BridgeLips and Wizards of Current

Bull Run River

I have very little personal fishing history with Salmon. My first experience fishing for Salmon was in the Wisconsin on the way out to Oregon. We stopped to visit Naomi's mom's place in Milwaukee WI in September of 2006 and I walked down to the Milwaukee River near its confluence with Lake Michigan expecting an opportunity to fish for Smallmouth in a skanky urban river.  I was really surprised to see Chinook rolling in there in September.  Ended up having a really good day the next day landing 4 of 6 big landlocked Chinook a Smallmouth and a Walleye! . Catching them on spoons and bucktail jigs and struggling with my 10lb. test travel rod. 

spinner caught post-spawn

In Oregon in 2008 I made a few forays out to the lower Sandy River at the delta in late October fishing black marabou jigs and wading in the same quicksand that terrified Lewis and Clark in that area.  I love the look of that Delta but it did not end up being very fishy for me. It has no good trout water in that low stretch. It is big, wide and sandy and thus hard to fish.  But I did have a ton of fun riding my bike out there in the dark and did catch my first Steelhead smolt casting a micro spinner to it right under the big Highway 84 bridge.

"Everything pulls hard." Quote to me ca. 1995 from Klee a Bahamian fisherman

Eagle Creek

I had one of those odd fishing experiences over Labor day weekend where you get more than you ask for.  I was fishing a 1/4 oz. purple curl tail jig off the jetty at Tillamook and had only hooked one Black Rockfish in hours of casting. The one other guy fishing out there was new to the area from Spokane so I was filling him in on what I knew. I mentioned that this was theoretically a spot where you could have a chance at a Salmon from shore while still in the saltwater. So I eventually put my money where my mouth was and put on a heavier 1/2 oz. jig head so I could fish further out and deeper in the channel. I had fixated on a spot where the jetty wall had collapsed forming a small penninsula of big rocks out into the channel and the current spiraled around it.  Cast upstream, let it sink 10 seconds, bounce bounce. I was gambling with the jig getting it down into the kelp. Only a few casts in right up next to the rocks I hooked what I thought was a VERY solid rockfish. The hit had that vertical bounce of a Rockfish which then proceeded to peel tons of line off the reel and sped out to mid channel at a speed impossible for a Rockfish.  It then came up at did a surface thrash and I could see all the chrome silver of a bright Salmon. Then it ran again out even further and surface thrashed and threw the jig. Me being severely outgunned with 10lb. line was really fun. I have learned to love the "no handed release" but I now have this reel spooled with 30 lb. braid. 

Flash forward exactly 1 month:

Sandy River near spawning sites

I have made a serious attempt to start a regular "fishing practice". Our shop is not open on Mondays so I have been trying to take every Monday and go fish somewhere close to home. 6 weeks in a row ... and it is making me very happy.

tiny tackle shop at Troutdale

In early October I headed out the the Sandy River for a day of chasing fall Salmon in the fresh water. Still too shy financially to get a fly rod bigger than my 5 wt. I was armed with my selection of french blade spinners. I decided to stop and fish a nice looking rocky spot on the lower river as I knew the upper river would be crowded with more people.  I got a good wadeable stretch all to myself.  At this point in the season most people seem to be fishing the big holes generally with something on a bobber. I was casting a big #5 all gold Blue Fox. I was thrilled out of my mind to hook a big post-spawn native female Chinook in a seam next to a crazy long slot rapid. The fish tore into the heavy chop current and made 2 nice long runs. This fish was much easier to stop than the fish still in the saltwater.  I love these Blue Fox spinners with the slow rotation on the blade that you can feel with the braided line and cork handle. I got her back in the water and she swam of with surprising energy.

