I just love it when a plan comes together, especially when it involves a friend that up in till this past Sunday hadn’t fair-hooked a sight cast corbina on fly. Jacob got in touch with me a few weeks ago about the possibility of fishing together and catching a corbina. He recently transplanted his family back to Torrance where he originally grew up from Utah. Jacob is not stranger to fly fishing, he used to guide up in Jackson Hole, drifting his clients to trophy trout. He is a stick! Last week we walked the beach for a few hours during poor conditions in the hopes of seeing a few fish but really didn’t have any good shots. Short wave intervals, cold water and some salad made it difficult, so it was an early breakfast. This past weekend we were graced with sunshine during the noon low tide which gave us the window we were looking for. Any time there is over head sun during a low tide cycle, in June when the temps are near 70, is a good thing when targeting beans. We changed locations from the previous week based on a good report I received from the corbina patrol. I got to the beach and immediately began seeing fish lit up with the afternoon sun. Jacob had arrived earlier and was further north of me so I called him on my cell so we could meet up and fish together. The weekend beaches in LA tend to be crowded which made this a pure combat urban fishing zone. You pick your slot to cast, sometimes waiting for onlookers, surfers, dogs or kids to walk by so they do not get in the way of a backcast. Very exciting and this adds to the difficult factor. The conditions were near perfect with a blue colored, well defined trough running parallel to the beach and long uninterrupted sections of clear foot deep sand bottom tickling the shoreline. We only get a handful of these days each year and Jacob stepped right into it. We were seeing twos, singles and occasionally a group of three or four fish. Jacob rod goes bendo and puts his first ever bean on the sand. We fist pump, take a few pics and release the fish unharmed. I told Jacob that I really wished I could be with him for his first fish that was now history. Then he proceeded to nail another larger fish which he expertly played to dry sand. He had two under his belt but wasn’t done. We decided to split up. As he walked back north to where he parked, he noticed a group of ten fish. I just so happened to call him as I was in my car and he said, “dude i have ten fish in front of me and they won’t eat the fly” I responded, “keep casting, there has to be one dumb one in there, stay on them.” Ten minutes later, Jacob calls, me and says, “I got him”. Ok, so Jacob gets a trifecta, three beans in the middle of the day on a crowded beach on perhaps his really first day of sight fishing for corbina. That is sick! I would classify that as an epic day on the beach! Way to go pal! PS: I hooked one fish and it popped off but this day wasn’t about me, it was about Jacob and how he will never be the same!
flies, sand & surf 