Monthly Archives: October 2022

Forks of the Kern Report – October 20-23, 2022

That is my wife Kelly with a beautiful fish she nailed on a Huck Bow Warrior Perdigon

Relevant Stats for the 4 days:

Flow & Water Conditions

CFS (https://dreamflows.com/graphs/mon.681.php) :

Crystal Clear, stable
~10 feet of silt to 18″ deep at rivers edge
10/20-23 – ~100 CFS

Solunar

(I use the app “Fishing & Hunting Solunar Time PRO” $3.99):

10/20 – 14%, Poor
10/26 – 26%, Fair
10/22 – 59%, Average

Water temp: 48-48 in the mornings rising to 53-55 in the late afternoons

Air temp: mid 70s in the day lowering to 38-45 at night

Weather: mild, then wind gusts to 30mph. stretches of overcast and light rain

Group: Annual Couples Trip: Huckabys, Novaks, Cooleys, Conrads + Jake

This trip was the annual couple’s trip. I love this trip because my wife Kelly comes. And some really fun couples. And Kelly never backpacks anywhere without her best buddy, Meredith. Which means my buddy Lance “has to come”. Also joining us were John and Delia Cooley who you have also read about on this site through many adventures. That is the 3 “over 30 years of marriage” couples. Topping off the group was Micah & Dasha Conrad. Micah is the young filmmaker with the awesome youtube channel who I taught how to fly fish earlier in the summer down at the Forks. Stay tuned on Micah’s Youtube vide of this trip. I will update it here when it publishes.

And sure enough, my old friend Jake Blount, an excellent fly fisher and guide showed up.

Mere took this picture of the run just over the Rattlesnake creek hill. How about that water clarity?!

Peppermint Creek

The plan I typically do with a group like this is to hike in a day early, find a site, then hike out empty the next morning to meet that group filling up with fresh food, beer, etc. before hiking back down with the group. So, I drove up Wednesday, listening to the Padres-Phillies playoff game on Satellite Radio. I made it through LA without much trouble so I still had a good hour of daylight when I hit the lower peppermint creek campground. There was a video of the peppermint creek waterfalls from August when the monsoon rains came. It was a shocking view of the ash from the fire finally making its way down the mountains into the river system. You can see it here. I wanted to see the effects. Not only because of Peppermint creek. But, because I was getting a lot of reports of ash and silt blowing out the Upper Kern River from the Huck site all the way down to the Johnsondale bridge. Also, because in July I fished Peppermint Creek above the campground and did really well. Well, the effects of the flash flooding in the creek are obvious and concerning. Below the campground, the creek is choked with ash and soot. I don’t see how trout could even hold in that first ½ mile before the structure by the BLM primitive camp sites. I don’t believe I even casted once. So, I hiked back up the creek, crossed the road and hiked the creek above the campground. It’s steeper terrain so the creek is not as choked up but there is soot / silt on both sides. I did not see a trout…nor anything alive like bugs in the river. I did cast some moving water but not a single take after an hour or so of fishing while making my way upstream above the falls. In July I was pretty much getting struck on every cast. Granted the water was really low because of the drought and the end of the season. But, I am not confident there was a single trout in that milelong stretch above the campground. It was clear the flash flooding of soot pushed them out or killed them. Mother nature has a way of quickly fixing things so my guess is after a good winter it will be back in shape and the trout will come back.

In Quest of the Huck Site

When I got to the Forks of the Kern Trailhead it was already dark. The mission was to get the Huck Site the next morning. To my surprise and dismay there were 4 cars/trucks in the dirt parking lot and 4 more sets of trucks and campers in the primitive campsites. Then it hit me: camping at the trailhead. Without running water nor anywhere close to fish, the only reason to do that was to hunt. And yep, I had forgot deer hunting season had started. That was confirmed the next morning around 5am as I peered out my window seeing groups of guns pass my truck on the way into the wilderness. It was really cold sleeping in my truck that Wednesday night at the trailhead; uncomfortably cold. My guess was low forties. Hmmm….

