Adventure time!!!!

I still chuckle at the naming of the "National Forest Adventure Pass" here in Southern California. But hey, if even the parking pass is tilted toward adventure you're in for a treat right?

Hot off the internet presses I have a new video from SGR.  Few days have been as hard fishing SGR as Sunday was.  I had some rises on my fly but no takers.  There is a spot in the beginning of the video where you can see trout rising all over but not once on our flies.

The totals between me and my friend on this day was one for him, a small rainbow trout and zero for me :(

We did talk briefly with a few fly anglers one seemed to been having luck with a bushy dry fly and a nymph dropper.  The other recommended Mayflies. 

Regardless of my lack of fish it was still a great close-to-home adventure.

Eagleclaw Featherlight Review

One of my favorite rods when you compare price to value.  Its a great cheap rod that everyone should have in the trunk just in case!

Sometimes the beauty of it alone is worth the trip!

Wife some friends and I headed out to San Diego this past weekend.  I got to sneak off for a bit and do some pier fishing, which is way out of my normal fishing routine.  Wife found me a cool spot though.  At Crystal Pier, there is a small kiosk that rents pole, buckets and provides bait for $14.00 all day.  Not bad at all.

The best part was the wonderful scenery.  Particularly since I didn't catch a thing!

Days that just click.

Last Saturday a buddy and I were able to head out of San Gabriel River West Fork for a little fly fishing.  As I titled the blog it was a transitional day in my fly fishing journey.  I'm a beginner, but I felt much calmer.  Casting felt good, fish were where I thought they would be and I was able to set the hook on more than I would have normally.  My friends at work have talked about the moment that "It Clicked" when they refer to recent times golfing ect...  This day of fly fishing was like that for me.  Felt really good man.



I also tested out my new Kodak Playsport camera.  I learned alot and there are plenty of tips for this cam...  Like blowing on the mic after the camera takes a dip.

New camera on the way!

The last time we went to SGR I brought all I could in my day pack.  I ended up using it all though like my first aid kit on a hooked friend.   At one point I took a dip a little deeper then I had expected -beyond my waist- and I was thankful that I had packed my camera and my phone in my backpack which saw no water the whole day.  That dip lead me on a journey to buy a dedicated fishing camera.  Something a little more robust in terms of water exposure...

Cutting the gear down = Tenkara?

   If you follow the Fly Fishing online scene you no doubt have heard of Tenkara.  Tenkara, is what I'd call the traditional Japanese style of fly fishing.  At the very least I can say it is a simpler form of fly fishing.  Remember simpler or simplistic in design is never a bad, Tenkara is a prime example.

San Gabriel River, Saturday.

We had a craving for fast moving water and wild trout. That meant we were heading north to the San Gabriel river west fork.  For those that might not know it can be found off the of the 210 fwy heading north on Azuza.

Carefully wading up stream

SGR was a new experience for all five of us.  There were lots of high points to the trip and everyone was able to catch (and release) some beautiful wild rainbow trout.  The downside to the trip was sadly the impact from humans.  The massive volume of trash and graffiti absolutely infuriated me. In a few instances I saw a bag of trash complete with dirty diapers left on the ground and weighted down with rocks...  I couldn't FATHOM a situation were it made sense to bag up trash weight it down but not just carry it out?!

Any Given Day.

Last week was tough to say the least.  My wonderful grandmother passed away and there was miles of road that needed to be covered to take the wife, sister and I up to where the family was.  The week was filled with emotions but short on energy to get it all done.

We got home late Friday and I was beat.  That didn't stop me from wanting to get out and do any kind of fishing on Saturday however, so when a fishing buddy recommended El Dorado park in Long Beach I jumped at the chance...  I also jumped into the water.  I guess I actually slipped and slid into the water. 

Composing myself from my dip

Fly fishing El Dorado is tricky from any spot but some on the second and third lake (the paved areas).  However, there is nothing IN the second or third lake that is catchable from the areas its easy to fly fish at least in summer.

That means getting closer, hoping on reeds, standing on rocks and really trying to nail some clean side casts, roll casts and almost anything possible to get the line out.  Regardless of the complications the bluegill were eager and I completely forgot to take pictures!










My buddy did manage to get a shot of the winner of "Small fish for the day" though and assorted sneaker shots of me post El Dorado baptismal.

Massive beast fish

Regardless of my wet shorts, soaked money, soggy chucks that sloshed as I walked it was still a hell of a fine day of fishing and remembering my grandmother.

Love you Nanny.

Notice the shorts

Downey Fly Fishers

I discovered the Downey Fly Fishers website when doing a search for fly fishing shops and clubs in my local area.  I was initially interested in this club first due to its impressive website and local meeting area.  So on Tuesday the wife and I stopped in. Couldn't have been a friendlier group of anglers in the whole county!

