Yosemite Rivers Fly Shop Opening Party - May 4th, 2013

The Yosemite Rivers Fly Shop is base of operations for Sierra Fly Fisher and a place that I sometimes spend a lot of time at in the summer. The shop is having an opening party on Saturday, May 4th and it's going be really cool. A diverse mix of visiting tyers and fly fishing hot shots will be present. I suggest integrating a visit to the party into a weekend of angling! Details will be posted daily at: https://www.facebook.com/sierraflyfisher. I'll be there!

High Tide Croaker

Still pondering my next trout huggin' expedition. Low water in most parts of the state has got me a bit nervous. Still the mid-elevation Sierra waters that normally run heavy will be primo in late spring. Setting sights on that strategy. But no one wants to get too rusty so today in Santa Monica, despite the salad and high surf, a chubby yellow fin croaker was dished the fly.

Bean Gone Too Long

A long overdue entry. A lot of personal stuff and music stuff goin' on that I'll save for another post. The fun fishy thing right now is the odd appearance of Corbina on the beaches of So Cal in January. I'll let the picture do the talking!

I Bean Experimenting

The Corbina can be skittish. Do they only eat sand crabs? Of course not. What else is there? Invertebrates right? Took this bean on a small San Juan Worm type fly.

and this one on a good ol' Merkin

Heaven Below

Sometimes paradise is down low. Take a few bruises and close encounters with rattlesnakes and the 13 year old nature freak inside screams for joy. Wait, let's throw the rattlers back in! Black Diamond Session with Jay Dunkley. Note in image #2 how far back Jay sits while probing the foam patch for big browns? THAT is the secret! Click on each image for an exploded view.

The Do Nothing Method

I was recently treated to a quick evening session on a small Sierra foothill pond by Mark Lloyd. This provided me with a chance to revisit fishing for Largemouth Bass for the first time since my buddies and I would sneak into golf ponds in San Diego while in college.

That was eons ago and eons are substantial units of time. As I paddled out into the pond, I began instinctively casting towards cover and waiting for a take. That's bass angling 101 fer cryin' out loud! There wasn't much response from any fish at first but bobbing around at dusk on a pond is a great joy unto itself. It was already a great evening. I jokingly complained to Mark about the fishing. Suddenly while nudging the popper along in the shadows a small bass took and the skunk was off. Stoked, I brought the hunt up a notch and began casting in a more intense fashion; working hard at dropping the popper as close to branches and overhanging limbs as poss. Barely 10 minutes into our session, I made a cast and a calm came over me so I just let it sit and sit and sit. In hindsight I don't even know what compelled me to just let it linger there. Maybe I was trying to get a drag free drift! *Yes kids that was a joke!* Suddenly the water exploded with a larger fish that went deep, then it pulled in circles and then bolted for cover under some branches. No dramatic jumps but a solid fight. I hooted and hollered like an idiot. Fearful of losing the fish in the submerged branches, I pulled back hard and was lucky enough to turn the fish without losing it. A little more fight and to the boat he came. Not a hog but not a small fish either, I felt rekindled the thrill that TOWBs (Those Obsessed with Bass) feel.

So let's wax philosophical here. As a kid, anything that had to do with fishing caught my attention. A short-lived subscription to Fishing Facts magazine left the phrase "Do nothing method" echoing through my skull. The author of this one article raved about super laid back presentation methods. This phrase stuck with me and I have cited it frequently when musing over so many aspects of life. Sure, a call to action and being motivated is important but if you stand on the beach, a wave will wash towards you whether you dance a jig or lay down and take a nap. In other words, at times in life, too much effort is wasted effort. Neil Young's guitar solo in Down By The River has a famous one note passage but it's far from lazy. Get it? Ok I'll stop ranting! Now let's consider that the "do nothing approach" to still requires something else: FOCUS! See where this is going? Zen and the Art of Bass Fishing! Take a step back from your NASCAR-flavored how-many-sponsors-ya-got? approach and let that popper sit as you contemplate the cosmos! Now back to our regular programming: Earthly Pleasures Without Shame. Good times, good times. Thanks Mark!

Finally, if you are in need of a great fishing quote, chew on: "it's just a matter of putting this "dying" annoyance in their interest zone" courtesy of http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/do_nothing.html

Hopper to Hopper

Loved by so many types of fish! Here's a hopper-caught trout from the Merced River.