Bay Area Backwaters

Super Bowl Stripers

2012-02-05T23:56:00.000-08:00

Quiet day on the water today. On the water at first light and greeted to a beautiful sunrise. We put several nice fish in the boat today all things considered. February is usually one toughest months. Even a few shots at topwater fish which was a welcome site.

First light

Broke the ice with a nice one..

One more

Striped Bass Win!

2012-02-04T09:51:00.000-08:00

I couldn't be more happy with the outcome. I really wish I could have been in Sacramento for this. A HUGE THANK YOU to all the hard work put in by many conservation groups. Here's the skinny of it..

A proposal that attempted to diminish the number of striped bass in the California Bay Delta system was rejected Thursday by the California Fish and Game Commission!
In a unanimous vote, changes were rejected that would have increased the number of fish that could be kept and allow smaller fish to be kept. This was about Central Valley Corporate Farms thirst for puplic water. Nothing more. The water diversions south have almost completly destroyed our estuary system. Striped Bass have co-habitat with our native Salmonids for over a century. The decline has also paralleled with the increase in flow diversion and pollution. Not just Winter & Spring Chinook and Coho but Stripers and other listed species are also all time low numbers. Bottom Line is that grass roots org's can make a difference! There position was an absolute joke.

Steelhead skunk and some Stripers

2012-01-31T17:10:00.000-08:00

Weather has been awesome! Gave it a solid try on the coast for steelhead the other day and never felt like I was with in a mile of a fish. I fished hard, humped my ass up, down and through some beautiful Coastal Redwood forest so it wasn't a loss. Also scoped out some carp water on the way home so a productive day though fishless. Ive been messing around with the Carp every chance I get since they are less than 5 minutes from home. Tough is all I can say. January is always tough but i'm optimistic with more warm weather in the forecast. They are really keyed in on something small and nothing like the bugs i'm feeding them. Lots of pea size Clams in the mud and I have feeling thats what it is. Got a Clam fly??

Ive had some fantastic shots & dead on presentations for one eat in four or five outings. Unfortunatly the fish came unbuttoned for no damn reason. It wasn't a big fish but I worked hard to get that fish to eat and was heart broken when everything went slack. Carp just DON'T come off..wtf! I'm stoked to get back after them later this week. Barring any major cold snaps and as long as i'm still getting shots, i'm going. Just getting some good shots is a lot of fun and really what it's all about. Lots of life on the urban ponds enjoying the killer weather too.

I was in rod length several times of this fish..couldn't get a clean shot!

Lizards are everywhere!

Stripers conitnue to eat and eat well! Last trip was a lazy late start and on the water around 11am. By noon I had 4 nice keepers and by 4:30 when I called it, I had put 21 Stripers in the boat on fly with 9 of those 20-26" keepers. Temps is in the high 50s and the fish are strong and worthy. Lots of fun! Thats a pretty good good January half day around here. Two guys can really rack up some good numbers right now if they stay on them. Nothing of any great size but steady grabs and 70 degree windless weather made for a great day.

We need rain bad but more importantly we need a decent snow pack in the Sierras. It still hasn't happened. The only up side to dry years is the reserviors are down and the Carp flats fishing will be fantastic all summer fall and with no back cast obstructions. I would rather have water any day but I'm trying to be a glass half full guy this year.

I hiked to the bottom of this gorge for Steelhead. Kicked my ass!

So little time..

2012-01-20T19:29:00.000-08:00

I've been busy with work and also getting boats serviced and worked on before things take off in 2012. It's January, fishing is a little slow but the weather has been really mild so far in our neck of the woods. We are getting our first front, with any measurable rain and snow in the Sierra's as I write this report. It's dry here folks, really dry. Hell, there was a wild fire in Reno while I was in the area and vertually NO SNOW in the high country. We need this one bad. With that said, I have had a few days on the water since my last report. California Delta for Stripers and also a quick solo session at Pyramid Lake yesterday, and also this morning, before the front pushed me back on this side of the Sierra's. Fishing was OK for Jaunuary and weather at the lake was unseasonably warm and increadibly windy.

Mud Hen Juction on the Delta

Slow, but steady fishing for small Stripers on the river

An Egret taking the plung for baitfish

An ultra lite making a touch down on the river

Great day on the Delta!

Pyramid Lake, Nevada

Lohanton Cutthroat

Tough fishing..

2012-01-07T19:34:00.000-08:00

But unbelievably nice weather! T shirt and shorts today. Warm north west wind about 15kts was stubborn all day. I didn't get on the water until 10:30 so I had it coming. It's been a morning bite so I went looking for new water. Fish were deep in almost every location I found them. Most of the grabs were in 20+'. Clear water with about 9' vis so I suspect those fish were coming up from 30' to eat. I marked schools of Stripers as deep as 60 and the majority of the fish were right around the 35-45 mark in tight schools. Bright moon and no overnight fog may have had the fish eating all night. I managed 7 fish for a short day with most in the 19-22'' class. It was one here one there. One or two fish from school would spook the area. They were a little on edge. They will be back to wolf packing soon.

2012

2012-01-03T18:28:00.000-08:00

A new year brought a nasty flu/cold bug. I probably should have stayed home but I traditionally fish new years day. Have for years and decided to give it a shot. I had plenty of medicine running through my system and put in a long day. Fishing was ok for a January day with awesome weather and boat traffic was non existant.

I spotted a Road Runner actually being stocked by a raggedy ass Coyote. So, I guess it does happen Ha! I wasn't exactly sure what this one was creeping up on then I saw the Road Runner head up the hill. I dont see a many of the birds but there is a population here. He booked it up the hill and I was able to get a poor shot.

On the Carp front. They started moving around with the warm weather. I was able to get 3 shots on about a dozen fish sighted in a small city retention pond. access isn't that great but i'll be hitting it again in the next couple of days. There metabolizm is really slow and they are really a test of patience in the winter but they will eat if I stay after them.

look close

Winter Sunset

2012-01-03T16:12:00.000-08:00

Xmas Day 2011..

All things considered..

2011-12-29T17:10:00.000-08:00

The fishing hasn't been that bad for late December. Weather has been stable, dry and cool. Lows in the 40s highs in the low 60s. Typical dry weather pattern with high pressure keeping the fronts way north of us. We need rain. We need snow in the Sierras NOW. Anyway, Striper fishing is a cat and mouse game at the present time. They are moving and eating at a fast pace. One day here and gone the next. To find better quality you better be looking at your electronics and comfortable with T14. If not, forget about. You might stumble on a feeding surface school but I wouldn't bet on it.

I watched a huskey Striper take care of an American Shad on his last leg. I was retying and caught a glance of the shad. Focused in to take a photo and noticed a Striper Zero in and take a look. You know what happened next. A 15-16" Shad made a nice winter meal.

American Shad not feeling so good

Striper investigating

one more look

Yesterday we hit the salt. I was a little hesitant bucouse this time of year the inshore fishing really isn't at it's best. Fly fishing is tough, winds are unpredictable and the shallow water fishing just generally sucks in late Dec - January for me. Well, it was tough and the wind was unpredictable. Still a good time on the salt in the fresh air. Butt ass cold in the monring but warmed up nice. The "cold" didn't stop the tourists from acting like they were at Spring Break in Miami with the shorts and tee shirts out beach combing. Not to many fish caught by us. 6 or 8 reef fish and few Croakers and we called it with building seas. Still a fun way to spend the day. On a good note. I left a tackle bag on the wharfe by the boat hoist and someone actually called me and said I found your shit. A ton of flies and terminal tackle free for the taking and he called. Good stuff is going to happen to that guy. Wife ran over and picked up the next day with 50 dollar bill. I hope that dude has a great 2012.

Canary rockfish

Shot from Capitola wharf

Capitola Beach

Xmas eve report

2011-12-25T07:36:00.000-08:00

Cool crisp morning but warmed up nice into the 60s. Beautiful day out there. Morning was solid with a good number fish. Afternoon bite sucked with only a few small fish. Wild Life was everywhere with Deer, Elk, Bald Eagels, Golden Eagels, A Road Runner, Scads of Quail, Coyotes trying to sneak up on waterfowl and even a lone badger rooting Ground Squirrels. Lots of life out there today!

Merry Xmas!

Santa Cruz Surf

2011-12-18T21:58:00.000-08:00

I wanted to fish the surf today so I headed over with pretty high anticipation. That anticipation started to die after 4 hours of nothing. I can usually catch a few but I just couldn't find anything going at all under really good conditions. Not sure what the deal is. I saw there were some decent waves off the light house and good NW swell so I stopped and checked it out for a few minutes.

Same rocks as the first image..watch for sneaker waves!

