Dry Fly Madness

Hi folks,

It's been a busy few weeks here at the shop getting our orders in and ready for the fall season, but we have some great shop news to share with you this week.

First up, 'The Spot' is hosting Dry Fly Presentations By Master Casting Instructor Joe Libeu on Saturday, September 29th. Joe Libeu is the owner of Sierra Pacific Fishing Adventures.

This casting class will start at 9 am and run until 12 noon.  The 3-hour class is limited to 6 students to insure individual instructions and the cost is $75.00.  We only have  a few slots left, so call the shop ASAP (818) 785-785-7306 to reserve your spot. This class will take you beyond the basics and make you a better angler, and you will be able to apply your skills the next time you are on the water. We will meet at the Fishermen’s Spot at 8:30am and carpool to the casting location. 

Following the casting class, we will also have a presentation, "Fishing the Dark Side of the Lower Owens," presented by Joe Libeu starting at 1pm sharp.  There is no charge for this presentation, but because of limited space, reservations are suggested. Please contact Fishermen’s Spot at (818) 785-7306 for reservations. 

This presentation will cover the basics of nymphing the Lower Owens. He will cover planning, observations, entomology, reading the water, nymph rigs and presentations. Joe considers the Lower Owens his home water and Joe is considered one of the most knowledgeable individuals on fishing this area.  We all know the Lower Owens can be fickle, but with the skills taught in the presentation, you will be well armed with right info to have a productive day. 

Now, let's get to the local fishing conditions. The general area has been fishing really well recently and we've gotten some great intel from our condition providers.

Vaughmn Podmore sent this over to us regarding the local salt:

Beaches: The beaches are still fishing well for Yellowfin croaker and we are definitely seeing better tides now that things are cooling down a bit. Suggested fly patterns are clousers Brown/Orange, Blue/White and crabby patterns for corbina. See Ken at the shop for my fly patterns and recommendations.

Inshore: The Longbeach break wall is still fishing really well and we are seeing good Calico bass early morning or late afternoon. 

Offshore: The bite around Catalina is great. We have found several yellowtail and bonito. The bonito are averaging 8lbs and we have broken off some big yellowtail. Dorado have been hit or miss but if you find the right structure you can find some nice fish. Suggested fly patterns are sardina patterns. See Ken at the shop for my fly patterns.

Vaughn Podmore
SaltyFly Guide Service
saltyflyhb@yahoo.com
http://www.saltyflyfishing.com/Home.html


Next, Bernard Yin took a trip to the Sierras recently and focused on the western slope in the Sierra's. 

On my latest exploration, the signs were good. Clear skies and warm weather with fish still starting to show. Given that browns prefer some clouds, gloom or rain I am excited. It's been a rough year for the fish and the cooling of fall as well as possibly some weather should make up for the tough summer. 

After walking some of these beats for years as part of the SFF team, I feel that I have gotten a reasonable read on these fish. The big challenge is reading what happens one day and determining what that means for the next.

For more details on guided days for west slope browns, contact Sierra Fly Fisher at 559-683-7664 / http://sierraflyfisher.com/

This next section is from Joe Contaldi owner of Performance Anglers.

Lower Owens: Shaping up nicely for drifting, and things are definately starting to change around here. The trees are turning,  and we are seeing some early fall hatches of midges, mayflies and caddis early morning before it gets warm.

Upper Owens: As temperatures cool down we are seeing fish moving up into the river from Crowley for spawning. The Trico hatches are great right now and if you have some time I would head on up and get in on the action.

Tight lines,

Joe

To book your fall trip contact us at:

matukajoe@yahoo.com

http://www.performanceanglers.com/index.html

(818) 288-0583 
~

Thanks again to all our local contributors for all the great info they've been providing us week after week.


We hope to see some of you at our two great events this Saturday, September 29th. If you have any questions regarding tackle or upcoming trips or events, please don't hesitate to contact the shop.

Tight lines,

Ken.
http://fishermensspot.com/
(818) 785-785-7306

A Fine Fall Is Just Around The Corner...

Hi folks,

Thank you all for the support over the Labor Day weekend. The shop was very busy, and we were able to make some space for the all the new product we will be receiving shortly for the fall season. 

Some quick updates:

The Spot is offering a Crash Course Intro to Fly Fishing on Sunday, September 30th from 9am-4pm  and October 28th. ($125). If you or anyone you know wants to get involved in fly fishing, please have them call the shop to reserve their spot.

This coming weekend, September 13-16, The Spot will be at the Fly Fishing Fare in Mammoth, so if you are in the area, come stop by our booth and say hi. We will have some great products and sale  items at the show.

