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Fishing Report

Bay Area Surf Fly Fishing Report

Bay Area Surf Fly Fishing Report
Evan Praskin of Stoke Ventures reports on Nov. 15th, 2024

 

Greetings, fellow beach chargers! Here’s your updated surf report for the fall season! Welcome to the chilly mornings where you can’t feel your fingers, making it the perfect time to invest in a quality pair of fingerless gloves. I recommend the Simms Gore-Tex or Filson half-finger gloves, which you can easily order from or find in the shop. Monterey Bay was fantastic for bass this summer; however, most fish have migrated up the coast, starting their journey back into SF Bay and the Sacramento River system.

But, don’t worry, the surf perch are always around and eager to take your fly! If you're still keen on chasing those salty bass, consider heading to the northern beaches outside the Golden Gate, like Ocean Beach. Just remember to exercise extra caution in these areas and always check your conditions.

This time of year, we start seeing the big winter Barred perch that can make you feel like you've hooked a rogue striper. With winter swells on the rise, it's best to use heavier lines like T-11 or T-14. But anything that is sink 6 or greater will do. Make sure to work your fly as slowly as you can while maintaining contact at all times. Pause during the outgoing waves and strip during the flood. The must-have surf gear for this season includes the Loon Ergo comb, Loon Apex HD pliers, and our all-time favorite surf rods, the LCO Golden Gate and Ocean Beach! Don’t forget to check your back casts, be kind and courteous, and always strip to the tip. 

Stay safe out there, and we’ll see you on the beach!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ocean Beach surf conditions

 

 

 

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Evan Praskin Reports 05/29/24: Central California Surf

Evan Praskin Reports 05/29/24: Central California Surf

 

Central California Coast:

The surf is HOT! ... I repeat the surf is HOT!

Hello all you fellow surf chargers and suds club members. If you haven’t caught on yet, the stripers are out and hungry all along our central California coastline. Good numbers of fish are being caught all along the beaches south of the gate and down to the corner on Monterey bay. Not only are we catching the spunky stripers, but good sized perch are taking the same size clousers as the bass.

May/June are my absolute favorite months for hitting the surf. We usually have good tides/swells and low AM winds. Top of the incoming tides are producing as well as the drop off falling tide. One thing we always say is fish a changing tide either incoming or outgoing, this gets the fish active and moving. Go to flies would be a 3-4 inch clouser in chartreuse/white, black/cinnamon, or red/red. These will all catch bass and perch.

Keep hunting that different looking water, holes and shelf’s that are reachable and closer to shore. The fishing should continue to be good through the summer months into September. As the summer winds down we tend to see less numbers, but much larger fish. The good news is some very nice sized fish are already showing up in the 27+ inch range!

Please remember to Catch and release the big mammas when you can, watch your back casts, and wade cautiously! Hope to see y’all on the beach, live the stoke! 

https://www.stokeventuresflyfishing.com/about

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Bryce Tedford Reports 05/29/24: California Delta

California Delta:
Been a great Spring Striper season on CA Delta with mild weather & plenty of solid fish over the last past few months. Some days we have to really work for them & grind it out but it’s been good Spring overall. Spring Striper season is winding down & I’ll turn my focus to Summer fishing for Largemouth & Smallmouth Bass.
1/2 day Summer fishing for Largemouth & Smallmouth is just around the corner(June-Sept.). For Largemouth we use 7-8wt rods, floating lines & large poppers or Gurglers. For Smallmouth we use 4-5wt rods, small poppers & jig flies if they don’t eat Topwater. These trips are a great way to get novice anglers into the sport of Fly Fishing or seasoned anglers into the fun of Topwater Bass!
Finally, come Fall(Sept-Dec), I return my attention to Stripers to close out the season. I still have plenty of openings this Summer for 1/2 day Bass trips as well as Full day Fall trips for Stripers on the CA Delta. 
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Central Coast Surf Madness!

Central Coast Surf Madness!

Central Coast Surf Fishing

This season has been a record one for the number of fish we have been seeing/ hearing about on the Central California Coast Line. Striper are being caught throughout Seaside and up into Half Moon bay. 

Many more fish in the "Shaker" category have been found but many other "keeper" sized fish are in the mix as well. No monsters reported as of late, but that is to be expected post Striper Spawn.

Evan Praskin Reports:

The striper run this year is off to a crazy good start with nice fish already mixed in with the Diaper stripers.

 

I have the feeling this year will be one of those magical Surf Stripers years like we have been waiting for. Bass are being caught from Santa Cruz county all the way to the corner in Seaside with many fish in the 20-24” class and chunky.