Beautiful weather

2011-12-18T21:34:00.000-08:00

Awesome day to be on the water. Light wind and jackets off by noon with brilliant sunshine. Fishing was steady intill around noon. Te secodn half of the day was spent jumping around looking for fish. They are starting to move into a late fall early winter pattern and school up tight as is the bait. Thats good and thats bad. Good if you run into, and can stay on top of school of nice fish. Bad if you cant find them. Guys I talked to on the water either did ok or blanked. There isn't much inbetween. I ran into a school early and stuck a good number of fish although these were not the best quality. Good day to be out there none the less.

Average fish

2011

2011-12-15T17:39:00.000-08:00

It seems about this time every year, guys and gals that put a lot of time on the water kind of look back on there year from a fishing perspective. I fished 120 days to this point. Put up 80+ reports on this blog alone. Some of those reports are trips or include multipule days of fishing. Thats about average for me. Some years more some years a little less. I tried to make a more concerted effort to report on my fishing good or bad and hope to keep that up. I had a blast this year from Goldens in the Sierra's, Nevada Cutties to the Kelp beds of Monterey Bay. Alaska, San Diego and everything inbetween. Met unique and intersting people and lots of good times.

The year started on San Diego Bay 1/1/2011

Highlight catch wise for me wasn't any particular fish but passing the 100 Carp on fly in a year goal. I don't usually measure success in fishing with a number of fish caught. It was just a personal angling goal I set for myself. 108 since were counting. In my area carp are not easy to fool and gets tons of bait pressure. So I was pretty stoked to see my personal progress in sight fishing for these spooky bastards. I have learned a huge amount about these fish in the last 5 years. They give me much joy and some days is like the first trying to figure them out. They aren't for everybody but they are for me.

I counted it!

Best or most fun trip of the year for me was probably Smallies on fly in Northern California. I grew up and spent 20 years fishing for nothing but Bass and I had one day that was hands down some of the best Smallmouth fishing Ive ever experienced. It was ridiculous. Also got to spend a week with my wife on that trip so it is a memorable one.

Personal Best Smallie on Fly

Northern California

Alaska was fun but more of a learning experience in many ways. I cant wait to return to what is in my opinion some of the most beautiful country on the planet. The people in Alaska were so damn friendly and I just can't say enough good things about the landscape, wildlife, Rivers and of course the fishing. It really is the last frontier.

The downer side to this year is the battle California anglers are currently tackling with our California Dept of Fish & Game. It's sad they cant take better care or put forth more effort in protecting the land and animals we the tax payers have in trusted them with. Topic for another day though.

So I would say all in all a good year. Some ups , some downs but I still have a another couple of weeks to close it out. Everyone have a fantastic Xmas and New year! Here are a few misc 2011 photos.

Monterey Bay Halibut

Sunday fishing

2011-12-11T20:31:00.000-08:00

Nothing to spectacular. Steady wind all day made it challenging to cast flies. Some fish ate so all was good.

Flooded Willows

Winter Carp..

2011-12-05T18:28:00.000-08:00

on the fly is some of the toughest fishing. It's not that they aren't around. Theres plenty of fish around. It's that its tough to find the right fish. The flats I'm fishing have a few fish on them all winter if your focused and persistant. In the winter you need a little luck. The big Schools of summer and fall arent moving through all day. As the water levels drop in late fall/Winter the structure and food sources change daily and it's important to fish often and long to put your self in the window of oppertunity. I found about a half dozen fish and was only able to cast on two and those were mudding fish. Actually, only two fish were in range actually. The others were tailing 50 yards from me and wade fishing is not an option. I'm not a fan at targeting mudders. For one, it can be difficult to make out the business end and the takes are sooo light. I like to see Carp eat and casting on those fish is blind casting for the most part. Not a very high percentage. I caught plenty of Carp this year and it's time to give a rest for a while.

Chunky Striper from Saturday

Stripers on the fly has benn pretty good if the wind isn't too shitty. Nothing to get really excited about in terms of size but i'm getting some decent quality fish to grab. Lots of smaller fish in-between but thats part of Striper fishing in these parts.

Carp skunk

2011-11-29T20:50:00.000-08:00

The warm weather showed but haze never broke for full sun. I did get on mudding fish but ended with no grabs unfortunatly. A little frustrating but fun as hell. That's flats fishing for Carp. No excuses though as the conditions were as good as any time of year. Great fall scenery and weather made for a good time though.

Saturday Stripers

2011-11-26T20:23:00.000-08:00

I had to get one more session in today. Lots of traffic this morning at the crack of dawn. Not sure where the hell all the people were going..Fishing was slow and steady all day. No great concentrations of fish, just one here one there type of day. Really enjoyed myself. Saw an absolute MONSTER carp today. This fish was an honest to goodness 35+. She swam right by the boat in about 5ft deep. With 10' of vis I could clearly see the beast. It was beautiful. Carpin tomorrow. Forecast for high 60s low 70s and sunny. Could be good.

Random fishing...

2011-11-25T20:09:00.000-08:00

Absolutly beautiful day on the water. Fishing was ok with a stady pick of Largemouth and Stripers, but the highlight was the weather, it was fantastic. 70-72, light 5-7kt breeze, brilliant fall winter sunshine and hardly any boat traffic. Can't ask for more. I had a big Striper spit a fly today and that was about the only down side. It was a good one, and it hurt. I came tight on the fish, couple of swashing big head shakes and she came ripping toward me heading for deep water. I was trying to strip as fast as I could when my line had lost traction and critical tension on the fly. I never felt like a got a good purchase on the fly and it all fell apart. I didn't see the fish but I knew it was a good one the second the rod loaded and just the way she ate. Bummer.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T09:17:00.000-08:00

You can still get some fishing in before dinner!

Fall Carpin

2011-11-21T17:21:00.000-08:00

Fall has finally come through this neck of the woods. Well, for us at least. Highs in the mid 60s lows in the low 50s to high 40s and rain. I know, pretty mild in retrospect but it feels cold to me. The front that came through screwed up the Stripers.. I was able to catch plenty of fish but nothing to write home about. I only had one good grab from a nice fish and didn't connect. Striped Bass in general hate fronts. Especially post front conditions. There is that window right before a front when there is a slight pressure drop that will sometimes get big fish on a chew but post front sucks. And thats what I had, blue bird north wind crap. See what happens this week.

I decided to dedicate Sunday to scouting out some Coastal Steelhead water before the opener and give carp a go. My home water coastal streams look good. I have a good feeling about this year and cant wait to get out there. Plus it was drop dead beautiful in the Redwoods. Steelhead live in some killer places for sure. Plus I got to hang out at the beach for a while. The entrance to the harbor on the outgoing was no place to mess around. Nasty swell breaking right at the jaws.

The slight rising water we had with the front/rain had carp creeping around the shallows. Especially since this was a warmish front so it had a positive effect on the Carp fishing. So, Carp were a skunk breaker for me and I got to pull on some hard fighting fish. 6 of them to be exact. In the process I was a able to get two wild Goldfish to eat. They arent easy to fool for me so they were a bonus I guess.

West Coast Striped Bass need YOUR help!

2011-11-15T21:48:00.000-08:00

We are blessed on the west coast with Sea Run and land locked population of Stripers. Unfortunatly they are are in real danger of being senselessly lost to greed and political pressure. The proposal to the California Dept of Fish and Game is to eradicate them with ridiculous regulation changes. The thought process here is they are causing our endangered Salmon & Steelhead populations to decline due to predation. This presumption is nothing more than that, a presumption and not founded with sound science. Stripers were introduced to the west coast in the late 1800s and have shared the same water sheds for well over 100 years. The decline in Striped Bass has also coincided with the low returns of our Salmonid speices.

Although 100 years doesn't amount to a pimple on the ass of evolution, they are not the sole or primary reason for the crash of our Salmon and are being used as nothing more than a tactic for irresposible water export practices. Those that want the water, would like you to believe otherwise however. It boils down to water diversion and habitat degradation as the the primary factor of our Salmon and Steelhead poor retuns. Including Striped Bass! Our Stripers are at historica low numbers. Instead of " doing the right thing" and monitoring water diversions from our California Bay/Delta, it's just easier to blame the Striped Bass. The whole thing is ludicrous. Do Stripers eat salmon smolts? Of course they do. Massive pumps, water diversion, poor habitat and low flows kill a hell of a lot more and MUST be considered before destroying this fishery. Please do the Striped Bass a favor and read the letter below. If you agree, print, sign and mail to the address provided ASAP.

Thank You!

Mr. Jim Kellogg, President
California Fish and Game Commission
1416 Ninth Street
P.O. Box 944209
Sacramento, California 94244-2090

RE: My opposition to DFG’s proposed striped bass regs.

