I started salt water fly fishing around 1973 - my freshman year in college. My room-mate was an excellent trout fly fisherman, and got me interested in the long rod. But for reasons I can't recall, I gravitated to salt water fly fishing, and was lucky enough to find a small fly fishing shop called "Sierra Tackle", located in the town of Montrose, CA.

The owner was Ned Grey, a crusty ex-Marine who had weathered the Korean War, and had settled into the quiet mountainside community northwest of Pasadena to set up shop.

Ned Grey. circa 1976

Sierra Tackle was home to a fly fishing club called "Pacific #1". Pac 1 was the first club based on the Pacific Coast dedicated almost entirely to saltwater fly fishing. I became a member, and served as Secretary and Newsletter Editor for a number of years.

A number of SWFF luminaries were members at that time: the legendary Harry Kime, Nick Curcione, Dave and Freddie Cox, and Don Snow, among others. It was as a member of Pac #1 that I first met Capt. Dan Blanton, who would be instrumental in getting me started in outdoor writing. Dan got me my first gig for Fly Fishing in Salt Waters, and also helped me to launch Ocean Skiff Journal.

Back then, as now, the bulk of the SWFF press was focused on the East Coast, southern Florida, the Bahamas, and Central America. There was relatively little press about SoCal salt-water fly fishing, other than the bonito fishing in Redondo Beach, and Nick Curcione's pioneering work in developing techniques for surf-perch and corbina.

Things probably weren't helped by the fact that a number of our local fisheries were in decline or out-of-kilter ecologically. White seabass were being decimated by gill-netters, our primary forage fish (the Pacific sardine) were being overfished, and we were suffering from some cool-water years that blocked certain species from making their annual migration trip up the coast from Mexico.

State-of-the-Art in 1977: Scott 11wt glass rod,
Fuerer Bros Taurus Reel, 3/0 Streaker

And some species, such as Pacific barracuda, were simply in the wrong place in their normal ecological cycle. Pacific barracuda and bonito fill the same ecological niche, and often run counter-cyclic to each other. If there are lots of bonito, then barracuda are relatively scarce, and vice versa.

Since then, a lot of things have changed. White seabass are making a serious comeback, thanks in large part to a gillnet ban and the Hubbs-Seaworld white seabass hatchery program. Sardines have rebounded to the point where they now overshadow anchovies as a forage fish. And several years of El Nino warm water currents have brought yellowtail, tunas, dorado, and marlin back to our waters in force.

Yet despite the much improved fishing, SoCal BTBFF is still considered a niche sport. From the perspective of acceptance in the SoCal sportfishing community, not much has changed in 33 years. Why is that? And what, if anything can be done about it?

For what it’s worth, here are some of our observations about the roadblocks that keep BTBFF from being more widely practiced:

• Fly fishing is perceived as hard to learn
  Whether it’s casting, rigging the gear, or tying flies, it seems like there's a lot to absorb. Certainly it is more complex than tying on a hook, but as we discuss below, there are now a lot of resources to help you get started. Anyone who can rig a mono topshot on a conventional reel can handle rigging fly tackle, and anyone who can fly-line an anchovy on conventional gear can learn to make the basic fly cast.
  
  
• Fly fishing is perceived as being very expensive
  For years, SWFF has suffered under the image of being a rich man's sport - that it is necessary to use $600 rods and $750 reels in order to have any chance at landing a fish. That might be true for the most extreme situations, but most of the time is not the case. The cash-impaired need not be intimidated.
  
  
• In many situations, fly tackle is not as effective as conventional gear in catching or landing fish
  For people who are concerned about just catching anything, SWFF gear will not be the weapon of choice. Consider these issues:
  • Speed of retrieve
    Many SoCal gamefish move like they’re jet-powered. Often (but not always), a fast retrieve is required to get a hit on a fly, and it may not be possible to strip a fly fast enough, even using a two-handed retrieve.
  • Depth control
    Many times of the year, our fish are not on the surface. "Shallow" water is 60 feet deep. Since even the heaviest fly lines sink at around 12 inches/second (at best), compared to, say, heavy metal jigs, which can sink at 12 feet/second, it’s obvious that fly gear is at a disadvantage when it comes to "getting down". In situations where there are deep, fast-moving fish (say yellowtail at 40 fathoms), you can’t sink a fly down fast enough to get it in front of a fish before it moves on.
  • Terminal tackle
    Many of our fish live or feed close to the edge of a kelp bed or floating kelp paddy. Trying to stop a good-sized yellowtail or even a calico bass from running into cover can be problematic, even with the heaviest IGFA regulation tippets.
  
  
• Access to the right types of boats has been limited
  Fishing beyond the breakwater means that you need on-the-water transportation. Having the right boat is critical. It doesn't have to be a big, expensive boat - it just has to be the right size for the conditions, and laid out in a way which supports fly fishing. So what’s the problem in SoCal?
  
  Limited-load charter on the Tortuga
  Oceanside; circa 1980
  • Partyboat fever
    Historically, SoCal anglers have relied on partyboats to get out to the fish. These vessels are large sportfishers designed to carry tens of passengers and a lot of bait, and many are designed to weather big seas and run long distances to get to the fish. Unfortunately, none of these boats are laid out to support fly casting. Various arches, the bridge superstructure, and multiple people standing shoulder-to-shoulder along the rail all conspire to defeat a fly fisherman's best efforts.
  • Sometimes size matters
    For many of our popular species, it’s necessary to run some distance offshore to reach the fish. And whether you like it or not, chumming is an integral part of how we fish in Southern California. "Chum" usually means live anchovies or sardines, and lots of them. But historically, it’s been difficult for smaller, fly-fishing friendly boats to safely make the necessary runs, and to carry enough live bait.
  
