San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Pflueger made some left hand wind versions in several sizes in the 1930s. This was the 15XX series (e.g. 1594, 1596). These are not the same as the 15XX series reels made in china in the 1990s through early 2000's with a rim control spool. By the 1940s through mid 1950's the only left hand wind ...

Most of the rods wearing the Scientific Anglers label over the years have been pretty decent rods. Same with most of their reels. The old SA System glass rods were built on J. Kennedy Fisher blanks I believe. The later graphite rods were made by U.S makers then later in Asia. The Scientific Angler ...

Good Question. I have a simple answer for you. You (and anyone else reading this) can wade through the following and skip to the end.

Fly line sink rates are generally measured but putting 1 to 2 inches segments in a tub of freshwater in a lab and using a suite of instruments to measure the rate ...

The surfzone is an ever changing environment where the best locations on a beach can change from day to day, tide to tide, or even during a tide. Storm surges or heavy surf alter beaches quite rapidly. Some beaches, or even sections of beaches, will fish better on outgoing tides and others on ...

I prefer to hit these areas on an incoming tide though the top when bait will be pushed up and gamefish follow. On outgoing tide you have the falling tide combined with any outflow that can often produce a pretty fast current that is difficult to fish, and might not have any fish to catch except ...

Macs love sabiki rigs, extremely common to catch them on sabiki rigs

That’s the purpose of sabiki rigs. To make bait, primarily macs

Now the hamster wheel is turning, why were the macks so hot for the Sabiki flies? Is it the super small size, the fact they aren’t moving much (less to chase), the fact they’re six of them so it looks like a school, all of the above? Anyway, I’d like to tie flies like the Sabiki rig and fish a ...

Fished Barrett yesterday for the first time in 5 or 6 years. Physical issues kept me away.

Made the trip out there yesterday with my brother. He lives nearby with kids and work its difficult to get together to just hang out. Plan was to go spend the day and take what we could get. Got a later ...

Most of the hype, conversation, and advertising for quality fly rods revolves and the mid through high cost range but there are a still some pretty good rods for less than $200 from established fly gear companies that sell through brick and mortar dealer networks. Unfortunately prices have risen ...

Fly pattern colors haven't mattered as much most days with fly action seeming to be the discriminating factor on some days when a fly that had a greater tendency to drop vertically worked better than one that dropped slowly fell more on a slope.

Curious what factors influence how a fly drops in ...

Got onto San Diego Bay this morning for a pre storm session as well as testing a TFO NXT Black Label 6wt rod.

Not very breezy and mostly dead calm from 0800 to 1000. No rain. Small tidal change. Fished from about 0645 to 1030. Pretty good catching on the last part of the outgoing tide but things ...

Another good outing in the South Bay this morning. Started casting around 0700. Started catching around 0702.

High tide just before 0700. First couple of hours of the outgoing was pretty good then it slowed for us after but still getting a few here and there until quitting about 1100. Fairly calm ...

Finished the 2023 calendar year out on SD Bay this morning. Light breeze and occasional mist. Fished from 0700 to 1020. Quit early due to recent back injury. Both of us had fish on with our first casts. Pretty steady bite until it slowed down where we were about 0940. Red/Yellow clouser minnows and ...

Launched my kayak from tidelands this morning and fished around the bridge and various flats in the vicinity. Fairly slow morning but sunny and beautiful. Caught a few bay bass, a smelt and a nice sculpin at one of the Coronado bridge pylons which was surprising. I caught fish on flies I tied ...

Nice ties there.

The Borksi Slider (also called a bonefish slider or redfish slider) is a really good pattern for a lot of local species. Tied with a weed guard and snaked through kelp it can be very effective for Calico bass. A lot of folks think they are difficult to tie because of the spun deer ...

Went on a vacation to Belize. Wasn't a fishing trip but hired a guide for a half-day morning trip on of the days we were staying at one of the Cayes. I didn't plan on fly fishing but the guide had two rods rigged up and one of the spots we stopped at had Tarpon swimming around. They didn't like the ...

It's always fun catching fish on flies you've tied yourself. I'm continually amazed that fish sometimes fall for my god-awful creations. I'm currently experimenting with spoon flies (purists, avert your eyes) thinking their oddball movement might attract some attention. I'm also focusing on small ...

I have a very well-worn Clouser that looks similar to your top fly with the barbed hook. It lost so much bucktail I thought about throwing it out but the darn thing keeps catching fish, even better than when the fly was new and had a fuller profile!

What are some of the advantages/disadvantages ...

Have you ever tied a fly using your own hair? Serious question. I would imagine an enthusiast would have to try it just to see.


I have. Growing up, my mom was the family hairstylist, always cutting my extended family's hair. My parents got me one of those fishing encyclopedia books and they had ...