this is the pic of the day…
A twenty five inch corbina landed by our angling buddy and guitar hero , Bernard Yin. photo by James Dwyer.
|ˌpərsəˈvi(ə)rəns| nounsteadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success: his perseverance withthe technique illustrates his single-mindedness | medicine is a field that requires dedication and perseverance.
Matt Brown with a fine corbina on the fly. Photo courtesy of Matthew Brown
pink merkin by Matt Brown
this is how the Facebook IM went:
Matt: Howdy Al! I hope that this message finds you well! I’m on my back down to Oceanside this weekend. I’m so stoked to hit the beach again. I know that waters have been quite warm and I was wondering if there is anything interesting happening in the surf because of that? Any opportunities for different species or anything like that? Any insight you are willing to share would be awesome. I’m considering spending a little time chucking flies around the harbor bait dock and see what I can turn up as well. Thanks!
Q: I would consider putting on a surfin merkin fly and looking for corbina this time of year, they are everywhere. they are not easy to catch, but get out there on the early minus low tide, about an hour after the tide turns is when they get active. good luck
Matt: Thanks Al! I’ll let you know if I get into any.
Matt: Well, Neptune was smiling on me today! Was just about to call it quits today and then I spotted this fish. I led it by about 10 feet and then he pounded my fly while riding in on a little roller. Super hard fighter took me into my backing twice but I got it finally. Surfin merkin!
Q: Is that your first one, Matthew? Congrats, can I post your fish on my blog? what color/ size merkin?
Matt: It’s my first on this trip. Last summer I didn’t get one and the summer before was my first year and it was a jackpot of 5 landed corbinas. You steered me right on flies back then and I have been sticking to them.
Matt: If I remember correctly the hook is a mustad stainless size 4 but you can see it there in relation to a quarter. I use orange/black barred rubber legs with a sparkle fleck as antennae, a few strands of pink crystal flash, and then the body is shrimp pink senyo laser dub.
Matt: Please feel free to post my pic. I would be honored!
photo by Al Quattrocchi
photo by Al Quattrocchi
I had the good fortune to fly fish some southern waters with two of my friends, Bernard and Jon this past weekend while visiting family in San Diego. I found myself at dark o thirty, Torrey Pines State Beach, street parked on the fourth of July. With great structure exposed all around us it made perfect sense to hit it early before the crowds emerged. I met a nice fellow named Don, he came strolling up the beach with his fly rod and stripping basket, a welcomed site on this fourth of July morning. He looked like a local so we chatted a little and I asked him if he had any luck with corbina at this location. He replied that he hadn’t seen many beans but one of the bait fisherman the day before landed a nice striper on bait. I notice he had an anchovy colored clouser minnow attached to the end of his line. I told him that it was a great idea to start off with the clouser and if nothing happened switch over to corbina. Off he went far to my left, I saw him wading out chest high and bombing casts over the waves. Shortly after my buddy Jon showed up and we began to scan the skinny water for corbina. Around fifteen minutes passed and here comes Don walking up the beach with a striper in his net. The stars and stripes starting early on this fourth of July weekend. I congratulated him and took a pic. Jon told me the next day, he went out and he saw Don land yet another larger striper…that’s why I love flyfishing the beach, you never know unless your line is wet what can tug at the end of your line… Me and Jon did get some good shots on some corbina working the shallow water later that morning, they were doing headstands for around a half an hour window but the corbina showed us no love. Our buddy Bernard landed a nice halibut in one of the many deep troughs that lined the beach on a clouser. Just another day at the office, good times and great morning fishing with friends.
“Sometimes everything lines up except the sun. This fish was moving from south to north obviously on the hunt for crabs. It’s back was out and he was on a consistent pattern. First presentation at 60’ was spot on – two feet ahead with a soft landing. It turned and game on! A surprising long battle in the skinny then out to the deep on my 6 weight Z Axis. Grey colored surfin merkin with an orange butt did the trick.”
Photo by Rick Olson. Fish and caption by Jim Solomon.
Nice photo and fish by Jon Nakano using his GoPro this morning.
Photo by Alex Ramirez
A olive sculpin designed for freshwater is one of Alex’s go to corbina patterns.
