A Striper Bum in Trout country

    I grew up on the East Coast, Long Island to be exact. Although I started fly fishing when I was twelve, I never caught a Trout on a fly until I was almost seventeen. It wasn’t for lack of locales, more so it was a lack of desire. I started with Bass and Bluegill and quickly graduated to Bluefish and Stripers. Trout were more of an afterthought in my fishing ventures and in many ways still are. When I would chase Trout in my teenage years it was because they were the first species that the season opened for. I would ride the bus or hitchhike to whatever lake seemed to offer the most promise (read: most heavily stocked). With a spinning outfit a few Mepps Roostertails and maybe some bait I was set for the day.

    Fast forward several years and go clear across the country.  I got a job offer that brought me to California in January. I’d never been and well, it was freaking January in New York. Work kept me pretty busy the first couple of weeks and then suddenly I realized I was in the middle of the desert. I’d seen the beach out here but mention of fishing; much less fly fishing just brought confused looks from the locals. I may have even been asked if that was a new type of surfing or I could just be remembering poorly, it wouldn’t be the first time.

    Los Angeles quickly lost my interest and I soon found myself in the high Sierras packing mules and smack dab in some of the prettiest Trout country you ever saw.  It was hard to pass much of the water I was riding by, so naturally, I didn’t.  With an eight and a half foot five weight stuck in one of the panniers I made some, umm, extended stops. Purely to let the stock rest of course. Catching smallish wild fish on dries has a way of becoming addicting to nearly anyone and I still find myself laughing to the trees when a wild Brown misses the fly and leaps several times it’s body length out of the water.

 Although work, family and more have brought me back to L.A. I still find my way to the high country to fish for Trout on occasion. I don’t think that they will ever take the place of my beloved Stripers, they do make for a nice diversion here and there; mostly when the lakes seem completely devoid of any fish with stripes. So what if I may make a stop on the way home to sight fish to some Carp (my second favorite type of fishing). When I’m there I’m perfectly happy giving myself over to watching my fly bounce along the surface until it disappears with a flash of either buttery yellow or silver and rose.

                                           Till next time.

                            Cuda Time! Sort of


 The last couple of weeks have promised big Barracuda at almost every turn. For reference Pacific Barracuda do not get nearly as big as their Atlantic brethren, a big one here is anything over 8 or 9 pounds. The sport boats have been tearing it up, so naturally I've been unable to find myself a ride to the Barracuda grounds. That finally changed yesterday.

 We knew that the big body of fish had pushed up the coast from us so we were hoping to find a few stragglers or some fish from the second push, although they tend to be smaller they stick around a lot longer.  A 2:30 AM wake up is not on my list of fond things but when you hear it's an early bite you do what you've gotta do.  I made the drive to my buddies house and we loaded the boat and headed to the LBC.

 Rigged and ready we finally made the Horseshoe kelp around 6ish and started looking around. A big spot on the meter turned up a lone Calico Bass before we drifted off the spot. More running around and a couple of hours later I spotted promising looking bird activity. I grabbed the 8wt stripped off some line and made a cast. A long thirty second count later and I started my retrieve. My head is always on a swivel while I'm chasing fish that can pop up at a moments  notice and I was looking away when I felt the grab. I set the hook and a few runs later saw the color of the fish beneath the boat. There's no mistaking the look of a Cuda when it's in the water; Long and sexy with that bright yellow tail that always seems to be enhanced by the blues of the ocean.

  Sure enough as Rob is getting ready with the Boga, one last head shake and it's gone. I picked up the last of my line expecting to see a clean slice through the 50lb fluoro I was using as a shock tippet. No such luck..my fly was still there I just hadn't set the hook hard enough. Damn. I looked over and said "I sure hope I didn't screw up my only fish of the day." I don't have to tell you that of course I had. We spent another couple of hours searching but no more schools materialized. Rob decided to bang the wall with clousers and I decide to just catch a nap on the deck.


 That's Fishing

DW

 

Have Carp gotten Trendy?

    I recently got involved in a conversation with someone who's married to a fly fisherman. Naturally the subject of Carping with a fly rod came up. I stated that it was nice to see more of the Carp subculture showing up in ads. She then told me that she didn't think that classifying Carp fishing as a "subculture" was accurate. As an example she used her husband whom she described as your typical bamboo-dry-fly-only-trout-snob. Within the last year or so he had taken up fly fishing for Carp, so obviously it must be going mainstream.  I'm not sure that I agree with that logic though. It could just be that I like feeling that I'm once again part of a subculture again. It reminds me of listening to Nirvana in my bedroom wondering why nobody understands me.

