white
clouser over a variation of Calhoun's swimming sand crab...

Met Frand Selby afterwards...He is truly a nice guy...We
exchanged stories and he gave me some of his flies...He was down
there guiding a newcomer from up north! Right on!

-Mike Chung

Saturday Meeting At RJ's Glen T. 11:17 am sunday april 14, 2002

It worked out that a group of the guys on this board ended up at
RJ's on Saturday morning (4/13). It was good to hook up, talk
and fish with everyone. We need to make that more of a regular
occurence.
The fishing was decent. From what I gathered, it was a handful
of perch, some corbina (Shane got a 19 incher), and a legal
halibut that broke off at the north channel.

Lane, how big would you say that halibut was?

re: Saturday Meeting At RJ's Lane 7:41 pm sunday april 14, 2002

Glen, man. I am not sure. It was WAY bigger than the 27" I caught
last June @ San Celmente State Beach. I almost peed my waders when
I saw it before it bit thru the 5 lb leader I was using. Well
since my waders are leaking like crazy you couldn't have noiced
anyway. I would guess over 30". Biggest one I have ever seen.

It woofed a #4 chart /white bunny clouser I was trying for perch
in the channel. I had 5 lb mason on as tippet, I thought I had
trash because I struck it several times & it never gave a shake. I
struck it a few more times, nothing. As the current swung him up
on the bar I saw it. That's when the wave washed my line out of
the basket, he ran back into the channel, shook for a while & pop.

Some days you get the bear....blah, blah, blah.

Oh well, fun stuff. At least he's still out there. Hopefully it
will add the the genepool. Stronger, better faster.


See ya out there!

Tight Lines

re: Saturday Meeting At RJ's Mike Hand 4:25 pm sunday april 14, 2002

On both Saturday and Sunday I fished north of the northern
channel, which I've heard referred to as the Talbert Channel.
Both days I fished from about 7:00 to 11:00. On Saturday, I
caught one microperch just before leaving and today I caught one
more respectable perch, about 10", just after arriving. Both of
these fish were caught on one of my copies of Glen Tagami's
Ruffy. I've been experimenting with various leaders and dropper
flies, but so far, no more fish on any dropper. I never found a
concentration of fish either day, would get an occasional peck,
hook maybe one in three of these, and only actually get to
release one out of every three or four fish hooked. There seemed
to be small numbers of perch scattered widely through the zone of
roiling water.
I met Lane, Andrew and Keith yesterday. They had started off
on the same stretch of beach, and weren't finding fish there
either. They left and went south towards the Talbert channel,
where I understand they found surf perch, corbina and halibut. I
also talked with a young man, Shane, if I remember correctly, who
said that he had run into a concentration of surf perch
further north than I got either day. This was his seventh outing
fly fishing the surf and the two perch he had caught were his
first taste of success, so he was a happy guy.
I second your comment on enjoying being able to put a face to
names we've encountered on the bulletin boards. Perhaps we could
announce a rendezvous site ahead of time, bring some lunch and
have a post-fishing tailgate party some Saturday?

re: Saturday Meeting At RJ's Craig Cosbey 4:58 pm sunday april 14, 2002

Hi Mike and all,

I fished San Clemente Sat. AM from about 7-10. Fished from
Riviera St. north to almost T St and back again. May have gotten
1 or 2 pecks at my rig C & W Clouser leading an orange thing that
Andrew sent me. Not much going on I guess. Water still at 56 or
so.

The Saturday meeting sometime sounds great. I'm out of town this
coming weekend on business but after that fine with me.

Fish on,

Craig C.

re: Saturday Meeting At RJ's Sean C 10:57 am tuesday april 16, 2002

Mike,

I was the guy you spoke to on Saturday. Close on my name, but
you're right about one thing, I was definitely excited to finally
put things together enough to get a few perch. I just found this
board, and look forward to learning some things from the
collective knowledge that exists here. Thanks Mike for showing
me the pattern that finally got me my first surf fish on the
fly! Look forward to seeing you out there again, and perhaps
meet some of the others who post here too.

Sean

re: Saturday Meeting At RJ's Shane Chung 7:45 am wednesday april 17, 2002

Mike,

I think you may have talked to someone else. I was fishing
south of the Talbert channel whith Glen and Mike Homamora. We
did hook up with Jerrold, Keith, Lane and Andrew later. The
small perch were pretty scattered throughout the surf zone. The
small guys are everywhere pecking at our flies. I got a lot of
small bumps and missed them all. A few days ealier I had been
able to hook into some of the larger ones in the smaller holes,
that seem to hold only one fish. I actually wet to a bigger fly
to try and get the larger perch. On Sat. though, all I had to
show for my effort was that 19" corbina. Two days earlier the
same holes that produced fish were devoid of any activity. Here
one day gone the next. This must be a surf perch creed. See you
out there next time.

