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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!

Mike Wicen with a nice four pound plus calico all lit up. Photo by Al Q

John Whitaker displays another well fed fish caught on the fly. Photo by Al Q

Even the Sargo came out to play…Photo by Al Q

the water temps were closer to 64 degrees, the fish finder was a little off. But the suspended fish were accurate. Photo by Al Q

Our friend Mike Wicen had no mercy fishing plastics on Saturday morning. He out fished me and my buddy John at least two to one to the fly, landing many quality size fish. The deeper sinking, larger plastic swim baits were the ticket. The color  plastic they preferred was a green, grey bait. The fly colors we got bit on were chartreuse/white, anchovy/white, and brown/orange. The water temps are beginning to rise and the bass are starting to suspend, it should only start getting better and better as we head towards July.

Bob Middo attached to a local yellow fin croaker. photo by Al Q

got to walk the beach this morning with a couple of buddies. my left arm is undergoing some physical therapy so I decide to just stick to taking pictures and not wave the long rod. nice conditions, clean water, warm weather. the tide was not the best, it was a falling tide into the low. we did see a nice pod of corbina in shallow water, but they spooked out and vanished right after we stumbled upon them. a good sign that the fish are beginning to be active and finding the sand crab beds. the boys landed  a bunch perch to 12 inches and one yellowfin croaker. unfortunately no halibut…afterwards we enjoyed a nice breakfast together, Jim gave us a lesson in music theory and after a few laughs later I was off to work. what a great way to start the day!

a rogue yellowfin croaker that came out to play. photo by Al Q

walleye perch. photo by Al Q

Jim Solomon timing and punching a long cast. Photo by Al Q