Week of September 26th, 2005
A few entries in this one. I need to start going somewhere else, but time has been really in short supply this week.
On monday I went out, and slung the T14 line with the 10' rod. Didn't like it one bit, and I decided that it all cast like a pig that day. No fish either. The weather has been too nice and calm here, so the fish concentrating rips and holes aren't doing much.
Tuesday I went scouting.. Seacliff looked worthless to fish, so I decided to head up to Natural bridges to look at the beach there, and the area over towards the tidepools. The beach is pretty small, and didn't look very fishy. The area by the tidepools could be interesting, but then, there are slippery rocks to worry about, and waves, and I doubt there would be that many fish there anyway. It might be a good place to try with some flies and a casting float, on the spinning rod. I didn't want to stay though, as the place stank of rotting kelp and seagrass.
Thursday I went down to seacliff again, and fished a little. I only caught one
dink, but that is infinitely better than being skunked. I thought I'd bring out
an old rod of mine and use it for perching: It is a Sage graphite-II 9' 8wt
that I built up back in 1983 or so. Nice rod, and it casts the 300gr shooting
head just fine. I like the narrowness of the handle, but I'm having second
thoughts about the shape.. wondering if I shouldn't have made the cork grip
just one ring longer, and a full wells shape instead of the reversed half wells
that was in vogue on 8wt rods back then. Not sure if it really matters.. I liked casting it
a lot, and I have some good history with that rod. Only problem is that it
it is a 2-piece and doesn't fit into the trunk that easily.. it does fit, but just,
and there is some risk of damage unless I keep it in the big rod-case, which makes getting
it into the trunk even harder, if not impossible..
Friday morning, today, I went out to the Santa Cruz Wharf, to look at the ocean. I didn't fish, but I met a guy there -- Jeff -- who was playing with a fly setup over the side of the pier. And I thought I was the only one to do that. He was going the inexpensive route.. glass rod from Big 5 that cost, maybe $20. A nasty reel that couldn't have been worth more than five bucks. His line felt squishy. Nice guy, later 50's I'm guessing. I showed him how to rig his leader butt with loops, the way I do, as he was tying his 4lb leader directly onto the end of the flyline. We talked a bit, and I explained how to fish for perch on the beach, and what gear he'd need to get (basket, leadcore, amnesia, time, etc..). There was a ton of anchovies down in the water, but they weren't interested in his little nymph. I tried casting his outfit; the line felt wierd (a floater), but I could make it work anyway.