Successful Session with Spinners in the Clackamas River

inside tiny tackle shop

In late October  -  I was still looking for the odd chinook or coho. I want to avoid people as much as catch fish.  I ended up finding that there is a fish count for the Clackamas  River and reading that there are a handful summer steelhead in the river as of Oct 14.  By mid afternoon --- after a long walk along slippery rocks exploring a new section of the Sandy River I gave up on that river.  I discovered a connector road that gets me to the Clackamas River in 20 minutes.  Exploring again by wading far from parking lot on foot I found some good nervous water on the river.  Not as much curve or bend in the river as I would like but and not overly bouldery --- but swift and uneven bottom with medium size cobble - whitecapping in a big area from the turbulence caused by the uneven bottom.  I was hoping for a summer fish so I switched down the spinner to a #4  --- bumped down again to tarnished copper instead of gold and managed to catch 2 small hatchery Steelhead. (barbs are pinched on these)
 

a young Clackamas Steelhead

Mountain Whitefish

The next week  I waded a large portion Eagle Creek park on an upper tributary of the Clack.   I was trying to find Coho… I have never caught a Coho and was trying to add one to my "life list" I suppose.   I have heard they are notoriously hard to get to bite when they are in spawning mode. I have experienced hard to catch jack Coho at the mouth of the Clackamas.   But saw 4 dead coho way up into the Eagle Creek tributary.   I caught a bunch of small trout on micro spinners with the barbs pinched.  I kept walking downstream until the Eagle Creek met the Clackamas River.  This section looks good - not great but good - I fished the low clear water very systematically casting then taking a step - repeat.  At the tail of a big pool I caught my first Mountain Whitefish.  It killed a big spinner and fought valiantly the way all trash fish do.  I thought if I could figure out how to target this fish by fishing the deeper water and the tails of pools I could have a blast. Cascades Ladyfish !

 I Regress onto Bait Boat:

Dave fighting Chinook

Chrome Tidewater Chinook

In Early November I had the super lucky privilege of getting out on a boat in Tillamook Bay near Garibaldi, OR. My freind Dave Barmon of Fiddlehead Landscapes had an extra spot on Pete Wilson of Pete Wilson Stoneworks 20'+ Boat.  Pete was nice enough to have somebody along he had not met. It was a good education for me.  I like most types of fishing and had never done this type of trolling before.  It was that spinning a plug cut herring on 4 conventional 30 lb. test rods behind the boat - with spreader bars and a 5 oz. weight!! kooky!   (BTW NO Snook or Tarpon would EVER hit a live bait that is literally spinning. If you rig a live shrimp so that it spins in Florida - forget about it - nothing is touching that weirdness)  We trolled an area called the Ghost Hole with many other boats.  This would also be my first experience "combat" fishing - with a high concentration of boats. But we hooked 3 big Chinook and landed 2 it was really fun. Though I did really miss getting to feel the fish hit. Trolling not so much about fishing skills but very much about life skills - organizing your life to have a boat. So very different from fly fishing at 7700'. So I think I am getting a very well rounded Oregon fishing education.

I have cried three times this fall:

moody Garibaldi Harbor

The first time cried this fall as I was walking along the trail beside Bull Run River and realizing the Salmon I saw spawning had endured years at sea evading possibly Blue Sharks and Steller Sea Lions and Fisherpeople and Boats at the mouth of the Columbia - ascended all these sets of rapids to make their way all the way back here to spawn in 18" of water.  I was alone and looking at 3 spawning pairs of Fall Chinook. These fish represent the elite of the elite - one in 1000 fish - the class of returning spawners.

The second time I cried this fall was when I got a new 9 wt. fly rod and reel in the mail from my dad.  It came in the mail while I was at work. I had asked to borrow his old 9 wt. for winter Steelhead season and the assjack actually sent me a new rod and reel. 

Then I cried again when I was driving to the river early in the morning realizing how many people were breaking up or struggling with relationships.