Dear President Kellogg and Commission members:

I am a California angler and I am writing to express my absolute opposition to proposed striped bass regulation changes. Following my review of DFG’s proposed Regulation changes, I have become aware of these additional facts:

• The Department of Fish & Game (DFG) and other defendant interveners in the litigation that brought about the Settlement Agreement leading to the striped bass regulation change proposal prevailed in the summary judgments rendered by the federal court. The court found no merit in the legal arguments the plaintiffs (Coalition For a Sustainable Delta) regarding alleged population level impacts caused by striped bass to E.S.A listed fish species in the Bay-Delta estuary. The court ruled decisively in support of the position of the DFG and defendant interveners that the decline of estuary’s listed fisheries was not attributable to predation by striped bass. Specifically, Judge Wanger agreed that the best science available has not shown any population level effect on listed species and one of DFG’s own Biologists, Marty Gingras, has stated that there is no science that shows any population level effect on listed species due to striped bass predation. There are also numerous peer reviewed predation studies done in the estuary and its tributaries that have come to the same conclusion.

• This settlement agreement does not supersede the provisions of the federal Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) and it's legal mandate to double the population of all anadromous fish species of the estuary, including striped bass, from their mid-nineteen nineties population levels. In short, the proposed regulations work at cross purposes to the CVPIA federal mandate, thus conflicting with the intent of the federal law and setting up the potential for another round of litigation regarding the striped bass fishery. The Commission could find itself in the untenable position of passing regulations that could result in violating federal law and having to defend itself in federal court.

• The proposed regulation change with the attendant increased bag and possession limits would encourage over-consumption of striped bass far beyond the limits recommended by California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. In short, it is my view the possession limit in this proposal encourages consumption more than health warnings discourage the consumption of striped bass. The Commission should take into full consideration the well documented science on the health risks associated with anything beyond modest consumption of striped bass. Women and children, in particular, are most vulnerable to these health risks and should not eat any striped bass at all. It would not be good public policy for the Commission to abdicate promulgating regulations that would not safeguard the public from the health hazards associated with the consumption of striped bass.

• As you may recall, Sec. 1700 of the Fish and Game Code requires, among many important conservation provisions, the management, on a basis of adequate scientific information promptly promulgated for public scrutiny, of the fisheries under the state's jurisdiction with the objective of maximizing the sustained harvest. This and other relevant code sections require the public’s fishery resources to be managed in the long term, on a sustainable basis. The regulations that the department proposed would not comply with this legal mandate.

• The proposal does not exempt San Luis Reservoir and the O’neil Forebay, one of our Nation’s premiere trophy striped bass fisheries. These two bodies of water are not connected to the Delta biologically and are not home to any listed species. This adds to my perception that, beyond my other concerns, I feel that the thoughts guiding development of this proposal were lacking in a comprehensive understanding of our state’s striped bass fisheries and the sensitivities of California striped bass anglers.

• While the Endangered Species Act encourages that all effort is brought to bear in assisting the recovery of listed species, it also discourages any action that is of dubious benefit and, indeed may do harm to the recovery efforts of listed species. Our State’s preeminent inland fisheries experts, Dr. Peter Moyle and Dr. William Bennett (Letter to Commission of Aug. 26th 2010) have reviewed the studies conducted in the estuary and concluded there is no peer reviewed science that shows ANY evidence of population level effects. Further, they point out that the removal of striped bass may have unintended consequences due to other predators that would normally be kept in check by their presence as a top predator. Their scientific opinion is backed up by respected fisheries biologist Dr. David Ostrach (Letter to the Commission July 19th 2010).

The last point is perhaps the most important as it demonstrates that this proposal offers little more than questionable benefit and even suggests potential harm to listed species. This, in addition to the other risks associated with the poor planning and policy behind this effort, leads me to strongly urge an outright rejection of this striped bass regulation proposal.

Sincerely,

Seasons

2011-11-06T21:19:00.000-08:00

Fall has finally started to show. A little bite in the air the last couple of mornings. We had a system that came from the north and every thing changed. 72 hours ago it was 70-80s and I don't think it hit 60 last couple of days. It feels good. Once the fish settle in it will feel even better. I had to laugh at everyone bundled up like they were in Dec in New England. Fishing remains good as the water temps didn't really drop much on the large lakes and the low pressure front actually got them moving around. Good numbers of quality Stripers on the fly yesterday and the next 8 weeks should be really good on the lakes and California Delta. Today was supposed to be a Carp day but the overcast and wind killed that. I decided to go on a day hike in the Mtns instead. Intended to go hunting for Browns and other than one Brown taking stab at the fly just as I was lifting out of the water, that was it. I stayed in that area for roughly 4 hours and cast till my arm fell off for no other grabs. Other than a couple of guys on there way out from a 4 day back country trip, there was no one and I really enjoyed it.

Nice day in the hills

Ridge top

low land Cows and yearlings about a mile across the canyon

A young bull on the same ridge

More Stripers

2011-10-30T21:41:00.000-07:00

Perfect day for Striped Bass on the fly. High 70s-low 80s with light wind and hungry Stripers.

Stripers..

2011-10-29T22:26:00.000-07:00

Many Stripers were captured today. Sore lips and sore arms.

Local fishing..

2011-10-24T16:40:00.000-07:00

Went to check a out a local creek that I had a feeling would be a bitch to get into. And it was. Once I finally worked my way down into the canyon I didn't see much life. Sweet little stream but it's dark with not very much light penetration. There were a few midges and a Caddis here and there. Big Caddis though. After an hour or two of hiling and hitting some really nice little holes I had nothing. One one of the last pockets before I had to figure out how to get out with out getting cvovered in Poison Oak I had a little bow come up and eat a dry. So, there is some trout there but I suspect not many. Think I'll leave the place alone and maybe check it in the spring and see if any fish move up from private property below. It's always cool to fish a new creek so it was worth it.

Yesterday I spent the day on Stripers. Fishing was solid but most were in the 18-20" ranger with only a handfull of fish above that. Really nice clean fat fish. Seriously a guy could catch a hundred a day but I think I like the chances on bigger fish other places give. Pretty good late afternoong topwater with Crease flies, which is also when I caught most of my better fish. Water was still in the high 60s low 70s and air temp was in the low 90s mid day. Not exactly Fall here yet! Quality fish are still hunkered down.

Sunday on the bay

2011-10-17T20:50:00.000-07:00

Monterey Bay that is. I cant think of a better place to hang out and fish from a small craft when it's nice. It's a great diversion from other fishing I do and I'm really glad it's there. As the sun rose, and the marine layer almost completly erroded away, I thought we might be in for a snotty, more than likely windy SOB that would have us back at the barn by 10am. Strangely, as the fog burned off, the wind layed down to about 6kts and there was just a hint of swell and the drifts were perfect. Not to fast, not to slow. I guess all the bitching I was doing about the weather on the ride out worked! Ha

I would have loved to have roped into a big White Sea Bass on fly and post some grand hero shots, but again, it didn't happen. But, it will happen and I'm a lot more cast's closer after yesterday. With all the bait, the Olives, Blues and Blacks were on top on a sunny day and that doesn't happen all the time. Some keeper size Lings were in relativly shallow water and they can be a lot of fun to mess with on light tackle and flies. But, there is NOT a more bold fish than a hungry school of Olive Rockfish in these parts.

They crushed Dan Blantons old School J hook Whistlers. I have a bunch I've had for year and few and a few still have some hair on them. I've sure caught a ton of fish on those flies.

Lots of life on this day everywhere you looked. Seems like when it's flat, and you dont have to pay so close attention to toy or a mate falling in the drink you can really take in the scenery. We have a beautiful coast! The highlight of the day, and maybe the year for me was when I was just finishing up a cast to where I could see my fly on a school of Macs. I noticed what at first looked like a large ball of bait following it in. A dark mass, maybe Jack Smelt or something. As it got closer I thought it might be a Dolphin and then it showed itself. It was a 7-9ft Thresher shark tracking my fly! About that time my partner saw it who was fishing the bow and it went right around the in front of the bow and came back down the starboard side and was gone for second. It came into view quickly and swung under neath the transom area and made a huge boil about 6 feet behind the outboard and was out of there. THAT was exciting for sure. I'm 90% on this fish being a Thresher as I ve seen smaller pups bust bait out here in the past. Usually in the Fall, and usually on Macs.The only other option was it was a juvinal White. It's head seemed too wide to be a White though. I was so focued on the front of the fish that I didn't notice the dead give away tail at all and couldn't get a clear side view of the animal. Ive seen tons of Blues and it definitly wasn't a Blue Shark.

Anyway, not exactly steller fishing but one of the best days Ive had in a while on the salt.! Heres some sites.

