One Surf Fly Beach Classic… just one!

a nice group of summer corbina working the shallow surf zone as surfers and swimmers play, click for larger view. photo by Al Q

I really hope we see the number of corbina we were accustomed to seeing during the annual corbina rodeo that usually takes begins in April through August. This can happen from Santa Barbara to San Diego on a beach near you. The past few seasons have not been banner years in our Southbay in terms of numbers of fish seen, although many fish were caught. Depending on sand crabs and water quality these times do vary. The fish usually show in the skinny water from June through late July. Keeping our fingers crossed the cycle will be positive this spring! We will be announcing the new OSF5 and Double Haul Ball dates soon. Hope everyone out there is wetting a line and staying out of trouble.

-Al Q

for some reason, the yellowfin croakers have been hanging around this summer and they are getting fat. we have had a pretty consistent bite the last two months in the south bay. the fish are really finicky and are holding in very nondescript rips and foam lines. the structure is hard to find but we noticed that these spots are holding some aggressive fish. they aren’t picky in the way of flies, anything resembling a small 2 to 4 inch anchovy will work. we have been using olive over white clousers which work great. I just started to use olive/white bendbacks with a small larvae weight under the bend to give the fly a slight side to side motion which turns them on. the longer you can cast the better, these fish alway seem to be just  a few feet out of reach (grin) they have been biting on all tides, but we like the moving water up or down the best.

photo by Jim Solomon

photo by Al Q

Zack Solomon landing his first yellow fin croaker on the fly, the smile gives it away! photo by Al Q

weighted bendback, a good alternative to a clouser. photo and fly by Al Q

Mission Beach group shot prior to the start of the OSF#4. photo by Kristina Kaufman

The One Surf Fly #4, Mission Beach San Diego is officially in the books, ladies and gentlemen. Thanks to John Hendrickson/San Diego Fly Shop and Peter Piconi from SoCal Flyfishing for being our host fly shops. As always the OSF is a collaborative effort and can’t happen without amazing people:

• Great sponsors: Abel, Buffs, Orvis, FishSkulls and Nightwatch Coffee.
• OSF crew: Mish & Conway (our gracious hosts), my wife Janet, Bill & Lori, Jeff & Michelle and Mike Ward.
• Spotter organizer: Jon Nakano
• The South Bay Fly Fishing club and the Salty Fly Fishers club for making the trek from Los Angeles
• All our good friends who volunteered!

For the first time, we recognized the person who traveled the furthest to participate. Gregg Stump came from Indiana and received some nice parting gifts for being the furthest angler away after catching his first saltwater fish on the fly. Photo courtesy of Steve Piper.

Thanks to all who participated and made Mission Beach OSF4 a surf party. I also want to give special kudos for my right hand man, Shane Chung, who is always in the trenches and who showed his never dying dedication to the cause by leaving San Diego late Friday night to go home to Orange County to collect additional raffle prizes, one being a Galvan reel! Shane you are unbelievable! The raffle was off the hook, no pun intended, it seemed to go on for an hour.

We ended up raising $2010 dollars for San Diego Coastkeepers which was originally started by fisherman back east in the Hudson Valley to help protect our fisheries and continues to make a difference by cleaning our beaches and protecting our resources. Here’s the official stats: There were a total of 131 fish landed, recorded and released.

• 128 Barred Surf Perch
• First fish caught: (Jorge Salas) @ 6:41am Fly: (John Sherwood) Beck’s Chartreuse w/orange Sili-Legs
• Largest Barred Surf Perch 13.75 inches (John Whitaker)  Fly:(Geno Centofani) olive/white clouser,w/orange sili-legs
• Most fish caught: 18 (John Whitaker) Fly:(Geno Centofani) olive/white clouser,w/orange sili-legs
• 1 Halibut (Nick Vargas) 13.5 inches
• 1 Walleye Perch (Jorge Salas)
• 1 Spotted Bay Bass (James Gorgione) 13.5 inches
• 1 woman’s shoe (Rocky from Bakersfield) foul hooked!
  

  Rocky's foul hooked shoe! photo courtesy of John Loo

Thanks again for all who attended, we hope to see you all again somewhere next spring on a  Southern California beach. Below are some great pics of the day!

