Socal - Catalina Calicos

[flue_fisker]

Figured that some of you guys up North might enjoy what we are doing down south in Socal.....if you have any questions about the fishery just let me know...fun stuff

Decided to update the post and give some of the background of the weekend.......

Adam

Trip report from a trip to Catalina....May 18, 19 and 20

The Calico Boys – I spent the past three days on Catalina Island doing what I love most….fly fishing for calico bass with my good friends. We laughed all weekend, ate great food in the company of some very special people, and managed to stick some really beautiful calico bass in the process. Fly fishing is an awesome sport that I know I will do for the rest of my life. However that being said, the more time I spend on the water with my friends I have come to realize that the true fulfillment of fly fishing for me is to do it with the people who I enjoy being around the most. Losing a great fish to a crappy knot or from being wrapped in the kelp is still fun if you can laugh it off over a beer with your friends. As always, when you fish hard for three days you learn a lot, and here are few things we took away from our trip: (1) Dave Valadez’s Radioactive Thunderbird fly is an insanely deadly fly (2) YETI Coolers are even better than the hype (3) Seaguar Tatsu is so strong it should be illegal (4) Skinny Tod can drink more beer than you, especially if its Kona Longboard Lager (4) Don’t buy gas on an island if you don’t have to….$6.07 a gallon.

Three straight days of fishing would have been fun with just about anyone, but what made it, and always makes it incredibly great, is because its me, Keith, Bill, Dave and Tod all charging to the majestic island to fish together. Tight Loops & Tight Lines – Adam P.


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7241/7256541642_a34f4e74a4_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256541642/)
Catalina_May18_01 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256541642/) by TheCalicoCrew (http://www.flickr.com/people/thecalicosyndicate/), on Flickr
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7104/7256547532_4005ea5819_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256547532/)
Catalina_May18_02 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256547532/) by TheCalicoCrew (http://www.flickr.com/people/thecalicosyndicate/), on Flickr
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7086/7256545520_77b99c78f7_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256545520/)
Catalina_May18_09 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256545520/) by TheCalicoCrew (http://www.flickr.com/people/thecalicosyndicate/), on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8146/7256543778_4787e9b444_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256543778/)
Catalina_May18_07 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256543778/) by TheCalicoCrew (http://www.flickr.com/people/thecalicosyndicate/), on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8154/7256545194_852fb31aea_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256545194/)
Catalina_May18_08 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256545194/) by TheCalicoCrew (http://www.flickr.com/people/thecalicosyndicate/), on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8009/7256545874_3092419882_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256545874/)
Catalina_May18_11 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256545874/) by TheCalicoCrew (http://www.flickr.com/people/thecalicosyndicate/), on Flickr
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7241/7256547984_1423d1fd23_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256547984/)
Catalina_May18_16 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256547984/) by TheCalicoCrew (http://www.flickr.com/people/thecalicosyndicate/), on Flickr
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7085/7256547042_ae63fcc49a_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256547042/)
Catalina_May18_12 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256547042/) by TheCalicoCrew (http://www.flickr.com/people/thecalicosyndicate/), on Flickr
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7089/7256546606_996513bbd2_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256546606/)
Catalina_May18_14 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256546606/) by TheCalicoCrew (http://www.flickr.com/people/thecalicosyndicate/), on Flickr
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7240/7256544782_4db7c610b1_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256544782/)
Catalina_May18_10 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256544782/) by TheCalicoCrew (http://www.flickr.com/people/thecalicosyndicate/), on Flickr
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7077/7256548872_538ff088ea_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256548872/)
Catalina_May18_18 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256548872/) by TheCalicoCrew (http://www.flickr.com/people/thecalicosyndicate/), on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8150/7256544226_34da49d305_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256544226/)
Catalina_May18_06 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256544226/) by TheCalicoCrew (http://www.flickr.com/people/thecalicosyndicate/), on Flickr
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7099/7256548628_ac2ece273c_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256548628/)
Catalina_May18_17 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256548628/) by TheCalicoCrew (http://www.flickr.com/people/thecalicosyndicate/), on Flickr
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7092/7256543242_4d2f360fab_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256543242/)
Catalina_May18_05 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256543242/) by TheCalicoCrew (http://www.flickr.com/people/thecalicosyndicate/), on Flickr
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7073/7256542284_3d4a69f0c5_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256542284/)
Catalina_May18_04 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256542284/) by TheCalicoCrew (http://www.flickr.com/people/thecalicosyndicate/), on Flickr
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7096/7256542770_d1d991c926_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256542770/)
Catalina_May18_03 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256542770/) by TheCalicoCrew (http://www.flickr.com/people/thecalicosyndicate/), on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8001/7256549102_938cabe76f_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256549102/)
Catalina_May18_19 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256549102/) by TheCalicoCrew (http://www.flickr.com/people/thecalicosyndicate/), on Flickr
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7231/7256546142_e3d276fdb5_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256546142/)
Catalina_May18_15 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256546142/) by TheCalicoCrew (http://www.flickr.com/people/thecalicosyndicate/), on Flickr
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7081/7256549450_bcff30cdbd_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256549450/)
Catalina_May18_21 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecalicosyndicate/7256549450/) by TheCalicoCrew (http://www.flickr.com/people/thecalicosyndicate/), on Flickr

