We know that there are many cool things to do in Southern California, but if you are free and passionate about fly fishing, please stop by the Double Hall Ball next year to freshen up your fly fishing skills, it’s FREE and a great way to make new fishing buddies…Save the Date!
Woke up at 4:30 am yesterday to a sky full of stars and warm Santa Ana breezes. As I rode along the beach from Vista del Mar toward Redondo, the airplanes were descending into the offshore wind from the ocean and landing quietly onto the LAX tarmac. It was going to be an awesome, bluebird, sunny day with temps near 81 degrees in LA, in November. I met my fishing bud, John Whitaker and we launched out of Redondo Harbor to flat calm seas, heading south towards the PV peninsula, dodging the multitude of lobster pots like inshore land mines as we ran. We have a little honey hole that needed some attention and our window of opportunity with the clear sunny skies looming over the horizon was going to be short, so we did 22 knots and closed the time gap. Needless to say, we found some fish up closer to the beach than usual. Probably due to the swirling winds that had us a little confused. It was blowing 15 knots then laid down after an hour. The birds always find the bait first, and it was tight to shore. They were picking away as the waves slapped the steep cliff strew shoreline, so we moved in. The wind was crazy, blowing in all directions, it kept changing on us, but we managed to figure it out and drifted from a sandy bottom to rocky bottom, often getting hammered once we hit the reef on each drift. It was a fun 45 minute productive window before it all shut down like someone hit the switch. Flies of choice were flash tail clousers in olive/white, tan/orange and my sea foam, minty mac (a white sea bass killa) I also got a nice bass on one of my custom, rabbit tail sculpins with a sculpin fish skull head and weed guard. Pretty decent bite although short, with a quality fish on a awesome fall day in Southern California. Always fun bending a rod, thanks JW!
the false dawn looming over the horizon. photo by Al Q
the beautiful cliffs of Palos Verde Peninsula. Photo by Al Q
Quality fish Photo by Al Q
JW getting it done. photo by Al Q
Even a bonita showed up to play Photo by Al Q
The Qs Minty Mac strikes again. Photo by John Whitaker
Great way to end the beginning of the day. Photo by Al Q
Natural bucktail clousers with flash tails in different colors, don’t leave home without em. Photo by Al Q
A beautiful morning on the beach at El Porto. Photo by Al Q
My good friend John Sherman hosted the 5th Simms Pro Day at the Sugar Barge on Bethal Island this past Saturday. It all took place on the door step of the massive California Delta and the event had a record turnout. There were over 140 registered Simms pros & ambassadors, both conventional bass anglers and fly angers present, including many Simms staffers from their Bozeman headquarters in Montana. It was quite the event and after party. Costa and Hatch both had displays. Simms and Hatch are represented by John in their respected California territories. Each manufacturer talked to us about their new product lines and the thinking /technology that goes into making their products superior. There were seminars on guiding, Simms products and manufacturing techniques, and using social media to help boost sales and your guiding business. It was my first attended Simms Pro Day, with a new family it’s been tough breaking away over the last four years, but I was glad to finally get there to see many old friends in the industry. I have fished the Delta many times in the past ten or more years. I took my friend Zino Nakasuji, he had never fished that area and I was excited for him to get the opportunity to land his first CA striper on the fly. Sherman arranged for us to fish with Ben Byng and his pal Steve Potter the morning of the event. It was funny when they saw OUR names on the email, Ben told his buddy Steve, “Hey we have a bunch of italians fishing with us, Zino & Quattrocchi, LOL. Little did they know Zino was Japanese. It’s HILARIOUS because I thought Ben was Vietnamese and he turned out to be caucasian, never judge a book by it’s cover, right? Anyhow we had a great time, lots of laughs and a very short window to fish due to the foggy delta conditions and the opening of bird season. Both Ben and Steve are monster fly tiers which made conversation easy, talking shop. The highlight of our morning was the great company we shared amidst the eery shotgun explosions and birds honking. Steve’s