Ben Engle Reports on 12.11.2019

So I had the day off and decided to hit as many beaches as possible.  We started at Baker beach at sunrise and one person in our cohort of 3 ended up catching perch on the south end of the beach.  Fishing was ok but I wasn't quite satisfied with the numbers so I decided to push up north.  

Stinson was absolutely great.  I noticed that since this last big storm the shelf has really moved in close to the shore and the perch are easily accessible.  Also its REDTAIL SEASON! Redtail Perch are some of our favorites because we can't get them year-round.  They also tend to be one of the largest species of perch we can target from our California beaches.  

Remember perch are simple creatures.  Don't worry about what fly you're using! Throw on something orange and flashy and small and they will grab it. If you need surf perch flies get'em here.   Just make sure you cover a lot of water and don't get sedentary.  These fish tend to school up in the most food abundant areas so it's all about finding buckets and troughs.  Sometimes the best-looking spot doesn't hold the fish so if you've made 20 casts without a perch at a spot it's plain and simple, move on down the beach. Soon enough you'll find a school of them!

Ben Engle Reports on 10.17.19

North Coast Beaches

Been seeing decent stripers off a lot of the beaches I've been fishing recently.  The north coast beaches at first light have been extremely productive.  Get out there with a warm cup of coffee for that 6:45 sunrise and you will be rewarded.  Perch have been thick on the coast.  Don't take these small fish for granted.  I really enjoy targeting perch because it's an efficient way to find where groups of fish are located on the beach.  Once you find the perch, the striper are generally right behind them! Fishing a two fly rig using a twisted dropper loop is an extremely efficient way to multiply your hookups and fish a that "searching rig" while learning the topography of our local beaches.

Any time I'm on the coast it's rare that I throw anything less than a T11 sink rate (7-8 inches per second). Its important to fish a fast sinking line to get through that top turmoil of the surf so your flies get down to that strike zone. 

The Bay

The bay has been producing some solid numbers of stripers as well.  Been hearing great reports from the East, South, and North Bay. Fish an intermediate line, as most of these sand flats are shallow, with an Adachi Clouser and if the fish are around they won't be able to resist.

Crissy field has been solid when it's on. Best times I've seen numbers of fish caught have been in the evening.  If you get a falling tide right as the sun sets out there its a great recipe for success. Throw a Type 3 sinking paired with your favorite surf fly and make that commute a little more fun after work.

George Revel reports on 9.12.19

Local fishing has been awesome. Fish are moving around quite a bit and we have been seeing a lot of bait around.  The LCO crew has been out fishing and we have been finding good numbers of fish morning and evening. We have of course had the usual skunk days that come with chasing fish in the suds. These upcoming warm days usually mean the wind will be down making attacking the surf with a fly rod a hella of a lot easier. The full moon will provide some bigger tides and great night time fishing opportunities. The World Series bite will be here and gone before you know it. So get ready, get your lines dialed, flies in order, and most importantly make some room in your calendar. We have surf guides and Capt's ready to get you out on the water. 

Your tides for the weekend:

Evan Praskin reports on 8.23.2019

Salty stripers, blue bird skies, lots of bent rods, and quality fish. That pretty much sums up the 2019 bass season, and we still have roughly a month left in the Monterey Bay region! What an incredible year we’ve had for the striper run. Plenty of quality 5-10lb fish have been landed throughout this spring/summer, including many going over 10lbs!  A dream come true for the west coast salty fly chuckers. Not only has the bass bite been top notch, but the perch have been giving us steady action throughout the season.  Sadly we are all feeling summer coming to a fast end. Schools are back in session, work grind continues, but guess what? The beaches are less crowded now!! The October “World Series bite” is fast approaching for the SF Bay so it’s time to stick that rod in your trunk or to the side of your bike, get up early before work or stay out after you’re off, and catch that fish of a lifetime. Sometimes all it takes is a handful of casts. I’ve witnessed some amazing things go down with a 30 minute time crunch session.  I’ve been fortunate this season to pass along the passion of fly fishing the surf to many first timers who immediately caught the bug and I’m sure have a long future with this amazing recreation. Some even catching their fish of a life time after only a few days trying. The surf fly chargers are a small community of guys and gals who all share the same love and respect for our ocean and local beaches. A special breed of fly fishers, kind and very accepting to first timers. It’s all about spreading the passion with safety always in mind. Don’t be afraid to reach out with questions, swing by the shop and pick our brains, and don’t forget to get some Adachi Clousers while you’re there. Hope everyone had a fantastic summer, we’ll see you on the beach! 

Halibut California Hailbut

The latest LCO Surf Clinic was a tremendous sucess if not the best clinic we have ever hosted. Eight California Halibut and Two stripers landed in a matter of a couple of hours. Shows you how vital the tides are! Remember child of the tide mentally.

The key for Halibut were black files near any seaweed structure. Make sure the retrieve has short poppy stops that, I can almost guarantee a fish.

