Black and White with some gray areas

TIDE | San Diego : :  Thursday 5/17/2012 | 3.9 high at 8:23am and 1.4 low @ 1:40pm
Moon Phase : :  Last Quarter
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Everybody fishes for different reasons, fun, food, bragging rights. For some, the sport transcends fun. Instead, it becomes a near-mystical experience, combining the cerebral—outwitting the bass with artificial lures—and spiritual—communing with nature.

Fishing also requires a basic understanding of several other sciences. You need to know about ichthyology—study of fish—as well as limnology and hydrology, sciences related to water and its movement and quality.

6 Calico Bass, 4 Spotted Bass, 2 Sand Bass {all catch photo and release}

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Open Water : : Lost in Time

TIDE | San Diego : :  Sunday 4/8/2012 | 4.6 high at 11:19am and 0.9 low @ 4:44pm
Moon Phase : :  Full Moon on the Wane

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Every time I come back from fishing and I am washing my boat down neighbors and friends always ask the same condescending question, "you catch anything good, any keepers"? Some people just don't get it. Paired with alcohol, fishing for me is a detached form of escape. With an ever-increasing population slowly encroaching on my world of skateboarding and surfing I have slowly evolved into a life on the water. I can run out to the kelp beds and get lost in time.  Time spent drifting with the tides watching how pods of dolphins hunt and pelicans glide on the rolling swells. I don't care if I catch a 12 inch fish or a 28 inch fish, its all about the solitude and the escape. Getting a fish for dinner is just a rare added bonus.
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Paired with alcohol, fishing for me is a detached form of escape.

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They are Under the Birds

TIDE | San Diego : : Tuesday 4/3/2012 | 5.2 high at 7:20am and -0.2 low @ 1:47am
SD Big Bay Temperature : : 61.7° | Moon Phase : :  First Quarter
Retrieval Speed : :    crawl       |     slow    |     medium     |   fast

6 Spotted Bass, 2 Calico Bass and 2 Sand Bass {kept one 18" Sand Bass for Dinner}
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Coming out of the starting gate hot with a few hundred birds crashing bait right in front of me. With no other boats around I slide into the chaotic mayhem undetected. I kill the engine and drift off to the side of the birds. I cast into the bait ball and let my swim jig sink deep. It took a few casts to find the bass but once I did it was on for about a half hour. Surface bites almost every cast and I hooked into three nice bass. My good luck ended when the seals heard all the commotion and showed up. Everything shut down real quick and I moved on. The rest of the day was slow but I still got a handful of fish.

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Fresh Local Caught Sand Bass slow cooked in garlic lemon butter on top of a bed of Spinach layered with a Brown Rice Medley and long cut Asparagus seasoned with sesame seeds

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East Coast meets West

TIDES and TIMES To GO : : Friday 3/23/2012 | 0.0 low at 4:21am and 4.8 high @ 10:27am
Tuesday 3/27/2012 | 0.6 low @ 6:54 and 3.1 high @ 1:10pm | SD Big Bay Temperature : : 61.2°
Moon Phase : :  New Moon | Retrieval Speed : :    crawl       |     slow    |     medium     |   fast

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It has been over six years since my parents have made the long trip from the east coast to the west. I have not pressured them much over the years to come out because not much has changed in my life worthy of a trip cross country. But since I have gotten into fishing more and bought a boat I have been talking to my dad about coming out to fish. After almost four years of fishing from my boat I felt confident enough to invite my dad out to fish.

Now you have to put into perspective that everything I know about fishing, conservation, ethics and general water knowledge stems from my dad. Just to have him out here on my boat is a huge honor. I pre-fished  the bay and kelp a week before he arrived as if it was a Bass Fishing Tournament I was about to enter. I planned the trip and days to fish around the New Moon and good tidal flow. We hit up all my secret spots and got into some great Bass Fishing. Friday was definitely the best day but Tuesday produced some of the biggest Spotted Bass I have seen in years. Super stoked my dad got to experience fishing in the Pacific for the first time off my boat.