Sunrise at the Forks of the Kern Trailhead

There was an awesome sunrise at the trailhead. That is pretty rare. I started my hike in on quest for the Huck site around 8am. There was not a single sole camping for the first 3 miles. But, when I got to rattlesnake camp (the site with the cement picnic bench) I had a giant black dog charge at me barking with it’s fangs bared. Two old guys were in the site and couldn’t control their dog. It was one of 4 times during the trip that dog charged me barking uncontrolled. But, my concern now was if the Huck site was taken I’d have to double back over a mile to “bend camp” and set up there. The more I write on this site about the Huck site, the more popular it gets. That is not a problem for me. I encourage it. I want more people, especially young people to experience the wilderness. That is why I write it on this site. But, I really don’t like doubling back and the next site that can handle 4 or more tents is another mile over the mountain. I was confident the couple’s group was not up for that long a hike in. As I approached the huck site I could see a couple people and gear. Darn. So, I approached them with a smile saying something like, “Hi, are you just setting up here?” “no.”, they said, “We are just leaving.” “Thank God”, I said. “I have 4 tents coming tomorrow and the Huck site is one of the few sites that can handle that many tents.” “Wait, are you Tim Huckaby?”, they said. I believe I said the exact same thing I always say when people recognize me down at the Forks: “Tim Huckaby? That guy is a douche.” Then I laugh and introduce myself. Julian and Lauren were their names. A great young fly fishing couple that loves the Upper Kern like me. Well, it wasn’t long into the conversation before Julian told me he proposed marriage to Lauren at the Huck Site! Talk about proud… I had tears in my eyes hearing that.

Julian and Lauren: A wedding proposal at the Huck Site!

So, I set up my tent in the Huck site. I pinged the couples group I had secured the Huck site with my Garmin InReach.

Soot and Silt

I examined the water in front of the Huck Site. Just like I was warned, the bank was ten or so feet of silt and ash. Silt that was over a foot deep. It had settled so the water was still crystal clear. But, if you stepped in it, the water exploded clouding the water to zero visibility.

I had heard from friends and a number of visitors to this site that after the monsoon rains of august, the johnsondale bridge section (JDB) was completely blown out with soot and ash and silt and unfishable. Mother Nature had finally pushed the ash, soot and exposed dirt of the fires into the river. I had also heard from the same folks that the silt made the fishing from the confluence at the forks all the way up to the huck site really tough. Well, the unfortunate news for spring fly fishers is that the huge amount of silt is going to make its way down the river when runoff starts. Even another drought year is going to push that silt downstream. How bad and how long will depend on the winter we have. I love to fish the JDB stretch in April. But, I fear blown out conditions in 2023 will prevent it.

Yea, that is a Huck Hopper in his face. But, i tied it tiny, size 14 in orange to imitate the October Caddis

Fishing upriver of the Huck Site

I rigged up a 3x mono leader to a size 4 tan huck hopper trailed with 3 feet of 3x flouro to a size 16 Huck-bow Warrior perdigon and set off to fish. I had already told the couples group in planning that I didn’t need to fish much and would concentrate on guiding the beginners. I also wanted to spend a lot of time with Kelly because close to 2 months in Montana and Wyoming over the summer took its toll. So, this was my chance to get in some fishing before Kelly and the gang showed up the next morning. I didn’t cast in front of the huck site. I could see trout in the crystal-clear water in front of the Huck site, along with a group of huge pike minnows (aka squawfish or suckers). I wanted to save those for the beginners. So, I started up stream about 100 feet above the Huck Site just below “Latrine Hole”. First cast: “Whack!” An 8” Kern River Rainbow (KRR) took the Huck-bow Warrior perdigon. “Hmmm…” I said to myself. “Oh no. The first cast jinx.” I casted again….drifted… Nothing. 3^rd cast: “Whack!” A 12 inch KRR that rose to the Huck Hopper! I continued to fish upstream and continued to get rises to the Huck Hopper and continued to catch and release KRRs.

