San Francisco Bay Fly Fishing Report Kevin DeGulis reports on...

San Francisco Bay Fly Fishing Report 

Kevin DeGulis reports on 5.17.18

LCO hosted our third Fly Fish the surf clinic on Mothers Day. The group fished hard, cast after cast but nothing came up, so we took a break and watched the water. Talking about fly rigs, structure, seams, foam lines, migration, casting, and of course fish behavior. Once things seemed “fishy” the group lined up, casting towards foal lines forming in front of our eyes. Boom minutes later Ben hooked into a heavy 23 inch Striped Bass Fish, the first time sage one 7 weight felt under gunned. The LCO team really enjoyed hosting these clinics, a fly fishing culture is building in the bay area.

Early Monday morning Captain Gregg Holland of Feather Dog Outfitters called saying “Ocean is flat next three days”, this is the moment I have personally have been waiting for. The open Pacific Ocean at her gentleness, I mean can it get better than the California Coast. George and I jumped on the opportunity and hit the road from San Rafael to Bodega Bay. The first time being in this area I didn’t realize how salty California can be, I loved it.  Ocean morning typically are full of mist, fog but around 8:00 am it turned into a great weather.
The main objective was to catch Black and blue bass on the fly, in the mid-morning we were having mild success on our “tight line nymphing for Rock Fish”. As the water warmed up, we started to get a flurry of fish hitting flies., finding large underwater were the key. Overall it was an incredible day on the Sonoma coast and I recommend to see Captain Gregg for this kind of experience, there’s nothing like Fly Fishing on the Pacific Ocean.

Back to the surf, Emily and Ben have been searching for Halibut on the fly! Her fishing finally paid off by catching a nice size California halibut. You can see the excitement on her face.