Last Day at Sakatia Island

April 9, 2011

Madagascar – Day 10

We told Frankie our flight didn’t leave Nose Be until 7:45 PM tonight, yet at 4:30 AM this morning he woke us up in frenzy. “The flight to Johannesburg is at 7:45 AM not PM!” he shouted. At first I was really disoriented, remember its 4:30 AM. Where was I? What the heck was going on? Then I snapped to and said, “We’re not going to South Africa. We are going to Antananarivo”, I shouted back. All Frankie said was, “I’m so sorry. Please go back to sleep”.

That was a tough way to start the second day of relaxation. As you probably guessed, I couldn’t get back to sleep and felt lousy most of the day. And for that reason, today we really didn’t do much. However, to redeem himself, when Granny and I finally wandered up to the porch for coffee, Frankie offered a surprise. He had our first chameleon of the trip spotted for us to enjoy. Seeing a chameleon this trip was one of our goals, and it was done. And he was worth every bit of being a goal. This chameleon was the coolest lizard type thing I’ve ever laid eyes on. And as once again I caught up on my journal, looked at some of my photos and drank cokes, I checked on the chameleon at least ten times throughout the day. It was great!

At about 1 the crew served Granny our last Sakatia meal, a great lunch and I used my new energy to fish the last two hours before we had to leave. This was my third crack off the rocks by camp. Each time I scraped up only a small fish or two so I wasn’t expecting much. The tide was low but rising. On my first cast I landed a small snapper like the one the other day. I’m pretty sure it’s called the onespot snapper. Then I had some small fish follow but my fly was too big. I came up with a great idea; trail a tiny size 10 shrimp I use for boxfish in Belize behind my size 2 Clouser. Why not? We fish two flies for trout. On my very next cast I landed what I believe is a blackspot emperor fish AND a leatherback! A double in the ocean! Two minutes later (I am not kidding) I landed another double! This time it was a chocolate hind (grouper family) and a sand lizardfish.

The fish were feeding and I was really making the best of it. But that came to an abrupt painful end because as I caught one more chocolate hind I slipped and fell on the razor sharp rocks. The body did not feel good. At first I thought I busted my ankle. It hurt like heck and was stuck all deform-angled between two rocks. I worked it loose and despite the throb the toes all wiggled just fine. It was just a scrape on the tough skin of the side of my foot. Once I realized where that pain came from and I’d be fine I noticed blood all over my right hand and that my yellow sharkskin line was turning red. I sliced the tip of my index finger on the oyster shell covered rocks. Luckily the wound was small-lots of blood but nothing to freak over. Regardless of no serious injury I was done. My ankle ached, my finger was bleeding and it was almost time to pack up anyway. I called it.

At 5 PM we said goodbye to our crew and took a boat from Sakatia Towers back to Nose Be, Island. Then we taxied to the airport where we are presently waiting to fly to the capital of Madagascar, Antananarivo (Tana). We will stay in Tana tonight but leave early in the morning for our next adventure.

As I type, we are in the most bug infested airport imaginable. It’s like a horror movie and the geckos are the size of Komodo Dragons! There are people swatting bugs like it’s a war. But what just made our misery all worth it was, a minute ago a bat flew in here and cracked his head on the widow. I like bats, that part made me sad. However, he fell to the floor and started hopping his way along, it looked awful. The lady closest freaked and ran out of here while most every one else just watched in shock. Then, to our disbelief, some lady started crawling on the floor trying to catch it with her bare hands! Yes her bare hands! She was crawling under seats and over roaches, beetles, ants, and all kinds of crazy insects. Then she got the bat, but dropped it just as he tried to bite her. What an idiot! I love travelling!

Rainforest rain is starting to fall and blowing into this shabby terminal. Time to turn out the computer.

Stay tuned!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing Website

The Other Side of the World

April 3, 2011

Madagascar - Day 4

Johannesburg, South Africa to Nosy Be, Madagascar looked relatively close on the map. Especially after we travelled all the way from Victor, Idaho to Johannesburg. Therefore we expected it to be about a two hour flight. Unfortunately however, the flight was four hours. To make it seem even longer, the Madagascar airplane was an old Boeing 737 where I’m sure they ripped out all the original seats and replaced them with twice as many smaller seats including about ten more rows. I had a window seat that when the guy in front of me leaned back his head was on my chest. That was miserable without even mentioning that the air didn’t work and it was over 100°!

