San Luis Reservoir and Oneill Forebay are my home waters. The pages beneath, chronicle my trips to these waters with photography and video over the last years. With the advent of GoPro Cameras and advances in video editing software, I’ve tried to capture the feel of fly fisihng these bodies of waters through the seasons having fished there since the 70’s. As many have pointed out, it seems the fishing was better years ago. As tribute to the great fishermen who loved this body of water who are now gone including my father–I say fish for the moment. There are links in this blog to Len Bearden’s 1991-92 fishing diaries giving me a reference to “the way it was” 25 years ago. Someday these blog post will also be considered the old days so till then – YOLO. I try to fish there weekly when work allows.
“…On some of those rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.”
Yesterday I decided to give the Forebay another shot after hearing some promising reports from Lee Haskins and Vaughn. Sure, most of the chatter was about the “fun-sized” fish, but sprinkled in were those dangerous rumors of the occasional big one. Last week Wayman pulled an 8-pounder, and Lee stuck a couple of 28-inchers on…
Sunday September 21, 2025 Switching Gears: From Spey to Tarpon Prep With Coho season behind me, I finally put the Spey rods away and turned my attention to fly tying for tarpon — just three weeks away now. The reports coming in from Alaska sound all too familiar: big flows, low numbers, tough weather. Mike…
This year it feels like I’m sneaking fewer chances to fish the local water, so every good day feels like stolen treasure. August is a roll of the dice—if the heat doesn’t roast you, the wind will try to fling you into Fresno. To top it off, I actually got kicked off the dam today…
August 9, 2025 – Steph texted me some Facebook clips this week of striper blitzes in the Forebay. Blitzes. In August. I’ve never seen them this time of year, so my first thought was they had to be small fish but Steph said they’d caught a pile of 17–18 inchers. That sealed it—I had to…
August 6, 2025 Lean Green and Mean Today had all the makings of a banner day on the water—perfect wind, cool temps, and high hopes—but the fishing didn’t quite live up to the forecast. It’s been a couple weeks since I last hit the lake, and things have definitely changed. The water’s way down, and…
What a day. I was chasing a repeat of last week’s fishing magic, but the forecast said, “Hold my beer.” Still, I spotted a small window of opportunity and figured I could squeeze in a half-day trip before packing for Destin, Florida. A last hurrah before beach fun with my grandson River and some serious…
Sunday – July 13, 2025 I’ve been glued to Windfinder like a teenage boy on TikTok since getting back from Montana, waiting for any sign of a calm day on San Luis. Today, finally, the stars aligned—well, sort of. Windfinder optimistically forecasted a “light breeze” of 5 to 8 mph from 9 AM to 3…
June 27, 2025 Before It’s Too Late There’s a quiet honor in fishing with the ones who first showed us how to cast a line. Maybe it was your dad, an uncle, a neighbor—the weathered hands that tied your first fly, the patient voice that said, “Let it drift.” They’re the reason we fell in…
April 15, 2025. It’s been almost a month since I last fished the home waters, and apparently, the lake took it personally. Everything’s different now—water’s way up, temps are lounging in the mid-60s like they’re on spring break, and algae is smothering everything like a bad cologne. The wind has officially become sentient and moody,…
Dodging the Storms and Chasing Stripers Saturday March 15, 2025 – It’s been raining for three days straight, and tomorrow promises more of the same. But today? Today was one of those freakishly perfect days—sandwiched between storms—when the wind disappears, the sun comes out, and everything feels just right. I wasn’t the only one who…
March 5, 2025 – Somewhere in the Wild Bureaucratic Hellscape of California Another bout of rain looms on the horizon, but the real storm already passed—an eight-day exile at the hands of California Parks and Recreation. Banished. Quarantined. A punishment so absurd it could only have been conceived by a government agency with no clear…
Wednesday, February 26, 2025 -California’s water managers have come up with yet another genius plan to save us all: stop boats from moving between O’Neill Forebay and San Luis Reservoir for eight days. Why? Because of the newly discovered Chinese golden mussel, an invasive species that’s now calling O’Neill Forebay home. Never mind that O’Neill…
Monday February 24, 2025 – February striper fishing these days is a roller coaster—a transitional circus of nature gone mad. The rains have come down like a curse, swelling both Forebay and Lake to surreal levels. Water turbidity is off the charts, with murk reducing visibility to a mere 1–4 feet, and a bitter cold…
January 24, 2025 -Fishing on the Forebay today turned out surprisingly well, despite there being no current flowing through from Check 12, the dam, or the powerhouse. I would have thought that by now water would be rushing south to Los Angeles, but there wasn’t enough current anywhere to swing my Clousers for stripers. Instead…
January 19, 2025 – Fishing the Forebay in January is usually slow. Cold weather, chilly water, heavy rains, and muddy conditions are the norm, but today was anything but typical. Maybe it’s because there’s something in the air—a feeling of renewal, like a rebirth of a nation. Or perhaps it’s special for a more personal…
Wednesday December 4, 2024 The mission for the day was simple in theory: catch one keeper for dinner. But in reality? A gamble, a twisted roll of the dice. December fishing is a schizophrenic beast—either the jackpot of blitzing action or a cruel exercise in futility. Vaughn and his merry band of misfits had taken…
Sunday November 24, 2024 – The first major atmospheric river of the year swept through the Bay Area this week, and as in past years, I made an effort to hit the Forebay after the first big rain. Fortunately, today’s weather cooperated—flat water and sunny skies made for an ideal day on the water, even…
It’s really frustrating that rebanding is no longer allowed, especially now that they’re inspecting boats as they leave. If the goal is to prevent mussel contamination in other bodies of water like the Forebay and the lake, inspecting boats on the way out doesn’t make much sense if. your not rebanding. I timed my inspection…
Monday Nov 4, 2024. – Is it too soon to start slinging Christmas cheer? Hell, it’s the day before the election. The stakes are high, my nerves are fried, and it’s all too surreal to face alone. So, I dialed up my favorite aging Republican fishing buddy, Don, an 86-year-old Stanford PhD in Electrical Engineering…
Friday November 1, 2024 – Someone told me the stripers were going wild in Portuguese Bay all day, so I thought I’d give it a shot on the Friday morning after Halloween. I headed out to the back of Portuguese Bay on San Luis Reservoir, hoping to hook a few big stripers blitzing on shad.…