The meetings are broken up into a fly tying demo, introductions for the new people, fish tales, raffle and a guest speaker.  The time seemed to fly by and after meeting many of the members it was clear I that I would be stopping by again.


Check out their site for meeting times and events.  From the sound of it, its a club that has been active for many years and they cover every aspect of fly fishing!

The demo of the night was salt water flys!

South Coast regional DFG discontinues fish planting

Some of you may have noticed that the South Coast DFG stocking schedule is a week out of date, which for the DFG is not common. They have been very good at keeping it updated.  The reason sadly is budget issues.  At this time, the DFG has discontinued stocking of catfish on a twice monthly basis and trout stocking will lower or also be stopped.


The recomendation was made by the regional office to contact local legislators for DFG budget concerns.  Which I also recommend.

I'm going to have to get that Sierra trip setup soon before the fish are all gone!

GCI Packseat

I love my packseat. Light (1.5 lbs) and portable it gets clipped to my fishing bag when I expect I may be without a seat on the banks of the water.




Just noticed Amazon sells this for 23.99, which is $4.00 dollars more than I posted in the video, still not a bad deal though.

Redington Crosswater Plus, my first rod review.

The Redington 9' 8wt. fly outfit was not only my first fly rod, but is also my first rod review.

Take a look!

A Boost To My Arsenal

Its only natural that once you get hooked on a new hobby you look for ways to expand it.  By grabbing more gear, learning/reading and getting out and having fun.  As I mentioned, I got bit by the "fly" and it's totally taken over.  A couple of posts ago I added pictures of my new fly boxes and the rod I've been using. Well the number of rods has grown to two and the number of flies has shot well up over my starting amount (thanks to a fellow board member on FishingNetwork).

First the rod.  Lets be honest fly fishing can be VERY expensive.  With that said, there are some tried and true high-value gems that can be acquired and cherished, one such rod is the Eagle Claw Featherlight.  I first heard about this rod through the blogs I read, mainly UrbanFlyVentures and FiberglassManifesto.  The later, the Fiberglass Manifesto recently posted a nice review of the featherlight series that is worth a read.


The Featherlight series of rods are fiberglass, which is a style that has fallen out of the mainstream popularity when compared to graphite.  However that does not in anyway mean these rods lack in functionality, and the bugdet priced Featherlight is a prime example.  For the price (roughty $25.00- $30.00) I believe it is the best high-value rod on market.

I outfit my particular Featherlight, the 7' model with an Okuma Siera 4/5 Fly Reel with WF4F line.  While the 7' rod is stamped with a 5/6 wt. however it easily casts the lighter 4 wt. line for the shorter casts I need for the locations I fish.

After I recevied the rod and setup the line I took it down to the local lake and had a pretty nice afternoon.


The little Bluegill in the lake may not put a full bend on the rod, but you know they are there!  I had a bass on momentarily, but I didn't set that hook fast enough and he got away!

Bluegill are a great fish when practicing casting I have found.  Even though I may cast a bit sloppy, the Bluegill remain eager to please.  Lot of heart for such a little fish.

Here is the largest catch of the day, still dimiutive, but fun nonetheless :)

As for the ever breeding and multiplying fly collection, the MVP of the day was this wooly tied up by a new friend, CityDad over at the FishingNetwork forum.

Contact him if interested in any flies.  His nymphs in particular are high detail and quality. 

-Josh

Gear Review - Meiho Fly Box

Ongoing series of review of everything and anything I can get my hands on related to fishing!

On the block today is a Meiho floating fly box I found at Bob Mariott's in Southern California.

Gear Review - Dr. Slick Fly Fishing Lanyard

Here you go!

All in all I rate it a "Try It" if this kind of thing is interesting for you.  Its sits in my trunk currently in case I can sneak in some fishing at some of the local lakes.

The man created waters

I like city park lakes.  Of course I accept they are not natural and most likely stocked by man himself after hatching the same fish.  With that said its like golf course outdoors.  What I mean simply is Golf courses to many represent the outdoors or at least a secluded moment that is separate from the everyday.  I view park lakes that way.  Its a groomed escape from the everyday.  I would still of course love to take that week and head to the Sierras.  But they can't be beat for blowing off steam on a bad day.  Here is my local getaway.

Lets talk about a noobs outfit.

With Bob Mariott's being so close it hard not to stop by to stock up on a few flies.  Yesterday I stopped by and added to my noob arsenal.  Without further adieu lets get to the equipment shots.

