In the Surf

Played hooky from work today, well not really I requested two of my floating holidays, so I still got paid for last night and tonight, the best part of it all I went fly fishing the surf!

The morning here in SoCal was pretty much uneventful, not as much traffic as I would have thought on the 10 freeway heading west bound towards Santa Monica. I made it to the beach in about 15 minutes which is pretty awesome if you have ever been in Los Angeles traffic.

Arriving at my destination in the dark morning hours I start to suit up with my waders boots and pullover kayaking paddlers jacket. The kayak jacket keeps me pretty much dry if I get blasted by a wave, plus it helps keep the ocean out of my waders. As I'm getting my gear ready I see the fantastic sunrise, I wish I would have brought along the DSLR to snap a few photos, but alas I'm here to fly fish and not photography.



I string up my TFO TiCrX 6wt, I paired it up with a Galvan spooled up with WF 200 grain sinking line and 12lb fluoro. I started off with a chartreuse and white clouser and only get a few bumps for the first hour in the surf. I start thinking to myself, it's going to be one of those days. I decide to cut off the clouser and substitute the fly for a Surf rat. This little red attractor pattern is very reliable.



The new fly produces my first fish of the morning, and it's on my second cast with the surf rat, this could be a good omen. I come up with a tiny little barred surf perch, it's almost as small as the fly, maybe about two and a half inches or so bigger. Well at least I'm not going to be skunked on this fly fishing session.



I start to pick up perch on every two or three cast. Varied sized barred surf perch, nothing to spectacular. I even put one in the stripping basket.



The bite slows down as the school seems to have moved somewhere down the surf or out to deeper waters. I walk down the beach looking for structure or nervous water. I spot a good deep hole with the nervous looking water as well. I make my cast and come up with a nicer sized BSP, I'm really having fun with these slabs.



The hole produced some really nice fish, I stayed until the bite completely shuts off for whatever the reason may be. I truly had an awesome time fly fishing the surf. With gas prices going through the roof, the surf here in SoCal is perfect for a quick morning session on the fly.



2011 is proving to be a fishy new year thus far. I hope this fishy streak continues for the rest of the year.

See ya in the surf!
The SoCal Fly Fisher