-Al Q

starting the morning off with a blast of NightWatch coffee. photo by Kristina Kaufman

the line up! photo courtesy of Kristina Kaufman

Shane working the check in! photo courtesy of Kristina Kaufman

Michelle Bowman sporting her NightWatch beanie. photo by Kristina Kaufman

Our good friend and Abel sponsor, Jeff Patterson with OSF swag goodies. photo courtesy of Kristina Kaufman

Peter Piconi, Andy Koczon, Al Q and Ed Zieralski. photo courtesy of Kristina Kaufman

The big winners, Jorge Salas & John Whitaker. photo courtesy of Kristina Kaufman

winning scorecards. photo by Al Q

The SouthBay Fly fishing club from Westchester, LA. photo courtesy of Kristina Kaufman

Michelle and Max Bowman sporting their OSF colors! photo courtesy of Kristina Kaufman

Artist John Williams presents his beautiful watercolor painting to Nick Vargas who won it at the raffle. photo courtesy of Kristina Kaufman

Bill Matthews congratulates Rocky after winning the OSF engraved Abel Super 6N reel. photo courtesy of Bill Matthews

Bill stands in awe as a fly is drawn. photo courtesy of Kristina Kaufman

Al Q and the mighty Quinn. photo courtesy of Kristina Kaufman

Lori working the swag tent. photo courtesy of Kristina Kaufman

Peter Piconi presents Megan Baehrens from SD Coastkeeper with a healthy check. photo courtesy of Kristina Kaufman

a picture is worth a thousand words. photo courtesy of Kristina Kaufman

Drinking some NightWatch coffee with SD's finest. photo courtesy of Bill Matthews

all OSF participants received parting beach swag bags. photo by Kristina Kaufman

Rich Kanner connects! photo courtesy of Kristina Kaufman

Maps are good! photo courtesy of Michelle Bowman

anglers line-up along Mission Beach for the fourth OSF. photo by Bill Matthews

Here is a nice article, “No fly, no glory in One Surf Fly Beach Classic” by Ed Zieralski from SignOn San Diego, Thursday May 19, 2011

Here is another nice article, “One Surf Fly Classic a hit at Mission Beach” by Ed Zieralski from SignOn San Diego, Saturday May 21, 2011

Here is a very crude map to show the lay of the land in San Diego. I suggest that if you are from out of town to use your google or yahoo maps since we are covering a lot of real estate.
We will be at the San Diego Fly Shop on Friday 6-8pm, May 20th for the OSF Meet & Greet (Conway&Michelle), fly tying and surf talk! Saturday morning at 5:30 am Mission Beach for the OSF which ends around 9:15 am, and Saturday 10-noon at Peter Piconi’s
So Cal Fly Shop for the raffle. SDCoastKeeper talk, awards and lunch.

click for larger view!

Directions to OSF, Mission Beach:
From Los Angeles or South SD
Take 5 – exit Sea World Drive and head west
Take ramp to Ingraham St/W Mission Bay Dr.
Stay in the right lane and continue onto the ramp that will cloverleaf onto W Mission Bay Dr.
Cross Mission Blvd. and park in the large lot on your left behind the roller coaster.
We will meet on the beach at 5:30 for check-in, in front of the parking lot…you can’t miss us!

San Diego Fly Shop & Blue Water Tackle
124 Lomas Santa Fe Drive
Suite 208
Solana Beach, San Diego, CA 92075
(858) 350-3111

So Cal Fly Fishing Outfitters
2860 Sims Road
San Diego, CA 92106
(619) 224-4000

A limited edition 2011 Abel 7/8N large arbor fly reel in a design inspired by artist and conservationist James Prosek will benefit the Florida-based Snook Foundation, announced Don R. Swanson.

One hundred of the individually hand-painted, anodized and laser engraved snook design reels will be produced. Each reel will be accompanied by a signed and numbered 11 x 14 inch gicleé print of a snook by the artist. The print number will correspond to the reel number. Reel number one and gicleé print number one will be donated to the Snook Foundation in Sarasota Florida. These collectors’ edition Super 7/8 N Large Arbor Snook finish reels will retail at $1,095

I was just made aware that these new fishing gloves by Buffs should be available by the end of the month. Light-weight, UPF 50+, durable stretch fabric, wet/dry silicone grip palm and easy on/off finger tip pull. Check your local fly shops for more info.