First Light

Olive Rockfish

Black Rickfish

Greenling

Sea Otters

Surf & Slurp Carpin

2011-10-14T16:33:00.000-07:00

Enticed my wife to hit the beach this morning. Low 80s and just beautifull out. I already had the beach in mind. It is unique in that it is walking distance to decent Carp fishing. She went onto the sand and I made about 100 paces into one of only a couple of access points. Patience is the key here. You cant move around and have to let them come to you and take your roll cast shots as you get them. Forget a back cast and it's just get it on them. They are pretty forgiving of errant casts since they recieve little to no pressure. I had two shots in an hour and they both slurped up the bugs. I then walked across the road, found where me lady had staked out a prime spot and took a nap on the beach over looking Monterey Bay. Don't kids have school anymore? Seemed like there used to be less ''people" out on weekdays in October to kick sand on your shit. Or, maybe i'm just getting older and grumpy. Anyway, some good family time.

Odd Ant Eater looking fish

Flat Seas right there

Almanor

2011-10-14T00:10:00.000-07:00

Great trip! Slower fishing than I had invisioned but I had a blast. Trout was fair. I had some great chances and short windows of good fishing for both Browns an Rainbows. I really went with ntentions of really targeting the Browns. I've become facinated with them and really want to stick a beast on fly, and I want it on my own. It will happen, but it wasn't going to be this trip. I have a feeling I might be on the wrong lake for a giant but I love the variety here. Anyway, Browns were hard too find and harder to get them to eat when I did I find a few. I found an area pretty quick with numbers of Browns busting smelt the first day. Got a couple to grab right away and I was optimistic going in. Forecast was for a front and I was even more excited. The front rolled through and that was all she wrote, the bait was gone, and so were they.

End the end I found a few individule fish and also had a quality fish saw me off, and another nice fish come unbuttoned mid way through the battle. So, I had my chances on good fish, I just didn't get it done. As it turned out, this trip ended up being about Smallies. A nice handfull of quality fish. Average fish was over three pounds and I had one that was over 5. It was 3-5 Smallmouth a day if you fished hard. Not red hot fishing by any means. To me, the quality made up for the lack of numbers. All in all a great trip and it was awesome to have my wife there on this one. We got to catch up and relax a bit.

A hazy shot of Mt. Shasta

Early Morning Smallie

Weather

5Lb+ Smallie on the fly!

Storm brought the big girls up shallow

Mt Lassen

Alaska Images

2011-10-03T19:27:00.000-07:00

I really packed a lot of photos on a 9 meg card. So many, that it will take some time before I can go through them all. Lots of fish photos, landscape shots and just general shutter bug stuff. Anyway, here are a few more misc shots and then I'll call it quits for a while. One can tell we had a good time, at least I know I did. I would really like to get back up there soon. Like tommorow if I could. I'm preping the boat and getting ready for another trip to North Eastern California. Lake Almanor in Plumas County to be exact. I'm looking forward to this trip immensley. An awesome part of the state with beautiful Browns, bows and Smallies. SHould be a lot of fun. Were getting an early warm fall rain now for the first time this year.

Alaska

2011-10-02T22:13:00.000-07:00

Just returned from a 7 day trip in AK. Had a great time with lots of laughes and met some good people. Fishing was solid and we had some moments where it was just plain silly good. I would say over all, we had to work for them and we were rewarded with some nice fish in the end. Particularly the Streamer fishing for quality Bows. The rainbows and dollys were a lot of fun both wade and drifting through about 15 miles of river. Accomplished a good hike into lakes that held Grayling and came up empty. I did have have some shots at cruising fish and lost my only hook up that came on a dry. A little dissapointed considering I hiked nearly 10 miles RT for that fish through some very Beary back country. Pleanty of Bears, Eagels and just plain beautiful scenery through out the Kenai Pennensula. The summer crowds are gone and we enjoyed large uncrowded stretches of River to our self. .

Since we stayed in Cooper Landing we concentrated on the Canyon run from just out side Cooper to down the the SW end of Skilak lake and also the Middle Kenai where is flows out of the lake too Dotts landing. With in close proximity of Copper Landing is the Russion R, Six Mile, Quartz Cr, Cooper Cr and host of other small tributaries that hold fish from one time or another. Theres lots of water here folks. One things that is strikingly different than the lower 48 is the Trout and Dolly's dependence on Salmon. It really is the catalyst for there survival and there whole life revolves around the returns into the Kenai. With out them, this would be a tough place to fish.

This time of year many of the lodges are closed, or are getting ready to wrap up there season. I had made reservations in Feb at http://www.drifterslodge.com/and they set us up in a small room in the main lodge and we took care of ourselves. Drifters Lodge was clean, affordable and right in the middle of everything I wanted to fish and see. I can honestly say it was a great place to stay and super friendly staff. If something wasn't right, they went out of there way to correct it. What else can you ask for? So, If you want to get up there and dont mind taking care of your own needs give them a shout. They also do more involved fishing packages as well, but we just needed a place to crash, heat up some food and take a shower. It was perfect.

Kenai Lake

The guides that fished us really worked hard. Kept us in fishy water and never rushed us on down river. Really professional the whole time. Water was way up and still is. Infact, it was at flood stage just prior to arriving and had me concerned. But, everything came together and we caught some repectable fish. The river dropped every day we were there and we had sun and mild weather by there standards for almost the entire trip so we were blessed. If you have never been, get up there. You'll love it! Here are a few images from the trip and I will post more in the next day or two.

One for the road.

2011-09-23T21:30:00.000-07:00

Got out for a short Carp session before I head up to AK. It's been so damn hot here they have backed off the flats a little. I had 4 shots in two hours and stuck one. Decent fish of about 8lbs. So, in a few hours i'm out of here and leaving mid 90s and entering mid 40s and rain. Frankly i'm ok with that! This will be a budget trip with a mix of DIY, guided floats, hike in and a Fly out or two if weather permits. Gonna just go fishin, have some fun and see what happens.

Niblett on the fly

2011-09-19T20:12:00.000-07:00

I have have never seen a Carp this small. Well, atleast not in the wild. I know they are there, but they seem to absent as apposed to other spiecies of fish where the dinks are everywhere. This little gold Nugget actually ate a fly. I cast on a pretty good fish that was mudding, felt a grab, and launched the little dude about 6 feet in the air. Must of been picking left overs in the wake. Anyway, it was a first.

So ends my summer fishing season. Fall is officially going to be on us soon. One would not know it, with the mid 90 summer like temps, lazy warm water Carp and hangin by the pool, but it's coming. Infact, the best fishing in these parts is the next 4 months. I more than likely wont get out much around here until the first week of October as I leave for Alaska Friday night and return on the 1st for a few days, then leave again to North Eastern part of the state for another week of fishing. Sucks, but sombody's got to do it.

Finished up my summer Striper fishing yesterday and didn't really go out with a bang. It's been a fantastic Summer as far as fishing goes, but a wierd year in general. Weve been a month behind all year climate wise. August fished like June/July and Sept has been like August. Fishing was tough yesterday and it was more like mid August fishing, with the fish deep and not really wanting to chase much. Enough fish were caught but not much quality and it was ridiculously hot on the water. No wind, high 90s and who knows what the index on the water was. Needless to say I was ready for basting by the end of the day. The good news is the River Stripers are starting push up stream from the beaches of the Pacific right now and will be around until April. The fun never stops!

Same stuff, different day

2011-09-11T21:44:00.000-07:00

In ran the same routine today. Stripers in the am and Carp on the way home. Wind was in the high 20s so I decided to leave the boat at hame and hoof it to an area I know is holding Stripers. Warm, light rain and humid when I started off the hike. And ofcourse, the wind wasn't bad at all and would have been perfectly fine to launch. It was 10-15kts max. Oh well, the excersize was good and I really enjoy having vast areas to my self like I had today.

Things started a little slow as I walked and covered water. I caught one, then another. I stopped and covered the area really well and for about two hours it was pretty consistant with a mix of fish on the fly and a small plastic minnow bait. Some nice fish in the 6-8lb range. I cast and caught a bunch of fish on new rod. An RS4 Redington 7wt. Nice fast stick and throws sinking lines well. Also has good back bone against hard pulling fish. I''ll be bringing it to Alaska in a couple of weeks. Things got quiet after the small front moved through so I head out and hit a different lake for Carp on the way home. Really shallow muddy flats, as opposed to the sand/gravel/clam shell stuff Ive been fishing. Not nearly as many fish but I was able to trick a couple in a short time. These Carp were really shallow and tailing hard. Good afternoon sun at this place too. I'll be fishing here more in the coming weeks as the quality was pretty nice.

Carp'n

2011-09-10T22:01:00.000-07:00

Our fish are still holding in a summer pattern. Weather here is hot, in the 90s and dry as hell. Started out early for Sripers and was off the water with boat on the trailer by noon. That went pretty well with several nice fish early. Harrasing Stripers in the afternoon heat will lead to dead fish so I flew home and re grouped for an afternoon of Carp. Spooky fish made for some challenging sight fishing. Not sure why they were so jumpy since I havn't messed with them here for about a week. Only my old tracks so I know they arent getting hammered. Thats Carp I guess. I ended up with 5 eats in 4 hours.