Another nice rainbow with a Huck Midge Perdigon stuck in his nose

I was about 20-25 minutes into it… about 100 yards upstream from the Huck Site when I heard, “Tim!” I looked to the bank and could see someone, but he was obscured by the trees. He came closer and said, “It’s Jake.” I smiled and said, “How in the world did you find me?” “Well, I saw your truck in the parking lot.” That’s Jake. He asked if he could stay a couple nights in the site with me and excitedly, I said, “Absolutely yes. In fact, I’m going to need your help guiding.” Jake, like me, is the type of fly fisher that gets more joy over teaching and guiding other people to catching fish than he does catching his own.

It was around 1pm. Well, Jake ran back to set up his tent then met me in river. I had only moved a hundred yards or so upstream the fishing was so good. I fished the left handers side of the river and he fished the right as we moved up stream together. And we did really well. I can only remember a little lull when the wind blew and I simply switched to two huck perdigon droppers; one size 14 and the lower one 16 and never missed a beat. One out of four takes was on the huck hopper. I caught between a dozen and 20 fish to 16” and Jake did the same. Maybe more.

That’s Jake: an excellent fly fisher who loves guiding and teaching others more than catching fish himself

I told Jake that Micah was going to show up with his wife Dasha around 4:30PM and that I told her I’d teach her how to cast. I asked Jake to take Micah while I did the basic fly casting lesson with Dasha. He gladly agreed. We walked back to the site at 4:30 and no Micah. At 5:30 still no Micah and I started to worry. But, they did show up. All we had time for was a simple casting lesson, though. It was getting dark. Dasha did get 4 takes though. Right at the huck site. We had time to cover setting or fighting fish yet. But, she was a natural at casting. I know this is a generalization, but, it just seems like females take instruction so much better than males. It’s just so easy to teach absolute beginner females to cast for me.

John took this fantastic picture of Delia. It looks like she’s hooked up. If i was there I’d be yelling, “Rod tip High! Get tight with him.” 🙂

I did buy a $9 transistor radio and hike it in hoping to listen to the Padre playoff games. And at nighttime it works! We got to listen to all the games when it was dark.

Why does AM radio work better at night? It is called the ionosphere because when the sun’s rays hit this layer, many atoms lose electrons and turn into ions. You can pick up some radio stations better at night because the reflection characteristics of the ionosphere are better at night.
Source: rovertip.com/which-goes-further-am-or-fm/

That radio now lives in the cache. You could argue it is a safety device. In fact, the Huck Site Cache is more abundant now than it was before the fire incinerated everything. Tools, Camp Tables, extra Fuel, cutting board, kitchen stuff, pads, etc. If you want to use the cache at the Huck site email me and I’ll give you the detailed directions to find it.

Well, it was a huge relief that Jake showed up because I had to do the big hike back up to the trailhead the next morning. I didn’t anticipate getting back to the Huck Site until 11am with the gang. Jake gladly agreed to guide Micah and Dasha the next day while I was on the hikes out and back in.

Does that look like a fun run to fish or what? I put 4 beginners in this run and i believe everyone caught fish

The Hike Out Empty

The next morning, I got hiking with an empty pack at 6:45AM. I got to the trailhead at 8:30AM as planned. But, none of the gang had arrived yet. I talked to some nice folks in the lot and filled my pack with 24 beers and fresh food. The gang showed up, we got a late start, hiked slowly with breaks and didn’t even make it to the huck site until after 12pm. The gang was tired and needed to set up their tents. And frankly so was I. So, I grabbed one of the 24 beers I just hiked down, sat in my backpacking chair and stared at the water looking for rises. It wasn’t long after that Micah, Dasha, and Jake showed up. Jake had a smile on his face when he approached me so I knew it went well. Micah said something like, “Well, tell Tim.” Dasha caught 3 KRRs over 15”! ..a total beginner. I was stoked. Micah did well too under Jakes’s guidance.