  
• A historical bias against light tackle
  As mentioned earlier, SoCal coastal and offshore fishing has centered around partyboats. And for better or worse, most partyboats are focused on fish counts (the bigger the better). This means that any type of light tackle (much less fly tackle) is considered bad form, because it might reduce the counts.
  
  
• A focus on Catch & Kill
  Salt water fly fishing is not about harvesting lots of big fish - it is about hooking, fighting and landing fish despite the handicaps of some pretty arcane fishing gear. It has been our experience that C&R (Catch & Release) or CPR (Catch-Photograph-Release) are simply not that popular with the average SoCal salt water angler. Given this fact, why would you handicap yourself with fly gear?

Those are some of the reasons why BTBFF has not made many inroads in the SoCal saltwater fishing community. It seems like a daunting list of negatives, but at Beyond The Breakwater, we believe that coastal and offshore fly fishing will become more popular over the next few years. Why do we think that?:

• It's easier than ever to get started in salt water fly fishing
  Between fly fishing clubs, fly shops, certified casting instructors, the Internet, self-help videos/DVDs and books, it's never been easier to get help and advice on getting started in fly fishing.
  
  
• Fly tackle continues to get better and better (and cheaper and cheaper)
  In the last 5 years, there have been a number of improvements in fly tackle that contribute to BTBFF effectiveness:
  • Price points have dropped to reasonable levels
    There’s now a lot of good BTBFF gear that is reasonably priced. We all owe a round of thanks to Lefty Kreh and the folks at Temple Fork Outfitters for their efforts in this area, and putting pressure on the market to change. Don’t misunderstand what we're saying - there’s still a place for high end rods and reels, especially for those who demand the best, and / or push the limits. But for the rest of us, it's now possible to have very good equipment at a price that won't put us in the poorhouse.
  • The advent of super-fast sinking integrated shooting heads
    By using tungsten and advanced manufacturing techniques, companies such as Rio, Airflo, Cortland, and the venerable Scientific Anglers have developed fly lines which cast long distances, handle well, and sink better than previous generations of fly lines. And for those of us that continue to use conventional shooting heads, the development of easier-handling shooting lines, and new tungsten-weighted heads like Rio's T-8 and T-14 have opened up even more deep-water fishing possibilities. But having said this, keep our earlier comments in mind, and realize that fly fishing gear will probably never be that effective in depths beyond 20 feet or so offshore. But it's become much easier to get to that point.
  • Spectra backing
    Super-thin, ultra-low stretch Spectra fishing lines have had several positive effects on offshore fly fishing. The extra line capacity afforded by Spectra is a plus, of course, but probably equally as important is the reduced drag caused by backing in the water. On large, long-running fish, with lighter tippets, the drag from the fly line and backing in the water has caused break-offs. The thinner diameter of Spectra reduces this effect. Also, the extra reel capacity afforded by Spectra backing means less of a change in spool diameter as a fish runs off line. Since fly reels are mostly single-action (one turn of the handle = one turn of the spool), fly fishermen want to keep the diameter as large as possible to increase the amount of line picked up with each turn of the reel handle. Keeping the effective spool diameter fairly constant also means that there is less variation in drag on a long run.
  • Heavy rods that cast reasonably well
    After all these years, we've finally gotten to the point where we have a number of choices for rods in the 12 - 15 weight class that can be cast by the average man (sort of...they're still work!). This helps level the playing field with larger fish, and fish near heavy cover.
  
  
• 
  Toy Boat 2 Console
  Improvements in small boat design, motors, and electronics
  BTBFF is best done from smaller, open boats. But until recently, small boats were severely handicapped when it came to fishing outside the breakwater: they lacked range, and the safety gear, communications equipment, and fishing aids (such as sonar) were not on par with those available to larger boats. These factors are less of an issue now. Outboards fuel efficiency has improved significantly, and effective electronics have become very affordable. Digital sonar, mapping GPS units, small-boat radar, and satellite communication devices have greatly reduced the gap between small and big boats, although big boats still have the edge in range, bait tank capacity and creature comforts. Big boats may also run more advanced electronics like side-scanning sonar. See our sister website, Ocean Skiff Journal, for more information on this aspect of our sport.
  
  
• Changing of the guard
  The Catch & Kill mentality will never go away. After all, for many people, eating their catch is an essential part of the experience. And we believe that there's nothing wrong with that, as long as it is done wisely. But what's encouraging to us is that as a newer generation of sport fishermen comes on board, there seems to be less of an emphasis on C&K, and more on C&R. Certainly, there is more awareness of conservation issues. This lends itself to including fly fishing as part of the overall experience.
  
  
• “Fusion Fishing”
  People who came to SoCal BTBFF from a strict fly fishing background often didn't understand the behavior of our local gamefish, or how to leverage conventional gear techniques to maximum advantage. As a result, they were often not as effective as they could be. By the same token, people coming to SoCal BTBFF from a conventional gear background often did not understand the limitations of fly tackle, and had unrealistic expectations about what could be done. But as more people cross over from conventional gear to fly fishing (and vice-versa), the knowledge of both disciplines are being melded together into more effective BTBFF techniques. Nowhere is this more evident than in the San Diego long-range fleet, where several of the top skippers host fly-fishing trips on a regular basis.

All of the above combine to get us excited about the prospects for BTBFF over the next few years. While some aspects of the sport are well known, there's still plenty of room for improvement. No one has the whole spectrum of SoCal BTBFF down pat, so every season, literally every trip, is a opportunity to learn, to explore, and to develop new ideas. We're still looking for the key to consistently catching large White Seabass and Yellowtail on a fly, and the first SoCal marlin and thresher shark on the fly have yet to be captured. We think it's just a matter of time - so we encourage you to give it a try, and put on your thinking caps. Join us "beyond the breakwater"!