Here is a little floating water case I picked up.  Pretty decent I thought for the price.  It also has little spring loaded doors versus nail nicks like on other cases.

All the "OPEN" switches trigger one of four doors.


















Lets get a closeup on some of the flies!  Excuse the low focus control on my camera phone.

Little midge stimulator pattern

 Another stimulator pattern, haven't had alot of luck with it at this point.

My Bluegill killer a green and grey Adams, bought it in three sizes (12, 14, 16).  I like this fly alot for the local park lake.

 Much bigger Adams.  The idea was to match the small gold dragon flies that I have seen up to this date.

Dry ant to mix things up a bit.

Glowbug, the purpose for this was not trout, but Carp.  Given that I normally fish a park lake the carp are all about corn and bread.  My hope was that this would look like corn.  Bob Mariott's does not at this time have food type carp flies.

I'm not sure what this fly is, I assume another Adams, it was given to me by another angler at the lake.  Its had seen use before I received it, but I'm always happy to get new flies.









Just want to note, I purchased these flies for mainly lake fishing.  Since that is what I mainly do and is my "practice" yard for starting out.  It is important no mater where you fish to take a look at the local insect population and match your flies to them.  Remember, match the Size, type and color the best you can!

Side note: This is the outfit I am using: 

Fly fishing classroom Cerritos Regional

I had a few hours to kill tonight, so I stopped by Cerritos Regional to get some casting time in.

Now, I need to be clear here. I was fishing for the Bluegill with my nine foot line spooled with 8 weight line, its MAJOR overkill.

So without further adieu! On with the pictures! 

All these fish were taken using an Adams pattern 14 hook in green and gold.  Every cast seemed to have attention.  Half way through the hour I switched down to a 16 size hook which paid off big time.  The fish easily took them and often set themselves just pulling away.



This boy in particular was a little upset after todays lesson.

I love the coloring of this one.














Sadly towards the end of my time I got a real tug from something on the top water, I thought it was a larger bluegill but turned out to be a small mouth bass.  I got it close to the bank and it spit the hook.

Practice CPR: Catch, Picture and Release!
  

Cerritos Regional trying out my fly rod

On a whim I happened by a wonderful place on Friday afternoon.  It was Bob Marriott's Fly Fishing Store in Fullerton. Ca.  My uncle is a major fly nut, but I myself had little to no interest...  Until I entered the store.  WOW, is the only word I could say.  Tons of people pouring over the many hand tied flies, other talking to the knowledgeable staff and that was only the front half of the store, the other half holds a large selection of fly rods and other assorted gear.

On my first visit I talked to Steve.  What a cool person to meet for a laymen like myself.  He walked me through some of major details that make fly fishing different from spin casting.  A high-level theory I would call it. After giving me some of the details of why tippet is used at the end of a leader a few simple pointers on casting and helping me pick out some flies, mainly for bass, bluegill and carp I was out the door with a nice outfit ready to hit up my back yard park lake, Cerritos Regional Park.

To say I kept my excitement in check as I booked it from the store to the lake would be a lie.  Once I got there with the help of Steve's teaching I was in the water and catching bluegill in less than thirty minutes.  Catching that fish was literally was the last step that threw me into a hopeless addiction.  From that point on its been pretty full-throttle.  I even stopped by tonight just before dusk and again was pulling those bluegill from the water

Hope the readers enjoy hearing about Southern California fly fishing because there is PLENTY more on the way.

Tight lines.

Why fish?

I started out on this blog with a lengthy post on what a beginner should buy for fishing and I thought, "Hey...  Lets talk about why".  At its core what is fishing? Its someone with a fishing pole standing/sitting on a boat, the shore, a kayak... ect. trying to coax a fishing into hurting itself by biting something like a lure or bait that represents food.

If all you do is look at fishing at that level, it seems primitive.  However it is so much more than this.  In its core it is both a sport and a sustaining skill that teaches patience, respect for nature and self reliance.  Its a sport that adapts with new technology and at its core is still wild and only based on how you appeal to the fish...

I fish because personally it is relaxing.  I like to take a rod and reel, some line, some kind of lure and represent it as a living (or dying in some cases) bait to my target.  There is a methodical process that goes into it all, anglers take time to understand the situation and prepare or improvise as needed to get to the goal; which could be a fish in the pan for some.

Fishing is a connection to a wilder time, a time when we depended on our selves for food.  Sadly back then we couldn't benefit from molded plastics but I'm sure even on the bad days its was always better then a day of hard work.

To the anglers keep living the dream and teaching anyone interested,  To the beginners, good news! The internet is a wealth of information that has certainly suited me well.  Also I'm available for questions to help you have the same enjoyment I have each and everyday I put any kind of line to water.


-Tight lines