That’s Dasha – a total beginner and a natural. Micah gets credit for this outstanding picture

So, suffice it to say that jake and I had our hands full guiding a bunch of beginners and didn’t fish much for the next few days. The moon was totally against us and the gang still did ok on dry/dropper rigs. In the following days the barometer crashed, the wind moved in, we even saw a little rain. All that really hurt the production. So we did see weather… and we were fishing during a really bad solunar stretch. It was tough for the beginners. The wind was bad. It was cold. The wind blew the aspen leaves into the river completely shutting off the dry fly thing. There is only one scenario where I’d switch to the bobber and this was it. The nymphing was still good if you could make the cast and get a drift. It was on the bobber, that my wife Kelly caught a nice 15” in what looked like spawning colors…. But, only after some significant frustration with me as her guide. What is it about trying to teach your wife how to fly fish?…or play golf?…or anything for that matter?… Mere did catch a couple nice KRRs in that session too.

That’s Mere in the background with what looks to be a juvenile pure strain KRR with a Huck Midge Perdigon stuck in his face

Kern River Rainbow Hybridization

What was interesting is we kept seeing colorful fish that looked like they were in spawn…. And sure enough Micah harvested a fish to eat and it had eggs in it. That totally explains why we do so well in the end of season trip. There is a late fall / early winter spawn on the upper kern. Last year I asked steve Schalla of www.flyfishingthesierra.com aka steven ojai about it and he reasoned it could be a sudden drop in water temperature. But, Steve has been watching the hybridization of the rainbows in the Upper Kern closely. And now we have confirmed it: There is a winter spawn in the Upper Kern River. But, environmentally, this is not a positive thing.

I got this from Steve in an email when I sent him pictures: “Notice the spots…they are somewhat large and very few below the center stripe. I would guess there is considerable hybridization with Rainbows.” Steve went on to describe what has happened in the Upper Owens and Lake Crowley seems to be happening in the Upper Kern. “During the winter, the eastern sierras guides call the migrating rainbows their “sierran steelhead”. They come out of Crowley Lake and spawn upstream in the Owens River. I suspect the same is true on the Kern: the Rainbows are not just a Spring Spawn species any longer.”

“Notice the spots…they are somewhat large and very few below the center stripe”. Steve Schalla says this is a hybridized rainbow trout

Translation: stocked rainbow trout (not native to the Kern) have made it all the way up to the Upper Kern River above Fairview dam. That stocked species of rainbow is a winter spawner. These trout are now wild and they are breeding with the Kern River Rainbows (KRRs). The hybridization of the KRR with other species of rainbows is now significant. When you couple that with a significant increase in the number of brown trout in the Upper Kern River (In 1932 a group of women on horses released brown trout fingerlings into Peppermint Creek), it is a huge red flag for one of the very few places in the world that contains a majority of wild native trout.

I have fished the Yellowstone River and its tributaries for years. And I have watched the hybridization of the pure strained Yellowstone cutthroat. Many of the guides in the area claim there will be no pure strained Yellowstone Cutthroats within a few short years. That is a shame and a very tricky problem to fix. As far as I know you can only slow it down. So, my ask of you is this: if you are the type of person that likes to harvest the trout on the Upper Kern (current regs is 2/day). Then make sure you don’t cull a pure strained KRR. Make sure you harvest a hybridized trout. Or a brown trout…. Which are also turning into a problem on the upper kern river.

Check out the spot pattern on this KRR that Micah nailed. Notice the peppery spots that pretty much cover the entire body of the fish: that is a pure strained KRR with a huck hopper in his face.

Last year (2021) I fished the end of the season, nov 15. And we did very well. The fishing was just awesome. Story here. I always seem to slay at the end of the season. And for years I have explained it as “the fish know the food sources are ending and have to fatten up for sitting at the bottom of the deep pools for 3 months until spring”. Last year, many of the fish looked so colorful that they looked and behaved like they were in spawn. Well, now I know for sure why the fishing is so good: Many of those males are in spawn and they just get stupid when they are in spawn.