Bridge Lips portion

Wed Nov. 13  

 Naomi ran the ENTIRE 30 mile Wildwood Trail on Monday. Of which I ran the last 18 with her... !!  She had been wanting to run this since we moved here. And then I also got a Wednesday off work. I had the choice to go to the fly shop and rig my new fly reel or fish… and I chose fishing for the day. Last month - I had run in two Portland Water Bureau guys at Dodge Park doing a gravel survey of that area regarding suitability for Coho and Chinook spawning. I asked them if there were Suckers in that part of the river.
 They said they do see Bridgelip Suckers. I hit three parks with access along the Clackamas.  I landed 3 Bridgelip Suckers and jumped one Trout.  Bridgelips are a

Bridgelips Sucker

solid fish. Any fish that will hit lures and hit lures in a trout current is a great fish. Like Ladyfish !  This really saved the day for me to have something take a little bit of line.  Suckers are Wizards of Current. This was in the same area that I caught trout 3 weeks ago so I was using a Gold #3. I also got some more scoop on fly fishing this area from an old dude with a drift boat. (his fly looked exactly like 2 Aero Jigs i just bought - like a woolly bugger stuck to an egg…)

Some Fish Stuff of Interest:

This was apparently a record year for returning Fall Chinook to the Columbia. This is good. The Coho run I am not sure about… we had heavy rain that came early in the fall and then a dry October which likely set things back.

Also something that came up in the past few weeks is odd catches of species in odd places: A Mahi Mahi off Ilwaco, Washington! I am most interested in  the few recent documented Striped Bass in the Columbia River. One really large female of 71 lbs. !  There is an erie and cool photo of a Striped Bass passing through the fish ladder at Bonneville Dam back in June.  I will be looking for big ones in June someday - just under a giant school of Shad.

On November 8 was the premiere of WAYPOINTS a really good fly fishing documentary by Confluence Films. The trailers of all their films are worth watching.  I went with my friend Matt Reed who I think liked it. He might be afraid of Saltwater fish though.  

"This is my fishing rod. There are others like it but this one is mine." quote

sparky Clackamas Steelhead

from internet

Sandy River

Get out there and fish!

Wading for Cutbow (Godot...)

Sauvie's Island next to cows

The Strange - Sauvie's Island

Seriously headed for Eastern Oregon

We made a short drive out to kayak within Sauvie's Island - which is a large island in the Columbia River - near it's confluence w the Willamette. So large in fact it has roads, a nude beach, several stores, many large farms and huge shallow bay in the middle of it - Sturgeon Lake. This massive complex shallow bay is or was reported to have warmwater fish "panfish". I'm not sure this is true at all anymore.  We went in Little McNary Lake.  This was the murkiest water I have ever experienced. (murkier than the Everglades and The Mississippi !) Visibility was a few inches maybe - almost totally opaque chocolate milk and uniformly so the whole 4 hours we were on the water - miles of this !  Everywhere around this section of the Island was like this - until you were out on the east side in the Columbia proper and then it was clearish and bluish and much windier than the bay. What makes this brown water color extra odd is the lack of rainfall here this time of year has all other bodies of water very low and clear.   

Mitchell, Oregon

I may have only disturbed one carp. And as for the lack of panfish - I fished tiny crappie sized lures under a popper and did not have a single hit. Odd

Grande Ronde River is Grande

At one time I believe they had a stocking program for bluegill etc. in the Willamette. But online info on catching panfish in either the Willamette or Columbia is spotty or outdated info.  So there seem to be no bluegill and very very few crappie in the rivers here. (I did catch 2 this year on 3" lures).  So Sauvie was a total bust this time as far as fishing... without really any carp sightings or "spookings" even which I found surprising and depressing. Water was not outrageously warm either.  It looks like a decent bluegill area and a perfect carp area.  Maybe go back earlier in the year around May or June next year when its still flooding and look for carp on fly ?  Fishless days like this can almost make me lose my stomach in the search for alternative fisheries. Meanwhile Naomi helped me fix a flat tire we got at the dock, spotted lots of curious cows, birds, a cow skull and had amazing sunny, quietude. 

Walking in on the Lostine River Trail

Eagle Cap Wilderness - Eastern Oregon  

Joining the Dark Side - a gradual slipping and entry into flyfishing. 

Campsite Brookie

It was a bit scary to take the kayaks off the truck and head for Dry Eastern Oregon, but our friend Adam had been to ECW 9 times and inspired us to go.  We headed out for a 6 night trip with 4 nights in Eagle Cap Wilderness in the far northeast corner of the state. We had never seen much of eastern Oregon at all.  We stayed 4 nights at Two Pan and did 2 long day hikes into the Lakes Basin Area.  There are 52 named alpine lakes in the Eagle Cap area - and then also Lostine and Wallowa rivers. So I took the opportunity to introduce my self to flyfishing.

