3 Days at Sailfish Bay Lodge (and a Blue Marlin on Fly!)

The Blue Marlin

The Blue Marlin leadered at the boat!

Fly fishing for billfish is extremely addictive.

After a while you begin to be lulled into a trance by the diesel motor. The rolling ocean gently rocks you as the sun warms your skin. Then it begins. The captain yells, "Vela, Vela, Vela" or in a higher more excited pitch, "Marlin, Marlin, Marlin!" and everyone jumps to their position. The mates tease the fish to within casting distance like a well choreographed dance. The sails turn black and the blue marlin's fins and stripes turn the most brilliant electric blue as they become enraged at the escaping teaser. Then the captain yells, "cast!"and throws the boat into neutral as you are shaken from your trance and thrown into the performance. It is time to shine as you make your cast (cast is sometimes a stretch of a description when it looks more like a flop and has little resemblance to the delicate presentation so often thought of with fly fishing). The boat's forward momentum pulls the line tight as you begin to "jig" strip the 6/0 Cam Sigler tube fly. You watch as the fish turns to face its prey and are surprised at how fast it closed the distance and inhaled the fly. There is no gentle hook set. You bury the hook deep in the corner of the mouth with a few tugs on the fly rod mixed with a rod set that would make most Bassmaster pros cringe (being sure you move the rod in the opposite direction of the fish's travel. The hook set is really you just trying to not have the rod pulled from your hands). The water explodes as the fish goes airborne and you wonder just what you were thinking when you decided you could catch a billfish on the fly.

Huge thanks to the crew of the "Gypsy" and to Sailfish Bay Lodge. You guys are amazing and I can't wait to come back.
http://www.sailfishbay.com

The January fishing report from Sailfish Bay Lodge. We ended our trip with landing 20 sails and one Blue Marlin (Jan 18-20).
REPORT!

California Delta

I have heard so much about the California Delta and everything that I have heard is true. The air was filled with the calls of swans, sandhill cranes, snow and canadian geese. Around every bend in the Delta was a new and completely different body of water. Though the conditions were less than favorable the striper still showed up and gave us some exitement.

good old advertisements

Broken Bow

The Winter trout addiction is sort of a voluntary beat down. The feet freeze and the fingers go numb until the line goes tight but the river is void of other fishermen and the trout are active. Winter trout were calling and Phil and I answered the call. Broken Bow, Oklahoma was just 3.5 hours away. We fished 1.5 days. The first .5 was more of a scouting mission and a reintroduction to a river I used to fish rather regularly. It was good to see trout again and even better to see them rising to dries. Well after the sun went down and we had both landed a few trout we called it quits and set up camp.

The morning came quickly and we woke to frozen boots and waders and a herd of deer that didn't like our camp intruding on their forest. As soon as the ice was broken from the boots and waders, and we were able to get our feet in them ,we hit the water. Started the day throwing wooly buggers and swinging them through the tailouts. This was deadly. The fish couldn't stand the swing and I would have continued to fish this way but I lost my only two boogers. One to a super sloppy backcast, the other to a nice fish that headed downstream much faster then I could. I was then forced to remember how to nymph. After casting to the same fish for 15 minutes, and probably as many fly changes, the fish ate a size18 pheasant tail. This produced a few more fish before we high tailed it to zone two.

We arrived at zone two to the slow water and fish rising, dimpling the water. I had talked to other fly fishermen that were just leaving zone two and they mentioned swinging soft hackles. To keep with the theme of the trip I tried this and gained confidence in the technique when my first 5 casts were met with trout. This continued until the sun started to set and the fear of not being able to see where I was wading set in. It was a long drive home but a very successful trip. Thank you fellow fly fishers for the technique.

Back to the Old Drawing Board.

Sometimes you have to steal pictures to draw (ducks unlimited cover shot).

New This Is Fly

Dear This Is Fly,

How is it that you always have such good music on your audio player. I have been listening to Arcade Fire's - "Suburban War" almost nonstop since my Darling got "The Suburbs" for me when it came out. Arcade Fire still has it. Keep making good music. On a side note, Monica just went to see Deerhunter and we tried to see The XX but the show was crazy expensive and way sold out. Maybe Monica is making the audio player for This Is Fly.