Although I grew up fly fishing in fresh water, as the nearest salt water was hundreds of miles away, ( kinda far to ride a bike ) When I moved to California I bought my first car for $25, a 1952 Plymouth. Gas was 18 cents a gallon, $2.00 would last for 200 miles. I could rent a rowboat at the Santa Monica Pier for $2.00 for 6 hours.
Back then Bonita were around most of the year. I saw people catching them from the pier with a splasher rig ( a clear float filled half with water to give casting distance, with a Bonita feather tied about 15 inches below the float). They caught lots of Bonita, so I figured I should be able to catch then on a fly rod. The next time down I brought my fly rod and a couple of freshwater bass flys ( white streamers ).
I was so excited as I rented the rowboat and rowed out beyond the area the pier casters could reach with their rigs. After about 10 minutes of unproductive casting, I came to the conclusion that the bubble rig the pier casters used worked because the Bonita were attracted to the plastic bubble splashing along on the surface, then hit the fly trailing along behind. While I was trying to figure out how to get the fish's attention without putting a splasher on the flyrod, I heard some loud squawking behind me, turning around I saw a couple hundred seagulls and pelicans
diving into the water.
There was also lots of big splashes ( boils as salt- water fishermen call them ) I knew a school of fish had chased a baitball to the surface and were actively feeding on them. I rowed as fast as I could towards the commotion, and when I was in casting range I cast the fly to the edge of the boils and started stripping line fast to match the speed of the fleeing baitfish. I was totally unprepared for what happened next!!
On about the second pull there was a big splash where my fly used to be, and the rod was nearly yanked out of my hand. My rod tip was pulled into the water and the line started running off the reel at warp 7. Three seconds later it was over, my leader, fly line, and twenty feet of backing that had worked so well in freshwater was gone. I sat there in stunned silence for a few moments wondering what I could have possibly have hooked, then I saw about a eight or ten pound Bonita come clear out of the water chasing a bait fish. Could these things really pull that hard and fast? I soon learned how hard they can pull when I cast out a silver spoon I had on a spinning reel with eight pound test mono on it.
Again the rod tip was pulled down to the water and the line peeled of the freshwater size spinning reel and in less time than it takes to type this my reel was empty, my spoon was gone, and I sat there with a blank stare on my face not believing what had happened, both rods had been stripped of their line, my lures were gone and I still had five and a half hours left on my rowboat rental and no line on my reels. BUT, BOY, WAS I EVER HOOKED ON SALTWATER FLY FISHING!!!!!
Soon after moving to California from Georgia I got a job at the Golden Valley Gun Club, working on the trap and skeet ranges. This gave me the money I needed to upgrade my tackle to saltwater class, a fly reel with 200 yds. of backing and a larger spinning reel that held 250 yds of 12# test.
Every chance I had I was at the Santa Monica Pier in a rented rowboat, learning about saltwater fly fishing. I soon learned bonita didn't care about color as they were color blind, they just wanted the fly to go fast. They were very easy to catch when they were up and feeding on baitballs, but finding a baitball within reach of my rowboat was pretty tough.
I saw lots of them offshore, but they only stayed up for 5 minutes at best and before I could even get close they were gone. I solved the problem somewhat by chunking up frozen anchovies ( anchovies broken up into inch long pieces, then throwing a chunk in the water about every 10 seconds ).
This made a trail of chunks clear to the bottom, and when a school swam by they would follow the chunks to the boat. When I saw them flash in the chunks I would throw a hand full out and they would go nuts on the chum, a fly cast in the chum and just allowed to sink slowly like the chunks would usually bring an instant hit. These inshore "bones" ( bonita ) were usually under three pounds, but if there was baitballs around some of the jumbos would show up.
And when one of them hit I knew I was in for an incredible fight. They could easily run 50 to 60 yds. of line off my fly reel and take 15 minutes to land. My fly fishing charters continue to be some of my most popular charters. I also learned to catch calico bass, sand bass, halibut, yellowtail and the occasional white sea bass on the fly. Tuna are color blind and they don't care about color, but the other fish can see colors and color in the patterns for them sometimes is very important.
Usually you can't go wrong with white streamers with a red patch at the throat, but I found when I rode on the party boats that herring and tomcod ( brown bait ) usually caught the larger fish. So I started tying larger patterns with brown in them and started catching much larger calicos and sand bass. ( big bait, big fish )
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