The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

In this age when airlines can't begin to cover their fuel bills it may be even harder to get somewhere where you can cast at bones or tarpon or whatever else lives in the salt. I'm wondering if any of you have any cheap DIY saltwater ideas.

I just looked and it only costs $3 a day to camp on Anini Beach in Kauai, but airfare at this time of year is pretty much $900 a person. Are there any places you might suggest for someone to fantasize about casting in the salt without breaking the bank?

B-

Depends on what you want to get into.

Bones? Tarpoonies? Fly into Miami and rent a RV. $350-$450 flights from SFO

Cheaper yet is Texas, LA, and Miss. You'll have to rent a boat but the rest will be dirt cheap.

Hawaii is for honeymoons and bikinis, not fly fishing(sorry Harry).

Sorry for the vague answer, but the question is open ended. Is this a family deal? Just you wanting to get the salt pull? Is there a certain time frame or is it any time of the year?

Not sure if you wanted suggestions for exotic locations, but if you want to get a really cheap saltwater fix you could try fishing for surf perch (www.zenflyfishing.com) along the coast, or perhaps stripers on the Bay. I have even heard of folks catching some type of rockfish (not sure about specie) on fly gear from kayaks in the Santa Cruz/Monterey area. Chasing Drum along the Gulf could be a cool trip. Also, Baja could be a good destination...http://bajaonthefly.com/

Well, I'm thinking that this would be something like bonefish. After being in Kauai and seeing all those bonefish I haven't really been able to stop thinking abou them for too long.

How far out of Miami would you need to get to find some flats? I understand they are basically IN Miami, but you'd probably need a boat?

I'd envision this as a solo or fishing buddy trip... cheap, dirty... a trip built for fishing, not for comfort.

By the way, this is pretty much pure fantasy on my end.

B-

Ed Kelleher has some experience fishing Monterey Bay out of a kayak.
Perhaps he will chime in...

Buzz

Perhaps he will.....

Between Lovers Point in Pacific Grove and the north end of Santa Cruz, one can catch surf perch, smelt, stripers, mebbe halibut, blue, black, olive and yellowtail rockfish, and a few others. Great whites on occasion.

I say 'one' can, because my success except for rockfish has been very limited.

Kayak with a sinking line, short stout leader, #1 Chart over white Clouser along the edges of the kelp is frequently successful for rockfish. Once in a while a ling cod eats the small blue rock on your line. That CAN be a show.

No bones that I know of, and damn little in the way of flats, although up towards Santa Cruz the beach is not as steep as it is down here.

Of course, with the price of gas, the drive to PG is a goodly chunk of change from where you live.

Not much written about, but there none-the-less, you can catch bones in San Diego. Leave the bay and hang a tight left to fish the flat just out side the bay. You can also find them in south bay by the power plant outflow. Not Belize, not picturesque, hell, not even too scenic but real bones. And how many can say that they have caught bonefish in California? (Besides me?)

I haven't done it yet, but alot of people here go down to Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point)the Sea of Cortez. It's about a 4 hour drive from Phoenix. From the reports I've read it's corvina (sea trout) of decent size, occasional bones, perch, triggers and barracuda. It's flats fishing and cheap or you can rent a boat. You could stay in a hotel, resort or camp on the beach. I can send a few links to reports if you would like. Now it's out...all of California will be down there raising the prices of everything, crowding the place up, wanting to change everything. Just kidding, the place has been growing fast.

fly to miami - rent a cheap car - drive south for about an hour and a half (less than 90 miles)- once you hit islamorada, you'll find flats all the way down the keys on both sides - through marathon, big pine key, until you end at key west. plenty of inexpensive hotels, plenty of cold beer and good food - lots of flats you can wade to right from route 1 - but you might also want to rent a boat to get out an explore - lots of local shops, guides, boats, marinas for knowledge - and plenty of bones - big fish - but in my experience much more effective to fish for 'em from a skiff than wading - fish tend to be spread out, very time, weather, and tide dependent - but BIG bones. plus tarpon, jacks, snapper, sharks, and pretty much everything else that swims in the sea. i've been down there on more than one occasion and have always had fun and caught fish and satisfied the need for easy, DIY salt water action.

other good option is to fly down to cabo then head up the sea of cortez side - i've been down there a few times and have stayed at rancho leonero - but there are probably plenty of cheaper, more self service lodging/fishing options. walk the beaches with 7, 8, or 9 weight - look for bait, birds, structure, nervous water, cast, lather, rinse, repeat - rent a panga for a day - chase bigger roosters, tuna, dorado, sails, marlin, etc. have had pretty good success just walking the beach (no flats) and casting to snapper, jacks,etc. occasional shots at HUGE roosters (amazing fly rod fish). i bet you could get down there and fish, sleep, travel pretty darn cheap.

Hmmmmmmmm.... Florida seems like the best bet... my Spanish is not up to par for Mexico and my French won't help at all. Still seems like $1K for 5 days... amazing how things add up. Still, it's fun to fantasize about it... hmmm... maybe a Mini-Bash in 2009?

B-

Well, bones ain't exactly bass.

If you get serious about this trip let me know, got a couple buddies who push boats around the flats down there who could point you in the right direction.

San Diego sounds interesting as far as a not-too-far-away bonefish destination, even if it isn't beautiful. Does anyone know if you need a boat?

B-