Tying Lee’s San Luis Smelt

  Im lucky to share my home waters with some pretty amazing fly fishermen.  One of the greats on San Luis and the Forebay is Lee Haskin who I had the pleasure of connecting with at the Pleasanton Fly Fishing Show  last week.   With Lee’s permission,  I was able to Film him tying his iconic…

Flavor of the Month

July 25, 2021 – I receive many emails and texts asking what fly Im using in the Forebay and in the Lake.  The truth is that I dont really have more than 6 flies in any style that are identical.  One of the aspects of fishing the forebay and lake as my “home” waters is…

San Luis Reservoir Fly Theory….

Over the last 50 years of fly fishing San Luis Reservoir,  I tried hundreds of different fly patterns  on this particular fishery trying to get the edge. Many of the old timers feel they have cracked the code on fly patterns for San Luis.  The many  really talented San Luis Reservoir  fly fisherman Ive come…

The Old Days…

Remember the days before digital photography?  I remember unboxing the Kodac DC 40. In January of 1995, Kodak released the DC40 camera which was the  first digital camera for the consumer market.  In 1998, I lost my server to a lightining strike and lost a large portion of my photography backups but I know backups…

In Memory of Jim Cramer

“You fish — then you die — or you don’t fish and die anyway — your choice” Unknown   I met Jim 14 years ago at my daughters soccer games. He was the grandfather of Mia’s teammate and we shared a passion for fly fishing. He moved to the Villages in San Jose from Bodega…

Flashtail Clouser with Rattles

The Fly of Choice in the Delta last week was a Chartreuse 5 1/2 in Clouser. Steve likes them, and I like what he likes. I thought I would take this weekend to replenish my flies. I also like this fly in San Luis, and caught some personal best stripers on it. The recipe is…

The Pole Dancer Cannon…

For years I thought that I could improve my golf score by buying expensive drivers  I felt that feeling of anticipation as I unboxed my newest Fly Rod acquisition – The Echo Boost Beach 8wgt.    The Boost Beach is a 12ft 2inch overhead casting two handed rod developed by Tim Rajeff for overhead casting…

Small Rattled Yellow and White Craft Fur Clousers

These last couple weeks at Oneill Forebay have me exploring size 1 and 2 Craft Fur Clousers that have proven to be exceptionally effective this season.   I have had past success with bucktail closers in the same size and color, but I am beginning to believe that the Craft Fur actually has a better…

Flies that Dart on the Pause

  Last weeks session with Dan Blanton on Oneill Forebay left me experimenting with flies that have action on the pause. He used a fly that featured a brass rattle tied to 80 lb mono that rear weighted a three inch flashtail clouser.   The end of the mono had a burnt knob on the…

Tying the Ardino Deciever

It’s never too early to prepare flies for a big trip especially when the trip calls for ten dozen flies minimum. My trip to Bolivia for Golden Dorado is not till next fall but I may be tying flies for three people. Hopefully I will get some help from my friends in Africa and can…