Actually Relaxing

Putting myself through a self-guided mini-workshop with the clear shallow swift water. The fishing here was good - both in the River and the Lakes - for Brook trout. I did catch one bigger 12" Rainbow - at dusk in the river.  But the high-altitude low-nutrient load cold water means smaller fish. So you scale down your gear and still have a blast.  

Hoping that Bears don't go higher than this

Lakes Basin from Eagle Cap summit

My dad had sent me a 2 pc. 5 wt. years ago and I had  yet to really be in as fly conducive situation until this.  But here in the Wallowas seemed like the right place to flyfish in somebody else's cowboy movie. And back in the day I hung out with 2 serious fly guys in Florida  - Luis and Raul - and also my dad flyfishes - so I had some small idea what I was doing through osmosis....but not really - and no real mentor here for spinning or fly. I bought some convenience store flies at a Bi-Mart last-minute on the way out of town.... (never again).  

World's  longest drift.

 

I put on a small nymph and managed to catch a some Brookies the first morning in the river at about 5000 ft. and then more Brook trout out 2 of the lakes we hiked up to at about 7700 ft. The fish coming out of

Minam Lake Brook Trout

the more remote lake flashed so all-over yellow and spotted that I thought it was a Cutthroat. (they don't have cutthroat in this area).

Mirror and Moccasin from Eagle Cap

Leaving Eagle Cap, we stopped in Joseph and at the wonderful flyshop there, which had really nice looking flies,  I learned that the area of our campsite at Two Pan is considered hard to fish as it is so completely clear over white granite boulders with almost NO algae even.  And that the Lostine River is not even stocked with Brookies - the little suckers just go up there!  He also showed me some photos of some fairly yellow rainbows caught in the Imnaha.  He had a client hook a rainbow that the guide actually thought was a Sucker because it looked so yellow - on the way in - which he said made him look kind of silly.   The shop owner was really nice.

Big News: We got to go out to Tillamook Bay area at the beginning of September....

  

I panic without my Clippers

And so ENDS my quest for the elusive Sea-run Cutthroat. (who knew you would have to go where the river meets the sea... or 13 miles in actually)  I ended up catching several in a coastal river over labor day weekend including one rainbow trout, cutbow or steelhead smolt. Releasing fish quickly results in not taking them out of the water and not getting a photo.  My wife is proud of this minimal harassment.

Mirror Lake after Eagle Cap summit, 13 miles into 20mi hike

I am very curious about the rainbow / cutthroat cross that results in the Cutbow.   

Smaller rivers are low enough this time of year to fish more like a small stream.  Neat fish, the Cutthroat, but more eager to hit my spinners than the nymphs - though I did get one on a San Juan Worm. 

NW Oregon Coastal Cutthroat !

As I write this in late September, the fall rains have begun early and in force and the weather is cooling.  

Hoping to get back out in October and do some exploring for salmon in the Sandy and the Clackamas.

My hair is getting long and my beard is pretty much out of control.   Apparently Naomi already caught a steelhead.  Her hair is shorter than mine.

When I was 8

Spent the night in this restored tour bus

Fishing in Iowa 30 years ago -Tillamook Bay this July - On Not Forcing It ? 

Formative Moment ca. 1980

I wanted to talk about a "formative moment" that I had while fishing as a kid in Iowa. Formative moments are where something really clicks - like an epiphany I suppose. This particular thing seemed like magic to me when I was about 8. 

 We used to go to the Mississippi River only occasionally to fish when I was a kid. (usually we went to these really cool sand lakes called "the gravel pits"). My parents nicely gave us a lot of freedom at an early age - and we were allowed to ride our bikes a few miles from home by ourselves to fish and swim. 