One broke me off then the next fish came unbuttoned after one of those rapido head shakes and tossed the fly, followed by a couple of ridiculous blown shots. Fishless at this point, I took a breather and sat for about 10 min to clear my head. Watched from there as a fish settled into a strong tail coming at me and got back at it. Over the next hour I was able sneak up on three to close it out. I can not believe how a fun this carp fishing is. I really like the days where you have to earn it. Size was from 18" to about 6lbs on all the fish I put the fly infront of. We STILL have way higher water than normal and it will be late October before I can get on my regular flats. Right now i'm forced to fish isolated flats with lots of smaller fish.

baby!

different pace

2011-09-06T19:30:00.000-07:00

I bought an old hand me down bamboo 3pc rod a few years ago at a garage sale. I didn't have a vintage reel for it so I just put it away. A couple of years passed by and I seen an old 1930s no name fly reel from the same circa, so I picked it up for a whopping 15 bucks. I pulled both off the shelf and spooled up with a 3wt line and it casts nice on this 7'6" set up. Not sure what wt the rod is. It isn't signed other than some initials and looks to be home made from about the 20s or 30s. Anyway, ive been doing some small creek fishing with it and having a blast throwing my not so pretty dries of my own.

This creek I fished yesterday was said to have a carbonated water spring in the late 1800s that came up when a mine shaft had punctured the main stem and forced the spring to the surface. Sure enough, there was about 20ft section of the creek with what looked like aquarium stones flowing. Didn't seem to bother the little bows at all. A little tricky to navigate but lots of little hide outs for the little 6-8" rainbows. Good way to beat the heat.

mouth full

Stripers

2011-09-04T17:00:00.000-07:00

You would never know it was a holiday weekend. I had vast areas to myself. Infact, It felt like weekday. Stripers were chewing from the time I put the trolling motor down until 2 ish.. Beautiful day in the high 80s-low 90s. Once back at the ramp I jumped off the end of the dock to cool off and put er back on the trailer. By this time is was really to warm to messing with Stripers anyway.

This is a huge body of water with upwellings of cooler water from the deep, if you know where to look. It can be the difference between struggeling and catching a butt load of fish. The fish and bait really hug those spots in the summer and so did I. Good concentrations of fish and consistant fishing all day with a 4-6lb average. Fall is going to be really good.

Still holding up after 2 or 3 trips!

Skinny Water Carp

2011-09-03T19:30:00.000-07:00

Fish were really shallow and skittish today. And, I got my ass handed to me.. It wasn't for the lack of shots. I had ample shots on many good fish and made the vast majority of my chances count. They they just flat wouldn't eat what I was feeding them. I can be stubborn to change flies if I have confidence in in one sometimes a to a fault.

I started the morning on a local river, and had a total four good shots on nice fish. I got a little caffine jumpy on the first and blew that, but the next three I put it on em. No looks at all. They had to be keyed in on some micro feast. They were tailing really fast. It didn't leave a lot of time to set up a shot. I actually prefere that., I feel like those fish are more apte to make a mistake.

Before I bailed on to something more productive, I hole sat one area that will normally have two or three brutes come through. Only one 4lb scrub tailed in and I didn't cast on it after 45min burned but I did get chance to talk to an elderly lbirder. She was really knowledgable and has been at it since the 60s. Enjoyed that.

I Left the River and moved to some lake flats and i'll be dammed if they were a little off too. Not as many fish around asusual. But, the ones that were up were decent quality. Tried force feeding a few for nothing. Switched to a bug with more presence and stuck 7-8lb fish. Good hard fighting youngster!! Shortly, I had one more eat that came unbuttoned when that bitch came at me full bore. Had one more turn and take a stab but wouldn't commit and eventually busted me. That was it, my window was closed. Everything went dead on these flats so I made another move about a mile away. These fish were so damn spooky from what looked like a late night bait fishing camp or bow hunters I just threw in the towel and hiked back to the truck as it was now after 4:00 and my good light was gone. Had planned to hit some small creeks for Bows but I wes pretty fried from 7 hours of walking and stalking I head for the barn. Days like today are what Carp fishing is all about to me. Frustrating but so damn fun. I think i'll go hit some Stripers in the morning and give em rest for a day or two.

Carp on the fly today..

2011-09-01T21:47:00.000-07:00

Fishing continues to be really good for numbers of 4-7lb Carp. Size is slowly starting to improve with a little better quality fish moving up into skinny water. As the lake levels drop, prime fall flats will become available to sight fish. Right now they are under 6 feet of water. Striper fishing isn't to shabby either with some really good grabs right now including one in the high teens pictured below. Since i'm talking Stripers, I made a mistake the other day and unintentionally killed a nice Striper. The surface temps are just to danm warm to pull those fish out of the water and I sure as hell know better. Right now, It pays to step up the tackle and have the ability to horse em in a little. I tried hard to get that fish down and it was just to exhausted after a long battle in 70+ deg water and 100 deg air temps. It's not written in stone that every fish we release is going to make it but we have to make good decisions on the fishes behalf wether it's trout, stripers or even carp. Once in a while we need to be reminded what we already know I guess. The one below was never removed from the water and charged off strong. Handle those warm water catches with care!

Hitch Hickers

2011-08-31T20:58:00.000-07:00

Sunday Stripers

2011-08-28T20:49:00.000-07:00

Got a bit of a late start as I had some much needed boat work to do. My plan was to detail my Bass Boat and at the very least pull my skiff out and give it a quick clean up. After the first boat was cleaned and organized I said, self , do the skiff another day and go fishin. It's been months since I really dug into rod lockers and deck storage. I must have found 150 bucks worth of stuff I have purchased since. Not staying organized can be costly.

Got on the water about 11am. Light winds and few folks on the water. I hadn't been on the water looking for reservior Stripers since July. Water levels have dropped about 20ft since then and I noticed a pretty bad Algea bloom goin too in some areas. Spent some time just looking around graphing shallow and deep and settled up on some sparse bait and a few marks I though might be Stripers. Cought fish pretty quaickly, size was on the small side so we moved on.

Air temps were right around 100 on the water. When the wind completely died it was scortching. Fishing continued on and we scratched 8 or 10 fish. Got out of there about 5. A fun but short session.

Milton hooked up

Baby Strip

Summer Carp'n

2011-08-28T00:14:00.000-07:00

This has been a great summer with the higher than normal water and rich flooded grass flats. It's been fun so far. I didn't see as many today but the quality was decent with one fish in the 10lb class. Air temps were in the high 80s, low 90s and the fish I did see were busy. They also seemed to be bunched up a little and tailing in pairs up to three or four fish. Fishing should remain good right on thru the end of November. After that, its really hit and miss unless we get a two or three day stretch of nice warm weather. With our really mild winters in this area, I had pretty good fishing the first week of January this year so if there hasn't been a bunch rain, it always pays to look in the winter months.

The other gold..

2011-08-25T20:49:00.000-07:00

It was great to get back out and chase some Carp. It's been a couple of weeks..Fishing was solid with 5 fish for 3 hours on about a dozen shots. Nothin big..4-6lb class. I had some cool grabs this afternoon that made the day..The first was a fish that caught a visual of movement and charged the fly from 2-3ft. No mistake there. I couldn't have pulled it away if I wanted too. The second was one where the fly hit the water almost on top of the fish just behind the gills and she spun around and pounced. This fish felt the fly and was on the money..The third was a a very shallow(less than foot) lazy grazer coming toward me (my favorite) and I put the fly about two feet in front of the fish. It seemed like 15 minutes before the fish caught up with the bug. I popped the fly, the fish stopped and just barely showed a quick pop motion and sucked the bug up. Good to get back out.

Golden trout

2011-08-23T22:17:00.000-07:00

Arguably the most beautiful trout in it's wild form. I only had three days for a solo high country trip this time. I felt a little rushed and one really needs 4 or 5 days up there to slow the pace down a little. With that said, I still had a great time and will try and make one more short trip with a certian two lakes in mind and concetrate on those excusivly, we'll see. With the window rapidly closing in on the high country fishing for 2011 i'm glad I went. My target was Goldens mostly, but I caught lots of small rainbows and delicious Brookies along the way.

Weather over all was perfect with highs around 70 and lows in the nights in mid 40s, clear and windy as hell. No storms at all. The stars were amazing at night. It was almost like a planetarium effect they were so thick and clear. Fishing was a little slow as it usually is in mid August. The lakes with Brookies and Bows were silly for small fish on dries but above, the goldens were really keyed in on tiny midges. Very tiny midges. There isn't much bug life up above 10k. I did see the odd caddis or even hopper if tundra was close to the waters edge but they wouldn't touch any for me. It was tough to get them top go the first day. I just cant see those small dries. The first lake/day i blanked on the Goldens. I did notice the better quality would cruize in loose schools and appeared to be looking for fry.