 

These fish will remain in our system throughout the summer and get nice and fat on the baitfish that hold in Monterey bay. We should be seeing some mega Bass throughout the summer months.

 

Perch fishing has also been great for many anglers with some nice sized Barred beauties in the 15” range. If you head out, I’d be fishing 3-5” clouser patterns like the Adachi which should produce both species. Of course my go to Trench Bomb will be landing fish all season.

 

Can’t forget to mention that halibut are also in the mix right now with some legal length fish being landed on flatter sections of the coastline. You just never know what you will hook out here this time of year!

 

Be safe, watch your back casts, and I’ll see you on the beach!

 

 LCO Surf Clinics are in full swing! Join in this Spring/ Summer for a great event that welcomes you into the surf. We aim to help you develop a foundation that is based in understanding the surf, the equipment and the fish that we may run into out on the water.

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Lost Coast Outfitters Fishing Report April 2023

Lost Coast Outfitters Fishing Report 4/15/23

Spring Fishing has begun! We are stoked to have the report back up and running. We are now working with additional independent guides throughout Northern California as well. Ready to provide a consistent source of up-to-date information for all of of our local waterways and beyond.

The Bay/Beach: The beaches are on the edge of turning on. The bulk of our beach adventures have had to occur further away from home.. areas such as Monterey and Santa Cruz have found schools of striped willing to take a fly. As the bay clears up and water temps begin to rise slightly, more fish will become readily available off of Ocean, Baker and Crissy!

Take a look at our Local Surf Clinics or Call the shop for more info!

Lower Sacramento River:
The Lower sac is currently on fire and fishing great. The section above Highway 44 closed on April 1st and will remain closed until August 1st when it reopens. It does not matter though because the rest of the river is putting up some big fish. The flows are sitting at 3,120 below Keswick and the higher up tributaries have already cleared up. Most of our trout waters are already back in play. In the last week we have seen big hatches of PMDs, march browns, BWOs and black caddis, varying day to day based on sunlight and clouds. We have been catching fish on size 14 march brown pheasant tails, size 16 black fox's pupas, size 16 olive S&Ms, peaches and cream, tech junkie, black birds nests, sweet peas and sucker spawn variations. As temps continue to rise the hatches will get bigger and little sallies will be in play, as well as hopper dropper being a good option in the feeding lanes of the skinnier riffles. 

Lower Feather River-

The Lower Feather River flows just dropped to around 1100 in the low flow but it still around 9k in the high flow. We have been catching fish in both. There are a lot of fresh spring steelhead in the system and April and May are some of my favorite months to be out there. I was out there three days ago and fishing was great, lots of suckerfish are stacked up and getting their black stripes on the sides in their normal haunts, putting the steelhead on the chow. Go to flies have been sucker spawn and alevins as well as red headed step childs and caddis. Similar to the Yuba's current big water state, soft seams and slower runs will often be the best producers. The spring is the best time of year out there to swing a fly out there and they eat it aggressively. 

Call Ben Thompson to get out on the Lower Sacramento Or Feather River: 916-743-8290

Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta

Delta is still challenging to fish, been managing around 10 fish or so over the past week. Finding cleaner water can be difficult as silt is floating around with the tides. Water temperatures are around 60 degrees but clarity is only around 2’ or so. The Steve Adachi Black with grizzly hackle Clouser has been doing the trick in dirty water! On a positive note, each day this past week we’ve had shots at a 10+ lb fish, a few solid 3-5# fish & some shakers in the mix. Hopefully the waters continue to clear up & more fish show up for the Spring Spawn!

 

Call Bryce Tedford for trips on the Delta year-round: 206-696-2437

Lake Berryessa - 59-63 f
7-9ft via
Float and fly bite is solid and will continue to be for the next two weeks. Right now the best bet for lakes in the Bay Area. Lake is 9ft below spillway. 
Lake Sonoma - 48-55f
2-5tt via
Float and fly bite is also happening, but only on dry creek arm, warms spring side is still very dirty. Bait is abundant and the lake is full! 
Napa River / Bay 58-61f 
Water still dirty in the SP bay/Central Bay. There is clean water and stripers to be caught, but we won’t see a big push of fish until second or third week of May. Stay tuned. 

