#frbay

Capt. Kevin DeGulis reports on 11.2.18

Angel Island 

Striper Island! (Angel Island)! October is known as the world series bite in the San Francisco Bay for Striped Bass. 

LCO hosted an educational surf clinic on Angel Island to celebrate the fantastic fishery we have right here in our backyard. 

But this was no ordinary surf clinic; it involved Capt. Gregg Holland from Featherdog Outfitters, bringing his 21' Steiger craft center console boat.

 These east coast style boats are striper machines, initially designed for Long Beach, New York, it plays nicely throughout the bay and just past the gate. There are two things I look at when picking a boat to handle excellent striper fishing, either in rips right off Point Bonita, the swell off Ocean Becah, and the swallows of Tiburuon.

1) Weight and Beam: You need a heavy boat! The Ocean is no joke! You need a vessel that can handle chop, waves, and strong tides to stay safe. The Steiger is an 8'6" beam giving you the steadiest to cast a flyrod.

2) Draft: You need a boat that has a draft less than 4 feet, These big stripers can hold in less than 3 feet of water.

Now for the day on striper Island! The group met in the Tiburuon parking lot at 9:15 am getting organized for the 10:00 am ferry boat. Once on the island, we made the 2.5-mile hike to Perle's beach on the southern side facing towards the San Francisco Skyline.

This beach was our education station, while groups of three would be picked up by Capt. Gregg to fly fish from a boat. We wanted to create an experience, that would allow participants to understand what it takes to fly fish the open surf and out of a moving vessel.

The day was a  success since some fished from 7:00 am to 5:20 pm, and were able to catch the different tides. The sizeable incoming tide in the morning produced the most fish during the day.  

A lot of the time I hear the most satisfying part of Fly Fishing is getting out of the city, and I agree. Taking advantage of Angel Island is a way to do that without driving four hours. 

Angel Island offers solitude and natural beauty, but this is not the only place you can escape while fishing the surf. Campsites are in abundance throughout the striper migration, Point Reyes, Big Basin, and Kirby cove are just a few examples.

Captain Greg Holland reports on 5.14.19

The Bay is fishing well right now with gentle tides and fin bait moving in. 

Clarity has been great with no wind most mornings making conditions perfect for chasing bass on the fly. 

Please join us for one of the most beautiful places on earth to fly fish for Stripers. We have all gear necessary for your day.  Call the boys @ LCO to set up your trip.  

Capt. Gregg C 707-567-1509

Capt. Kevin DeGulis reports on 10.18.18

Bay 

Wold Series Bite! Too bad the Athletics are in the playoffs anymore but who cares we have striped bass in the bay! The past two weeks have been a blast out at Crissy field, but it can be entirely tide based.

For example, I got to Crissy at 6:30 am, the tide was slack at 5:22 am so, in theory, the tidal flow should have been running for about an hour. As I walked to the water, I noticed the tide wasn't running strong quiet yet. Right at 7:00 am the water was moving and clean, hooking into fish at 7:12 am, the water was utterly dirty by 7:50 am. In conclusion, I had a 45 minutes window of having a chance of hooking into something.

Not saying I am a 100% right on with my hypothesis, but these kinds of situations happened to me over and over again this past season.

yes that striper was fantastic 

So people have asked, "where do I cast." "how far are the fish." an experienced surf flyfisher will say "cast everywhere" so do it!

I think its the simplicity of it for me, I don't need a boat; I don't even need shoes to catch fish from the surf.  One quote goes well with fly fishing the ocean "Once you get there let me know"- Steve Adachi.

 I believe this means you will never get there; it's a goal that can't have a measurement because let's be honest humans will never fully understand the ocean.  

Surf

We had our latest surf clinic at Stinson Beach, up in Marin County. Stinson not only is incredible town but my favorite beach to fish in the entire migration. We had the pleasure of the Diablo Valley Fly Fishermen club members for the clinic. 

In the morning the wind was high, but we seemed to do just fine because the wind was coming from the northwest. 

After a couple of hours of casting and instructions, the group headed out for our second go at fly fishing the beach. 

Evan Praskin of Strokeventures Fly Fishing was able to get into an excellent striped bass feeding in the milky foam whitewater only 40 feet from the beach.

Overall an incredible day at Stinson Beach, the next stop was Big Sur. Before the striper season would officially end on the coast I wanted to check out Carmel and Big Sur to do some recon. 