It’s really nice to see some beans coming to hand. This is a great week of early minus low tides to give it your best shot. Our good friend and Sage, Smith and Rio rep, Alex Ramirez with one of two corbina landed this morning (somewhere in San Diego? LOL) on a olive sculpin pattern. Alex was fishing the new Sage Salt series fly rod. Way to go brother! I casted these Salt rods and they are awesome casting and fighting tools, perfect for inshore and beach fishing. I personally fish the older Sage 7wt ZAxis with a custom t-8 (approx 27 feet) attached to an Airflo intermediate running line. This morning I went zero for two, I had one really good take, which peeled drag as the fish raced across the shallow flat like it was water skiing then unbuttoned, the second take happened just as I was going to lift my rod to make another cast, the fish stopped the line in an inch of water then popped off. oh yeah, that is corbina fishing, not corbina catching. You must embrace the pain and move forward, tomorrow is another day. 🙂
photo by al quattrocchi
half and half merkin. photo by al quattrocchi
After willing myself to an early rise I found a small group of finicky feeding Corbina this morning. The overcast, poor lighting conditions made positioning the fly a little more challenging since it was hard to see fish until they were literally on the doorstep. This is when you need to be way back on the beach to make a good cast. The corbina were right where I thought they would be, feeding right at the end of the wave foam, sliding over a small crab bed in inches of water. After three solid bumps and a few choice words I finally got one to stick. Glad I sharpened the hooks last night. At first I thought this fish was fouled by the way it fought, I couldn’t turn him. He fought especially hard in shallow water and never ran long, dogging me every time I got him in close. After around ten minutes I surfed him onto the sand and saw my fly under his lip. He was revived and released to fight another battle on another beach. This is the best time to try for corbina with a fly. It is my favorite time of the year…
Original Photo by Wade Yoshi
Color Corrected photo by Al Q
Taking the time to save that great shot is well worth the effort when you have the right tools of the trade. I like to straight horizon lines and bring back as much information in a digital shot as I can get away with, without sacrificing the original intent of the photographer. In other words try not to push it too much or it looks fake. For me saving these memories are just as cool as landing these great fish. This before and after is just an example of what I like to achieve. I like to do this for all my fishing friends whenever I get photos like the one above… My program of preference for post production is adobe lightroom, it is pretty easy to use, there are lots of tutorials on you tube as well… enjoy!
A nice corbina landed by fellow angler Regan Kline last weekend on a pink merkin . Way to go bro. Photo by Regan Kline.
Al Q and Louie the Fish chatting it up last Tuesday morning in Santa Monica. Photo by Al Q
fishing licenses and boat permit line at the local lodge. Photo by Al Quattrocchi
Photo by Steve Piper
the anticipation of the launch. Photo by Al Quattrocchi
Photo by Al Quattrocchi
the national anthem was a recording by Louis Armstrong to get things kicked off. Photo by AL Quattrocchi
There were 40 registered anglers that participated in Conway Bowman and Al Q’s Carp Throwdown at Lake Henshaw this past June 13th. It was a record breaking crowd. Photo by Al Quattrocchi
It was our fourth annual Carp Throwdown at Lake Henshaw and it didn’t disappoint all those that participated. It is one of my favorite events and we always get a great group of gals and guys that love the comradery and top water carp action. Hope to see some new faces next year! 🙂
CTD_results_2015 Visit the official Carp Throwdown website for updated information!
Blue Devils video by Chris Fabiano courtesy of AngryfishTV
Click Here! It that time of the year when the massive bluefish schools are herding helpless bunker in shallow water and beating the crap out of them. Its gang warfare. The stripers will always be the glamor fish on the east coast but the bluefish in my opinion are still the bad boys that will always have attitude and never disappoint you when hooked. They pull hard and will bite off a finger if they have the opportunity. I have had days using poppers when me and my buddy Lance caught and released 100+ on bangers. Here’s some cool footage recently taken by Chris Fabiano off New Jersey shore on June 15th. There’s some really sweet slo-mo footage of hookless poppers getting hammered. enjoy!
flies, sand & surf 