I am headed back into the Upper Kern for the end of the Season in a couple weeks. My mission is to pay very careful attention to the spot patterns… ie: the pure strained KRRs caught above the big waterfall which is around a mile up river from painters camp. If the hybridization is significant way up there…. Well….uggg… the Entire species of the KRRs in the Kern River is going to suffer the fate of the Yellowstone cutthroat.

Fly Fishing Baja in La Ventana

9-26-22 to 10-1-22

More Lessons Learned from a novice getting better. More guidance and Techniques for Success

It's hard for many to believe we catch and release these. Also notice my lucky University of San Diego Toreros hat. — It’s hard for many to believe we catch and release these. Also notice my lucky University of San Diego Toreros hat.

For the 2^nd straight year, I got to go to the SDFF annual Baja trip at the Palapas Ventana Resort an hour south of La Paz. And for the 2^nd straight year I had an awesome time. This year, though, I wasn’t a total beginner. This year I:

made a lot less mistakes
was a lot more comfortable on what the hell I was doing
learned a lot more from the experts on the trip. My fishing partner was none other than Kai Schumann.
had a lot more success… I caught over 20 dorados! Releasing the majority of them. Giving the captain a couple each day for him and his family.

John Ashley, the mastermind of the annual SDFF trip to Palapas Ventana in the pool just outside the bar / restaurant after raling dorados all day

So I am no longer a beginner at this baja fly fishing thing. But, I’m no expert for sure. I’d call myself an intermediate….which might even be generous. It took me 25+ years to be comfortable calling myself an expert at the trout thing. It’s going to take much more experience in the salt water before I can claim expertise in baja.

You can read about my introduction to baja fly fishing from my trip last year here if you’d like. In that article I documented a number of guidance items I learned the hard way from a beginner’s perspective. It is my intention to add to my lessons learned from this trip in this article.

There’s me and Kai battling another double. On this trip i lost count of how many times Kai and I were doubled up.

Here is an abbreviated version of the most relevant guidance pasted from the article of last year’s trip:

The Double hauling 60-80 feet I was doing over and over is just a wasted workout and burn of calories. When I finally did look over at what mike was doing; he was not doing what I was doing. And having a lot more success. I was basically “hero casting” blind and he was targeting and being efficient about it. I got the guidance from John and Kai before we left, “a simple 20 foot cast is all you need.” For some reason I did not think that through. While I was literally huffing and puffing double hauling casts over and over 60+ feet into the abyss, Mike was waiting for the right moment to cast a 30 footer right into the fish he was targeting. Duh… I was dragging the fly through the bait and feeding predators too late. This was a sobering blow for me when we got back to the resort and in the bar I heard all the success my buddies were having…who simply could not cast (or chose not to cast) over 30 feet.
The fly really does matter – How many times in trout fishing do we say something like, “the fly really doesn’t matter. Your placement and the drift matter a lot more.” Well, in this type of fly fishing the fly really does matter. Even the color matters. The size really matters too. But, what matters the most is that the fly rides correctly in the water imitating a baitfish as best as possible. If you half-ass drunken fly tying in your man cave and your fly spins you don’t get takes. My first two days I was fishing big heavy clousers with big beaded eyes. Not only are they are they a tough cast but, the jigging thing those eyes produced were not producing as many strikes as mike. Mike was fishing smaller deceivers (and similars) unweighted flies and killing. He was in the right part of the water column; I was not.
Knots Matter – This is the most painful lesson for me. I have been trout fishing so long. I tie 5 different knots 95% of the time and 95% of the time in 3x and 5x. I can tie them all blind folded. I haven’t failed a knot in years. Well, I had no idea how differently 5x knots up than it does with 30lb flouro. I had no idea that you have to wear gloves and yank those knots as tightly as your strength can handle… no idea. I had no idea that you have to inspect your saltwater knots closely because the heavy flouro doesn’t just slip into place and knot-up like the light stuff does. I learned that the hard way. I lost a big dorado on a rapala knot that simply failed because it was not pulled tight enough. I didn’t even look at the knot after tying it. but, you can sure as hell tell a knot has failed when looking at the flouro after losing the fish. and miraculously I also lost a big rooster on a perfection loop knot I tied for the flouro leader. That is a first. Some huge rooster swam away with my entire leader hanging out of his face… simply because I didn’t pull the knot tight enough. Uggghhh… 30+ years of fly fishing and I am failing knots. I suck. Don’t worry about me; a number of margaritas later that night at the bar fixed everything.