Tillamook Bay at high tide

Jetty fishing with blue curl tails

Black Rockfish

The Mississippi - It was a kind of rare treat where you could catch some big weird fish that did not live in the ponds and sloughs we normally fished. (Flathead Catfish, Walleye, Sauger, Northern Pike, White Bass, Drum, Paddlefish, Longnose Gar ) Sometimes there were Sea Gulls there. There was an extensive rocky levee along the entire town and at certain points water pipes or effluent pipes poured water into the river. In the Spring these
were attractive to the fish as the industrial wastewater was often warmer than the river at a time when fish were spawning and looking for warmer water. We were fishing and a guy near us caught a fish I was unfamiliar with but had heard of ---- A

Walleye. He also caught this fish very close to shore on a lure. That lure was a bucktail jig that at the time my dad called a Doll Fly. It was white deer hair with a pink head. I had no idea what a fish would think that was. But the fact that you could walk around with one of these in your pocket and then catch a fish on it seemed amazing to me. It meant no more catching or buying bait. Suddenly fishing became simpler. My dad mentioned that he had caught fish like that right next to the bank and I was intrigued. I of course prior to this thought you also had to cast far out from the bank to catch fish. This guy caught the Walleye by just dragging the lure in a couple feet of water next to the bank. I went out and bought one of those jigs immediately. And later in high school caught several nice Walleye and big Largemouth Bass just like that. 

Sign at Nehalem Bay

Flash Forward to present:
Tillamook Bay 

Naomi and I went on a camping trip in July and had a true blast. 

We had the privilege of spending the first night in a cool old restored school bus made into a tour bus at 46 North Farm in Olney, OR. (Blind Pilot and the Nurses practice in the big neat barn here).  We first put the kayaks in on the Young's River. The Youngs is a short river that flows into the Columbia up by Astoria. And old timer at the boat ramp  tipped me off that supposedly some 25lb. female Chinook were already in - and he gave the boat ramp 45min. of casting an Orange Black Mepps before giving up.

Sand and Quiet at Whalen Island

 I asked him if any Sea-Run Cutthroat ever came into the Youngs and he said "rarely". (And so continues my search for the mythical Sea-Run Cutthroat). I hedged my bet and put on a #3 spinner small enough for Cutthroat and yet big enough for a potential Chinook. Unfortunately the river was filled with really aggressive tiny Steelhead or Chinook - that hit on every few casts. Seriously these youngsters were hitting a #3 spinner .....  I kept hoping to see one of these early- season salmon roll in the river but never did.

Meanwhile, Naomi was getting very close to some cows in her kayak and saving a wet and drowning honeybee from certain death at the hands of the ferocious baby steelhead. 

The Big Blast of the trip - 

I finally got out to Tillamook Bay and hit it just right. This is the biggest estuary in Oregon and has 5 rivers flowing into it. Consistent with the tide chart -  It seemed like it was high tide as the water was not moving and started moving out towards the end of my session. (reminds me to finally get a fishing thermometer also)  I had been there 3 years before in October and caught one Black Rockfish from the opposite shore.
(In this post I am going to use the term Sea Bass and Black Rockfish interchangeably though Black Rockfish is the more proper name.)

water loaded with baby fish

  So I was a bit encouraged that there could be fish there. In my first couple of sessions there had been trying to fish the really pretty flats there by wading on foot with no kayak assist and catch nothing or really small salmon. This bay looks so awesome with the clear aqua water and weed beds I sort of did not even mind going fishless for a few sessions in the spirit of experimenting. And the 4 mile hike each way along the south side is also incredible and we never see very many people on the trail or on the water. I was trying to force this West Coast bay to act like an East Coast one. As near as I can tell not even juvenile Halibut come into these bays and feed shallow. ? Maybe spawning Surf Perch earlier in the year?

I was fishing a 3/8 oz. blue purple 4" curl tail. Never fished Blue before!  (I'm fishing curl tail grubs or jerk shad  these days - when i'm not fishing a spinner.) The Sea Bass were hitting close to the rocks...but not so shallow that I could see the take in the 15' or so of water. They fight well and remind me a lot of small Grouper. 

Cape Falcon Kayaks Barn

But still fairly aggressive strikes with the jig still sinking on the drop. I like the curl tail jigs as the tail swims on the drop.  I kept moving East along the bay and finding and losing fish for a couple hours.