After four hours of dodging huge thunderheads across the Mozambique Channel, at 7 PM we landed at Nosy Be, Madagascar airport. It was dark and drizzly. Immigration and customs started chaotic but once we figured out what line to be in things went fairly smooth. The only scare was that our bags were the last two to come off the belt. But everything seems to be in tact so let the fishing trip begin.

Wandering outside a foreign airport in inky darkness during a drizzle stinks to say the least. Nonetheless we had to do so and low and behold there was my name on a soggy piece of cardboard. Being that this is our 20th anniversary, Granny organized our accommodations for this trip on the internet. She starts us at this bed and breakfast called Sakatia Towers. We made a beeline to the guy and chucked our gear in his jalopy of a car. We hopped in and then like all taxi drivers of remote corners of the world, he peeled off at mock speed to the dark, wet, potholed, lawless roads of Madagascar. The first thing we always do is look for that seat belt but it’s rare that you have one that works. These were missing altogether.

We sped along for an hour, first through thick jungle away from the remote airport and then through several villages. You can’t believe how dark it is here at night. Naturally it was dark because it was night and raining but it appears very few people have electricity either. We finally stopped at what turned out to be a remote beach on a lagoon. From the dark came a couple voices. These guys were obviously from Sakatia Towers and they grabbed our bags and we followed them down a trail to a beach tripping and stubbing our toes most of the way. Then we waded out knee deep to a boat. The surf was rolling gently, but enough to soak us to the waist. We were already exhausted from travel so we could barely raise our wet legs aboard this boat. Off we went into the darkness of the ocean headed for the remote island of Sakatia.

It was a short ride and before we knew it we were wading ashore at another pitch black beach. There was a glimmer of light on a hill above the beach but all I remember was my flip flops sticking to the mucky bottom under the swooshing waves. Finally the ground firmed up and we walked up five minutes of steps. There it was, the light from a porch and a man holding a pair of welcome drinks. The 55 hour journey from Victor, Idaho to Sakatia Island, Madagascar was over.

Sakatia Towers bed and breakfast is fantastic. Granny booked it through and outfit called Jenman Safaris. We are the only guests here. We have a staff of about six providing us breakfast and dinner. We have a cool little room with enough mosquito netting to entangle myself badly if I have too many brews, and a view of the Indian Ocean and mainland Madagascar that is breath taking.

The boys saw our tired and hungry look last night and fed us a delicious zebu dinner (whatever the heck a zebu is) with a few beers and to bed we went. It stormed all night. I mean like vicious thunderstorms but amazingly we awoke to calm and sunny skies. It really is beautiful here. I went exploring at about 6 AM while Granny slept in. I found a few places to dunk a fly and after breakfast I did just that. The tide was low. Never being here before I didn’t know how low but I can tell you now it was low. Today we had a fluctuation from low to high of about 18 feet! The terrain is basically very calm sea with rugged slippery rocks covered in razor sharp oyster-looking shells. You can wade in the water but with care. There are gorgeous corals everywhere and spiny black sea urchins that could ruin a trip in a heartbeat. I tossed a yellow and red Clouser minnow about a size 2 on my 7-weight Ross with the floating Scientific Angler Sharkskin Tropic line WF7F. The rod would be overmatched if I hooked anything big, but for prowling the first morning it would do. Other than a few needle fish thrashing on my fly, action was slow. I landed a gorgeous little snapper of specie I’ll need to look up later, but that was it. Despite the lack of fish eating my fly, the corals are swarming with tropical reef fish. I saw plenty of colorful ones and many were blue.

