Anonymous
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![[*]](./images/xpsilver/default_icon.gif) posted on 11/30/03 at 07:19 PM |
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south bay
What a difference a day makes!
Pumping swell overnight from the west was great for the morning surf session. Really bad for the fly fishing. It didn't look to promising with
top to bottom head high sets coming in but I gave it a half hour anyway. As expected nada. I fished next to a guy with a light weight spinning outfit
and he was tossing grubs to the tune of zero fish as well.
He did tell me that yesterday he was fishing just north of Pepperdine this is where the malibu colony ends just in front of the little crab shack on
the PCH.
He said there were lots of big Corbina hanging out. The eel grass made it tough for him and he didn't get any takers. Another report I read
said, surfers south of San Onofre spotted alot of beans hanging out on the outside with big schools of 20 plus fish. A spin guy pulled in two
beans on grubs down there. The next day a guy throwing grubs got three beans. Pretty cool.
Well the good thing coming out of the bigger surf for the southbay will be some nice structure from the water movement. Today there were some really
big holes developing and as soon as it calms down a little there should be some good areas to fish.
Hip over and out.
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Mike D
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| posted on 12/1/03 at 11:21 AM |
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El Porto
Fished El Porto Sat. The water is clear and clean again. Worked the area from the parking lot north to Grand beach. Three BSP in an hour and one
great hit without a set. I didn't see any beans working the shallows. Last week I got 2 beans in ten minutes in the same area. An 18" and
20"...I think it was my Xmas present from the fishing god. Mike
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Steve P.
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| posted on 12/1/03 at 12:37 PM |
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El Porto beans
Hi Mike D.
I'd be interested in details on your 2 beans - line,
leader, retrieve type, location (shallow, deep), time
of day, tide, blind vs sight casting, fly.
Thanks, Steve P.
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Mike D
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| posted on 12/1/03 at 02:26 PM |
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El Porto Beans
Steve:
It was a week ago today. Got to the water late in the afternoon. The tide was in and it was a bit on the rough side. I didn't think I would do
any good. Most of my outings this year have been casting practice. I started with a ghost shrimp thinking that I might get a perch if I was
luckly. I had to wait until the waves were right and it calm down between sets. As I was waiting I saw something I have never seen before. What
looked to be a Corbina was jumping out of the water about 60 feet infront of me in the surf. As I watched it did it several times. I quickly changed
flies to a white/tan clouser thinking the bean was chasing some kind of bait fish in the surf. I made two or three casts trying to get far enought
out to the area I last saw the jumping. On the last retrieve when I was almost to the leader brother bean hit like a freight train. He was a very
hungry boy!! It took me awhile to get him in with 8lb leader but I made it. About 18" of nice fat bean. Of course I didn't have a camera.
So I'm thinking I could run up to my house(5 mins away) get my camera, run back, throw some water on him, take a picture and know one will know
I didn't release him....Then I thought, no I would know and I wouldn't be able to talk to you guys without feeling guilty. So I gave him a
big kiss and slipped him back into mother ocean. As I looked back out to the waves I saw another silver flash jumping out of the water. Two casts
later I was hooked up again. This time a fought about a 20" bean to the sand. What a day, I've thrown my arm off this year without even a
tug most days. I think the god of fly fishing wanted to let me know that if you do the right thing you will get rewarded. To answer your
question...350 grain Rio shooting head, 9' 8lb fluorocarbon leader. Just a note, I've only been fly fishing for 2 years, and only
saltwater. Most of it in the surf. Since I live at the beach I go quite often an hour here 2 or three there. But I do go alot. I'm only now
getting to the point where I feel comfortable in what I doing and think I have a feel for a bite and what the line feels like when it's tight and
on the bottom. And I've never caught 2 beans back to back before..And with all the beans that I saw this year cruising in shallow water
I've never been hooked up as a result of a sight cast.
Good luck, Mike D
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Anonymous
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| posted on 12/1/03 at 04:56 PM |
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Mike, nice double at the porto!