Meanwhile, Naomi hiked 16 miles!!  Someday we will get to this spot in the morning and get to spend the day out there (no camping allowed, though we usually are there til dark and then go camp at Whalen Island or Ginger's farm). Due to the busy season at our shop I have never been out there in the early spring when supposedly the Lingcod are in close.  

Further South along the Coast ---

Naomi in Nehalem River in Cape Falcon Boat

 We also got to kayak in Sand Lake near Whalen Island. This is actually a mind-shakingly pretty tidal bay with a great snaking sandy channel at low tide filled with baby fish, lots of wading birds and no people. Be Aware: at Low low tide it is impossible to get the last 1/4 mile to back to the boat ramp.  It was loaded with baby Surf Perch and Sculpin and a black damselfish looking fish that I have yet to identify. Out where this bay meets the ocean the confluence is pure sand...but I did catch a bigger sculpin on the jig-behind-popper rig. (This is a variation on the popping cork or Cajun Thunder rig).   This area also has a great lesser known county campground (Cape Lookout is closer to Bayocean, but very packed in summer, fun in winter).  Outgoing tide would make for some great snorkeling in some spots. 

Prepping Pad Thai in our outdoor kitchen at home 
(it's serious business)

For our last 2 days out we stopped at our friend Ginger's farm R-evolution Gardens in Nehalem.  Naomi got to try a handmade Kayak made by Brian Schulz at Cape Falcon Kayak. Nehalem Bay looked great but was too windy to kayak. We don't fight a crazy wind in paddle craft anymore if we can help it. So Naomi settled in for a good yoga session in a nook of trees. I cast a Jerk Shad for a while across the Seaweed beds hoping for an early stray wandering Chinook on the flats - (a very low percentage fishery...) This jerk shad actually too big of a lure for anything else at 6" - but it casts really far in windy conditions and is the best for shallow water and did not get hung up on all kinds of structure that I reeled it through. It has been working pretty good on Willamette Smallmouth. I actually only have the jerk hooks in 4/0 and 5/0 and really need to be fishing a much smaller plastic with the smallest jerk hook they make - the 2/0 - which isn't weighted... and they don't sell in Portland.  Tiny estuary Steelhead did patrol these shallows and chase lures.  But alas... as I mentioned before I have yet to find big fish shallow in Oregon bays...

Naomi is inspired by Ginger's to make a solar powered outdoor shower and our claw foot tub with greenhouse plants (they built an incredible bathhouse which is part of the Japanese Forest House Brian built, rentable on Air BnB) and we're finally capping our toilet and in the process of building a composting double seater and pee diverter yep, lookin' at you Ginger, Jeff and Carri @ Pitchfork and Crow, catchin' up.

End Note:

 ImNotCuttingMyHairUntilICatchASteelhead.

Local spots by my house + San Diego trip

Willamette River between home and work.

Enter the Realm of true fishing Nerdom. 

Of Pikeminnow, Bass, Shad and Corvina

Western Red Cedar log made into a Canoe!

Bass on Popping Plug.

 June has been very good to me. I have had an opportunity to get down to the Willamette River near my house several times early in the morning. The warmer water of the last few days of June has the   Smallmouth really active - crushing jigs and jumping into the air.  I had my first really good Willamette session with lots of bass hitting a white curl tail at a shallow water spot that I usually overlook. (For about an hour this spot on the Willamette acted like the Jon Day River.) Went back the next morning and got one on a small Hula Popper! (The river had risen about a full foot overnight.) I was more than thrilled. Also caught a White Crappie which is a first for the NW for me.

3 people were taking this canoe from Bonneville to St. Helens

  I have also had a short session on the Cowlitz River in Washington on the way back from a conference, and had the privilege of fishing  few places in and around San Diego where we went for a wedding.