I also saw two very amazing angel fish that suspended themselves to look just like floating debris. When they felt up to it they would swim down and eat something than back to being debris again. Cool stuff! Sakatia Towers specializes in organizing wildlife tours and helping people see lemurs etc. However, Granny told them in her email that we wanted to fish. It turns out they don’t know lots about fishing so they set us up a meeting with a man named George Emilson. On the internet, prices for boat fishing average over $500 a day. That’s because the only thing offered is blue water fishing. Madagascar is newly famous for its billfishing. Blue water fishing is always very expensive because of gas and boat quality. Regardless of whether or not it’s worth it, Granny and I can’t afford that kind of money so I was prepared to haggle. Our goal was to negotiate three days of guided fishing for around $1000. It took me two seconds to realize George likes to haggle also. And to make a long story short, George and I settled on four days of fishing, a mix of inshore and offshore for $1200 US cash. That puts us over our budget but what the heck. I’ll paint more when I get home and Granny can work some overtime. I reluctantly gave George $600 up front. I hate doing that in foreign country but I can’t blame him for wanting it. He needs to organize his boat, get fuel etc. We are scheduled to meet him at 7:30 AM tomorrow. He says he’s seen a fly rod and he has a plan. I’ve heard that before so Granny and I are just mentally prepared for an adventure. We spent the rest of our day fishing the rocks while the tide rolled back in. I stuck to the same rig and while Granny checked out the cool crabs and shells of the tide pools I landed one more new species. It was a mono fish, nothing spectacular but a new one. We also played with a squid that attacked my fly every time I cast. Then catching me by surprise, a decent sized grouper nailed my Clouser and escaped by tangling me in the coral. That led to my first swim of the trip to retrieve my fly line. The last thing I need is to lose a fly line on the first day. After fishing we chilled out on our room porch with a tall cold beer. Then we headed back up to the main porch. Granny was walking a good distance ahead and laughed when she noticed the camp help put a fake snake on our walk. I thought it was pretty funny too. You can’t scare the Americans we thought. But then the snake moved. It was a 6 foot long tree boa that started slithering along with us as if he too was headed for dinner. Granny and I don’t mind even big snakes. We have neat snake stories from previous travels in Africa that prepared us for life with snakes. Our first reaction now is to keep it quiet as you never know how the camp help will react. We don’t want them to see the snake because we don’t want them to kill it, which unfortunately is often the case with locals and snakes. We simply observed the stunning creature until he finally left the walk and disappeared into the thick jungle. Then I went back to our room to close the door! At dinner I asked our camp host Frankie if there were snakes around. He said no and the other helpers chirped in. “No there are no snakes on the island”. I knew this would be their answer. It always is no matter where you go on the planet. All camps, hotels and lodges want their place to be known as “snake free” environments. That’s about when I flipped on my digital camera and showed them some of our pictures and asked them what it was. You should have seen the looks on their faces! Let’s just say there were a few shrieks. There are snakes here and I could tell one dude sees them all the time. In fact he recognized this snake and started telling stories of the cats he’s eaten around camp. Ok, I’m exhausted. It’s been a remarkable first day and I rambled on too long. But that’s traveling in a cool place. Every day is full of surprises.

Stay tuned for how our first guided fishing day turns out! (Once again, I will post day by day accounts. But internet is rare here in Madagascar. It may not post for several days.)

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Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing Website

Small Pike & Big Whitefish

June 3 – 5, 2010

There were no complaints about the incredible first day of fishing we had on Pagato Lake. I have never caught so many quality walleye on the fly in a day. In fact, during our next three days on Pagato, I’ll bet I landed sixty or more! However, this trip is meant to be a hunt for big pike.

By the end of day three on Pagato we had fished every river and creek mouth, every shallow bay, windward points, down deep, different flies, you name it, but the end result was a few pike just over thirty inches with hundreds under twenty-five inches. Where are the big pike?

Our outfitter claims they are here. Could it be like Flat Creek in Jackson, WY? A place that swarms with big Snake River Cutthroats yet somehow I’d send an angler there from the fly shop and they wouldn’t see a one. Then they would come back in and say I was crazy. No. This was different. Our four man team consists of good anglers all experienced with fly fishing for pike. We should be able to find them. Shouldn’t we?

Luckily, when struggling to succeed in one area you often succeed in another accidentally. One such highlighted event involved finding a rare opportunity to catch lake whitefish on a fly. For those Rocky Mountain anglers that think a whitefish is a whitefish, try again. There are several different species. The one found in Rocky Mountain streams is the mountain whitefish and is usually easy to catch. But lake whitefish are far more difficult. The main reason is because they spend much of their lives down deep in lakes. Because it is early season here in northern Saskatchewan, we found them in the Pagato River one mile downstream from the lake. To be exact, Bill and Steve where exploring the river for big pike and came around a corner and fish were rising everywhere. They were dumbfounded because the literature for fishing on this lake doesn’t even mention whitefish. Boy are they missing out!

Not expecting a small dry fly situation during this trip, Bill and Steve barely managed to scrape up two small dry flies between them. Then they took Bills 9-weight and a floating line and tied on eight feet of 2X tippet. It wasn’t easy to thread the small dry fly but once they did they were rigged the best they could be. During the next two hours they managed to scrape up three whitefish on the tiny dry while fishing it submerged. Then, because they are great guys, they came and found Chris and I and gave us the 9-weight set up and led us in to catch a few.