Evan Praskin reports on 07.08.19

Summa time and the fishing’s easy!” Well, not all the time. But we have had one heck of a good striper run this season. Fish are spread out and being caught on multiple beaches throughout the central Cali coast giving anyone a good shot at connecting with one of these salty stripers. Last Saturday I was joined by a good buddy Mike from Redding who put in the work to get some hookups. The tide was incoming all morning and we had high hopes of connecting with a good bass since guys throwing plugs were getting blowups to the left and right of us. That little excitement was short lived and it seemed that everyone stopped hooking up after 8am. Mikey had already put surfperch on the deck when “bam” hook up.... heads shakes, running line ripping from the basket.... drag singing and it was on. Lots of laughs and mid battle fist bumps lead to the first striper for Mike? Nope! First surf shark of the season, a 3’ leopard! Diamond in the rough since these fish are usually scent hunters. You gotta be reeeal lucky or stalk these fish in flats where you can deliver a fly to their face. Otherwise it’s all luck out in the surf if chasing those bad boys. Good job Mike, thanks for coming out and almost getting a Monterey Bay hat trick! 

Open Ocean striper fishing has been on fire this past week. Especially, Thursday - Sunday many fly anglers were landing adult size fish all over San Francisco's Beaches. The tide is essential, last Saturday morning just north of the golden gate bridge a minus tide to a 4ft incoming was the perfect recipe for success. From Ocean Beach to Stinson Beach Anglers were catching fish very close to shore as the incoming tide starting filling in close rips and holes.

George Revel was able to get five fish Friday morning before work and two on Sunday morning.

This weekend looks excellent!

DAY	TIDES FOR SAN FRANCISCO (GOLDEN GATE)
	1st TIDE	2nd TIDE	3rd TIDE	4th TIDE
21 Fri	02:03 h  5.35 ft	08:55 h  -0.3 ft	16:40 h  4.69 ft	21:21 h  3.22 ft	05:48 h	20:35 h
22 Sat	02:45 h  4.95 ft	09:37 h  0 ft	17:20 h  4.72 ft	22:24 h  3.12 ft	05:49 h	20:35 h
23 Sun	03:33 h  4.56 ft	10:21 h  0.36 ft	17:59 h  4.79 ft	23:32 h  2.85 ft	05:49 h	20:36 h

Bradford Bulter with a nice 30' fish.

Fly Fish The Surf

Evan Praskin reports on 6.06.19

Stripers, Stripers, Stripers!!! They are here people and ready to play in beautiful Monterey. “West coast stripers? You guys get a bass run over there?” Yes we do, and if you look into what California has to offer, you will quickly see that it has the most amazing and divers water system and these fish have maximized on it!

Sunday morning and it just so happened to be my birthday. Low tide at 4:30am, first light at 5:20. Joined by my good friend Tom, we walked the path down to the beach and immediately noticed a shore break caused by a very close and deep shelf, some serious striper water. Loose sand and a steep beach meant we needed to be on our game safety wise. First few casts were kelp groomers (40lb leader played a big role since we were able to rip through most the kelp without snapping off flies). Once we found some clearings it was game on. 4th cast I’m hooked up, good fish 20” and she christened my Beulah surf rod. Toms next cast, wham he sticks another fun sized fish.

We kept walking and looking for clearer water and as soon as we got through the kelp it was fish on. The trick was to lay out an accurate cast to avoid landing on the balls of kelp, and giving it a 10 second count (if possible) so the fly is retrieved below most of the debris. Strip strip pause and repeat. Mix up the retrieve and allow for some hard stops that make those clousers drop if possible. This isn’t always accomplishable and depends on the waves. 

The most important advice is to stay in contact with your fly, always be sure you are dragging it on the strip to detect a bite and set the hook. As the morning went on, the tide increased making the waves pounding the shoreline pretty gnarly. This began to limit our shots at good casts, but thanks to the big gun two handers we were able to continue cautiously. 

totaled an incredible 8 fish all keeper sized and released safe, a session for the books. The big fish went 28” and what a battle on the fly rod, strait corked the 7/8 Beulah switch with huge heads shakes and line ripping dashes

6” clousers chart/white, white/white, and blue/white were the ticket. Stop by the shop and pick up some Steve Adachi specials and go hit the surf! It has been a bit of hit and miss on the beach, but that’s how surf fishing goes. Never give up! That next session or next cast could make up for all those blank days. Hope everyone has a great summer, we’ll see you on the beach!

Capt. Kevin DeGulis reports on 5.30.19

The surf and Crissy field has been fishing exceptionally well, especially for California Halibut. It's funny; I initially believed that Halibut hottest month would be March or April, but this has not been the case. This entire May people have been coming into the shop, showing off butt pictures, always the same story too didn't cast far, and the halibut was 15ft out from the beach.

Smaller clousers have been the trick, next time you are out at Crissy field to make sure to have at least one or two size 2 bucktails clouser : either in chartreuse, black, pink, white, or orange.