San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Absolute tank. There’s no line class record for 10lb, it’s all yours! For all the stories I’ve heard of someone losing “ a 4ft long halibut at the net”, you got her in the bag! Time for a gaff.

I tend to agree on the perch this year. so many around that its almost just luck if a bean or croaker get to your sand crab before they do. A lot of surf guys, including myself, are having the same experience trying to get the corbinas working the shallows to hit their presentation. As one member of ...

Pistachio-sized sand crabs on a Carolina rig with size 4-6 circle hooks has been absolutely slaying. Barred surfperch are biting like they haven’t eaten in months. Corbina and yellowfin croaker are as plentiful as the sand crabs right now. I can’t remember a summer this good!

Stuck a solid YFC on a clouser this afternoon in MB. Next cast hooked a ripper that pulled 30ft of line out of my hands, put a tad too much pressure and snapped off 8# leader. Been a tough winter for me so happy for this fish. Also first fly outing in months. Cheers to the new site
20230410_155742 ...

Nice. Looks like the season is finally starting to heat up.

Rattus wrote: Tue Apr 11, 2023 3:42 pm Solid fish! Green/White Clouser?

Yep. Floating line with a 12ish ft leader. I like using the floating line in shallow bay spots. I gotta hit strouds and refresh my clouser supply. Bought some from Amazon last year and they were poor quality.

Follow the wind. Season might be a little early and cold for top water carp action, but the lake is susceptible to high winds (hence no kayaks) which can create scum trails on the surface that the carp feed on. If that materializes, follow the wind to where the scum is collecting and look for ...

Fished there this morning. Super challenging because the lake level rose so much that finding the fish became more difficult. Got a carp and a bass on a simple John Montana hybrid fly with a pink squirmy wormy tail.

Lake Henshaw supposedly opens at 7 am but regularly the worker’s there don’t get to the resort store that sells the permits until 7:30 or later. Also, the credit card machine has been broken multiple times in the past so bring cash just in case. The hours of the lake on google doesn’t match the ...

Got my best fish of the year (so far) today. Nice 22" vina. Knew it was a vamp when it went nuts on the surface. Fly fell out of its mouth at shore. Also tagged my first midshipman and smallest halibut.
The fish gods like a fly rod in my hand

Well losing the last website was definitely a sad day for me. I had just started tying some new flies and they worked pretty well. However immediately after tying them went to post on the old site aaaaaaand it's gone.

So having it back up is nice. Tied up several fly fish food belly scratcher ...

For what it is worth - been trying to catch a carp on the fly - I am getting closer - anyway, hit Henshaw yesterday - the cats were very open to taking a fly - good time

I finally decided to sign up after watching this new forum for awhile and taking a break from internet discussions.

User CraigSmith on the old SDFISH website.

Fishing for bigger bluegills has been decent at Murray lately. A few on topwater but mostly on weighted flies, generally cast into deeper water. For reference, distance between end cap on butt end of reel seat and the front edge of the grip is 11". Rod is a 3wt 7 footer fiberglass custom built for ...

Good to see you posting on here, Craig.

I have a spot in my boat if you are interested in joining me. I will primarily be fishing for bass but plan to mess with the bluegill a bit as well.

Look in the Barrett Trading post for details.

I love my 3 Wt. Makes small fish big and big fish huge! I landed an 8 pound Brook Trout on it at Irvine Lake on a Black Woolley Bugger.. That particular Stock also contained Brown Trout to 10 pounds. It took all I had to get that bushy fly out there with that little 7 foot rod. I couldn’t land the ...

Another bluegill outing this morning. Decided to go with some old school gear (older than fiber glass)

Decided to fish bamboo (fine Tonkin cane) today. Vintage Orvis "99" 7' 6wt made in the 1960s. Though marked for a 6wt it casts a 4wt line nicely. Fun rods. Paired with a Scientific Anglers System ...

Believe me, I wasn’t using 6x tippet. I knew there were big fish there and ran hand tied 12-10-8-6 pound leader for a solid turnover of the Woolly Bugger. After that it was glorified handlining. The hard part and it happened on one of the Browns was not stepping on the line during their fury and ...

Bravo! I used to use a 8 ft Horrocks Ibitson tonkin cane rod. It didn't have a line weight on it it, but I tried a 5 weight, which worked out well. I used to roll cast little rubber bugs near the tulies in the south end of Cuyamaca for gills with it. I can still hear the little smacking sound they ...