Back at camp, I was racking my brain and going through fly boaxes looking for a small fry pattern and I remembered I had brought along my carp box (just in case) and I had some very sparse small bonefish flies I occasionally toss at clear water Carp that are on tiny fry. Also works great for Lohanton Cutties when they are cruising tight. That was the ticket! Target the solo cruising fish. Spot and lead with really fast strip to get a reaction. Other than a few on a tiny dry before first light and late, that is how I targeted them all day once the wind picked up a little. It was slow but visual and that was fine with me and a lot of fun. If everything went right and they didn't bust you, they would go crazy looking foir that bug and give you multipule shots if they missed it the first time. Still a good amount of ice fields to navigate up high but overall I cant complain and had a great trip.

Random fishing..

2011-08-19T21:07:00.000-07:00

Lots of Bass, a few small Carp and Squawfish have been the only thing captured recently. For those not familiar with Squaws, they are native to all of the west coast and I believe a strain is also in the Rockies if i'm not mistaken. Depending on the the situation they can be pretty fun. If you grew up around Squaws that were competing with and consuming Trout, you were schooled at a young age to kill em on sight. I'm not down with that now and have mustered up some respect for Squawfish aka (Sacrameto Pike minnow) if they are native to that particular watershed. They were a main staple for Native Americans between Salmonid seasons on the west slope rivers of the Sierras for 1000s of years. To me they are an interesting Native Fish.

Small male Squawfish

Toulumne River

These flowers are incredibly sticky and line the river banks.
They jack your fly lines and cloths.

Hometown VFW hall. Erected 1860.

If I can sight fish Squaws with light fly tackle, I will give them my attention, but blind casting for them can be a little un interesting I will admit.. There best atribute has to be that they crush dries better than most Trout, and raelly love streamers. There eats are voracious despite the fact that after the initial over the top grab they dont have much stamina and tend to give it up. Where I target them in clear water, they are pretty fun to sight fish nd it can go on all day fi there is enough around. Like I said, not the best fighters after the initial grab and first run but the bigger fish are bullish. This might possibly be the only Squawfish report I'll ever do so there you have it. Ha!

My Truck is loaded and i'm heading out in the morning for a few days for something different. Golden Trout. Wild Goldens are stunningly beautiful and fun to hunt and I really look forward to this every year. I will be in AK later in Sept so this is my only window to get up there before the weather turns in the high country. This year will be solo as is most years and i'll base at about 10k and have 3 or 4 lakes and adjoining streams to day hike out too at around 10.5 to just under 11k. They love small dries and cruize the shallows on the small lakes. Usually I wont see to many anglers, mostly folks hiking the Pacific Coast trail. It kicks my ass everytime getting to them but thats half the fun. A little lower in Elev the same area also has some really nice Brookies and Bows too. Here is a Golden from last year. I'll post something about this trip when I settle back in. Now go catch something!

More Carp'n

2011-08-07T22:40:00.000-07:00

The story is the same. Lots of smaller fish but the fly rods are getting bent often so it's all good. I'll be off doing other fishing the next couple of weeks so I put in a good solid day today and will try and sore lip a few more during the week. I ended up with 20 or so landed for an 8 hr day. They are really keyed in on fry & polywogs so black was key. I had a shot on a real nice Channel Cat that was tailing around and actually got him to eat but came up empty when I came tight. I would have liked to have stuck that fish.

Carp'n

2011-08-02T21:33:00.000-07:00

This has been the year for numbers so far. Especially juvinal 3-7lb carp. Bigger fish will come. The good news is the water levels are dropping a little and we have a year round Carp on the fly fishery so there is plenty of time. Until then, the youngsters are gonna have some sore lips.

This is Fly Magazine

2011-08-01T21:42:00.000-07:00

Go check out the new issue..The huge brookies and ridiculous Triggers were some highlights for me. Link is on the side bar.

I went and watched some fish this afternoon. Didn't cast on em. I hammered them pretty hard yesterday. I just wanted to swing by watch em for a while and plan my next move. Hell thats half the fun! This area is tough. No access on the far side you see in the photo and the good side leaves you high in the open to clear water fish. Saw several good fish layed up in the afternoon sun. I broke two off yesterday to concrete that were excellent quality. It's a rich enviroment and grows some beautiful fish. Some unsusual hybrid fish as well, with a few true Koi in certian areas. Hit another place and stuck one pretty little fish pretty quick. Pretty dead there over all though. Had only three or four shots in a couple of hours ending up with the one.

Flats Carp

2011-07-30T20:15:00.000-07:00

I can't get enough. The eats are what makes it so damn fun. The carp were in really skinny water this afternoon eating fry and what looks like small baby catfish. Great numbers of youngters on the fly today. I also obverved them doing something I havn't seen before. They would almost crawl into water that would just cover there back and sit. Just sit motionless. I blew out a couple that were actually behind me when I was wading calf deep, so I backed off to dry ground/shore and started watching them. They would literally NOT move and ambush from that position. I caught two or three this way. If you put the fly on there nose they would literally explode on it. Some cool shit out there!

The day dodn't start all that great though. I set up first this morning on a high pressured city creek that has some really shy fish. It's always worth a shot as they are excellent quality, good clear water and usually morning eaters. Down side, almost zero backcast room and not so great high banks that make it easy for the fish to bust you so one needs to be creative to put it all together. Getting them to go is not easy to do but well worth the effort and pay off when everyhting lines up. There were a few quality fish tailing good but I couldn't feed one to save my life. Between the striat up refusals, missed shots and the grabby willows that always seem to screw me I had to take a deep breath and call it about 2pm. The window there is about 9-11 so I gave it a longer than I should have and hit the road to the lake flats.

Hang on man!

Fishin report

2011-07-24T19:20:00.000-07:00

Hit the brine yesterday. It was greasy flat all day with almost no swell to speak of. Absolutly gorgeous day on Monterey Bay. Fishing was not too bad either. Was really wanting and hunting for a Halibut but we were kept busy with the Rockfish and it never happen. It was good fun. Amazing amount of life out there. Porpoise and birds were everywhere working over huge schools of Sardines and Mac's. Rockfish are really good eating but since everything we caught was relativly shallow, we released them all.

Flat seas!

Grumpy Red

Perfect Pacific morning!

Lots of life at the beach on our way in too!

Today I kicked around the idea of hooking up the boat but, eventually decided to do some Carpin instead. Its been a wierd year so far on the Carp front for me. I'm sure it's due to the strange ass weather we've had all season. I've had short bursts of really good fishing with some nice fish thrown in and then long spells where there just isn't any, or very short windows of, active flats fish. Spawners have been around, but I dont mess with em and I'm talking about active tailing and mudding fish. It's just been really inconsistant as apposed to years past. Anyone else out there seen the same thing?

Fist lake had bankies all over it so went on a hunch and checked reservior that numbers are usually the deal. Stayed positive but I didn't get my hopes up. I got up on a high point when I first arrived and could see half a dozen shallow tailers and maybe a dozen deeper mudding fish in a football field size area. You know that feeling! I was pretty anxious to get my ass at there level and get to work! Size was average to a little on the small side but I really didn't care. They were agressive and really busy. I only saw one double digit fish tailing and just couldn't get a crack at her.

In my area, Mid-day in the gut of the summer around these parts is numbers time with lighter 5-6wt sticks. In the 6 hours I had 25-30 shots and stuck 13 so I was pretty satisfied. Some of them would lift there body half out of the water to get on that bug! Can't buy that kind of fun. I left them eating and might just have to go back tommorow.

Stripers

2011-07-18T17:23:00.000-07:00

This last moon phase screwed with my striper fishing a little. I was getting a little spoiled with all you want type fishing and had to work for them this time. I knew the large aggressive schools of fish were going to break up as we move into a dog days of summer type pattern eventually. Summer usually consists of wind, wind and a little more wind! Bait has shifted and is spreading out which always repositions the fish. Once we found them, they would eat but it took a while to find a concentration of active fish and they were spread out from the surface to about the 50ft mark. Wind was on order and played hell with casting flies and kept us on our toes trying to find fishable water and off the good off-shore areas for the most part. We finally had enough of that shitty wind and head to the barn with it blowing about 25kt and building quick. We'll get em next time!

Central California

2011-07-16T23:10:00.000-07:00

Since I live somewhere in the middle and close to hundreds of miles of low pressure Coastal Rivers, streams and even lesser known creeks, Ive been doing some exploring for new water this last year or two. Left the house about 3 and spent the afternoon playing around with some pretty little coastal natives. Not another human was seen while we were there. It was perfect.