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Experiments in the Lab

TIDE | San Diego : :  6.1 high at 9:38am and  -0.7 low @  4:09pm | SD Big Bay Temperature 58°
Moon Phase : :  Full
Retrieval Speed : :    crawl       |     slow    |     medium     |   fast

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I love experimenting with new types of fishing rigs. The idea of progression and constantly learning new techniques is what keeps fishing interesting. Every new artificial bait that you catch a fish on unlocks new mysteries into the psyche and behaviors that governs that particular species. 

I just mail ordered some new WARBLADES from Afran. They are basically a Slayer Swim Jig with a Willow Blade attached to the hook. You fish them similar to a Spinner Bait. Make a long cast, let it sink down and retrieve at a steady pace. When you feel a thump just reel into it to set the hook.  Today was the first day I got to try them out and the fish were all over them. I only got to fish for about half hour before the sun set and I went lobstering, but it was exciting to see the potential of these new WARBLADES.

{SEXYDINE LTD - WARBLADE: Size: 1/2 oz, Number 4 Willow Blade in with Flash Glitter}

3 Spotted Bass, 1 Calico Bass and 1 Sand Bass {all catch photo and release}
http://warbaits.com/armory-WARBLADE.html

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Swamis, Solitude and Sanctuary

TIDE | San Diego : :  5.0 high at 4:54am and  0.3 low @ 12:36pm | SD Big Bay Temperature 58°
Moon Phase : :  First Quarter
Retrieval Speed : :    crawl       |     slow    |     medium     |   fast

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I took Laurel up to Swamis Self Realization Center early this week to check out the Koi Fish at the outdoor meditation gardens. The place is beautiful a top a cliff over looking the ocean with huge black pines stretching their arms over three koi ponds that link together via waterfalls. All these people were meditating there because it is supposed to be a "serene" setting. She asked me if I meditated and I said no, but the closest thing to meditation in my life is going out fishing alone and getting lost in the ocean surrounded by kelp and all its creatures. Laurel said I don't think you need to meditate at a specific place to find solitude, its about finding your own solitude in life and living that out day to day.

6 Spotted Bass {all catch photo and release} 
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You Need to Get Up to Get Downtown

TIDE | San Diego : :  5.1 high at 11:13am and  0.0 low @ 5:52pm | SD Big Bay Temperature 58°
Moon Phase : :  Full Moon on the wane | Fuel : : 2.796 gallons @ $4.05 a gallon = $11.35
Retrieval Speed : :    crawl       |     slow    |     medium     |   fast

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YOU NEED TO GET UP TO GET DOWN. Woke up at 5am to get on the water early before the Harbor Police and Navy leave their slips. Some of the structure downtown is super good to fish with big bass holding strong along the pilings. I try to move around a lot so that the Pier Workers don't call the cops on me. I pulled out eight bass from downtown all nice size then I moved south towards Coronado and fished the ell grass flats.

My teaser fly combination with the 3" Bleeding Olive Herring swimbait has scored me another double header this week.  I also got a few bass just on the top fly. Downtown along the pilings the hybrid fly/grub that I just made was the hot ticket today. It has a ton of flash and good movement with a fat Kalin Curly tail; the bass were all over it.

4 Calico Bass | 10 Spotted Bass {all catch photo and release}

http://twoifbyseabass.blogspot.com/

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My Witness is the Empty Sky

TIDE | San Diego : :  6.6 high at 8:32am and -1.1 low @ 3:35pm | SD Big Bay Sea Temp. 59°
Moon Phase : :  Full Moon on the wane 

Retrieval Speed : :    crawl       |     slow    |     medium     |   fast

As the freezing moon slowly loosens its' grip on the night the suns warm glow illuminates everything in her path. Mundane objects like channel markers shed their dull existence just for a brief moment in time. This is the "magic hour" when night becomes day and slumbering fish become active. I caught six of the eight bass this morning from 6am to 7:30am. I had great conditions on the water today, perfect drifts and winds.

Over thanksgiving break my dad showed me how to make some epoxy teaser flies. We made them to match perfectly to my go to bass swimbaits. My first two fish I caught on the top teaser fly and my third fish was a double header. Its a different feeling that's hard to describe when you tie your own fly and catch fish on it.

The last few years I have tried to design my life to avoid the lull of domesticity and to escape the drudgery of everyday life by being on the water as much as humanly possible.

http://twoifbyseabass.blogspot.com/

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