This last week the guys from the Saltwater Fly Rodders club went out and hooked and landed 7 Sea Bass on the fly! Some of these went up to 25lbs and they broke several off and it's definitely something I want to try.
This week, we got some great intel from our info providers...

Vaughn Podmore from SaltyFly Guide Service sent this over to us.

Beaches:

The beaches have been spotty down south and the Santa Anna inlet is your best bet right now. First light is best for targeting corbina and Yellow fin croaker. The top flies have been the "crabby patty" size 6-8 and the clouser olive/ white or orange/ white in size 4.

Inshore:

Newport Harbor has been struggling a bit, but if you put some time in, you will get results. The bays are fishing best on an incoming tide and the Long Beach break wall has been off the hook recently. We have done very well on Calico bass in Long Beach recently and our largest bass of  the week came in at 7lbs. Top fly has been the wool head sculpin. Also, the deeper reefs have been producing some good numbers of Calico.  Ask Ken at the shop for my fly patterns if you are heading down to fish the bay and he will hook you up.

Catalina:

Catalina has been fishing pretty well and we are finding decent numbers of bonito and barracuda. The biggest opposition we have had has been the warmer water, but if you know where to look you will find them. Top fly has been a blue and white surf candy and anchovy patterns in black and white are also doing well. If it gets too sunny and the fish are picky, switch up to a light color clouser size 2-4 and you will see results.

Offshore:

The offshore bite has been pretty good. Good size Dorado have been scattered around. We have been focusing on kelp patties around the 272, 209 and 189 spots. Sardine patterns are best and clousers 1/0 fished on 12lb leader.  Ask Ken about my fly pattern or recommended patterns for the Socal salt.

If you would like to book a trip, or if you have questions please feel free to call me. 

Vaughn Podmore
SaltyFly Guide Service
saltyflyhb@yahoo.com
http://www.saltyflyfishing.com/Home.html


Next up, our good buddy, Bernard, was down in the San Diego area last week, and judging by the picture, it's fishing pretty well right now. The Santa Monica area is seeing some good fish, and many of the beaches have healthy sand crab beds right now, which are providing an ample food source. Check in at the shop for suggested fly patterns for our local beaches.

If you would like a guided trip with Bernard, please call us at the shop: 818-785-7306 to check availability and reserve your day.


Joe Contaldi AKA "Matuka Joe" had this to say about Crowley and the Owens:

Crowley Lake is fishing well right now, but the water level is dropping. The most productive area is Mcgee Bay. We have been finding fish early in the mornings and perch patterns are doing best. The algae bloom is coming on and fish are keyed in on the perch fry in coves like 6 Bays as the cruisers are working the shoreline for the perch, but don't count out the midge bite as well. The lower  and upper Owens is coming on nicely and we are seeing some good fish on nymphs and dries.

 

Greg Forgatch with a 20+ inch Rainbow upper Owens river this week on a hopper pattern tan body size 14

Joe Contaldi,

Performance Anglers Guide Service, 760-709-5049

https://www.facebook.com/PA.guide.service

Thanks again, Joe Contaldi of Performance Anglers, for that great update. 

Make sure to find Fishermen's Spot on Facebook and follow us for daily updates from the shop and for  the latest info on upcoming sales, classes and trips. Hope to see you all soon and have a great rest of the week.

Tight lines,

Ken.

End of Summer Update

Hi folks,

It's been a hot summer, but the fishing has continued to stay strong on several of our Southern California fisheries, namely Crowley Lake and the local  beaches. The shop has been extremely busy, and we've been doing a lot of traveling on various fishing trips, but now that the dust has settled and our summer projects are winding down, we can focus on the fall line up that will be coming soon to the shop. The IFTD show in Reno was a blast and we got to see the new products for 2013, plus  we got to see some old friends. 

If you would like to view more photos from the IFTD trip please see our Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fishermens-Spot/198061763342

The Fishermen's Spot is working to provide a weekly fishing update for Southern California and the Sierras, in which we will cover hot areas and hatches, along with general news from the shop.

This week, we've received some great intel from our good friend Joe Contaldi. Joe is the owner/ guide for Performance Anglers Guide Service in Mammoth and he sent these great photos and an update for Crowley Lake.

"The moon is moving into its full stage, and the bite this week has moved to later in the afternoon from 2pm until dark. There are some dry periods between your indicators going under, but the scenery is beautiful.