I guess your making up for lost time. You pick up those beans in front of the green tanks? That's my favorite spot to fish.
I didn't pack a camera for the first two years either I never wanted to pack my 35mm because it's too big and bulky. Now I just stuff a
cheap throw away in my bag. You can buy one at the Chevron on the corner of the El Porto parking lot. They are hard to find but they also make a
good 2.5' focus throw away. This is great for the old overhead shot when
there's no one around to take your picture.
You've built up some steller fishing karma for the decision not to kill the bean for a picture. I commend you for this. If I caught a IGFA
record setting bean I'd take a picture and let it go. Great fishing and releasing. Hip
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Mike D
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| posted on 12/2/03 at 12:12 PM |
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El Porto
Hip:
Thanks for the kind words..I now have a disposable camera in a zip lock bag in my pocket when I fish. I like to fish by the tanks also but I got the
beans right out infront of 45th st just before you get to the rocks. When the conditions are right that's a great spot.
Mike
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Anonymous
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 posted on 12/2/03 at 06:11 PM |
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Nice job Mike! Very exciting stuff.
Cheers, Ken Hanley
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Anonymous
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| posted on 12/2/03 at 07:30 PM |
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No photo
Taking a bean for a photo would be pretty lame, but they're great on the table and it hasn't wrecked my karma a bit.
Kendric
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gary bulla
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| posted on 12/2/03 at 09:38 PM |
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Since you didn't have a camera, I thought I would put up a portrait of one that ate a Gremmie for me at Bates Road. Check out the extra set of
nostrils. I think they may be related to vipers!(photo credit Brian Okeefe)
gary bulla has attached this image:
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Steve P.
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| posted on 12/3/03 at 02:57 AM |
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aggressive beans
Mike D,
Thanks for the great reading! It's interesting that you found hungry, aggressive beans - I experienced this about 6 weeks ago. At first light,
I saw big boils in the skinny water, like bonito outside the La Jolla kelp, and threw a pair of "perch candy" flies into the area. First
cast, nice bean. I stopped to take a pic, and did not catch another one there, but ended up with 3 beans that morning.
Similarly, someone on fliflicker, I think it was Danny, posted that he was looking for suggestions for how to catch his first bean, "what was he
doing wrong", and caught 3 beans in his next session. He described the beans as chasing his fly, missing, and coming back for more, like crazed
perch.
It would be great to know what makes for hungry beans. Anything out of the ordinary on the day,
or the days preceding your nice catch, Mike? Please remind me what day and tide you were fishing - what was the weather like?
Anybody else out there have any experiences with aggressive beans, and any ideas as to what set them off?
Gary: nice hawg!
Thanks alot, Steve P.
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Anonymous
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| posted on 12/3/03 at 10:54 AM |
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Great reports, interesting stuff.
I've only happened into several situations where there was a "bite" going on with beans. I don't have a clue why they might get
agressive in deeper water. In thin water I have seen situations on freshly wetted sand on an upcoming
tide where sand crabs start to pop up - the beans will swarm the beds in schools of ten fish our more and get pretty reckless.
Mike B.
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Mike D
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| posted on 12/3/03 at 03:48 PM |
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Thanks for a the great comments everybody. That's why this board is one of favorites.....Good looking bean Gary. I wouldn't want to be a
sandcrab out for a strool when he was hungry!!!!
Mike
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Anonymous
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| posted on 12/4/03 at 08:08 PM |
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Kendric, my support of catch and release was in no way intended to be a slander on those folks who wish to keep their fish for the dinner table.
The promotion and popularity of catch and release among fly fisherman is a benefit for those folks who keep their fish for the right reasons. For
every Bean a fisherman keeps hopefully someone out there is putting one back. In this way we keep a solid population of fish for others to enjoy.
Whether that enjoyment be catching and eating or catching and releasing. Tightlines to you, Hiptothat
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