Northern Pikeminnow in Cowlitz

Naomi and Binga at Elk Rock

 On the way back from a work related event near Seattle we stopped a random spot where the Cowlitz River runs under I5. It is a sluggish slow slough like river here except for one spot where a smaller slough runs in and I could finally see current and rocks and weeds in the main stem. Being crazy ignorant about Sea-Run Cutthroat I thought I might actually have a chance at a trout.  I was using a green/gold #2 spinner. (thanks Jed Davis)  Within a few casts I hooked a fish that ran a bit… but turned out to be a Pikeminnow.  I stayed a bit too long and ended up landing 2 more. I love this fish.  Don’t expect topwater strikes or sightfishing but they hit lures and run a bit.

Ideas for a new name for this fish includes:  Goldies, Gold Bullets, Willamette Ladyfish, Fish-the-color-of-Pancake.

Chinook Salmon caught while Shadfishing

Female American Shad

dudes who taught me Shad

  Mid-June I decided to hit a spot a few miles further south on the river that looks good for bass - visible current and rocks. It resulted in finding a spot where the American Shad run stacks up a big school of fish that are accessible to the shore angler. This is a fish that has been introduced from the East Coast and has done very well here. (Some would say too well).  I had never caught American Shad before and this is a really fun fish.  I used a 1/16 oz. chartreuse curl tail with a full 3’ of fluorocarbon leader and a ½ oz slip sinker above the leader. (pink jigs also worked, white ¼ jigs did not work, shorter leader did not work)  They are suspended in 10’ of water or more --- so you won’t get topwater strikes but they do hit hard and often and run well.  (One day that week alone 212,000 shad passed through Bonneville Dam Ladder - the next day it was 175K fish and so on... you get the idea. )This is the fish of the future. This is the fish of the Apocalypse. 

Mission Bay Corvina

Mom and Me and Naomi

San Diego

  Kurt Vonnegut said “Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.” We never would have chose San Diego but my awesome cousin was getting married there and it was a chance to hang out with family so…

Naomi at Mission Bay

  Highlight of the month was this new SoCal new fishing experience. I have never fished San Diego and had no real information to go on. But had this goal in mind of catching a Corvina.  I had little nuggets of time to explore whatever water I could near the hotel in San Diego we stayed at for a wedding.  Fortunately for me Naomi loves to walk and the solitude at good fishing spots makes for good yoga as well.   I first got to fish a bit of Mission Bay during the middle of the day.  Mission Bay looks terrible – flat bottom, sandy, no current to speak of, tons of people. The water in one area was off-color and tons of tangly filamentous algae on the muck  bottom – so I fished a 1/16 oz. chartreuse jig about 2’ under a hookless  Hi-Roller popping plug to stay just above the algae. (This is a really fun rig to fish in the right conditions)  After a few casts I landed a small Corvina. My first one so I was thrilled. This was really the fish I wanted to catch here.  Hooked and lost another shortly after that.  

Jellyfish?

   I also got to fish in the surf near Torrey Pines where a trickle of freshwater flows across the beach into the ocean.  I ended up hooking a nice Spotfin Croaker here and losing it. (this fish looks a lot like the Redfish we have on the east coast !) The only other guy fishing there told me at dusk the night before the Spotfins were blitzing on sand crabs and racing up into the creek with their dorsal fins sticking out. This spot looked great on incoming tide and I had some kind of long  Sand Bass? chase my lure. I also saw a 4’ Guitarfish which was quite a thrill. Wish I could have fished the Incoming at dusk.

Balboa Park Koi

Surf Fishing at Torrey Pines

  We then did a 4.7 mile walk each way from Hotel to San Diego River Delta – which is not much of a delta because of the general lack of rain -  but it does have some mud flats with patches of grass. This spot looks awesome even at low tide which is what I got to fish. Again I hooked and lost a nice fish on a 6”green Mann’s Hardnose Jerk Bait.  Saw lots of people fishing bait from the opposite bank and 3 guys casting soft plastics when I was leaving. Following the rising tide up into the “river”and the falling tide back out in a kayak would be a great way to fish here if that is legal? I did not see anyone doing this. This spot made me realize SoCal actually has a decent shallow saltwater fishery… to my surprise. Yee haw Go San Diego!

Back Home with Jeff

Back Home in Garden