Ridge top at dusk

Blue Gill x Red Ear hybrids

2011-07-14T17:00:00.000-07:00

All lit up..

Carp on the fly..

2011-07-10T20:07:00.000-07:00

Checked two or three places and decided on a local lake close to home. The other places I checked seemed to have the same fish doing the same thing, except they have much higher water levels that can make access to good water almost impossible until the levels drop a few feet and expose some good productive flats.

Over all I had to work for everything today. Fish were tailing around clam beds out of range when I arrived about noon. I started seeing singles here and there as the day went on.. No grabs the first couple of hours but kept at it and scored three legit eats. One motored down on the fly and I blew it, the other two were small but I'll take em! They were good strong fish for there size so it was ok by me. With flats so stained/muddy an all black bugger was the only thing I had confidence in, and it worked out in the end.

Clams are definitly part of the Carps diet. Just not sure how to incorporate it into fly fishing for them at this point, or if it will even make a difference. I've seen the Gulls here for years digging up clams, flying over to a paved area and dropping them from about 50-60ft, and them land and eat the broken clam. Prett damn smart.

Small late season spawners in the backs.

Random fishing...

2011-07-10T06:36:00.000-07:00

Started out at first light with some decent bass and Gill fishing..About noon we were cooking in hi 90 deg heat and decided to make a move. We pulled out and splashed the boat on Striper water not to far away. Wind was 20-30kts from the north and we struggled to find some fishable water lee from the wind..We finally settled on a less than desirable area with singles here and there but it worked out for a dozen Stripes between the two of us. All in all an ok day.

Nice falt calm morning

Agro sunnies!

July 4th..

2011-07-04T19:30:00.000-07:00

As you can see I've had Stripers on the brain for while. We got out at first light with the intention of getting out of there early before the heat was too bad. Fished first light till 11:30am for plenty of hard pulling schoolies. Nothing big today but great numbers of 4-6lb fish in isolated areas. Good numbers of Mesquitos too! Bastards tore me up! The fly and Light tackle artificial bite is all you could ask for right now. Sadly, the fishing will taper off to a normal summer pattern here shortly when water temps start getting really warm.

Sunrise

Last couple of days...

2011-07-03T21:02:00.000-07:00

have been brutal hot. Yeasterday was scortching on the water! Lots of fish and a great time but baking in the sun is not what I wanted to do two days in a row. Slept in a little, finished up some much needed boat work and headed over to the bay to fish off the rocks. Treasure Island to be exact. Its one of my favorite spots in a heat wave as it's always cool and breezy. The island sits about a mile east of San Francisco right in the middle of the bay.

As expected, the weather was awesome there and about 75! Fished a couple of Surf Perch holes for a few and cast for Stripers with gear on some great looking water for nada. Inbetween, there were side shows with cars in the large aboanded Navy Base parking lots going on. At the entrance to the island someone constructed a large Stainless Steal Wire art sculpture. It stands about 40' tall and was pretty impressive to say the least. It was pretty obvious a lot of work went into it! You can read about it here.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/san_francisco&id=8141644

cookie cutter Stripers all day on fly.

Another scrub

This bug is killing em!

Thursday Stripes..

2011-06-30T22:56:00.000-07:00

Sunday Stripes

2011-06-26T23:37:00.000-07:00

A few photos from a Striper session this afternoon and a little San Francisco Bay from Last week.

South San Francisco Bay

Glassy SF Bay is pretty rare

Spent this afternoon chasing Stripers

River fishing..

2011-06-26T09:13:00.000-07:00

Smallies, Largemouth, Spotted Bass and the elusive Squaw fish. Squawfish are so misunderstood and get no respect..Ha. Largemouth fishing was pretty damn good once we found them. Everything else we had to pick and scratch for. Awesome weather and great California Delta sunset!

Honey Mustard?

2011-06-20T20:33:00.000-07:00

Local..

2011-06-18T22:21:00.000-07:00

I worked this morning until about 12:30. I decided on the way home I wanted to stalk some fish with light 2 & 3wt gear. First stop was a nice little pond to load up on Gills and small Bass...

After the fourth or fifth filthy Tick I pulled off my body it was time to go. I went up the hill and looked over some Mtn Trout water. Lots of small fish mixed in with a 12-13in fish. 6-8" little bows are the norm, 12in fish are a bonus and anything above that is a donkey.

Santa Cruz

2011-06-13T18:38:00.000-07:00

The ocean has been snotty for what seems like forever. Seems like every time I can go, the winds or swell is honking or we have another front moving in. With the weather so unpredictable this year, i'm not taking chances in my skiff. When I looked at the weather yesterday it was looking like today was my day so I jumped on it. A few in Flies first thing and then I switched to swimbaits and thats what caught the quality. Plenty of Rockfish, Lings and especially Halibut. I was able to scratch four Halibut in as many hours. All of them were quality and fun as hell on light tackle. I took the one pictured for the table and let the other three go. We;ll eat good tonight. Beautiful day on the water with light weekday traffic all along the coast.

Santa Cruz Harbor

Baby Ling

Santa Cruz Boardwalk

California Halibut

Fishing..

2011-06-10T22:41:00.000-07:00

Has been a bit of a struggle the last few days sight fishing Carp. Conditions are almost perfect and I've had a couple of good shots on nice fish most times out. Bait fishing pressure, clear water and heavy trail traffic on my local water makes things tough. These are city fish and extremely sensitive to movement, clothing color and shadows. Really edgy bastards!. The windows are short and perfect presentation is a must. I think the challenge and quality keeps me coming back. Certianly not the numbers. Early morning grey light is best, which goes against traditional flats fishing for Carp, but it is what it is.

An early morning cell phone snap shot as I lay in the gravel to close to make a move.

Most average 10-14lbs with shots at high teens to low 20s possible at any time. Clearwater and bare man made banks make it tough to blend. These fish can really feel you and will bust you if your not stealthy. There are much easier fish to feed local but I really enjoy the challenge of these and fooling one is is always satisfying. I usually only manage a half dozen fish out of the area yearly but they are almost always excellent quality.

Always some bass around but frankly i'm not that into targeting them on a fly rod. Not sure why, just enjoy gear fishing for Bass more. To each his own I guess.

Chrome

2011-05-30T21:30:00.000-07:00

Shad season is in full swing right now. It hasn't peaked yet, but it's close. I really look forward to it every year on my home water for lots of reasons. Mostly becouse, it's a situatuion where I can sight fish them. Being able to sight fish American Shad in gin clear water, on the fly, is unique. They are fast, have excellent vision and fight like hell on light tackle. The clear water provides a window to see this unfold and it's a ton of fun. Years past I've always picked the days wind wasn't too bad, and I would boat fish them. Last year, I started targeting them on foot and find it much more enjoyable and a lot cheaper.

Despite the 20+ kt wind, today was one of those days that started out good with a couple of fish right off the bat, then a really nice 19-20in fish grabed and went to battle. Then, Just like that I coudn't buy a bite. Lots of fish around, some follows and half hearted eats but nothing would stick. A little stealthier, lighter leader, color changes, this and that, ect ect ect..nada. This went on for about 3 frustrating hours until I made a move. Bingo, location is everything when shad fishing and I just wasn't around the right fish.. The last third of the day was awesome.

Bull Gills

2011-05-30T06:31:00.000-07:00

Afternoon Shad..

2011-05-22T21:19:00.000-07:00

Longhorn crossing

Poor man's Tarpon..morning session

2011-05-22T13:13:00.000-07:00

American Shad

Nasty wind all morning. Hope it lays down a bit for the afternoon

carpe diem

2011-05-17T20:51:00.000-07:00

brakes!

Gold

Carp on the fly today..

2011-05-15T16:53:00.000-07:00

Ventana Wilderness

2011-05-15T09:35:00.000-07:00

Ventana Wilderness Back Country

Late season gobbler.

baby Steel

Local pond Gills

2011-05-11T17:58:00.000-07:00

Afternoon thunderstorm

San Juan worms kill em

Cool green beetle..first one Ive ever seen

Sunday drive

2011-05-08T20:45:00.000-07:00

Random Pyramid photos..

2011-05-07T22:28:00.000-07:00

Yuba River

Suprise Valley

White Pelicans at the mouth of the Truckee R

24" cutt

Small streams

2011-05-07T20:49:00.000-07:00

Spent a couple of hours this afternoon looking for a way into this section. Poison Oak was ridiculous but worth it

Lots of small Native Bows in the 8-10" range sipping tiny caddis.