Chris and I couldn’t have missed the place. There were rises everywhere. I guarantee with a 4-weight, a nice long 4X leader and some good flies we could of raked in these fish. But with the 9-weight and no fly to choose from, attached to level 2X leader, it was a challenge. Luckily, Chris and I each landed one without too much difficulty. These whitefish fight incredibly well and best of all they are big. Each fish has the length and girth of a giant Henry’s Fork rainbow. The beauty of the event for me, a new species on the fly!

Although we could have stayed at the whitefish pool all week, it was back to the hunt for “a” big pike. Fortunately, being the smart guys that we are, we gradually drifted from our big pike dreams and capitalized on the walleye. Pagato Lake is the best walleye fishery any of us have ever fished. Today, our final day on Pagato, all we did was chase the walleye. To do this means smaller flies and keeping them on bottom. I took my 6-weight Ross Rod and dredged with my Rio Type 3 Full Sinking Line and a Clouser like concoction of a fly. Man did it work! We hit points where we caught random walleyes on pike flies earlier in the week and went up some of the creeks to where we found waterfalls and rapids. By using more walleye like flies we caught more walleyes then we could count. And of course, we had a shore lunch to remember!

At 6 pm tonight the Beaver float plane arrived to pick us up. It was an incredible four days of fishing. Although we didn’t catch our big pike on Pagato, we experienced the best walleye fishing of our lives, added the lake whitefish to our species list and enjoyed watching numerous bears while we fished. It was also the nicest weather you could imagine for fishing this far north. We had one cold windy day, the rest were fantastic. It was a fantastic stop on this adventure. The good news is we did not fly back to the truck to go home tonight, but rather to Reindeer Lake. The outfit we are using for this entire trip, Lawrence Bay Lodge, has a place on Reindeer Lake and the lake is renowned for giant pike. Upon our arrival, they let us take the boats out on our own to a nearby bay and we pummeled pike up to 35”s! Tomorrow we will be guided for the first time this trip. Judging by tonight, we may just find the beast we have been dreaming for.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing web site

Lakes Beyond Lakes

June 2, 2010

Our cabin is very simple and located on a scenic little beach on the north end of Pagato Lake. We have a porch that overlooks the water and that’s where I sucked down a cup of coffee while going over my gear listening to loons between 6 and 7 am. It was calm and sunny but cold as heck. The sun had literally been up since 4 am. This place is absolute heaven.

We started fishing at about 9 am. 9 am sounds incredibly late for fishing, but up here there is presently 21 hours of daylight. If you fish late into the night you won’t fish early. Late means fishing until midnight (what we did last night) and early starts at 3 am when there’s easily enough light to see. Although everyone would love to fish from 3 am to midnight each day, such hours would kill a few old guys like us.

We were eager to see what Pagato has in store for us so we decided to go to the opposite end of the lake and fish our way back until sunset. On the map we saw a river entering on the far end and knew it should be a prime area for pike at this time of year. The four of us cranked up the two boats and enjoyed a forty-five minute drive. The river dumped into a shallow weedy bay and we started catching little pike like there was nothing to it. Gradually the current of the river pushed us out into the lake where the depth increased. Because we weren’t catching any big pike in the shallows I felt like we were bound to hook up with a big pike out deep. Unfortunately the hammer handles kept showing up.

Bill and Steve are experienced fishing the waters of northern Canada and suggested we drive up the river itself to see if the big pike were hiding up there. We could see on our map that this river actually came from a small lake and thought that if we could get the boats up there perhaps we could fish that lake. We slowly motored up the river carefully avoiding the many submerged rocks and sunken trees. It was ideal fish habitat and occasionally we stopped and nailed a few more small pike. About a ½ mile up we hit a short rapid. My past experiences in the Minnesota Boundary Waters and the Quetico of Ontario are that these places hold numerous walleye. Sure enough we all caught walleyes on our first cast below the rapid on our big pike flies. The walleyes were humanely wacked and became an incredibly delicious shore lunch.

All anglers are explorers, so we actually drug the boats up the rapids and then motored into the small lake we saw on the map. There’s now doubt that this small weedy lake sees few anglers. It too had its fair share of entering creeks and the four of us went off investigating. The first creek Chris and I went too had lily pads throughout the entire bay. We each tied on weedless Dahlberg Divers and cast them deep into the lily pads. It didn’t’ take long before a wake appeared behind my fly destroyed it. It was a nice 27” pike. We proceeded to catch numerous pike from the lilies throughout the day, but we couldn’t break 30 inches. The dream 40 plus inchers were not around.

