will fly gear work on the north coast or bay

hi everybody. well i am new to this sport, just bought my first kayak and have a few questions. first i have been fly fishing for 30+ years mostly in the rockies and more recently the north coast rivers, is fly gear going to cover fishing in the bay or on the sonoma coast, it seems most of the fish you target are deep dwelling, if not could you recomend a set up of conventional tackle gear, keeping in mind i have not picked up a conventional rod in over 25 years and am absolutely clueless about it. thanks for any help that you can provide.

bwodun -Rockfish do come up to the surface, and you can fish the kelp paddies and wash rocks with fly gear as well as hitting the beach for Surfperch. Also Striped bass caught fairly shallow in the bay and lakes are a blast when they are running. All those species put on a good fight with appropriately matched fly gear. I use 6-7wt. on the light side (surfperch,bass,rockfish) and 8-9wt for larger fish(steelhead,salmon,stripers).
In the salt I use"down and dirty" looped leadcore sections or pieces of old deepwater express instead of high dollar flylines though. It won't hurt so bad when you have to cut or break off. Use fairly short leaders,especially with weighted flies. Tie up flies on keel hooks and or with weedguards for less kelp snag action.

If you want to catch big fish though, you'll have to stick with Steelhead and Salmon. The big Lingcod and larger rockfish are hard to find shallow enough for flies, fished conventionally. But check the board, large fish are caught deep, on flies...(shrimp flies)

There is a bunch of literature on west coast fly fishing....

thanks fishshim, for the kelp paddies would you use clouser or deciever type flies. or more of a shrimppattern. thanks for the help, cameron

Hi Yaker:

    Hookup with Rickey of "Paddles&Flys" for Intel on Fly fishing in Salt. He also has a book out.
                                                                        Sea-ya
                                                                        Ernie

clouser type....

I have a friend- bill martin - that regularly fishes Sitllwater South with his fly gear and does pretty well. don't expect long casts.  Lot of guys use fly gear for stripers her in the marin area of the bay - water is typically 3-12 feet deep where they hang in spring and fall (Now!).  again clousers and deceivers...

It seems that most guys troll until they get a fish, then cast- though i see the Whaler crowd plow into the rock points, etc and cast.

let me know if you'd like to chase stripers in marin, i'd be happy to show you what little i know about the fishery

This has been a great thread, as I am also much in the same situation - a newbie kayaker, but long time fly fisher.    I fly fish perch and stripers in the surf, stripers in the delta (havent tried marin yet), trout (of course), warm water species, but have also caught salmon and halibut by fly down deep. 

Bill Martin was mentioned in the thread.   He is a salt water fly fisher and one of the guys who introduced me to this group.    He uses LC13 doubled up in a loop to get down deep fast.

I have friends that regularly go out in a power boat and catch fish after fish around the kelp beds.   They catch them on crease flies.   Their pictures are wild - rockfish jumping out of the water to come smashing down on the flies. 

I have yet to experience this kind of day, but will always bring my fly rod with me just in case the circumstances permit.   

Meanwhile, I am trying to learn the conventional tackle world too, having bought my first conventional reel today.   There is so much I dont know about conventional fishing. 

Flyaker-- what's your real name?

Bill is a long time friend of my family, and i'm actually having dinner with him tomorrow at my parents (eating some of his AK salmon)...would love to mention that we've managed to run into each other

Yes, you can catch rockfish on the fly. Here are some pics that a friend took while flyfishing for rockies in Big Sur. Granted, he was fishing from a center console boat...but the same could be done from a kayak. I would suggest a clouser or deceiver type pattern instead of a shrimp-type pattern. These guys were focusing on topwater action---check out the end result after 100+ fish on one fly.
PK

No fly fisherman her, but I must say, "those pics rock"!

wow thanks for sharing. those are great pics, hopefully someday i will be able to share some of the same.

That Crease fly really got Tatered, amazing how long some flies last. Thats a hot striper fly....

Use a white clouser and I'm sure you'll be busy all day if you keep it near the kelp

Awesome pics...not from some cheap camera either.  Professional quality for sure.

What a small world it is!! 

Steve S-  sorry to be late getting back to you,  but my real name is Lawrence Cheng.    I never met Bill Martin in person, but he and SinnCoast were the ones to introduce me to NCKA, for which I am very grateful.   ITs been a life changing experience.

PK -   small world indeed.   I think one of my good fly fishing buddies was with Dave S when those pictues were taken.   

Those pictures are my inspiration when i kayak fly fish.   I havent had anywhere near that experience yet, but last week,  I caught my first blue rockfish by fly wiht Great BAss 2.

Cant wait to get back out there again to toss the fly again for rockies.

 I had a great day several years back fly fishing for Rockfish out of Santa Cruz with the late Bill Nash of SJ Flycasters on his 17-ft boat. If the Rockies are up the water column enough, you'll get them--and some Jacksmelt and even hitchhiking Ling Cod who cannot pass up chomping on a Rockfish in distress.

I haven't fished the ocean a lot lately with fly gear but it can be done in a kayak--I fly fish in my kayak at San Luis for Stripers a lot. Rickey Mitchell is a guide (and book author on the subject) and I have fished with him--he knows his stuff and would be a great source.

I have to admit, my favorite places like Monterey Bay off MBK are suspect now because I cannot figure out what is MPLA and what is not. More and more I and thinking the SF Bay Area is no longer a place I want to live--but that's another subject.