Pyramid Lake, Nevada

2011-05-01T16:57:00.000-07:00

California Delta

2011-04-25T17:25:00.000-07:00

Milt getting ready to land one

Delta

Almost time

2011-04-22T21:40:00.000-07:00

I try and make one or two trips to Pyramid Lake, Nevada. This is one of those places I really enjoy fly fishing solo. I make a point to not read any reports other than weather and just go fishing. Some years are better than others but I seem to fish fish well here and always leave satisfied regardless of the size or numbers. Finding and fishing remote parts of this huge lake is what I set out to do and is most fun. I'll be up there for a few days next week and i'm really looking forward to just getting away. Here are a few fish from past trips. It's tough and sometimes impossible to get a solo hero shot with out damaging or even killing a fish. If I have the chance I can usually get it done with the fish out of the water no more than 10 seconds. The ones below are nice Cutties but won't raise any eyebrows to the locals. Maybe i'll get some shots on a good one this year. This lake is home to some huge cutthrouts.

Ranch ponds

2011-04-21T18:27:00.000-07:00

Something about Ranch ponds. It seems like the best ones are the ones your not supposed to fish, or are tough to get too. The ones you can just barely see on private property, or now with google earth. The sat maps really open up the world of pond fishing like never before. The anticipation as I near the water never dies. Actually, from the time I could walk, the forecast of fishing has always caused great anxiety! This one here is just full of life right now, in and out of the water.

Not in a hurry..

2011-04-12T16:00:00.000-07:00

More of the same..

2011-04-10T22:16:00.000-07:00

Golden Eagle fly by..poor image, sorry

Spring is here..

2011-04-04T17:45:00.000-07:00

Weve been blessed with some great weather and fishing as of late. Largmouth/Smallies are in FULL swing.

Eat these shrooms and you'll probly die!

California Delta

Go catch a bass!

Love it..

2011-03-26T19:45:00.000-07:00

when a plan comes together. Ended up with two eats, a couple of blown chances and refusals on about a dozen shots total for the day. The second fish I stuck came unbuttoned sadly. I wanted that fish as it was about 12-15lb mirror. Carp really shallow and little skittish but otherwise active tailers and some deeper mudding fish. Quality was awesome. Seen nothing under 12lbs and not many of those. Mojority were old wise bastards. Water was clear on the ponds despite the rage of the creek, but it doesnm't directy feed them. Stayed on two lakes and fished them hard for 6 hours. Will change lakes tomorrow and rest em.

water was up on the service roads Thursday!

Handfull in and out of the water... 8lb tippet!

There back!

2011-03-25T22:16:00.000-07:00

Today marks the start of my Carp on the fly season. Today was the first day this year where I got a visual on happy tailing carp! That means I have an honest 7-8 months of sight fishing ahead of me! I was bass fishing and not prepared for them so I didn't cast on em. I'll be back tomorrow. One was a nice fish in the mid 20s and I drove home with a huge smile. That first wave of pre spawn fish always seems to have the better quantity and quality.

Although we can target carp year round on the fly around here in a couple of locations, It's tough, they tend to be sluggish and you need ground bait to bring any in. Even then you have a good chance of a blank. It isn't beneath me and fun to catch a few off season fish on a corn or bread fly, nothing is better to me than stalking big fish in clear water for a legit eat..So much more meaningful. I caught my first few 2011 Carp on corn flies in Late January early Feb when we had about two weeks of mid to high 70s, It took 3 days to pull that off and I hung it up for the last 2 months with all the rain we've been getting. Have a good season folks!

A fat January Carp caught on a corn fly

Random fishing...

2011-03-22T17:15:00.000-07:00

With one front moving in after another fishing has been tough. Expecially on the stream and river fisherman. Coastal Stealhead is all but done since the season will close on a lot of water before things clean up and we have more rain coming. Many of the lakes are holding up great though. The urban bass fishing is also good and since the area I live is pock marked with water all over the place I'm taking advantage of it on a daily basis.

There is bass behind your library too

Greener pastures ahead!

Stripers..

2011-03-12T20:43:00.000-08:00

Same old

2011-03-07T16:37:00.000-08:00

Fishing is ok. Good largemouth fishing and somewhat tough on Stripers of any size. That will change as we move into Spring. Im somewhat focused on Bass right now and will leave the Stripers alone for the next month or two.

Big fly, small fish

Sometimes..

2011-02-21T21:00:00.000-08:00

it's good to get out and walk.

Moon Rise

Feels like spring..

2011-02-14T18:11:00.000-08:00

Warm weather the last couple of weeks. With that, everything is blooming and coming to life. Were in for a few days of much needed rain now. Fishing is kind of sluggish but decent if you work at it. Better times are just around the corner.

Black Crappie

San Luis Reservior w/ Diablo Range in back ground

Sunday

2011-02-07T16:38:00.000-08:00

Small wild Coastal Ranbow Trout. Most likely decindents of a once wild Steelhead population cut off way down stream by man years and years ago. One can wonder what the Native Americans saw in these same pools a thousand years ago. A big fish here is 13 inches. I did catch a few little jewels on my poor interpritation of a caddis. I didn't catch many becouse they were so small and delicate. I just hiked around and watched them do what they do in the crystal clear water. An obvious sign we need more rain. Seemed almost shamful to harass such little fish. The "fishing" wasn't great but being there was awesome. The Crayfish in these Mtns grow to enormous size. Some are 8 or more inches in length. Neat place so close to home.

Great Weather

2011-02-04T19:24:00.000-08:00

Any thoughts on what these are?

Winter Carpin

My tieing skills are poor but they work

As much of the country is getting screwed were really enjoying some spring like weather on the west coast. Today was warm and sunny to the low 70s and I was fishing so it really can't get any better. I tied some flies early this morning and I went back and forth on where to go and what to fish for and decided I would see if any carp were moving around yet. If that didn't work I would head to the beach and hit the surf pearch as a back up.

Like I said, weather was chamber of commerce but it was Pretty tough over all for Carp on the fly. I had only seen one in the first two hours and that fish blew out when it snuck up on me with in 6 feet. Angle of the sun isn't really good this time of year for sight fishing and the window is really tight. They will move up in skinny water but its easy to just palin miss it as they arent mudding or tailing to much. Just kind of cruising slowly and somewhat lethargic. the only other shot about 1pm stuck and suprisingly that fish was pretty hot for feb. I'm goping to give it a rest for a month or so but it was nice to pull on one. About 2 I headed to the beach and blanked. Not much water movement at all and the surf was pretty flat. Covered a lot of water for nada and the tourists were pretty thick in the areas I wanted to be. Trees areblooming and the flowers along the coast are stunning right now.

Plug it

2011-01-29T22:05:00.000-08:00

I have always wondered how the hell someone forgets to put a boat plug in. I mean, shouldn't that be the first thing you would do before launching? Ive never understood it. Iv'e launched hundreds and hundreds of times and this has never happen to me. Until today. Everything is going great, my friend backs me in, comes back and I swing by the dock and off we go like a always. We idle around the first spot looking for bait. Ok, bait found and we start fishing. First cast and bingo I get a grab. Nice. I come off the deck to lip the fish and I step into 3 inches of water. WTF! We got issues. A fire drill ensued and we put er back on the trailer to drain. No harm no foul and we were back on the water and stuck a few. Be safe folks.

Milton hooked up

Nice little winter Fly rod Striper

Local Bass

2011-01-16T18:07:00.000-08:00

Were pretty lucky in that we fish for Bass year round. I fished the last couple of days with in 10 minutes of home and aside from the fish being a bit lethargic fishing was good. Nothing to get too excited about but steady all day. It was nice to stick a few and the weather was mild in the high 60s. Beautiful weather for January thats for sure.

Morning Coastal Fog

Long distance fly by

Monterey Bay Surf

2011-01-08T19:19:00.000-08:00

Went to the beach to test the waters on this years perch fishing. Lots of small fish around eating flies and small plastics. I was never able to locate large fish but it was fun with mild weather and light surf that made fishing easy. Steamer Lane was busy with surfers and hords of tourists.

New years

2011-01-07T16:35:00.000-08:00

First trip of 2011 is in the books. I decided to take a couple of days and head south to get some sun and chase Bonefish in San Diego. I knew going in that the Bones were going to be tough but I need a couple days away to at the very least get some sun. I got some sun but the damn bonefish did not show again for me. I fished hard and all in all a good trip with nice mild weather and lots of fish. San Diego bay is plugged with Bay Bass and juvi Halibut and I had a great time. It was an easy drive both ways and a suprising amount of snow on the grapevine. Also...I just had a nice little earth quake shake the house as I write this! DIY Fly and Light tackle fishing is easy to do but if you want someone to put you on them inside or outside for other critters..get ahold of James http://www.thefishicon.com/

California

Spotted Bay Bass

South San Diego Bay flats

An amazing rainbow

Pyramid Lake on the Grapvine summit

Baby Cali Halibut

Nuisance