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Shad Run 2009 – Trip 1
It had been about a month since I last wet a line and even longer than that since I’d busted out a spey rod and the itch was in need of a serious scratching. The time was finally here, it was the middle of May, the shad were in the rivers, and the weather couldn’t…
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Dave’s 3rd Cast in The Surf
Dave & I headed over to the beach for an early morning striper session a few weeks ago to strike while the iron was hopefully still hot – and sure enough, it was. Dave has joined me on the beach for surf perch in the past but this was his first striper fly fishing outing…
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Crushing the 20 Pound Striper Barrier
OK, maybe “crushed” is a bit strong, but at 24 pounds, that 20 pound barrier that has been kicking my butt for years – is now officially behind me. And from the surf of all places…
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Shad Run 2009 – Trip 2
Another weekend, another fly fishing trip up to the Sacramento River shad grounds – this time with Dave. We pretty much had the place to ourselves which was awesome, the weather stayed down in the high 80’s (an added little bonus, especially compared to last year’s triple-digit-temperature shad trip we did together) and the fishing…
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Shortest Surf Perch Morning Yet
Jose Silva was in town for a very short visit. He wasn’t intending on fishing on this trip and therefore hadn’t brought any gear but Dave, Jeff, and I wouldn’t have any of it. The weather and surf conditions weren’t expected to be very good but we didn’t have the luxury of rescheduling due to…
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California Surf Stripers – Persistance
Persistance pays off… I was out on the beach a few mornings ago looking for surf perch with Jeff, and we got skunked ? again. I don’t know what’s happened, surf perch were never a difficult fish for me to find in years past, but recently it’s been a completely different story.
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New Urban Carpery – with Jeff
While out pedaling around on the mountain bike Saturday, taking advantage of the unseasonably hot weather that hit the Bay Area this weekend (mid to high 90’s), I stumbled on another little urban carp spot. I’d ridden past it before and not seen anything but when I passed it this time I caught a glimpse…
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Sludge Pond Carp with Dad
Just back from steelhead fishing up north, I had 1 day to check in on the sludge ponds to see if there were any carp stirring around before my dad came into town for the weekend for another business trip. His last business trip out here a year ago paid off big-time with plenty of…
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Winter Steelhead – Back Up North
Rain, snow, hail, rain, sleet, ice pellets, more rain, and more snow – and then repeat every 30 minutes. Toss in a 20 minute break every other hour or so and that was pretty much the weather pattern. The river held though, and with a warm jacket, dry socks, gloves, and steelhead green water the…
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Delta Stripers – Fly Fishing Report
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Pacific Northwest Thanksgiving
I went back up to my hometown for the holiday weekend and squeezed a day and a half away to check in on one of my favorite rivers with Brandon. It is definitely considered the “off season†but neither one of us were concerned with that and were just anxious to have a look, poke…
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Delta Stripers – With Jeff
Pulled the boat back over the hill for another day out fly fishing for Delta Stripers. Jeff joined me for the day and as usual, we had a great time. I think those short-sleeve fall days are finally behind us now. It wasn’t too cold, but the beanie and gloves did make their way out…
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Delta Stripers – Fly Fishing Report
Another quick striped bass fly fishing report – Got out again to take another whack at this year’s delta stripers. The tides were predicted to be really good (or far better than when I’d been out with Brandon the previous week) and the weather forecast was for a flat, windless day – perfect conditions for…
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Delta Fly Fishing, with Brandon
Short Fly Fishing Report with lots of pictures, California Delta, November 2008
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The Delta, A Half Day
Another tricky case of jet lag had me wide awake and bug-eyed at 3AM this morning, despite going to bed at midnight. My flight had departed at 2pm and landed 11 hours later at 8am the same day; yeah, try and figure that one out.
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The Delta, Fall 2008, Day1
Finally got out on the the Delta for the first trip of the season. With all the steelhead fishing lately I’ve got to say that 9′ 9wt felt awfully short and took some getting used to. The first spot I hit was empty as well as the 2nd spot, but the 3rd stop paid off…
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Raising the Ghost, Steelhead on Dead Drifted Dry Flies?
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Surf Perch, Back to Monterey
The tide didn’t look any good but I was in a desperate need of soaking a fly, somewhere. When I got the word from Gabriel that he’d recently “gotten into them” off one of the Monterey beaches I had all I needed. The tide was basically flat until 11am so Jeff, Mrs. Jeff, and I…
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Bass: The Movie (The Trailer)
Jamie Howard (of Chasing Silver fame) has the trailer up of his latest project, “Bass: The Movie”. There’s some good topwater footage of The Delta being fished by John Sherman and the guru himself, Kevin Doran. You can check it out at http://howardfilms.com/trailerBass2.html This Is Fly, an online fly fishing magazine, also has a good…
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Carpin… Day 2
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…