Delta and San Francisco Bay Fly Fishing Report

Kevin DeGulis and The LCO team reports on 3.28.18

Knowing that April is on the horizon, the Lost Coast Outfitters team made it a goal to fish both the California Delta and the San Francisco day in one weekend.  

Delta

The first step was to prepare. Luckily, Friday Redington sent two 8 weight Crux and two 7/8 Redington rises to match. Ben had his Sage One with a Bauer Reel and one old-school sage launch with a hatch 7 plus. In all, we mustered 5 rods, 3 shooting head line systems (OPST Laser Line, Sink 3, Sink 6, intermediate) 1 Rio Outbound short 385 grain / T 11, and 1 Salmon/Steelhead 8 weight floating line for topwater action.   The day started at 4:30 am on 540 Jackson Street, LCO’s new location. 

Driving an hour and a half to Andres island we met our guide, Byrce Tedford. The day started slowly with dirty water. We found fish in the first hour but spots were quickly washed out by various ocean-going tankers (crazy how much water the tankers move). Dodging rain, wind, and tankers we found good fish right after the tide change. 

We found that stripping techniques with long harsh pauses worked best. The nicest fish of the day was a 5-pound Striped Bass, a healthy fish with purple coloring. Byrce showed us incredible hospitality; he really knew his spots and the behavior of these fish. 

The Bay

Making it back to SF for sunset we had one goal in mind for Sunday: “crush surfperch”. First, we met up with our buddy John at the Golden Gate Bridge right before tide change. 

Ben Engle with a (Barred Surfperch)-  True surfperch species are located mainly in or near the sandy beach surf zone

We used the same shooting head system, but with some LCO surfperch tricks. Right after low tide, we got into some perch, catching two different species: the Walleye surfperch and the Barred Surfperch. Ben used an intermediate 9 weight shooting head and I used a 9 weight sink 3, both seemed to work well. 

(Walleye/Silver Surfperch)

Surf Stripers 

After having such a productive weekend I knew we needed a striper from the surf. As the weather really started to warm up on Tuesday, the LCO team knew stripers from the surf were only a matter of time. 

Look for rips or any nervous water.

Black Clouser!

Starting to guide this coming week. Call or email for availability. 216-978-4698, adventures@lostcoastoutfitters.com 

In the shop, most days just ask for Kevin.