 |
| A lone Osprey |
The hunt for the elusive Cortez bonefish continues. Charles and I made the trek down to the San Diego south bay, somewhat prepared. With some GPS coordinates and no GPS, we had to use some guess work and the depth finder to find suitable bonefish habitat. The Sage XP 8wt got some love on this trip since my saltwater 6wt is now in Twin Bridges, Montana for some R&R. The 330 grain outbound sink tip made quick work of sinking my flies down to the strike zone. I fished a tandem rig with a size 6 orange over blue clouser and a size 6 rabbit strip bonefishy sort of fly that I spun up the night before. The catch rate was about 50/50.
The existence of these bonefish are becomming questionable. Maybe they are just a rare encounter or I am just simply fishing when water temperature is less than ideal. Searching for rare fish was one of my sole purposes to pursue fly fishing years ago, starting with the California heritage trout challenge. After completion of the challenge, my interests of uncommon fish have evolved beyond mountain streams.
The sea has provided me with a bounty of mysterious encounters that have left me in contemplative wonder. I suppose that is why I return to chase what seem like mere specters of the deep. I'll see if I can pick a bone out of this graveyard closer to spring.
 |
| Sand bass. A new addition to my species list. A real wall hanger. |
 |
| The spotties were slightly larger than Tidelands. |
