A Graveyard Without Bones

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.

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.

Leviathan

Several tough outings have been endured since my last report from Newport Bay.  Saltwater and freshwater Bass have been a love hate relationship for me the past few weeks.  With the exception of Prado Lake giving me a semi great day with about seven LMB in the boat within a few hours.  A juggernaut Prado largemouth muscled my 6wt into a maze of criss crossing braches where I lost it.  This trout fisherman has strayed too far from the creeks and rivers where he belongs...

The original plan was to fly fish for LMB at Irvine Lake.  I was looking forward to topwater explosions with my 8wt early in the AM.  Since most of my local  bass fisheries have just gone into post spawn, the bass have been tight lipped and wary.  Usually I am gung ho when fishing is involved, however this time I felt skeptical since my success rate has been devastatingly low this season.  With great reports coming out of San Diego and tide showing a good swing, the decision was made.

We met up with Tuck and Joseph on Coronado Island around 7:30am.  It was lowtide but the tide movement was decent.  Charles and I were in the Pram while Tuck and Joseph fished out of a tandem Kayak.  Erika contributed a birthday gift for the Pram.  A humminbird Piranhamax 175PT.  Depth finding is no longer a mystery and bottom structure can now be easily identified.  This old pram is slowly but surely getting it's upgrades.

I tied on a size 6 ghost shrimp pattern and stripped about 30' of fly line out until I noticed knots and tangles within the spool.  The fly line was beginning to look like a giant rubber band ball and I stubbornly tried fixing it without having to cut the fly off and strip all the line back in.  Instead, I cast the fly out and let it sink while I untangled the mess.  Within five minutes the fly was hit and I hand lined the bay bass in with half a reel and a pile of tangled fly line at my feet.

After getting the line straightened out and back on the spool the tide movement slowed and the bite was off for the next few hours.  We moved location and followed the depth finder to appropriate holding grounds.  Charles managed a few spotties and I had nothing until the big pull.

 The fishing was incredibly slow in the AM and Tuck and Joseph paddled over to our boat to get an update.  I was stripping my ghost shrimp pattern with short controlled strips.  The line went tight, I set the hook and it felt like a pit bull was thrashing on the other end.  I hand lined it thinking it was a large saltwater bass species.  It wasn't long until the leviathan ripped line out of my hand, off the reel and into the backing.  My Sage One 590-4 and Lamson LS-2 engaged in a David vs. Goliath duel with this creature from the salt.  A fine tuned trout rod at heart,  It was lacking muscle that my Sage XP 890 would have had.  It was up to me to orchestrate a precision fight with the overpowered fish.


The drag was set loose since I wasn't expected a fight on my reel.  I waited for an opportunity for the fish to stop so I could adjust my drag.  Every pull on the rod translated to vicious head shakes  and another long hard run.  The lactic acid was beginning to put the burn in my forearm and this rod has no fighting butt.  I impatiently switched hands to tune the drag.  It gave a sudden hard run and the line went limp.  Devastating.

I sat quiet for the next thirty minutes in contemplation.  Next time I'm letting it run and I will pursue with my trolling motor.  Lesson's learned...

The rest of the day was lukewarm fishing.  Several bay bass came to hand and a rather heavy one was lost.  We all rallied at some local mexican food joint and I left San Diego with both heart break and heart burn.  I can only speculate what I lost.  Some exotics such as the cortez bonefish have been known to come up from the Baja Peninsula.  A large croaker species, and white sea bass are other guesses.  I'll never know.

 

Return to the Salt

The original plan to fish in San Diego was sabotaged.  I was really looking forward to freshwater bass fishing, however the trip would not have been the same without the other fish bums.  With the weather making another cold change, Charles and I went budget fly fishing at Newport bay.  Supposedly the tide swing was small but decent. The morning was cool and misty, the water smooth as glass. 

Charles knows this water.  Who needs maps and depth finders when you have experience.  Despite the weak tide swing he managed two halibut and a spotted bay bass.  I worked hard as usual, but after a fly change and relentless casting I finally hooked up with my first spottie on a fly.  It pulled my pram like a little tugboat during the fight.  I can only imagine what a 5lber would do!

Overall, it was a good morning with a new species added to my list.  I just hope our catch rate increases sometime soon.  Local bass fishing shouldn't be as hard as Deschutes river steelheading.

A New World

My first Yellowfin Croaker on a fly

My last attempt to fly fish the salt was a fail.  The tide was all wrong and nothing seemed to be in my favor.  Now that I have my own boat and a fishing buddy that knows the bays, a new world has now been opened up.  While nothing will ever replace the soft spot I have for trout streams, the bay is a cheap alternative for some hard fighting fish.  My first salt water fish on a fly rod was caught on a size 6 orange clouser minnow.  The rod of choice was the Sage One 590-4 with a rio 30' 200gr sink tip line. 

The wind was howling all afternoon and pushed the boat around like a rag doll.  Charles caught a mackeral and a fish that we were unfamiliar with.  It was another tough day... which seems to be the theme lately.  I can't wait to get back on a trout stream.