The McGee bay miracle bite has slowed to a crawl in the mornings recently with more of the little willies adding numbers to the count, but nothing like the bruisers we had test our tackle in the 4-6 lb range a week ago. The north end has been producing some big boys on streamers, and indicators and anglers have done fair in the mornings along green banks and the Owens river near the channel.

The best time for the North End is late afternoon, with good numbers of 18 to 20-inch fish being landed on both indicators or streamers with perch patterns. Streamers and perch patterns in size #10-12 are doing great, and the top colors are olive, gray and black. Make sure to use heavy tippet 3x-1x - there are some really big monsters out here this year so the heavy tippet will aid in making sure you land them. Indicator fishing with midge patterns in colors red and black, black and copper, gray, and silver back are all working well  in sizes #14-18 during the morning and afternoon bite. 

Adjust flies from 4 inches off the bottom to about 2 feet to find the location of feeding fish, or when your indicators are not going under after a period. Rods should be 9 to 10ft and  5, 6, or 7 wt. Floating line for indicator fishing with 4x or 5x tippet... Streamer fishing use a type 3 or type 4 sinking line and tippet 3x-1x.

We have openings for trips on Crowley lake next week and make sure to book your trip with us for the upcoming fall season on the East Walker River and Crowley Lake for the trophy Browns".

Joe.

Performance Anglers Guide Service 760-709-5049

https://www.facebook.com/PA.guide.service

Thanks again, Joe Contaldi of Performance Anglers, for that great update. 

As far as the local beaches go, the fishing has been solid. Bernard has been having great success on the beaches near Santa Monica. If you are interested in partaking in some of this action, call us at the shop 818-785-7306. 

We have several options available and are happy to get you set up with the correct flies, gear and services as needed for the beach as you can fish it year round. 

(Photo by Jim Solomon).

Looking north towards the Ventura area, the carp bite has been good.  I went up earlier in the month on my day off and just had a blast with a few carp. We carry a great selection of fly patterns for carp, but we also carry flies from local guide Lee Baermann for our local carp fisheries. Stop by the store and we can point you in the right direction.

Finally, the Fishermen's Spot will be having a big Labor Day Sale this weekend, with brands like Winston Rods going for a steal.  In addition to our regular hours, we will also be open Sunday and Monday from 11am-3pm in order to allow our customers to take advantage of the sale during the long holiday weekend! So come on by!

Make sure to find us on Facebook and follow our posts, classes, trips and daily updates from the shop. Hope to see you all soon. 

Tight lines,

Ken.

Yellows on the Fly 2012

The 3a.m. alarm came way too early and the drive to the shop to meet with the other anglers in the group was made in a caffeine fueled haze.  The guys were already there eagerly awaiting the shuttle bus with their gear piled on the sidewalk in front of the shop.  This trip to Cedros Island with Cedros Outdoor Adventures had been eagerly awaited by the whole crew and we were finally going to get a chance to tangle with Yellowtail  on the fly rod.  Cedros is justly famous amongst conventional anglers for it’s superb Yellowtail and Calico Bass fishing but up until now has not been a popular fly rodding destination.   We hoped to change that.

  

The shuttle was late but, since there was no traffic on the 405, the trip to San Ysidro was a breeze and we met our second shuttle and transferred the gear to continue the trip through the border to Ensenada where we would board a charter flight to the island.

Our first indication that all was not as hoped on the weather front was at the airport in Ensenada when we ran into a group on their way back who told us that it had been windy with dirty water and Yellowtail feeding very deep and not breezing on the surface.  Not what we wanted to hear. 

Jose Angel, our host, informed us on arrival that the Yellowtail were not on the surface, as was usual at this point in the season, but were being found around 100’-200’ deep.  Trying to get a fly down 100’ is no easy task but some of us were prepared with plan B, conventional rods and 6oz jigs to get down to where the fish were feeding. The first two days were tough fly rodding for the Yellows as they were still feeding 100+ feet down and with heavy current going West and the wind blowing from the East we found it impossible to get a fly in front of them.  I did hook one in about twenty feet of water on a 12wt but it charged into the kelp and wrapped me and came off.  

We moved to another area and switched to targeting Calico Bass and had a blast hooking and releasing fish in the 3-8lb class.  On the second day most of the group switched to conventional rigs to fish the Yellows and spent mid morning to late in the afternoon pulling on Calicos with the fly rods.

Day 3 began with a similar scenario but, the pangeros received a call on the marine radio from some commercial abalone divers that there were Yellows near the surface in another location close by.  We ran over there and soon found some smaller 8-12 lb yellows breezing around. Game on!  