Such an amazingly fast fish…fooled by a popper of all things

And this is what I learned on this year’s Palapas Ventana Trip:

Fly Design – Tying and selling thousands of flies each year… Well, let’s just say I know my way around a fly-tying vice. My mistake last year was designing and throwing hugely, weighted clouser style flies that worked great on a kayak in the mangroves of Punta Abreojos… totally different fishing; totally different fish. But, did not work so well at all off Ceralvo Island in the Sea of Cortez (La Ventana). Last year I did catch Dorado, Jacks and Roosters. But, not in abundance like this year. Last year I found my fly being stripped just below the water column I needed to be in…no matter how fast I stripped the fly. Depending on leader length, I found my fly cruising anywhere from 1-3 feet under the surface. To be totally successful catching Dorado (and conceivably Roosterfish) in this world, I found you need to be in the top of the water column; like in the first 1-3 inches of it. Which explains why poppers work so well (for Dorado). Success also means throwing unweighted flies typical of a Deceiver. Lastly, it also means the casting is so much easier double hauling an unweighted fly. And of course, I still haven’t met anyone that doesn’t adore fly fishing on top.

The Baja Sardina, a Flatiron Herring. notice in this juvenile state (1-2″) it does not have a false eye yet

So, in the weeks before the trip I started “interweb studying” the Mexican sardina (Flathead Herring) in all it’s stages of life and the fly designs out there for the Mexican Sardina. I knew I wanted to design a fly with congo hair (poor man’s EP fibers). I just love the way congo hair saturates and moves in the water. Then dries in the air on the double haul. Congo hair doesn’t shape as well as bucktail when you haircut it. But, congo hair does take shape in the water well. And it is durable. I also have this thing for tying in a bleeding gill plate. It might be psychological thinking that it helps. Lastly, I have just become enamored with these modern-day thin epoxies that are cured with an ultra violet light. I used Loon thin for this batch of sardina patterns I designed. But, there are plenty of worthy competitors. Epoxy provides a durable head to the fly…which is really needed because these fish have teeth and bite hard. It also provides a great way to “cement in” the eyes securely.

This is the Sardina Pattern I designed and used at the 2022 SDFF Palapas Ventana Trip

But my epiphany came when watching Guy Allen tie his sardina pattern for Baja. It wasn’t his pattern that caught my attention as genius as much as it was two of his tying techniques that struck me as absolute genius:

Technique 1: The first thing Guy Allen does is tie 5-10 strands of crystal flash on the back of the hook for the entire length of the fly. He lathers those strands in epoxy then cures them rigid in line; in parallel with the shank of the hook. Why? With that rigid line of crystal flash running down the middle of the fly in line with the hook it helps tremendously in not fouling the hook. I had a ton of trouble last year fouling hooks with congo hair. When it doubles back, it catches easily on the hook (or barbell eyes as was the case last year) causing the fly to swim improperly. Genius. Oh yea, a little flash in a saltwater fly never hurts.
Technique 2: Shaping the first third of the fly body with epoxy. It’s a totally messy process. But, this technique gives the fly the form and structure of the natural sardina, yet allowing it the free flowing movement of the last 2/3rds of the fly, imitating the tail movement of a fast swimming sardina. Guy Allen is a Genius. You can watch the youtube video of his sardina fly construction here.

I also caught plenty of Dorado on poppers. I used the Crystal Popper by Solitude Fly company in both small and large sizes with both silver and yellow bellies and both worked great for me and Kai.

