#frsurf

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 Kevin DeGulis reports on 5.9.19

Open Ocean Time

Well, it's starting to be that time! Fish have finally made it to San Francisco's famous Ocean Beach. In the past, three or four days the swell has become much more manageable to giving fly anglers a chance to hook into some nice healthy fish. The LCO team is hugely excited for the opportunity to get into a toad; many believe you can only get a behemoth of a fish on the east coast. That is not the case you have plenty of opportunities to catch a hog within easy driving distance for the city, gotta be willing to battle the Pacific swell.

Two-Handed rods certainly has made it much easier to cast in a headwind, and we love Beulah's new 7/8 Opal Switch Rod the perfect tool for the job. We have been matching the rod with a Sage Spectrum LT 9/10 or Sage Spectrum Max 9/10.

Lines - 10wt shooting heads from Rio or 30ft of T-14 for the open ocean and you can even go heavier.  If you have any questions, come into the shop, and we would love to help you get ready for beach season.

Fish /Photo: Steve Adachi

Conservation Note:

In the past two weeks, the bay has been clear which is unusually for such an extended period, also, LCO teammate Steve Adachi saw two dead Leopard Sharks in the south bay. A cause for concern absolutely, we are just guessing, but a lack of plankton in the water could explain for both events.

The bay has gone through abuse since San Francisco's early days, going through a dramatic change in a short period. Many nonprofit organizations are helping with cleaning up the bay, for example, California Trout: https://caltrout.org/?s=San+Francisco+bay.

Capt. Kevin DeGulis reports on 4.23.19

The San Francisco Bay is started fishing well in early March. LCO teammate Will, and I checked out Crissy Field at a Low tide on March 13th, 2019, we were able to wrangle a smaller California halibut., this seemed to mark the start of the season.

The past month has been excellent for schoolie size striped bass from shore, places like Marin and Crissy field have been our top producers, but I am sure the entire bay has filled in.

It has been a struggle to be 100% consistent at Crissy Field, that beach is so fragile, but Tides, do play a significant role in the sucess rate. After looking deep into my daily notes, outgoing vs. incoming tides have been about even.  The latter part of the incoming hasn't produced. 

But the beginning of the incoming tide has been on fire. So chose the part of the flow wisely, remember on the west coast we have semidiurnal mixed tides,  a type of tidal pattern that experiences two high tides, two low tides, two flood currents, two ebb currents in one 24 hr and 50 minute period. 

Due to water levels being significantly different, tides are different, as is the water level of two lows. I have come up with a term that might help "tide within a tide" meaning in a 6ft tidal swing the fish might only choose to feed for an hour instead of entire four.  In summary, find the time of the tide they are most likely feeding.

Enough about tides lets talk size of fish! The past three weeks have been schoolies, but last Friday Tyler LCO ambassador stuck a 32-inch striped bass off Crissy Field. Just like last year, this is the mark that big fished have arrived.

Gear Checklist 

Opal 7/8 Switch Rod - https://www.lostcoastoutfitters.com/products/opal-surf-rod-7-8-110

Stripping Basket - https://www.lostcoastoutfitters.com/products/take-stripping-basket

SA Clouser - https://www.lostcoastoutfitters.com/collections/striper-flies/products/steve-adachi-surf-clouser-purple-the-joker

Surf Perch Fly - https://www.lostcoastoutfitters.com/collections/striper-flies/products/steve-adachi-surf-clouser-purple-the-joker

20lb test - https://www.lostcoastoutfitters.com/products/maxima-ultragreen

Waterproof pack - https://www.lostcoastoutfitters.com/products/simms-g4-pro-sling-pack

Wet wading wool bottoms - https://www.lostcoastoutfitters.com/products/ultra-wool-core-bottom-raven

Quick Dry Shorts - https://www.lostcoastoutfitters.com/products/simms-surf-short-hextech-camp-storm

Sun protection - https://www.lostcoastoutfitters.com/products/simms-solarflex-cool-hoody-granite

Evan Praskin reports on 3.14.19

I can feel it! Spring is approaching, the smell of migration is in the air, and the bluebird days are becoming more frequent. The striped bass are still being caught down here in Monterey Bay, but you’re going to need to pay your dues and cover water for these “washouts.” Last weekend the annual Sand Crab Classic perch tournament took place in Santa Cruz. 

