Wednesday November 2nd, 2005
Another day.. need to go fishing. About twice a week seems about right for now.
Manresa again today, to see what it all looks like. Hmm.. lots of surfers here, so the surf must be calmer. It was too, but just a little. I'm hitting the high tide, and looking down on the beach I see a couple of bait guys set up there, in front of the parking lot. Maybe I'll work south today.
I rig up and head down to say 'hi'. The one guy says with a smile, "Oh, no, you're one of those zen-flyfishing guys, aren't you?" (or something like that) Hehe. Turns out he has read Glenn's site a bunch and is now attempting to read the water and find some fish. He's got his grub setup out now. Tough morning to find structure, though. And.. there's a ton of kelp where they are fishing. He's interested in the whole flyfishing thing, but at this point just wants to find some fish with whatever gear he can cast.
I chat with him for a while, Mitz(?) is his name, works over the hill.. I describe how to look for likely spots and after casting in front of the parking lot for a little while -- figuring there aren't any fish there as they haven't caught any, but it would be fun to try anyway -- we walk south down the beach together in search of kelp-free areas.
Luckily for me, I get into a perch a little ways down the beach, so I could feel good about being able to say "this looks like a spot" and then catch a fish there after a few casts. Dumb luck, really. A nice size, maybe 9", with some injury to one of its pectoral fins. It was, however, the only one for today. Now followed some fumbling of the sort that I dislike; I had trouble getting the camera out from the ziploc bag I keep it in -- I REALLY need to get a waterproof digi-camera -- holding the fish in one hand.. the fish unhooked itself and went back into the surf.. but didn't make it far enough so the wave receded around it.. Mitz picked it up, handed it back, I snapped a picture, then tossed it back. Mitz wanted to photograph me with the fish, but I felt it had been out of the water too long already. A few casts later, the cellphone rings, and I have to deal with a work issue..
Anyway, Mitz didn't catch any, and eventually he and his buddy packed up. The beach is steep in places, and the surf somewhat unpredictable. I almost ate it once, but managed to recover without sticking the rod-tip in the sand. (came close).
I cast a bunch more, down and back up the beach, trying to not stay in one spot too long, but no fish. A dalmatian runs back and forth behind me, its owner out surfing. Beautiful morning. The surf died down a bit toward 11am.
Looks like I fished the top of the tide today.
Tides for today:
2005-11-02 03:17 PST 2.37 feet Low Tide
2005-11-02 06:33 PST Sunrise
2005-11-02 07:19 PST Moonrise
2005-11-02 09:35 PST 5.63 feet High Tide
2005-11-02 16:21 PST -0.51 feet Low Tide
2005-11-02 17:09 PST Sunset
2005-11-02 17:26 PST Moonset
2005-11-02 23:31 PST 4.02 feet High Tide