WINNER: One Surf Fly Tournament

The 2009 One Surf Fly Contest is now history and was a winner in our book.  We wish to thank all of the people whose hard work made this event so enjoyable.  All of the contestants were friendly, interesting and provided tips and information on flies, locations and methods; no secrets here. With over 60 contestants this year pounding the surf you would think more fish would have been caught, but as they say “you should have been here last week”.  Although Fishing Euphoria failed to catch a fish, at least we were not alone.  All is not lost; one of the flies submitted by Fishing Euphoria was lucky for the contestant who caught the second most fish.

For those who have never participated, the rules require each contestant to submit one fly which is inspected, given a number and placed in a grab bag. Then in the order of check-in each contestant draws a fly from the bag.  You must fish with this fly and only this fly, if you lose it – you are finished with the contest.  Awards are given for first fish, most fish and largest fish.  In addition, the constant who submitted the winning fly in each category wins a prize.

The fly that caught the second most fish is a Clouser fly called “Kandy Korn”.  The colors used are white, yellow and orange along with a heavy wire saltwater hook. You can use any hair to tie the fly but I usually use a synthetic hair or craft fur because I believe the fly sinks faster and gets to the fish sooner.  To find out how I tie this fly check out our Fly Tying Section section in the Fish Tales Blog.

We plan on fishing this tournament next year because it’s just plain fun and all of the people involved are just great!

ed@fishingeuphoria.com

Nov

30

Surf Fishing Explored

Two members of Fishing Euphoria staff have lost their minds and signed up to fish a “One Surf Fly” contest hosted by Bob Marriott’s Fly Fishing store in Fullerton, CA. With the contest coming up on Saturday, December 5th, John and I decided to get a little practice in this last weekend.   Surf, fish, fly and fly rod, what’s so tough about that?  We have been fly fishing a long time, our confidence was high, so we headed out to our surf fishing destination in Huntington Beach, CA.

After three hours we walk away covered in sand and soaking wet.   What we got from this fishing adventure was the knowledge that we survived our first lesson in surf fishing and gained a bit of insight to pass on to others.   The wind is always in your face, not helpful with casting.   The current and under tow will drive you crazy, and the surf seems to have a mind of its own.   I am not kidding that surf will knock you down when you are not looking, watch out!

What I now know is — we had the wrong fly line for fishing the surf; you should never turn your back on the surf; and when you think the current will take your fly to the left an under tow kicks in and takes it right.   As I studied the timing of the swells and knew the rhythm I was ready with a plan to catch a great fish, ok any fish.   Right at that moment it starts doing just the opposite and breaks left to right — back to where I started studying the swells trying to figure it out all over again.   Also important to note:  Never fish the highest tides of the year as unprepared as we were.

On the way home from Huntington Beach we spotted a fly shop on Old Newport Blvd. called His & Her Fly Fishing Shop in Costa Mesa, CA.   We just had to stop in; maybe we could discretely ask some questions and get pointers for the upcoming Surf Fishing contest.   If we only knew then what we know now…we would have stopped here first. Frank Selby was extremely knowledgeable about surf fishing and gave us many helpful hints that should shorten our learning curve.  If you are ever in the area definitely stop by and talk to Frank, you will be glad you did.

Well now it’s on to Las Vegas, and home, where the only time we get surf is with gale force winds on Lake Mead and you don’t dare be on the water.

ed@fishingeuphoria.com

Sep

14

Utah Fishing

We are going to Utah this weekend for a little fishing.  My prediction is that I will catch the first, biggest and most fish, while Mike comes in second and John will be skunked.  See the report after the trip, not to mention all of the great photos.

Aug

26

Fishing in Utah anyone?

We are heading up to Utah soon to catch some trout…I can hear the stream now.