My favorite story from this years trip: Our Captain yelled “Dorado! Big dorado!” and pointed directly out the stern (back) of the boat. I could see the dorado in frenzy feeding about 50 feet away. Well, Kai was screwed because he was on the bow (front) of the boat. But, I was screwed too because that fish was directly behind the boat 50 feet away. And I had a popper (heavy) on. I’m left-handed. If I casted from the port side, my not so tight loop would wizz by and hook kai in the face. If I casted over my right shoulder on the starboard side my not so tight loop would hook the radio antenna which goes about 10 feet tall next to the console on a panga. So, I roll casted as hard as I could… almost like throwing a fastball. The popper, mostly because of the weight, only made it about 20 feet. A feeble attempt. But, it plopped on the water from about 10 feet high with a thud. Strip, strip, Whack! The thud on the water (maybe because these fish are used to these panga captains throwing sardines in the water) caught the dorado’s attention. They are so lightning quick, that fish made it from 50 to 15 feet in as fast as I could make two fast strips. Unbelievable. I believe Kai saw the whole thing and said something sarcastically like, “Oh my god…”

I also caught 4 dorado on a few of the kinky muddlers I tied (on another absolute expert, John Ashley’s advice) for the cherished and protected fantail grouper from the mangroves of Punto Abre Ojos on the annual baja camping trip.

And lastly, just because I wanted to prove it would work… I did catch a dorado on the Huck Huna I designed for the Fly Fishing in Hawaii. I tie and sell a ton of them. It imitates the Banded Coral Shrimp (Opea Huna), which is the most common of the reef shrimp in Hawaii. – a shrimp that the blue finned trevally love. Unfortunately, my Huck Huna is not durable enough for the jaws and teeth of the dorado. That dorado I caught on the Huck Huna just destroyed it. Making it one of those “one fish flies”. Huck Hunas are a pain in the ass to tie with expensive materials so I didn’t throw any more at the dorado.

The Huck Huna – check out that 3 bead “anchor” that keeps the fly swimming right, but even more importantly provides the clicking sound that that natural shrimp makes

Let me elaborate a caveat: Kai and I saw very few Roosterfish this year. I can only remember casting at a couple of them. One of them I hooked and it immediately came unbuttoned. So, the flies and techniques I describe above for the top of the water column may just be successful for dorados. I’m told dorados are the only fish to take poppers which would support the argument. Only next years’ trip will tell….assuming the roosters show again.

Observation – This year I spent a lot more attention watching the experts and watching those who were not doing so well. Even at the expense of my own fishing. Of course, it helped a lot to be fishing in the same boat as an expert for 4 days (Kai).

Luck – Like in any type of fishing there is a component of luck & karma to this type of fly fishing. And it starts with the captain finding the fish. If you get a clear shot at a dorado or rooster with out pelicans (pinchi patos) or needlefish or other fish in the way consider yourself lucky.

Naivety – on one of the particularly good days, I hooked and lost 7 dorados in a row before I realized a prior landing of a dorado straightened the hook on me. Duh. I guess that is ignorance, not naivety. It was on the little sized poppers… which is a bit disappointing. Another lesson learned. Just like in trout fishing you need to check the fly after catching a fish. Duh.

Line Strategy – When the Dorados weren’t around… which was few and far between when we were hunting for them… we did fish the reefs a little and did blind cast bouys that held fish like green jacks. In those times Kai was outfishing me 2 maybe 3 to 1. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. He’s an expert. It wasn’t until the last day that I found out he was throwing an intermediate sink line in those scenarios. I was fishing the top of the water column with a floating Rio Outbound tropical. Those smaller fish don’t really dig coming up on top with so many predators in the air above them.

Leaders – Of all the thought leadership from the experts that i listened to, read, etc. the fly was first and foremost discussed and the leader was 2^nd. But, the most NOT agreed on was the leader. I found the discussion and disagreement fascinating. On this trip I heard John Ashley asked how long the leader should be. I listened intently when he said, “this much.” as he stretched your arms open to max. I’m much smaller than John. So, I settled on between 4 & 5 feet of straight 30 lb flouro. Many, if not most, use a tapered leader in much larger lengths. I don’t need a tapered leader because I’m a pretty good cast. I don’t need a tapered leader because I use such a short leader (4-5 feet). I don’t need a tapered leader because I concentrated on that first strip as soon as the fly hit the water.

