01-31-2007, 01:07 AM
Last Saturday & Sunday, I ventured to the northern end of Pt. Reyes to fish Kehoe Beach with high hopes of tackling those phenomenal redtail surfperch using the 0-wt Sage TXL. The waters off the exposed, west-facing shores of the Pt. Reyes peninsula had the clarity of gin & were absolutely pristine despite the rainy weather that swung through the SF Bay area late last week. Fairly mild offshore winds & relatively flat seas prevailed on both days, providing near-perfect conditions for fishing the late afternoon incoming tide into the early twilight.
I fished Kehoe with Craig on Saturday afternoon, then returned on Sunday to pick up where I left off the prior evening. Both days started off somewhat slow - a handful of silver surfperch provided some light entertainment while the tide was still out. Most of the silvers were caught on small flies that I refer to as the Golden Bandits:
http://home.att.net/~surf.perch/goldenbandit_12.jpg
There was a wide assortment of beach structure to fish before the tide flooded the shoreline late in the day...
http://home.att.net/~rainbow.perch/Jan27-07/012707im-9.jpghttp://home.att.net/~rainbow.perch/Jan28-07/012807im-2.jpg
It's been my experience that the redtail tend to bite best just before dusk, especially during high tide. Under graylight conditions, large, dark-colored fly patterns are very effective at triggering the fish to pursue & grab a slow-moving fly in the suds. Consequently, I replaced the Bandits with the high-contrast #12 Slinky Seducers as the sun sank low over the horizon. On both days, the redtail schools arrived within a couple hours of sundown, often moving from one hole to another. The fish appeared whereever a sandbar or sandy shelf dropped off into a deep trough, channel or other depression. At times, the redtails grabbed the flies as the tippet drifted with the current over a sandy ledge. When the bite was really hot, the fish struck on near back-to-back casts, striking with wild abandon & putting up a tremendous struggle on the 0-wt:
http://home.att.net/~rainbow.perch/Jan28-07/012807im-12.jpg
The average fish ranged somewhere between 9-11 in., but there were also quite a few larger slabs pushing 15 in. or so in length:
http://home.att.net/~rainbow.perch/Jan27-07/012707im-26.jpghttp://home.att.net/~rainbow.perch/Jan28-07/012807im-17.jpghttp://home.att.net/~rainbow.perch/Jan28-07/012807im-28.jpghttp://home.att.net/~rainbow.perch/Jan28-07/012807im-35.jpg
All told, I brought a total of 27 redtail & 13 silver surfperch to hand over the weekend - all fish were released back in to the surf to fight another day.
TL's,
- Mark
I fished Kehoe with Craig on Saturday afternoon, then returned on Sunday to pick up where I left off the prior evening. Both days started off somewhat slow - a handful of silver surfperch provided some light entertainment while the tide was still out. Most of the silvers were caught on small flies that I refer to as the Golden Bandits:
http://home.att.net/~surf.perch/goldenbandit_12.jpg
There was a wide assortment of beach structure to fish before the tide flooded the shoreline late in the day...
http://home.att.net/~rainbow.perch/Jan27-07/012707im-9.jpghttp://home.att.net/~rainbow.perch/Jan28-07/012807im-2.jpg
It's been my experience that the redtail tend to bite best just before dusk, especially during high tide. Under graylight conditions, large, dark-colored fly patterns are very effective at triggering the fish to pursue & grab a slow-moving fly in the suds. Consequently, I replaced the Bandits with the high-contrast #12 Slinky Seducers as the sun sank low over the horizon. On both days, the redtail schools arrived within a couple hours of sundown, often moving from one hole to another. The fish appeared whereever a sandbar or sandy shelf dropped off into a deep trough, channel or other depression. At times, the redtails grabbed the flies as the tippet drifted with the current over a sandy ledge. When the bite was really hot, the fish struck on near back-to-back casts, striking with wild abandon & putting up a tremendous struggle on the 0-wt:
http://home.att.net/~rainbow.perch/Jan28-07/012807im-12.jpg
The average fish ranged somewhere between 9-11 in., but there were also quite a few larger slabs pushing 15 in. or so in length:
http://home.att.net/~rainbow.perch/Jan27-07/012707im-26.jpghttp://home.att.net/~rainbow.perch/Jan28-07/012807im-17.jpghttp://home.att.net/~rainbow.perch/Jan28-07/012807im-28.jpghttp://home.att.net/~rainbow.perch/Jan28-07/012807im-35.jpg
All told, I brought a total of 27 redtail & 13 silver surfperch to hand over the weekend - all fish were released back in to the surf to fight another day.
TL's,
- Mark