Shane

RJ Report Sunday Jerrold Paul Shelton 8:54 pm sunday april 14, 2002

Hit RJ's again, making my first cast at about 1700. I fished
one of the three flies that Glen T. gave me yesterday, and
unlike yesterday, where I was fishing a clear intermediate, I
delivered the goods with a fast-sinking integrated head. Final
Score: 1 perch, about twice as long as the fly that it tried to
eat, 1 premature release on a halibut, a couple of hard grabs, a
few pecks, and that's about it.

It was good to see you all at RJ's on Sat. Let's do it again,
next week-end.

Jerrold

Tubin' Back Bay Thurs. Jerrold Paul Shelton 8:58 pm sunday april 14, 2002

I'll be tubin' Upper Newport Bay Thursday, all day. I'll be
launching at 0800 from North Star Beach / Newport Aquatic
center, and would like to have some company, if any of you can
make it.

Jerrold

RJ's next Sat. Jerrold Paul Shelton 9:01 pm sunday april 14, 2002

I'll be doing RJ's again, next Sat, all day. This time, I hope
to have my act together re: getting there bright and early, and
bringing the right line. Hope to see you all there!
-Jerrold

Pics From Saturday At RJ's Glen T. 1:33 pm monday april 15, 2002

I am getting a few photos developed from Saturday which include a
group shot, Keith wading up to his chest getting across Talbert
channel, Shane wearing his stripping basket for a hat, and various
others. Anyone want any copies?

re: Pics From Saturday At RJ's Doug 4:25 pm monday april 15, 2002

Id like some to post if that ok with all...

re: Pics From Saturday At RJ's Andrew 8:14 pm monday april 15, 2002

If Shane's new fashion statement catches on, at least we can all
say we were there when it started. Being this close to
Hollywood, I suspect we'll see the "Orvis Stripping Basket Hat"
on Jennifer Lopez at the next Academy Awards...

Belmont Mark C 10:17 am tuesday april 16, 2002

I just found this site. This is a great board. I live in
Monterey and travel to Long Beach on business several times a
year. A guy from Dan Blanton's board turned me on to Belmont
and Ghost shrimp patterns and my trips down there have been
great ever since. I should be down there again April 26th and
fish the Belmont that evening. I would love to see some of your
guy's fly patterns. I have been using a orange and white
Clouser and have caught mostly small halibut, a couple legals
here and there. Mark

re: Belmont Mo 10:25 am tuesday april 16, 2002

Mark C,

I have been fishing a few times in this area lately and have been
catching plenty of croakers and small butts. I have been
catching them mainly on a chart/white clouser that is tied
sparsed. Sometimes, I switch over to a hoonie ghost shrimp, or
some variation and have caught a few corbina. You can find the
hoonie @ garybulla.com. I think though the bite has slowed down
in the past week. Hopefully, it will pick up soon.

Mo

re: Belmont Doug 9:29 pm tuesday april 16, 2002

Welcome to fliflicker!
I love that place too...Ive done well with #4 olive and white
clousers and also with patterns in tan and orange like the ghost
shrimp on the flies page. I usually use a very long leader (18'
of flat 6 lb maxima) with a floating line, very slow retrieve.
Theres a great read by Richard Jacobsen tactics page with some
pics too. Ill try for the 26th... good luck too you! Let us know
how you do. Doug

re: Belmont Mark C 9:07 am wednesday april 17, 2002

Doug,Mo, That would be great to see another Fly Fisherman down
there. I usually fish between the Belmont pier and the Alamitos
bay jetty. Maybe I'll see you there some day. Hey,at the risk
of sounding touristy, What is RJ's? Mark

re: Belmont Mo 10:21 am wednesday april 17, 2002

Mark C,

The river jetties is the area where the Santa Ana River pours out
into the ocean. It is on the boarder of Huntington Beach and
Newport Beach. Just take Pacific Coast Highway south and you'll
drive right over it. You can park on NB side or you can park HB
state park lot.

Good Luck,

Mo

re: Belmont Mark C 12:06 pm wednesday april 17, 2002

Mo, Sounds like I may have to do some exploring. Thanks, Mark

Tubin' Upper Newport Jerrold Paul Shelton 12:10 pm tuesday april 16, 2002

The post below was premature -as I will be working Thrusday, and
won't be able to go.

It's still on for RJ's Sat, though. Hope to see the group all
there!

-Jerrold

Fliflicker Santa Rosa Trip? Glen T. 2:57 pm tuesday april 16, 2002

I just talked to a (non-fly fisher) buddy of mine who just got
back from fishing Santa Rosa island. He reported that when the
bite was on, they were getting perch that averaged 14 -16 inches.
They also got into leopards and bat rays. I was thinking of
putting a Santa Rosa trip together to maybe replace Jerrold's
Salton Sea trip which may not happen due to Jerrold's publishing
deadline.

The trip including the flight over is actually not that expensive.
I think around $100?

What do you guys think?

re: Fliflicker Santa Rosa Trip? Frank Fong 6:25 pm tuesday april 16, 2002

Hey Glenn! I would be interested. Heard lots of exciting things
about that area for surf flyfishing. I'm rather flexible on time;
let me know when. Frank Fong