Call Patrick MacKenzie year-round for guided trips on the Napa River: 707-721-6700

Hogan Brown Reports Lake Oroville Bass- 

The lake is nearly full, water falls are flowing, and timber is flooding. Fish are on the feed during the morning and afternoon with a bit of a slowdown from 11am-1pm. Fishing the float n' fly is catching the most fish but fish are shallow enough that a popper dropper or streamer rig is also getting fish. Fishing should remain good through April into June

Ryan Williams Reports Lake Oroville- 

The prime spring season is slowly shaping up. Water temps are still cold at 52-56. Once the temps hit 60 the action will really turn on. When this happens the 50-100+ fish days will start on the main lake. Still waiting on the topwater & streamer bite to begin. Should begin around the 60 degree mark or even a bit less. For the time being it's all float n fly. Going anywhere from 6'-9' leaders. Currently we're getting about 20-40 fish per day between two anglers. Lots of really nice bass being caught lately, hard to find small ones. Big full bellies getting ready to spawn in the next month or so. The bite is going all day. Mornings and evenings have been best, but we are catching fish throughout the afternoons. Some afternoons have really shaped up to fish really well, producing bigger fish. As far as structures go, we have been fishing lately on points, tributaries, and shade in various canyons.

If you are itching to try Float and Fly Fishing with a fly rod The Cal Bass Union can get you Dialed in! 

 

Matt Heron Reports on the Truckee River- 

Although the Truckee River looked like it was going to blow out last week with the warmer temperatures, in the end, it didn’t. The water definitely came up on the CA side but has been receding by the day.

With all the snowpack this year, I’d still call current conditions pre runoff. The river is up, a bit off color (2-5ft of visibility) depending on day and location but is nowhere near what it’s going to be when we start to see consistent air temps in the 50-65 degree range…it’s coming.

Flows are hovering just under, and just over 1,000 cfs. in town and through the canyon.

As far as fishing goes, it’s exactly as we’d expect…size, not numbers (with exceptions!). Most fish our guides are running into are in the 13-20 inch rage with opportunities each day for a true Truckee River giant. These conditions are why we love the spring! Typically, the Truckee kicks out way more rainbows then browns but the tides are turning. Browns love the spring and big water and it’s starting to show with more browns in the net by the week.

Flies- Our crew is getting fish on a variety of nymphs: rubberlegs, skwalas, eggs, worms, march browns, and of course baetis and midges. If the water starts to get muddy, you can typically take baetis and midges off the menu and go bigger with more flash. 3-4x tippet will do the trick this week.

If you get lucky you may run into a few noses even with the water being up. Look for baetis, march browns, midges and skwalas. You never know when that 24in brown will let is guard down on a well presented dry. And yes, it does happen this time of year.

Not surprisingly most fish are being landed on bobber rigs, Euro set ups and streamers. If you’re a streamer angler, now’s the time.

This season’s bookings are in full swing, here’s a taste of what we have going on: full and half day guides trips, NV side float trips, our daily classes on the ponds will start around mid May, and our wildly popular 2 Day Truckee Trout School dates were just announced for this summer (101, 201 and Youth/Family).

Putah Creek

Slow start to our Putah Creek Fishing Season. The rains kept us at bay due to limited visibility. Current conditions are challenging as Hwy 128 is currently CLOSED. This is a note pulled off of The Cal Trans Website:

[IN THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AREA]
IS CLOSED FROM THE SOLANO/YOLO CO LINE TO 4.6 MI EAST OF THE SOLANO/YOLO CO LINE /AT PLEASANT VALLEY RD/ - DUE TO A SLIDE - MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED TO USE AN ALTERNATE ROUTE

Join us Wednesday April 26th from 5:30pm and on at the Shop for our

Putah Creek *Shop Talk* 

 

 

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Monterey and Bay Area Surf Fly Fishing Report

Monterey and Bay Area Surf Fly Fishing Report

Evan Praskin Reports on 10.6.20

Hey my salty surf charging fanatics! Fresh report from the Monterey Bay Area. The mass of salty bass have definitely made their way north from MB to SF Bay, though we always have some lingering around because let’s face it, our water is beautiful!

We have been getting out all over this past week catching halibut and Stripers toward SF and handfuls of perch down in MB. Plenty of action to be had this time of year and now is the time to connect with some of our awesome local surf species. As we climb further into winter, the perch should become more frequent and larger fish will start showing up(MB area). If your closer to SF bay you have great fishing all the way until thanksgiving, so dust off those rods, tie on your favorite Adachi clouser, and go get em. We’ll see you on the beach!

