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8/27/09

fly fishing no cal:

a day with chris a.

 

spent the entire day today hanging out with my no cal bud chris a. from the california fly shop.  yesterday i rolled down to the shop to check it out and see chris.  the shop is amazing sporting a fish tank with a nice two and a half pound peacock bass, a giant permit mount, racks of rods to die for and a vast field of flies.  located in san carlos,  definitely check out chris if you’re ever in the area, he’s got the bay area and beyond dialed in.

 

we started out the day fishing a small creek.  this was chris’s homewater and where he started out fly fishing.  it’s always cool to see and fish with guys on their homewater.  we fished a sage txl double ought rod with an appropriate sized galvan reel.   the fly du jour was a dark montana prince.  the water was extremely low (lower than chris had ever seen it)  but we hiked around and found some small, but fishable riffles that lead into tiny pools.  we leapfrogged pools.  i would watch him masterfully pic apart a piece of water, complimenting his good casts and (of course) ragging on him when an errant cast found an overhanging branch.  he did the same when it was my turn to masterfully butcher my water.  fortunately, for me, chris held his tongue quite well when it was my turn.  it was quite a shocking transition going from bombing the vast hawaii bonefish flat to roll casting a double ought trying to figure out how to dissect water no bigger than a king sized bed.  despite the drought condition waters, chris managed to get a number of hand sized trout out of the pools he fished.  i managed to get one nice little guy and missed the subtle “dink” of a bunch of others.  super light tackle, super cool fun.

 

we rolled into the city (san francisco) and had some wicked thai food on haight street before heading to the golden gate casting club ponds to hook up with some of chris’s boys.  we rigged up the two handers and took to the ponds.  i marveled at the level of casting these guys possessed.  they were launching some impressive spey bombs.  i got some much needed help and practice with my two handed casting.  the scene there was very chill.  we spent hours just hanging out and casting.  i even reunited with a client of nwff that i had guided some six or seven years ago.

 

we ended the day with the boyz at the same thai restaurant that we had lunch at (don’t leave good food to find food).  we talked hawaii bonefish and everything steelhead and spey.  no better way to start off the trip.  fished some cool water, got in some valuable casting practice, and met some great guys and new friends in the process.  that, my peeps , is what it is all about…

 

chris gets ready to sneak attack a pool.

 

small water, small spooky fish.

 

 

chris launching some bombs at the golden gate casting ponds.  thanks chris for the great day can't wait to fish with you again bro...good times.

 

clay.

 

 


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