A huge thunder storm rolled in at about 7 pm. I hate sitting in an aluminum boat during a lightning storm so we tied to a dead birch tree and walked the bog and hunkered down in some willows. The wind ripped and the rain came down hard for a few minutes. Then as fast as the storm came it left and we were casting our Dahlberg’s again. It hadn’t been ten minutes since we were in the willows when I spotted a huge black bear sniffing the very ground we were just on. Likely the smell of fish from our waders lured the giant bear from the thick forest hoping for an easy fish meal. We watched him trace our steps until he finally got wind of us and ran back to the forest. Man I’m glad we were back in the boat!

Knowing we had a long way back to the cabin we each caught one more pike from the lily pads and then began the trek. The sun actually set at about 10:15 but it stayed light enough to see and fish till nearly midnight. Once within a mile of the cabin we did just that. We hammered walleye after walleye off a point with Warpath Jig Fly’s and Clouser's until we were too tired to cast. Although the big pike eluded us the numbers of small pike and quality walleye kept us happy.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing web site

East Cape Relaxation Day & Cool Species

November 7, 2009

There’s nothing like a day fishing solo on water you’ve never fished before. Today was nearly exactly that. I say nearly because I did have a driver today to run me from my hotel in Cabo to a couple spots up the East Cape. But this person, Iban, didn’t speak English or fish for that matter. He just kicked back and watched me fish. Oh, and took a couple photos for me!

The day started early with a long ride north up the East Cape towards Los Barrilles. I have fished up here before, but today we were trying some new beaches recommended to me. When we arrived at the first beach I thought I went to heaven. Compared to yesterday where the surf and wind beat me to death, this place was calm and surf was nearly nonexistent. I strung up my 10-weight Ross fly rod and reel with a Rio Saltwater Tropical Intermediate line and a big popper. You may wonder why not a floating line for popper fishing. The answer is, in the surf with the waves, if you use a floating line, your popper just kind of jumps from wave top to wave top. An intermediate line helps keep the popper on the water. If your popper was small than the intermediate line likely would sink it, but in the tropics I almost always use big poppers because I’m hoping for big fish like jacks and roosterfish depending on my location.

I made my first cast right about where we parked the truck and started working my way up the beach. I had a landmark of a jetty about a mile away that I planned to fish my way to. On my first cast I had a nice roosterfish chase my popper to my feet. Which brings up a point, to those new to roosterfishing, don’t let the roosters see you. I like to back up while I’m retrieving my fly so by the time my fly reaches the beach I’m well out of sight. I even get into a crouch like I’m stalking a trout on a spring creek when a fish is following. If they see you standing there forget it! I made several more cast the direction the big fish came from but he was gone. With the exception of a baby rooster and a few small Pacific Jack Crevalles, my efforts went unanswered.

After about two hours I reached the jetty I’d seen from the start. I poppered the water thoroughly then changed my rig. I strung up my 8-weight with a Rio Deep Sea 200gr line. This line has a 26ft sink tip that with a Clouser tied on gets me down deep. On my first cast I landed another peanut of a roosterfish followed by a handful of jacks (both crevalles and greens). It was a blast after the slow beach walk. When I reached the end of the jetty I let the fly sink deep and caught a beautiful Pacific Dog Snapper. The next cast produced the unusual look down fish. Not only did I catch this one, but I caught one on my next twenty casts!

I played around the beaches of the East Cape until I couldn’t see anymore today. I continued to pick up an array of species while switching back and forth from my popper to the Clouser Minnow. What a fantastic day and a great way to end a Baja adventure!

Global Fly Fishing Web Site

Sand, Crabs and Cool Surf Fish

November 5, 2009

Sam Vigneri and I are still in Baja. Our attempt to catch a marlin ended yesterday and today we rested up by sleeping in until about 7am. Once awake, we headed to Todos Santos to have breakfast with Grant Hartman and his wife Giselle. After the superb Mexican meal, they spent the day relaxing while Sammy and I opted to chuck flies in the Pacific surf.