Soon, all of our pangas had anglers fighting fish on the fly.  Although most of these were smaller firecracker yellows there were much bigger fish mixed in.  12 wts were the order of the day and anyone fishing a 10 wt risked losing a big fish to the structure.  

Fish to 25 lbs were landed and many bigger fish lost to the kelp.  One of our guys, who is an experienced saltwater angler, was on a huge Yellow for 1.5 hours on a 10 wt only to have the fly line break and lose it.  Mixed in with the yellows where Calicos, big Barracuda, Pacific Whitefish and, believe it or not, a Sunfish.  Anyone ever hear of one of these being caught on a fly? 

All in all we hooked 8 species of fish and learned a great deal about this awesome fishery that will help out future groups of fly rodders targeting these tough gamefish.  Using flies that mimicked anchovies, sardines and squid was the most productive but mackerel and lizard fish imitations also worked from time to time.  

Anyway, great trip, great folks and great fishing.  Going back next year for sure.  BTW we have a couple of openings for our October trip left. Email me if you have questions.   Ken@fishermensspot.com

Dads & Grads Sale

Dads and Grads Super Specials

We have some really great special offers to buy for Dads and grads (or yourself. Come on, you deserve it).  These deals are good through June 17 and limited to stock on hand unless otherwise noted.

Spend $100 or more, excluding sales tax, on any new, non discounted rod or reel and receive a 10% Merchandise Certificate which will be valid for 120 days from Date of issue.

Rod Closeout

We have some premium rods on closeout @ 30% off MSRP.  These, typically, do not last long.  These are Major brands with lifetime warranties.  Call the shop (818) 785-7306 for more details.

Abel Reels

● Each new black or solid finish reel ordered receives a solid color nipper at no charge.  

● Each new fish graphic reel ordered receives a matching fish graphic nipper at no charge.

● DeYoung Graphics reels receive a standard brown trout, or standard brook trout nipper at no charge. 

Note: Abel Reels can be special ordered and still take advantage of the special offer. 

20% off Select Fishing Shirts from Simms, Orvis and Redington

20% off all Landing Nets including Brodin

20% off all Luggage

20% off all Scientific Mastery Textured Fly Lines

20% off all regular priced Sunglasses

20% off Adamsbuilt and Redington Waders

Buy 12 flies get 6 free.

Hardy Daze.....

Hardy/Greys, Matuka Joe and a Cane Gathering

Saturday, June 23th 10AM-4:00PM

Come see and cast the new Hardy and Grey's Fly Rods including their Sintrex fly rods with their Silica Nano Matrix that produces an extremely strong and lightweight fly rod for all your fresh and saltwater needs.

Well known Eastern Sierra guide, Joe Contaldi, will be here to share his knowledge of the great fishing available and dial in your techniques to catch more trophy trout.  Joe’s presentations, at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. are full of great tips to improve your odds for catching that elusive big one.

In addition, Robert Bolt will be in our shop that weekend. Robert makes one of the finest bamboo rods on the market today. If you like Gary Howells' rods, you will love an R.K. Bolt fly rod. Robert bought all the remaining Howells' stock and has also developed his on interpretation of a Howells taper.

We will have some in store specials that day as well, including: We Pay Your Sales Tax on all Hardy/Grey's products over $100. 

There will be a real treat for the fly tyers in the crowd with fly tying demonstrations with two great tiers on hand, internationally renowned Steven Fernandez and our own fly tying instructor, Glenn Hiroyasu. Plus, throughout the day there will be local fishing seminars with our local guru, Darrell Kunitomo. 

Sunday, June 24th 9:00AM-3:00 PM 

Collectors from all over California will gather to show off, trade or sell Bamboo Fly Rods as well as collectable fly fishing equipment and ephemera. This year we have invited cane rod builders and cane rod collectors. This should be a major showing of what is available in California cane.  If you have the old stuff for sale, bring your own table and chair and join us.

March Madness on the West Side

March Browns and just general trout madness is what's happening NOW. Savvy California anglers are already checking-in with Sierra Fly Fisher regarding some of the service's early season waters. Impressive fishing is to be had on the Merced and the Kings. Both have year round waters. Sierra Fly Fisher's March Brown camp is promising to be better than ever because no one will be looking over their shoulder for fear of sudden and dangerous spikes in flows due to runoff. Sure flows will fluctuate but, again, in no way as intense as normal. Shame to think that one should take advantage of mother nature but she laid the cards on the table and the cards say "Well, yeah it was a sucky winter but if you want to fish early season, be my guest!". Give SFF a call ASAP at (559) 683-7664 if you care to discuss!




* Featured photos by Andrew Maurer and Bernard Yin