The Wall

I was fortunate to join Fito and Angelica on a day out to the long beach break wall.  It has been a few decades since I have last fished the ocean from a boat. The tide was supposed to peak around noon and I was excited to search for local bay bass with a fly rod.  Erika came along and everyone else fished conventional gear.  Angelica was the first to hook up with a fish on sabiki.  It was a pretty fish that looks related to perch, the colors are reminiscent of blue-gill.  We fished the inner wall and I was casting my fly along the kelp beds, trying my best to allow my clouser minnow to sink.  It seems that I have hit the "wall" in terms of fly tackle since my T3 outbound sink tip takes an outrageous time to sink.  The fish were holding deep despite the rising tide and my fly was only holding in the upper water column despite all my efforts.  It is time I upgrade to a T6 sinking line.

Opaleye Perch? 

We briefly fished the outer wall and became interfered with a constant onslaught of wakes created by a jet ski tournament.  Since the fishing seemed to be slow along the wall, we decided to head back into the bay and I hoped that I could get a few bay bass around the docks.  Fishing the bay was comparable to LMV and I used the same stripping and sinking techniques for LMB.  Erika hooked up with a few fish on sabiki's and I stuck to my guns and persistently fished with the fly rod.  While, I admit that fly rods are not the most efficient tool for catching fish in the ocean, the challenge of it is still alluring to me.

Even the bay was fishing slow.

 Fito invited me to go back out on his boat in the next week or two.  I will most likely put my uncles old Daiwa SS4000 reel to use and fish for larger game in the open ocean in search for yellow tail and pacific barracuda.  My uncle would be proud.

Fito bringing her in.