[Dabalone]

Wow, nice calicos!

[GreggH]

Post of the year. Rack'm

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

It would be cool to live in Southern Cal.......

Saltwater surf, bays and off shore plus nice warm water reservoirs too.

They are also that much closer to Baja.

[flue_fisker]

Bill

I definitely at times feel fortunate to live in SoCal. It use to be that most of our fly fishing was done in the Sierras or local trout streams, but over the last several years the local saltwater scene is taking off.

I live 30 min from Long Beach, and within 20 min from the launch ramp I am fishing an area loaded with calicos, big halibut, bay bass and sand bass. Starting within a few weeks the Cudas will get thick off our coast and chasing them on a fly is really fun stuff. Following the cudas will hopefully be the Bonito. Further off our coast of course we have Catalina and San Clemente Island. That is totally another exciting fishery with lots of fun fish for the fly rod.

If you ever make it down to SoCal and want to try out the fishery let me know. Good times on the water.

Adam

[Barnett]

Great pics. I wish we could get out more reliably to catch rockfish on the fly up here in NorCal.

[Darian]

1) Those are some fatties (the Calico's that is.... :lol: ).

2) The DV Radioactive Thunderbirds name is harder to remember than the recipe for tying the pattern. ;)

3) Anybody can drink more beer than me. :-s

You guys are having far too much fun. 8)

My Mom lives in Downey and I grew up in the Santa Monica Bay area. Caught my first Bass on the fly at Whittier narrows in 1960. Is fly fishing still allowed there (in the park)??? There sure are a lot of people wandering around in that park. Too many live in the basin, too. Still.... It's hard not to want to drive down there each weekend for some salty and warm water fishing. :unibrow:

[flue_fisker]

Darian

I grew up in Pico Rivera and currently live in Whittier. Very close to Downey. I know Downey very well. As for Whittier Narrows, fishing is still allowed there but the fishing is pretty tough. These lakes get hit hard every weekend and those bass learn what looks right to them. Takes a good angler to get into the fish there. I have a buddy that fishes there quite often on the fly and does well fishing for bass and carp. Whittier Narrows is a nice piece of local water that helps you kill the time when the traffic is really bad on the 60 or 605.

As for Salty Bass, just this past week the Calicos and Sand Bass started to going off on our local kelp and sand flats. Another cool thing that happened is that the Cudas also started to show. I am hoping to fish for them this weekend. Cuda on the fly is pretty cool. We use long shank flies, some heavy bite tippet and 10 wt fly rods. They basically are salty pike. Good times. Will post a report if the fishing is good. Or if I get skunked. I am pretty good at making up excuses.

Adam

[RJSFLYTRIP]

Thats some cool stuff right there. I grew up in San Diego and spent many a day chasing calicos on the fly off of the La Jolla Kelp. Looks like you found some good ones. Its so fun to fish the kelp as you never know whats going to eat your fly...calico, bonita, mackrel, barricuda, etc. All of them are great on the fly. Once you go tight you better strip your butt off and dont give an inch or you might as well say bye bye. Nice work and it makes me think of home. I miss the ocean but then again I get to spend most days on the river.

Thanks for the Report!

Ryan