wife Linda had prepared an amazing Italian brunch which the guys kind of held a secret. After landing a few fish, it was time to take a break so Steve reaches under the seat and pulls out a woven basket that was covered full of freshly baked, focaccia bread. Then he busts out a large wooden wine box, slides open the cover to unveil four wine glasses, a bottle of vino and a plate of smoked cheese wrapped in italian prosciutto, are you kidding me? I am used to maybe a power bar, some nuts and a bottled water, if I am lucky. What an unexpected, but welcomed spread. I think Linda, who Steve said was of German descent, is in my book now as an honorary Sicilian. We felt like we were in the Brooklyn hanging out with the old gumbas from the neighborhood. Thanks to Ben and Steve for making our morning memorable and thanks to John Sherman for hooking us up with great people. We ended up with a handful of small stripers and a few black bass on fly, but it was the camaraderie, stories we shared and friendship forged that made our few hours together special, and thats what fly fishing is all about folks…
the launch at Sugar Barge, fogged in. iphoto by Al Q
beautiful eery fog bank in Frank’s Tract. iphoto by Al Q
Zino lands his first Delta pajama fish. Photo by Ben Byng
This is how they roll in the Delta. What a spread. Photo by Ben Byng
A happy Qman, feeling no pain in the Delta. Photo by Ben Byng
A little desert striper. Photo by Ben Byng
photo courtesy of Larry Acord
“It is a post like this that truly makes me smile, way to go Larry, what a magnificent redfish, a fish of a lifetime!”
Just a quick note and “thank you” for the info, teaching and coaching. The tips I have picked up on your site and in person at LBCC has helped me advance pretty fast in the game. I am hooked “OndaFly” and got into the game four years ago. I love the salt. Here is a pic from last Friday in Venice Louisiana in 2 feet of water on the Gulf.
– Larry Acord
Local angler and good friend, Pete Wight getting it done last week on the Intrepid out of San Diego. These are a few of the many fish he landed.
Check out this product my buddy Tony Hu just turned me on to. He lives in Boston. Click here for the Zombait website! Watch the video, and click on how it works tab, it is an interesting concept. Dead bait that become alive like zombies!!! Let me know what you guys think?
Despite warm waters our local inshore fly fishing has been pretty damn good for local species like calicos, juvenile white seabass, barracuda and bonita. Me and my buddy, John Whitaker ran out of Redondo Harbor, Saturday o’dark thirty to get in a little local action in before the start of our weekend. John had pre-fished the day before so we kind of knew we were in for some quality calico fishing and lucky for us, history repeated itself. We charted 72 degree water temps just outside the harbor and as soon as we swung around the corner towards PV the water dropped to 69 degrees. We got to our destination as we slowly tried to avoid all the lobster traps that littered the surface like land mines in the dark. Our first casts we immediately greeting with bent rods. The fishing was steady with all quality bass to 18 inches until the lights came on, then it slowed down, probably due to the slack high tide. You need current and moving water to keep the bass on the chew. Got a few small white sea bass mixed in on the fly before we quit and headed back home towards the whaling grounds. John said there were some humpbacks and finbacks working bait inshore and if we found them the bonita would be on em like white on rice and he was right. We doubled up when we got close to the whales, sea lions and dolphin working bait less than a mile off Torrance beach. It was like the Discovery Channel, I was trying to shoot photos while trying to land bonita, finally I had to put the rod down and shoot a few pics of these magnificent creatures… a great, memorable day fishing the fly in October. We were back at the dock having a cup of coffee at 10 am! Welcome to California in October…
An early morning calico. Photo by Al Q
Photo by John Whitaker
Photo by John Whitaker
photo by Al Q
Photo by Al Q
Photo by Al Q
Photo by Al Q
John going bonita bendo. Photo by Al Q
Minty Mac Clousers by Al Q
Local SoCal angler Roy Fukushima landed this beauty yesterday Fishing a black and purple marauder with his buddy Frank, (Pescadoslayer) Its been an insane year off our local coast.
Roy strikes again morning on a solo wahoo, by solo I mean all by himself…way to go Roy! making it look routine…
flies, sand & surf 