Author Archives: ondafly

new book by high-wire artist Philippe Petit. courtesy of fastcodesign.com

Here a new beautifully illustrated book that just came out by author and high-wire artist Philippe Petit. This is a guy that puts his life on the strength of a knot. As fly fisherman we are always trying to stay connected if you know what I mean. I love knots and can never get enough of them. I love when I go to some new location and a guide turns me onto a new knot that has been field tested and is easy to tie. The author takes the liberty to rename some of our standard fishing knots like the uni-knot is called the triple grapevine knot but taking that in stride it still is a great connection, especially from braid to mono. More here!

photo courtesy of waterline media

check out this beautifully shot, video short from waterline media which won “best fishing” & best cinematography” categories at the drake fly fishing awards in new orleans documenting sight fishing tarpon in florida. today’s hi def digital cameras and hand held go-pros are glorifying the natural migrations of tarpon that have been around for millions of years, allowing new eyes to witness some of the most amazing fly fishing opportunities we have in some of our country’s backyards. if you have never sight fished for tarpon this will get your blood boiling for sure… i could only imagine if steve huff, george hommell, stu apt or any of the great saltwater pioneers in the keys 50 years ago had this digital technology what we could have witnessed through their eyes, especially when these fisheries were wild and untapped? we are only left with great stories from the good old days. thankfully seasons on the fly gives us that glimpse of what the glory days of tarpon in the keys were really like… click here!

a fallen bean landed this morning by Santa Monica’s own, Bernard Yin on a clouser tied by yours truly…photo by Bernard Yin

The corbina are where they should be, in small pieces of structure (troughs) littered along our south bay flat beaches. best times to fish them is the early morning light when this fish are staging or getting ready to move onto the flats in search of crabs those high sand crab beds…it won’t be long before they begin to crawl around in shallow water and we can sight fish them…water needs to be a touch warmer and our swell need to flatten out… one quick note, keep those hooks razor sharp, Bernard made a point, (no pun intended) sharpening his hook this morning after losing a few fish the last few days, I also suggested he up his tippet to 12 pound. I like to fish 12# and have more confidence pulling on the bigger fish and landing them. They are not leader shy in the surf zone. The proof is in the picture, way to go Bernard!