“An 8 weight is Stupid.” – It’s just not enough for this type of fly fishing. But, after breaking both my 10 and my 12wts, I had no choice for my 2^nd rod. I caught 4 dorados on my ancient Sage Fli 8wt rod. But, each time it bordered on calamity. With anything lighter than 30 LB flouro as a leader there would have been no way i could have landed those Dorado. And that is because I had to straighten the rod so many times to prevent it from snapping. In particular I did catch and release a big dorado on an 8 wt. but it wasn’t pretty. After wrangling it to the boat after a battle that had me drenched in sweat and huffing and puffing, the captain missed landing it by trying to grab it by the tail. That pissed the dorado off and it dove straight down. I had no choice but to point the rod straight down and tighten up the drag to max. I then literally reeled him up, rod pointing straight down saying to myself, “if he breaks me off then that is fine. Because using an 8 wt for this is stupid.”

Notice i am using a stripping guard. I strip the line on the last segment of my middle finger. and when hit hard it always cuts my finger open. having a bleeding cut on the finger when stripping a line soaked in saltwater is not fun.

Rod & Stripping techniques – I have already elaborated how much success is generated by striping the fly as quickly as possible. This year I found I could out strip the speed of the needlefish. Any needlefish I did hook this year was foul hooked. Last year I caught a ton of them. And I caught a ton of pelicans last year. This year I only caught one pelican and that was a cast that struck a pelican in the air. I cannot out strip the pelicans. They are too fast. But if a pelican grabs your fly and you stop stripping, it’s smart enough to drop your fly. To my discredit there were drastically less pelicans this year. I cannot help but think they may have been terminated at the hands of the local commercial fisherman. I hope not.

Also, this year I worked really hard at stripping the fly immediately when it hit the water. And that paid dividends in spades. I don’t typically do that when I’m making big casts over 50 feet because, obviously, if the line is shooting across your hand instead of dangling freely there is going to be some friction causing the fly not to go as far. But, I found great success with a strip immediately on impact. If you think it through, a sardina flying through the air doesn’t lay there stunned after it hits the water. It immediately darts away.

Calamities

I broke two rods. That is the bad news. The first was my 12 wt TFO BVK (an older rod which is superseded by the Bluewater SG) and it was totally my fault. It was a big dorado I brought up to the side of the boat to be landed, pictured and released. These captains are fool proof at gaffing. But, grabbing a pissed off dorado by the tail in the water so it can be released is not so easy. When the captain missed, this dorado dove too quickly for me to react…snap! The second break is just a bye product of having so many rods on a panga. A drift boat has a place for fly rod storage that protects them. A panga does not. Both Kai and I had our rods snapped on the same day by a captain leading with his knee trying to land a fish over the side of the boat by grabbing it by the tail. This snap was my favorite TFO Lefty Kreh Ticr2 300-400gr (an older model which could be substituted for the TFO BC Big Fly. The good news? It’s TFO: An awesome company with awesome service. $50 each to repair/replace. I received the brand-new ones less than a week after leaving baja and sending them to TFO. I could name a certain Montaña based rod maker of which I have two expensive rods, that charges $175 to repair a rod and makes you wait six months… but I don’t want to get whiny….err….

Ideally, now that I have done this twice, it is of my opinion that you would bring 3 rods on the panga if you are willing to take the risk of breakage by accident. This is what I will do next year:
- 10 or 12wt with a floating line armed with a popper for the dorado
- 10 or 12wt with a floating line armed with a fly that is stripped in the top 1-3 inches of the water column for the roosters, big jacks and dorado
- 8 or 10 wt with an intermediate for full sink line armed with a weighted fly like a clouser for the reefs to catch some of the exotic species like pargo, sierras, popano, etc.

Montezuma’s revenge – damnit it happened to me again. I’m sure it’s my fault because I wasn’t careful. Tequilla makes me drop my guard.