San Diego

I flew all the way to San Diego for carp and all I caught was this stupid bass.



All I can say is thank god for google. I had done some searching for carp in San Diego and came up with a goofy man made lake not too far from where I was staying. With work keeping me busy I only had an hour or two in the evening so I couldn't hit the hot spots that a local fly shop told me about (http://www.socalflyfishing.net/Fly+Fishing). I have to say, what a beautiful shop and the owner Peter was a great guy. Had I more time he would have put me right on some great carping. As it was, he shared some bay fishing secrets (more on that in a second). If you are in San Diego, check out this shop.

Back to the man made lake...not exactly my cup of tea. I walked around looking for carp and got some funny looks as the only guy with a flyrod...some of the looks could have been because I stood in the parking lot and changed out of a suit to my fishing clothes. Should have just left the suit on. I didn't see a single carp but I saw about a dozen big bass in the shallows. I managed to catch two of them, with the one above being the biggest. It is a pretty nice bass, but...not a carp.

I also took a shot at the bay and thanks to some flies from So Cal Flyfishing and some incredibly detailed instruction I was able to stumble onto some fish. This isn't really streamer fishing, more of a tight line nymph with a twitch...in salt water over small weedbeds that you can't really see. interesting, and challenging. I got three takes...I think. And landed two fish. No clue what this sucker was



But it fought better than you would think. This fish (sand bass I think they call it) was awesome. Great pressure take and a better than expected fight. Plus...it looks cool.



Pretty fun deal. I will give it another shot in the morning before picking up the wife and kids at the airport for a few vacation days and some sea world action. I miss my family.