San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Been hitting San Diego one to two days a week for the last couple of months. Mostly between Fiddler's Cove area and south end of the Coronado Cays and from east to west.

Fishing has generally been good. A few slower days where the fish ate plastic grubs much better than flies but most days about equal. We had a couple of poor days with less than a dozen fish each (one of those I only caught 2!!) but 1.5 to 3 dozen fish in a four hour session has been the norm.

Spotties have ranged from dinks to quite a few 9" to 11" clones and even a few greater than 14". Average size is generally increasing as the water has cooled down, which is a typical fall pattern.

Aside from spotties other catches have included a couple of bonefish, a barracuda (plus saw several that didn't eat), a couple of short halibut, an occasional corvina, a few macks, and 1 14" smelt. Only one YFC, which is unusual.

Productive depths have ranged from 6 to 15 feet depending on current, light level, and wind.

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.

First image is a frame grab from and old GoPro running recording at 720p so is a bit soft.
Meanwhile I have been testing a new for 2023 entry level budget rod from Redington which I think is the lowest priced 6wt with a fighting but. It is the Wrangler 490-4S and retails for $159.99. Unfortunately quality entry level fly rods have jumped in price quite a bit over the last four years and this rod is $40 more than the Redington Path series that it replaced was four years ago. You can still find the Path rod and some Path combos discounted on closeout a few places online. I will follow this up with short review of the Wrangler in this forum in the next couple of days.

Craig, what are your general tips on how you change your approach to fishing the bay during the Fall/Winter seasons vs. Spring/Summer?

As the water cools down I will utilize slower retrieves more often. I use slow retrieves in the summer too but also faster retrieves. But the faster retrieves tend to be less productive during the colder periods. Still, I experiment to see what is working. But when the water is measuring 56º at the surface in the morning it is usually the slow retrieve with lots of stops and drops that works best. Sometimes even a no retrieve with an occasional twitch, just letting the fly move in the current. This generally works best with little or no wind and using an intermediate line.

We tend to see larger concentrations of small bait like bay anchovies during late fall/winter so I will often downsize to a two inch long sleek and translucent fly. The bass and everything else will often focus on these small baitfish.

Another thing is that there are more shallow areas of 3-6 feet over grass that we will find willing fish if the sky isn't too bright. These areas are often a bit warmer than the channels and deeper flats if it hasn't been too cold at night. Sometimes a change of just 3 or 4 degrees in water temperature changes where fish hold, or at least changes their activity level.

I carry a thermos of hot tea or hot chocolate instead of non-alcohol beer (some of those non-alcohol brews are pretty good).

Tailingloop wrote: Tue Dec 05, 2023 9:24 pmFly 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 the water column. Balance, weight, buoyancy of tying materials, tippet/leader/fly line, etc.? Thanks in advance.

Rattus wrote: Thu Dec 14, 2023 9:13 pm

Tailingloop wrote: Tue Dec 05, 2023 9:24 pmFly 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 the water column. Balance, weight, buoyancy of tying materials, tippet/leader/fly line, etc.? Thanks in advance.

All of those, plus knot used to connect to the fly.

First the knot. A loop not allows the fly to swing freely. A knot that is tight to the eye, like a clinch not, Palomar knot, and other grip the fly and hinder movement, whether it be vertical or horizontal. The Non-Slip Mono Loop knot is the strongest loop knot and fairly easy to tie after a bit of practice. A fly attached with a loop knot will tend to drop more vertically than one tied on with a clinch knot.

Weight ( I'm going to switch to using the term "mass" going forward here", balance, and material buoyancy all interact together.

If you look at a Clouser Deep Minnow as an example you have mass concentrated up front, which effects balance, and wing/body materials, which are less dense trailing behind. The balance point of the fly is up front. The trailing wing/body also spreads out and acts as sort of a parachute or drogue which causes the more dense (mass per volume) front to pitch down. The fly drops more vertically than something like a Lefty's Deceiver were the greatest mass is farther back toward the hook bend. Bob Clouser originally tied the Clouser Deep Minnow (named that by Lefty Kreh) with buck tail for the wing. That is still a great material to use. Bucktail is deer hair which is hollow except at the tips. That adds some buoyancy even if you tie is sparsely and this buoyant material is mostly behind the eyes. If you change to a synthetic material you have a bit less buoyancy behind the eyes and the fly may not drop at as steep of an angle. I say "may" instead of "will" because some synthetics have a greater tendency to trap air bubbles than others with can affect buoyancy of the fly. Regardless of the material used if you have greater density up front, usually achieved by putting a dense mass such as dumbbell eyes up front (or Flymen Fishskull heads or similar products), the fly will tend to drop more vertically. As the center of mass moves back the fly will have a greater tendency to drop at a shallower angle with more forward movement.

