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If you have never been to one of these OSF events, they are a blast! it is a fun non-competitive group of surf fly fisherman making friends, meeting mentors and topped off with a world class raffle! this year’s raffle will benefit The Land Trust of Santa Barbara County. It all takes place off of Bates Road at Rincon State Beach. Check out OneSurfFly for all the details…
a nice spring caught corbina this past sunday morning by southbay angler, Schuylar Mann on a small orange perch fly. Photo courtesy of Schuylar Mann
image and original painting courtesy of Galen Mercer.
‘A Permit Flat, Key West’
Oil on Canvas
30″ x 36″
2014
“A painting I worked on for months after returning from the Keys. It conveys several favorite qualities of that experience; the shifting colors and light on the ocean floor and the tenuous appearance of fish on the periphery of detection. The school of permit, entering at top right, exists only as a glinting mass rather than individuals. Gil Drake, one of the real legends of Keys fishing, said sometimes all you can make out of permit at a distance is the flashing pink of their lips. I wanted to suggest what an active cosmos a saltwater flat is, hence the bull shark sweeping lazily past at lower right.” – Galen Mercer
for more of Galen’s work please click here!
another successful double hall ball is in the books. a well attended, very mellow, beautiful day with great people and much love, sharing and learning abound. thanks to all the teachers of fly, line, story and long rod: jim solomon, john vanderhof, mike maloney, gary bulla, jeff priest, ken lindsay, peter koga, shane chung, kevin green, dave valadez, mike centofani, jon nakano, alex ramirez, steve piper, rich kanner and alex cady. special thanks to our friend chris murphy and his students for making our ears happy and the larry carrol/wilderness club and michael schweit/swifff for feeding and giving us a home once a year. thanks for the long beach casting club for allowing us to be there! see ya on the beach or at the osf in april, cheers -Al Q
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DHB_2014 Schedule Another great FREE lineup at this year’s Double Haul Ball brought to you from The One Surf Fly, SWFFF council and the Wilderness Fly Fishers. It’s a great time to meet new people and see old friends. Everyone that volunteers their time at the DHB to teach and give back reinforces the great camaraderie we all share as fisherman! I am very proud of everyone that participates.
-Al
Our good friend Chris Murphy will be making a guest lunch appearance and performing, please don’t miss this, it should be amazing!
Last night I had the opportunity to immerse myself at the “Sustainable Fish Solutions” panel discussion and food tasting event which took place at LMU.
The speaks were: Ted Lieu – California State Senator (SD 28), Mike Bonin – Los Angeles City Councilmember (CD 11) and David Rosenstein – Founder, EvoFarm
The panelists were: Paula Daniels (moderator) – Founder, Los Angeles Food Policy Council, Mary Sue Milliken – “Top Chef Masters” & Co-Chef/Owner, Border Grill, Tim Aupperle – Regional Seafood Coordinator, Whole Foods Market, Sheila Bowman – Manager of Culinary and Strategic Initiatives, Seafood Watch and Mark Helvey – Program Lead, NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region.
Food and Beverages were provided by:
Whole Foods Market • Border Grill • Alaska Seafood • TwoXSea
Santa Monica Seafood • Community Seafood • Carlsbad Aquafarm
Sodexo • Marine Stewardship Council • Greenbar Craft Distillery
The cost for this event was $10!
sea bass on crostini
Tuna Sashimi
MacFarland Trout
It was a real wake up call to action and as we all know, information and good choices are power. I got to personally engage in a nice conversation with Kenny Belov from TwoXSea, who personally took it upon himself to create a source of sustainable, delicious MacFarland Trout to supply his personal restaurant, Fish, then make it available to other restaurants and retail outlets. Kenny ends up selling roughly 250,000 pounds per year. These fish are farmed using gin clear, cold water from the Susan River which allows for a slow growth rate and are fed a completely vegetarian diet. I was impressed and very optimistic that more entrepreneurs should follow suit looking at Kenny’s successful operation in sustainable fish protein.
Tim Aupperle – Regional Seafood Coordinator, Whole Foods Market made a great point, we as consumers need to expand our palates and try different sustainable fish, so we put less stress on the less adventurous tunas & salmons.
Check Seafood Watch for best options, and do be shy, ask you markets where their fish are coming from. By local US!
I just ordered my premiere issue of “The Bight” from the creators of Surfer’s Journal. This mag will serve as the journal for saltwater anglers. I love the look and feel of SJ so I am gonna take a gamble and say this new venture should be pretty awesome. They should ship in mid March. Click here to subscribe!
Ernest Hemingway in the cabin of his boat, Pilar. photo courtesy of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library
If you are a big fan of EH, please check out this online archive of Hemingway’s ephemera from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. Here’s a link to one of the photo galleries!
image courtesy of you tube
Watch this short video that celebrates the great work of the igfa (international gamefish association)
click here!
Come join me and my friends at the Long Beach Casting Club this Saturday from 9am till 3pm for the Southwest Council FFF Fly Buy!
flies, sand & surf 