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Monterey Bay Fly Fishing Report

Evan Praskin Reports on 10.1.20
Can you feel it in the air? Actually can you smell it in the air? Seems like smoky air for our area is the new normal. Anyways the fishing down in Monterey Bay has been pretty good with lots of perch in the mix with a few ray species making and appearance.  Striped bass are still being caught here and there but the majority of fish have made their move north towards SF Bay. Ocean Beach Baker Beach and Crissy Field have been good places to spend your time tossing feathers for the line siders. We will be hosting clinics starting this weekend October 3 and fourth as well as the following weekend October 10 and 11th. If you haven’t done so and are interested contact the shop to see if there’s any spots available. Stay tuned because we are just starting to kick off clinics again and there will be plenty more to come! Hope everyone is staying safe and finding time to get out, we’ll see you on the beach!
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Local Surf Fly Fishing Report

Local Surf Fly Fishing Report

Ben Engle Reports 9.18.2020

STRIPERS ARE BACK IN THE BAY!!! 

Join Us for a Surf Clinic

Fishing has been picking up the last month in the bay.  From as far north as San Pablo bay to the south bay more and more people are hooking into striped bass, halibut, and in some cases closer to the gate even surf perch.  For most of you Crissy field is the best option as far as either honing your skills in an area with some fish around.  Whether you are just learning the cast or a skilled caster Crissy Field is a great option right in our backyard!

As far as tides go I tend to like the hour before and the hour after BOTH low and high tide.  Keep in mind that the wind in the mornings and the evenings is significantly less. Any time you have less wind out there casting is always a little more "Fun". For the next couple of days and into next week our mornings are looking pretty prime.  Low tide at first light tomorrow and similar times through the weekend should add up to some fish

What you'll need to be successful out there:

Rod: any 5-8 wt rod (Switch or Single Hand)

most of the fish we find off crissy tend to be in the "schoolie" size and come in between 16 and 24 inches.  While these fish pack a punch crissy can be a great option for either throwing your traditional 8wt or even lining down to a rod that makes the smaller fish a little more fun (like a 9' 6wt or even 9' 5 wt) Hit us up at the shop if you have any questions about converting one of your favorite trout rods into a potential surf stick!

Lines: Intermediate Sink (1-2 ips )or Type 3(3-4ips)

Either of these 2 lines will work but i prefer the type 3 for most days out at crissy.  The intermediate line allows you to play with the fly a little more through the retrieve with longer pauses through your retrieve due to the slower sink rate. Conversely you can throw a faster sink line out there (like a type 6 which is 6-7 ips) if you want to get deeper but make sure you are stripping quickly as you will definitely bump bottom on some areas of the beach. Learn more about fly lines for fishing the the surf. 

Leader: Wingspan (4-6feet) of 20-25lb fluorocarbon 

Flies: Adachi Clousers!!!

There are tons of flies on the market but as a fly tyer myself, I can say there are few I buy, but i buy Adachi Clousers.  As far as lifespan of a fly nothing compares to these three step epoxy coated beasts.  And they fish better than anything.  Grab a couple of both the size 2's and the 1/0's for the bay. Shop Flies

 

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Local Surf, and Trinity Update

Local Surf, and Trinity Update
Well, here we are, folks. Summer is over, schools back in session, and that means two things. Fewer crowds on the beach and striper migration! 
I’ve been fortunate enough to escape with my family up to the Trinity Alps for the first part of summer, now out in Idaho with my in-laws for another month, and boy do I miss the surf! No complaints as the fishing in both locations have been phenomenal. I did get a chance to guide a bit while home for a few weeks and found some perch and bass willing to eat a fly. While gone I kept in touch with friends, checked reports, and it looks like I wasn’t missing too much until more recently. Monterey was cursed with red tide and a lot of junk for many weeks. Fish were caught, but they didn’t come easy for most. Lots of walking and searching for clean water. I’m now seeing more perch and stripers being landed with a couple “hot” bites the last few weeks.
There will be plenty of bass still in the Monterey system through September, but soon we begin to focus our striper catching efforts towards the SF bay. Perch on the other hand are still here to be caught and you never know when that big lingering striper will take a bite. 
Hope everyone is happy, healthy and staying safe during these crazy times. If you have any questions please reach out to me or anyone at the shop. We’ll see you on the beach! 
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Local Surf Fly Fishing Report

Local Surf Fly Fishing Report

Fish have definitely started showing up on our coastal beaches.  Been noticing a lot more birds hanging around Ocean Beach and Stinson which means they're chasing the same thing the Stripers are, and that's baitfish.  

Get out there early in the morning to avoid wind and keep an eye on tides.  Remember out there that a long cast can help but even if you're casting 40 feet you have a solid chance at fish.  Make sure you are keying in on rips, buckets, and troughs out there and make sure as always that you are covering water efficiently and not staying in one spot for too long. Most of our local beach parking lots are officially open as well but feel free to give us a call if you have any specific beaches in mind and are wondering if they are open.

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