 In reality though I still have many customers come in to the store wondering what that funny looking fish is. I've had customers come in and say "geez I need to get you guys some pictures, you've got a Carp on the board for Chrissakes!"   I know, I know, it's hard to find a fly shop that doesn't have a picture of some sun-bleached dude in a visor and shorts holding a Carp bugle first into the camera lens. Blogs hailing the virtues of Carp abound.  Every company now carries a Carp fly selection and most shop rats are wandering brown canals for Carp on their days off. I still don't think it's mainstream. When we see ads with a guy in tweed standing waist deep in some brown frog water maybe I'll believe it. I still think we're a ways off from having some metrosexual admiring the spawning colors of a Carp along the banks of the L.A. River while pondering how it relates to the meaning of life. I'm glad for that!

 Until then I may have to find a fish that's slightly less trendy though....Gar anyone?

WHO DAT?

Well I'm finally back on the interwebs with something other than my phone.  I know it's been a while so I figured I'd lend some of my legendary wisdom and insights since my last post.

1. A PayPal account is not neccessarily a good thing. While I now have some bitchen clothes from www.skinnywaterculture.com , The Fiberglass Manifesto and www.southerncultureonthefly.com in addition to others my wife is not nearly as happy with the situation as I am.

2. A 4 year old is a good selling tool. Not in that way you sick bastages. I mean dressing up your kid in a fish costume and fighting her from the bow of your derelict boat in the driveway is freaking hilarious.

3. Just chill, Things aren't always as bad/desperate as I seem to want to make them. Taaking things in sttride and not being afraid to speak your mind are both good things...it's the timing that takes getting used to.

4. If you think it's a good idea, chances are that someone else does too. Find that person and either beat them senseless so that you get there first or work together and get there faster.

That's about as much knowledge as I'm gonna drop on you right now..except one last thing.

When in Philly You'ze has to have the cheesesteak!

Later
DW

Marriage and fishing

Because I fish so much I get asked all the time "how do you do it?". I say proper pre-screening is key. I had a girlfriend many years ago that was a smoking hot borderline nymphomaniac, sounds perfect right? She had one major flaw. Let me set the scenerio.
   
  We decided to go to a lake that was quite a ways down some dirt roads in Montauk, NY. When we get there she gets out of the Jeep pulls a tent out and starts setting it up. I'm thinking to myself that if she gets tired of fishing she wants to be able to take a nap, that's fine by me I prefer being unencumbered while I'm fishing anyway. I set up a couple of rods for myself and she sets up one for herself( I still have to tie the damn knots though). We wade into this fantastic warm water and start casting. It is literally a fish every or every other cast, all cookie cutter Largemouths about 2-3 lbs each. Do you have any idea how much fun that is? Did I mention she had a bikini top on? Well after about an hour or so of this she sidles up next to me and asks if I want to go to the tent. Didn't I say that we were getting fish on nearly every cast?

  I of course keep casting and she goes back to the tent after whispering some other nonsense that I never heard in between casting to and catching bass. RED FLAG number 1- NO suitable mate would ever leave active fish to go hang out in a tent! After a few minutes(O.K. it was 45 of them) she peeks out of the tent and asks if I'm going to join her any time soon. I have moved a little further down the bank looking for a fresh batch of fish and almost fail to notice that she is topless. RED FLAG number 2- No suitable mate would ever seek to distract someone that is stalking fish! I mean I nearly tripped over that log and scared the 4 lb'r that was lurking on the other side!

 As it started getting dark I heard the horn beeping. She had already packed up the tent and was waiting patiently(no, not really) for me to stop fishing aand go home. RED FLAG number 3- No suitable mate would honestly expect that darkness would put an end to fishing. I seriously started questioning the relationship at this point, especially when she threatened to drive off and leave me there. RED FLAG number 4- No suitable mate would leave you alone and in the dark without at least bringing coffee and some food so that you could fish through the night!

 Sad to say that shortly after that we broke up, I'm still not sure why. It did however impress upon me some very important characteristics of a suitable fishing wife.

1- She needs to realize that fishing comes before all else.
2- Sometimes that new hyper-graphite space technology rod IS more important than paying rent on time.
3-It's probably better if she either doesn't fish or is as addicted as you are.
4-If she's going to be out in the woods topless than she better have a (fishing) rod in her hand and not try to distract you from that fish you're hunting.
5-She MUST realize that the fish will NOT be there later and if they are then that just means you can catch more of them.
6-Fishing comes before all else.

There are more but I'm hoping that when somebody actually starts following this blog that they'll post their own ideas.


Later
DW

Getting Started

I feel a little stupid writing this, seeing as how I'm the only one that can read it right now. This is just me getting going here as the title so obviously states. First thing to figure out is how to resize my damn photos so that I can have a background that actually says something about me and MY awesomeness. Instead of making it simple with an auto resize they are making me get off my ass and actually learn something about how to make a computer work for me, instead of the other way around. Usually I would just write it off and say "fuck it" (strong language will pop up here from time to time). However, since this is mine and I have to own it I better learn. So, with that little intro if someone does actually read this and can help a technological cripple any advice would be appreciated.

Later
DW