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. 🙂
overcast bean…
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…
photo love…
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!
hello summer…
carp throwdown results…

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…
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!
fishing from the sky…
Click here to view this spectacular drone footage of surfcasters fishing for stripers off Gloucester, MA.
its a bird, its a plane, no…..
This was just sent to me from my friend James and it needed to be shared…thanks James!
new article…
Check out my new article on sight-casting for corbina in California Fly Fisher on news stands now…it covers all the basics you will need to know to get you into your backing.
carp sight casting primer…
Conway and I will have a very informal presentation on carp behavior and presentation techniques at Lake Hodges on Saturday, May 30th between 9am & noon. We will all meet at the main lawn area by the concession building at Lake Hodges. Conway will cover casting and presentation, fly patterns and lake strategy. Ask lots of questions. John Hendrickson will be on hand as well, and I would pick his brain, he’s one of the best carp fly fisherman around.
It is sort of a pre throwdown primer to the main event at Henshaw on Saturday, June 13th. Hope to see some new carp faces there, its a good opportunity to ask questions and tighten the loops. The boys at the Fly Stop will bring some hot carp flies for you guys to check out or purchase as well…cheers

