Grant gave us excellent instructions as to where we may find a few fish. At our first stop we wandered out on to the beach and sized up the fishing challenges. It was simple, the breaking surf was huge and the tide was just beginning to drop. Fly fishing the surf is one of the most difficult forms of fly fishing there is. You almost always have a strong wind blowing directly in your face making it difficult to cast. Crashing waves make it even more difficult by not only taxing your ability to physically stand without being swept out to sea, but also play havoc with your fly line. It’s simple, as you strip line down on the beach while retrieving your fly; waves roll up the beach and wash the line away. As you go to make the next cast, it’s hard to shoot the line because it is getting sucked out to sea by waves. Toss in the fact that your line is gritted up with sand and you can hardly get the fly out there!

A couple tricks that work for me are first off, use a stripping basket. Stripping baskets strap around your waist and rather than stripping line on to the beach, you strip it into the basket. By doing so you don’t have to fight the waves when you go to shoot a cast and you will get a lot less sand on the fly line allowing it to slide through the guides much easier. In addition to the basket, I like to use a 9½ foot long rod. The extra 6-inches helps elevate my backcast over the top of a steep beach. Most of the beaches along the Pacific Ocean are steep and today was no exception.

Four hours into our fishing we were absolutely getting our butts kicked. Neither of us had a strike. We where exhausted, soaking wet and had plenty of sand in our hair and everywhere else you can think of. Worst of all, we completely lost our confidence. Sometimes the surf appears so inhospitable that you just can’t imagine fish live in it!

We kicked back and had some fun catching a few crabs. While doing so I noticed some rocks becoming exposed from the dropping tide. Sam and I both agreed the rocks looked worthy of a few casts so we put on the old Clouser Minnows and placed some casts around the rocks. I picked up a croaker on my first cast then next cast another. I think they were yellowfin croakers, but any verification would be appreciated. I called Sammy over and as I took pics of my second croaker he hooked into something different. It actually put up a heck of a fight. I think it’s some sort of surf perch. I plan to research it this week but if you know please tell me.

Sammy and I had a great week despite challenging fishing. It’s always good to spend time with old friends and that we did. Sammy and I fished until sunset and tomorrow he will head back to Wyoming. I have one last day and will solo the beaches of the East Cape.

Global Fly Fishing Web Site

Kayak Bivouac for Bonito and Bass

Whenever I’m on the road I always try to wet a line if I have time. I don’t know why more traveling folks whether it business or pleasure don’t try to do the same. It takes little to pack a rod and reel. I guess most people just assume there’s not much to fish for. Like me down here in Southern CA today, what in the world would I bring a fly rod here for? Duh! How about the ocean?

On October 30th, I ventured out with an old friend, Rich Garrett, who generously took time from work to take me fishing. Rich and his gal Mary Lou hooked us up with their friend, Mike Allen, a pro for Hobie Cat, and we sea kayaked outside Newport Beach.

Mike Allen is an expert in kayak fishing to say the least and he kindly took the day and time not only to join us fishing but also teach us how to use a sea kayak. Kayak’s are great fly fishing tools and within five minutes I was sold on the Hobie. We had the option of paddling and/or pedaling for moving in these kayaks. I loved this option because pedaling freed my hands so I could cast to fish with ease.

Today was a gorgeous 85 degree day with no wind. I quickly found myself two miles out to sea rolling in huge Pacific waves while chasing a school of bonito. I’d of chased bonito all day but somehow I’d ventured a long way away from Mike and the gang. I knew as a total rookie that wasn’t such a good idea and didn’t want to worry everyone. Also, it occurred to me that a kayak could resemble a seal to a big shark! I’ve fly fished for blue and mako sharks in the nearby waters off San Diego and recently friend Jeff Patterson actually caught a great white on the fly down there! So as fast as my legs could pedal I hauled ass back near shore. There I met up with Rich, Mary Lou and Mike and dredged Clouser Minnows along the kelp beds. I have fished the surf in Southern California several times and learned the good fly’s should have some orange and gold. Therefore, the Clouser I used was orange and white with some gold on the body. Throughout the afternoon we landed a handful of handsome little calico bass and mackerel. A fantastic day!

The Clouser Minnow was originally designed by Bob Clouser to be a freshwater fly, but tied in bigger sizes, it is deadly in the brine as well. A great prospecting pattern, you can cover alot of water with this one on those rare occasions when you might not know exactly where the fish are hanging out. On the retrieve it darts like a wounded baitfish just begging to be swallowed by something higher on the food chain. This fly should be tied sparse to imitate the long, narrow silhouette of most baitfish. Since the weighted eyes are on the bottom of the fly, it rides with the point up, so you can drag the bottom with it and not get many snags.

Global Fly Fishing Web Site