The way the materials are shaped on the fly can also affect how a fly behaves, which can affect its effectiveness for some species. Take for example Del Browns Permit Crab fly ( also knowns as the "Merkin" or "Del Brown's Merkin" as well as some other names - this was the original "merkin" fly. A lot of commercially available examples of this fly are not tied like Del designed them. Key features of the fly are dumbbell eyes up front, flat yarn body, rubber legs in same plane as the body, and a tail of splayed hackle feathers. The majority of the commercially available versions of this fly have the yarn body trimmed to a round or oval shape. Del's original fly had the body trimmed to a tear drop shape with the narrow end at front behind the eyes. The function of the dumbbells is to cause the fly to drop front first, not imitate eyes. They tear drop shape of the yarn body causes the body to glide towards the bottom at an angle rather than more vertically, just like a swimming crab does when it detects a predator and stops swimming. Del caught more permit than any other fly angler by the time of his passing. The oval or round shaped body versions drop differently ( a bit more vertically but slower) though they are still effective for many fish species, Del's original version worked better for permit. I have found that it works better for spotties too. This is a pattern I often use in shallow water with a floating or intermediate line and a slow retrieve with long pauses between each strip. The grab almost always comes when the fly is gliding toward the bottom. On the other hand, a merkin style fly tied with a round, oval, or rectangular body seems to work just as well in the surf where there are different environmental dynamics in play.

The tippet/lead affects how a fly moves in the water. Leader and tippet are generally more buoyant and less dense than weighted flies, or even unweighted flies that we typically use in the saltwater. The thinner the tippet, and by extension the rest of the leader, the less impact it has on the fall of a fly. A thicker tippet and leader has more resistance or drag in the water and holds the fly up.

Tension on the fly by the line and leader can also restrict how a fly drops or moves. A fly will drop faster, and if weighted up front more vertically, if the tippet/leader has some slack in it.

How to get slack in the line/leader/tippet? Start with a less than perfect cast. Just opening up the loop slightly is often enough for the leader to fall with some slack. Trout anglers nymphing with upstream casts will use a tuck cast but this doesn't work so well with big flies and longer distances we use in the salt, or even in lakes.

Once you start retrieving the fly it is more difficult to get slack in the leader but there is a way. If you make a hard fast strip about two to three feet long and then pause, momentum will cause the fly to move forward a bit after the fly line stops and create slack in the leader (you may even get some slack in the fly line). The fly can drop more freely. Even a slower shorter strip followed by a pause will create a little bit of slack. Many species of fish will grab after the fly starts to drop on the pause, or on the first strip after you pause. I'm not suggestion that you should always make hard fast strips when fishing for bay species. It is not always necessary. But if you are not getting bit it is worth a try. Even on cold days when a slow retrieve tends to work best I will mix in one or two hard fast strips followed by long pauses.

How long you need pause is just something you need to figure out. It can change day to day or even hour to hour.

If current is pulling the line and fly away from you, you can create some slack by flipping out a few feet of fly line.

If you have access to a swimming pool or even hot tub/spa you can play with different flies and leaders and retrieves and see what happens. A bath tub is usually too small.

Sometimes fish don't react as well to drops and pauses and a more steady retrieve is appropriate, whether that be slow or fast. Other times you want to work the fly right over weed tops and don't want the fly sinking into the weeds. With a fly weighted up front like a Clouser Minnow you need to work it quickly, or you can switch to something balanced a bit differently like a bendback hook style fly the tends to sink slower and more level.

For a bit more on retrieves see the following article by my friend and mentor Dan Blanton.

http://www.danblanton.com/blog/pushing-strike-buttons/