I have always heard that the stripers stop going south after Monterey but I wanted to check it out for myself. sure enough, I hooked into one perch, with no signs of stripers. 

Exploring highway 1 has been a blast fish or no fish, the amount of water that is fishable throughout the California Coast is overwhelming. A good thing! As you start the journey of fly fishing, the surf remembers you can bring a rod to any beach if you are traveling to any coastal area give it a shot.  For example, George Revel fishing for Steelhead on the shores of Russia.

Or back in 2016 when fishing for Atlantic Striped bass on the coast of Nantucket, Mass. 

If you have a business meeting in New York City, a family vacation in Miami. A visit down to Southern California remember to bring your surf fly rod, a wallet of different types of shooting heads, flies, and your handy dandy travel stripping basket. You never know what surf creature you might run into when ocean meets lands.

Capt. Greg Holland reports on 10.4.18

The World Series bite is on. Great Fall conditions combined with large groups of stripers are providing fantastic days on the water. 

Please call or drop me a note to reserve your day on the bay.

San Francisco Bay Fly Fishing Report

Capt. Kevin DeGulis reports on 9.20.18

Bay Bay Bay Bay Bay! San Francisco Bay!

Another successful surf clinic in the books

Couldn't be more excited for the next two months of striper fly fishing in the San Francisco Bay. 

Fish are in the system and hungry, Last week LCO teammates Ben Engle and George Revel went on a mission covering all areas of the bay. 

Capt. Kevin DeGulis reports 9.13.18

Its been an excellent week in the San Francisco Bay and it is only going to get better. We are in the thick of the striped bass migration, but other ocean-going aquatic animals are coming into the bay as well. What is exciting and becoming a growing phenomenon is California Halibut on the fly. Here are some keys to success when targeting Halibut on the fly. 

1. Sandy Bottoms: The San Francisco Bay has sections with sandy bottoms, these flatfish will use the shallow sandy bottoms to sun themselves on hot fall days.

Halibut from Tyler Kolligian

2. Edges of rock structure: Often you can find California Halibut off areas that have stable flat structures which most of the time have seaweed or seagrass growing off of it. The halibut feel safe, and the cover of the seagrass gives them an excellent ambush area for pouncing on bait fish.

3. Black, Orange, Yellow, and Red Colors Clouser: Surprising Halibut come up for these baitfish patterns.

Evan Praskin reports on 9.6.18

This weekend I had the pleasure of taking out Lars who was visiting the SFbay on a business trip from the UK. Since he visits a few times a year, he wanted to learn about the local waters and how to approach them. I picked him up at his hotel downtown and after a quick breakfast we were at our first stop within 15 minutes( a very short Uber ride if you are car less.)  After a few casts he was already into his first surf species, a barred surf perch, my favorite! We continued on in hopes of intersecting a nice striper, but the swell increased and the tide fell making conditions a bit tough with the waves breaking on the shore. Packed it up and moved inside the gates for some calmer conditions ( just a 10 minute drive.) The halibut bite has been pretty good and there are definitely some striper in the mix! But some days are better than others, all about time on the water. Some days they come within minutes, other days they are nowhere to be found. 

All in all the day was fantastic, those UK guys have some great stories and some pretty awesome fishing opportunities! Lars had a great day hunting and was happy to of had some America surf success. He left feeling pretty confident on how to approach the bay during his next trip out. 

Capt. Kevin DeGulis reports on 8.29.18

Wow, what a week in the surf. It seems we have finally hit the dog dawgs of summer and things seem to be clearing up.  It all started on Thursday, with my new two-hand switch rod set up (highly recommend). Schoolies couldn't get enough of Clouser minnows, and this was the first time in a month I was able to find a consistent amount of stripers from the surf. Schoolies are an excellent sign and what is to come in the next month, so get ready. 

Lost Coast hosted another surf clinic at Crissy Field. This time the Halibut bite came early and often as Irin pulled in a California Halibut on her first cast in the salt. Unfortunately, the halibut was a little too small to eat if just a couple of inches bigger the clinic would have gourmet lunch. 

Overall we had a fantastic time; the participants were eager to understand the tides and timing which are great questions to ask. As freshwater fly fisherman come to check out the surf, I have to continually remind individuals that it is an entirely different type of fly fishing altogether. I use the analogy that its the difference between basketball and soccer, yes you are still using a ball (fishing), but it's just a different game. 

Max with a nice one