Day 2, and sure enough, nothing like yesterday. I can’t get over how drastically the water gets jacked around by the city out here from one day to the next. It was far from a complete bust though. The fish that were so actively waving their tails around yesterday had mostly all vanished but there were still a few cruisers in the shallow channel on the opposite shoreline. …continue reading Carpin… Day 2

I didn’t expect this when I lazily showed up at the sludge this afternoon anticipating another routine skunking. Carp were everywhere, tailing, daisy-chaining, cruising, and rooting; big ones, little ones, gold ones, and for the first time, a BLAZE-ORANGE little guy! …continue reading What the… Koi?

It is the middle of May in California’s Central Valley and the temperatures have been breaking into the triple digits for the last week. The crop dusters are busily buzzing I5 and the cotton is falling as a little blue truck pulls up to a secluded gravel bar along side the lower reaches of the golden state’s largest river. …continue reading Shad Run, 2008

This week’s tides were some of the biggest of the year, with flood highs and minus lows. Jeff & I headed over the hill at o-dark thirty to catch the last few hours of the early morning outgoing and see the beach at the lowest tide we’d witnessed yet. We weren’t sure what to expect from a surf-perch-catching perspective and this was the only way to find out.
…continue reading A Crabby Day In The Surf

The Rainbows and Brown trout reach 29 & 30 inches! Their average size is said to be ~19 inches, and their “Blue-Ribbon” distribution throughout the watershed is estimated at 3000 fish per mile! Just doing a quick google image search for Bow River fly fishing will make anyone worth their trendiest over-priced Simms costume drool.
…continue reading The Bow River, Calgary Alberta

Hit the surf with Jeff for a few hours one morning this weekend. The holes were really gaining definition compared to weeks past, but the barred little buggers were scarce. Other than one little guy that took a pattern Jose had given me during the grey-light hours and a really nice one that grabbed in a rip at the bottom of the tide, just as the sun was hitting the water, it was a slow morning.
…continue reading Surf Perch, slow morning, but not fishless!

After fishing a couple of seasons with Jose Silva I’ve learned quite a few things. Aside from new angles on holding water, fish behavior, tidal influence, and an ancient recipe used by the Peruvians to prepare a fine carp for the dinner table, the one thing that’s been drilled home time and time again, through experience, is this: Out-fishing the guy is simply impossible.

…continue reading Steelhead in the Surf

I hadn’t pestered the local surf perch for a couple years and after a long Delta season spent dealing with all the hassles involved in being “the guy with the boat” the simplicity of a short, trailer-less drive, a single rod, a handful of flies, a pair of waders, and the scenery & solitude of a Monterey Bay beach at sunrise was sounding pretty danged appealing.
…continue reading Surf Perch, it’s been a few years

When the phone rang at o’dark thirty in the morning I sprang out of bed as if someone had dumped a bucket of cold water on me, “Crap! Sorry! I didn’t even hear the alarm clocks! Give me 30 minutes; I’ll call you on the way”!

The first mistake was not getting my stuff together the night before. The second mistake was convincing myself that if by some act of God I ever did actually fall asleep, there would be any chance at all that I’d wake up in less than 2 hours. …continue reading Delta, Spring is in the air

Jeff had reportedly gotten into a few over-sized gold fish cruising & tailing a few weeks ago. A week later I made a quick scouting run out to have a look and sure enough, carp were everywhere! The mud holes that had appeared vacant of fish over the past few months were suddenly teeming with big, fat, golden beauties! The days had been getting longer, the weather warmer, and big gold tails were waving. With spring in the air, the 7 weight came out of the closet and when the weekend arrived, off we headed to trudge through the sludge.
…continue reading Carp on the Fly, March 2nd, 2008

“There we go!”, and Jeff was hooked up. We’d barely got the boat into position for the first spot of the day and his fly rod was already buckled over into a big fish! I couldn’t believe it, a week later, and on the opposite tide, the same big fish my dad & I had stumbled upon were still here! …continue reading Delta, Cold Water Stripers IV

My dad was in town on business and had managed to schedule in an extra day to fish the delta with me for his first time. With the cold & dirty water typical of this time of year, our expectations weren’t high and I unnecessarily did what I could to emphasize that any fish caught would be an extreme bonus, striper or not, and regardless of size. …continue reading California Delta with Dad

The weather keeps getting nastier and the water colder. A break between winter storms finally opened a window for Jeff & I to make the first trip of the new year to check in on The Delta. The recent storms had successfully left the dreaded, gin-clear water of the fall behind us, but not without a price: cold water and the lethargic fish that come with it. …continue reading Delta, Cold Water Stripers II