This is a great event that raises money for the Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project whose mission is to recover the native salmon and steelhead population in the Monterey Bay region. With 300 participants only a small percentage are fly anglers, but it still puts up a great challenge and a fun competition among the local surf fly fishers. In a perch tournament, it’s really anyone’s game, and that’s what makes it so fun. 

You have miles of beaches to fish which all have populations of surf perch, and the difference between placing in the top 3 and coming in last is within a few inches. Well, this year my fish just happened to have the extra inch needed to take home 1st. I caught many fish in the 9-12” range all morning but knew I needed bigger to place. Finally a nice 15” hit my self tied “Trench bomb” fly and gave me hope that I’d be in the running. Low tide was at first light so we were fishing the incoming from 6am-noon. I could tell right away that the fish were drawn out and still settled on the back shelf so long casts counted! Most my fish were hooked at 60-80ft out until about 9:30 when the tide pushed up and filled in the closer holes. I let my heavy shooting head sit with tension from the wave and worked it as slow as the waves allowed, yet still remaining in contact with the fly, this was the key to getting a bite! 

Capt. Kevin DeGulis reports on 3.14.19

Last night on a hide tide LCO teammate Will roped into a 16-inch CALIFORNIA Halibut (not Pacific) at our local beach Crissy field. The past three days in San Francisco have been sunny and warm which will create more activity in the bay. If this weather keeps up, soon the water will clear to two or three feet in visibility. Hopefully, stripers from the Delta will come back to the salt in good numbers giving the city by the bay an unforgettable spring.

As the end of March approaches, I am increasing getting excited and most importantly prepared. The only way to learn is to fish areas on different tides and practice casting. I use to "practice my casting while fishing." this mindset has held my cast back,  just normalizing bad habits developed from constantly casting heavy shooting heads.

Since I want to be on the beach at once a day, I am going to keep myself on a strict schedule. At least two days a week in the morning I will practice at the Golden Gate Angling and Casting Pools in Golden Gate Park.  Most likely an eight weight Single Hand rod with a tropical floating line a Bonefish Quickshooter or tarpon line that has a heavier head will do just fine.

Safeway baskets are the best

Evan Praskin reports on 3.7.19

Last weekend I had the pleasure of taking out a return client, and now good friend Lars from Denmark. I called and told him the swell looks good with ok wind in the AM, the downside is we are going to get dumped on most of the morning. He replied “sounds good! What time are we meeting?” Gotta love the spirit. We charged the Surf in hopes of some early season “special treat” stripers that have washed out from the surrounding rivers and creeks. 

These fish hit the surf and start gorging on sand crabs, but then tend to spread out. I was hoping to catch some that went north, but no such luck on that day. We did bump into some perch which always do a good job keeping spirits up. Lars and I both agreed that it’s always a fantastic day when you’re wading the surf with good company, regardless of the fishing. 

As we approach the springtime run everyone should dust off those larger wt rods and grease those elbows. If you are thinking about switching over to the fly rod in the surf, or want to learn more and check that surf striper off the list this season, be sure to check out one of our upcoming surf clinics! 

Evan Praskin reports on 1.31.19

The past few weekends down here in the Monterey Bay have been excellent! Winter perch season is in full swing with some great quality fish to be caught all over! The population of bigger slot fish are impressive this season with plenty of breeding ready females in the mix.

 Perch are abundant and keeping fish will not hurt the fishery, but we do try our best to release big females since they will be the creators of future populations. 

Especially handle these girls with care later in the year when they are full of babies! Stripers are being caught down here near the river mouth beaches, all these fish are washouts from the recent breaches but give us some excitement as we anticipate the main migratory run of bass.

Evan Praskin reports on 1.21.19

Winter swells! This winter has been excellent for perch fishing if you can find a window in between the surging swells. The benefit of all this energy is it creates some great contour on the beach giving those perch some good grounds to hold in. 

The days are hit or miss so if you find yourself struggling out there during these heavy conditions be sure to keep moving until you find the school of fish, sometimes they are pulled off the front shelf and staged further back out of our fly gears reach, so keep exploring until you find a close cut that is reachable. PRO TIP: if you can manage keeping in contact with your fly, try leaving it in the zone as long as possible by stripping tight, pausing, and let your flys swing into the trench or holes while throwing in a few strips to maintain contact. This swinging technique has helped saved the day more than once. 

When the surf is so turbulent the perch sometimes have trouble tracking down the fly, this method will increase your chances by keeping your gear in the zone a bit longer. On the days the beach is too rough we search  for other options, local tributaries and runoff streams have been keeping us busy in the meantime with their residential striper populations.