Searching For Bones

Tuck and I decided to explore the southern waters of the San Diego Bay in search of the Cortez bonefish.  We arrived around high-tide and the tide movement was weak.  The depth of the bay ranged from 6' - 40' with steep drop offs along the shelf of the bay.  This particular body of water seemed lifeless since the eel-grass itself looked black and desiccated from lack of oxygen.

south bay

The fish finder didn't give any fish alerting beeps until a random school of fish cruised under which was most likely a school of mackerel.  I was fishing a single size 4 ghost shrimp pattern I tied the night before.  Tuck was fishing with his signature tandem C4 fly with a clouser dropper.  His tandem rig got hit by a team of respectable spotted bay bass.  His one of many double hook ups of the day.

We were optimistic that the fishing had finally picked up.  The next hour was just casting practice.  Not even a tug or bump.  We crossed paths with a fly guy in a kayak and discovered that the bonefish that we were looking for were more commonly found on the opposite side of the bay.  The pram wouldn't have made the trek across the bay and we were burning daylight.  We decided to fall back on some better known waters and headed to tidelands.  

I switched to a blue clouser variant and began catching spotties with the outgoing tide.  The remainder of the day still proved to be slow and catching a handful of bay bass was hard work.  As soon as the tide hit a low point, the bite came to an abrupt stop.  Lizardfish began feeding during low tide and my only assumption is they  are opportunistic and feed when larger predators are less active.  Maybe I'll try tying some lizard fish patterns in the future.

Synthetic Trout

Measured 26" and shy of seven pounds.

I fished with Ben, one of the pro staff members at my local fly shop.  We failed to connect with the stocked tailwalker trout the week before and only managed a few large mouth bass.  The holiday weekends must have hammered this fishery hard and we planned on a second attempt the day after trout stocking.  Since the trout in this lake typically pod up in schools, it is relatively easy to produce a take limit (5 trout per angler).  Although it is not always easy to find the pod, especially when boats are only allowed to travel at trolling speed.  In other words... it took all day.

It was a red-eye day for me since my work shift began at midnight.  Twelve hours later we are sitting in the middle of a sun scorched lake casting our fly rods to unwilling fish.  Massive bass and blue-gill have already staged into the shallow spawning grounds, uninterested in any fly pattern in either of our boxes.  By mid-afternoon we switch our quarry to target what we essentially came for.

The trout stocked in this lake are typically Lassen strain or Nebraska Tailwalker.  The Tailwalkers are actually hard fighting fish for being farmed raised.  The size range can be anywhere from 2lbs - 12lbs.  While these are no majestic wild born fish, they can be finicky and a challenge to accept a fly.  Ben brought a stomach pump and pulled a load of gray and black midge larva from the trout.  I have seen the success of several midge fly fisherman at this lake, however I lack the patience to pursue such a task, instead I strip streamers made of radioactive colors to entice these fish.

We fished until the dim lit glow of the sun reflected off the lake.  The fish seemed to jump into our boat at this point and it became mindless fun.  My last cast produced a heavy pull and the bend in my 4wt z-axis curled under the boat.  The king of the trout pod decided to rumble.  I pulled it out from depths below the boat and steered in into open water.  It gave me a few hard runs until it flat lined into cardiac arrest.  Its not often one gets to see a trout have a heart attack.  Just one of the highlights of fishing for synthetic fish fed on a synthetic diet.

LMV Midge Larva

After it slammed its head boat side.  Don't worry it wasn't released.  We made some salmon sized fillets.

214 Days Later

Things have been pretty turbulent since last June.  Most of my favorite trout water within reasonable distance have been fishing poorly due to a devastating drought year.  By early summer the streams were   unseasonably low and I headed north, in search of big water and big trout.  My journey took me to the Truckee river, pitting my skills against some brutal water and beastly fish.  On my second day, I finally found what I was looking for, a monster brown.  It took five split shot and a size 4 double tungsten stonefly nymph to hit rock bottom.  My line came to a abrupt stop, I swung the tip of my Winston 6wt downstream and set the hook on the giant.  A ferocity that I have never experienced overcame my rod and all I could do was hold on.  The mighty brown surfaced and with graceful ease, it gave a head shake and released itself back into the deep.  Devastating is a understatement.

Fishing slowed down considerably in my life thereafter.  I needed a break.  The trout fever had made me looney.  I put down the fly rod in exchange for a longbow.  Archery and bowhunting became my new obsession however it didn't take long until the river was calling me back.  Thanksgiving was approaching and traditionally the Upper Owens river begins to fill with migratory trout from Crowley Lake.  These fish are not your typical river run rainbows.  These muscle bound trout are steel-head like in appearance and size.  Well, maybe half the size..  These are a fish of a thousand casts and it took me at least twice that to finally connect and land a beautiful 22" hen.  A follow up trip in late December was not as successful as people were swarming the river to test their skill and luck against these beauties.

Without a lick of snow in the weather forecast it looks like my trout season may be coming to a close.  Stay tuned.