Southern California Fly-Fishing Expeditions

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14,505’ MT. WHITNEYTook this shot yesterday of the highest mountain in the lower 48 from our hotel. It’s really dramat...
04/27/2026

14,505’ MT. WHITNEY

Took this shot yesterday of the highest mountain in the lower 48 from our hotel. It’s really dramatic with snowy high peaks and silver lined clouds. M-

LOS PADRES “8th” Brand New SoCal water for 2026On way home today I had just enough time to sneak in a hike to a brand ne...
04/26/2026

LOS PADRES “8th” Brand New SoCal water for 2026

On way home today I had just enough time to sneak in a hike to a brand new plunging creek in the Los Padres National Forest. So cool to hook this nice wild rainbow on my very first cast in this brand new gorgeous creek. Fish ate the size 14 stonefly hanging beneath the hopper. Loving these heavier stonefly nymphs as anchor flies with the dry-dropper-dropper rig!! Flows up big time. Definitely want to explore this creek next time, real potential as it’s very long and has excellent perennial flow. Caught fish in 8 brand new waters in SoCal so far this year. Just need 4 more new ones to reach goal. The search continues…..M-

1st GOLDEN TROUT OF 2026So thrilled to catch my first genetically pure golden trout today for 2026. Such a lovely fish. ...
04/26/2026

1st GOLDEN TROUT OF 2026

So thrilled to catch my first genetically pure golden trout today for 2026. Such a lovely fish. Fish ate a size 14 yellow sally rubberleg stonefly nymph hanging under a hopper. Loved watching him swim away in the creek after release. Precious, and our official state freshwater fish. M-

BROWNS 4-24-26Today my best buddy Drew and I hit a secret brown trout creek rarely fished. When we arrived it was RAGING...
04/25/2026

BROWNS 4-24-26

Today my best buddy Drew and I hit a secret brown trout creek rarely fished. When we arrived it was RAGING with cold snowmelt. We did not panic rather searched for fishable soft slow water. It appeared that less than 10% of the water was fishable. We fished dry droppers with long tippet sections. I fished a size 10 Henneberry Hopper dropping a heavy tungsten size 14 yellow sally rubberleg stone with a size 16 flash hares ear on the bottom. Drew fished a stimi with similar droppers. Lots of grabs on the buggy stones and none on the hares ear! I thus switched my bottom dropper to a size 16 Bucky caddis. Based on my seining the river months back these patterns were dead on matches to the naturals. We caught 20 plus browns on stonefly and caddis patterns. Late in the afternoon Drew had a terrific 16 inch fish grab the stimulator in front of both of us. It somehow got off as it jumped in the air. I kinda fell into a funk and broke off on a hopper fish which looked a good 14 inches and then another one threw the hopper. Overall we did quite well under such poor high water conditions. Super fun. Love it when fish eat the big stonefly nymph patterns. M-

MY TOP 3 FLY FISHING COMPANIESMy top 3 are derived from years of rod and gear trial. To be honest, lots of disappointmen...
04/21/2026

MY TOP 3 FLY FISHING COMPANIES

My top 3 are derived from years of rod and gear trial. To be honest, lots of disappointments such as leaky waders.

#1 FISHPOND - No doubt the best, well thought out, longest lasting fly fishing gear. FISHPOND rocks, glad I get discount on their Pro Staff. Love my Ridgeline hybrid backpack/fly vest and assortment of nomad nets and accessories. Fishpond accessories handle all the crazy bushwhacking I do and I no longer loose anything off my vest.

#2 SAGE (Farbanks) - Just my favorite smooth casting rods from vintage SLT, SP, XP, TXL-Fs to contemporary Classic R8s and Cores. Winners. Beyond good customer service! They don’t want to loose you as a long term loyal customer.

#3 LAMSON - Very large arbor, featherweight yet durable sleek reels with an amazing sealed drag system. The Litespeed F in size 3 is what I fit on my 2 and 3 weight rods. Perfect balance and just 3.4 ounces. A very affordable Lamson option would be the Liquid S in size 3.

Two honorable mentions would be Winston Rods for their level of craftsmanship and effortless casting, and the very affordable Temple Fork Outfitters fly rods which have terrific action and are quite accurate. An affordable pick for a stellar SoCal creek rod would be the Temple Fork Blue Ribbon 3 weight 8 foot long model. The longer rod is ideal for mending, high sticking and especially for trick casts like the “sling shot”. Good stuff! M-

Nick’s batch of trophy SoCal fish yesterday!Yesterday my friend Nick found the pods of big SoCal trophy fish on the fly....
04/19/2026

Nick’s batch of trophy SoCal fish yesterday!

Yesterday my friend Nick found the pods of big SoCal trophy fish on the fly. Real bruisers!! Nick is a graduate of the University of Redlands, and while he now lives in Oregon, he has such a fondness for our local backcountry waters. He once sight fished to a 20 inch plus rainbow near his university and caught it on a small size 16 elk hair caddis! So thrilled for him. M-

GUIDE TRIP 5-18-26 with Dana & Michael from El SegundoReally nice warm day. So glad I got to meet these two great guys. ...
04/19/2026

GUIDE TRIP 5-18-26 with Dana & Michael from El Segundo

Really nice warm day. So glad I got to meet these two great guys. We had lots to talk about on the way to the creek, especially the upcoming Eastern Sierra opener. Creek was down but still very clear with deep holes. Yet, it looked very beaten up by those Christmas storms. The creek looked so different now especially barren of streamside vegetation. Right away Michael hooks a nice football size fish on a size 14 parachute adams. However, we got no more in the run with a dry dropper rig. All the infestation of small trout were gone. I have no idea if they were wiped out by the storms or swept down river? Dana got a nice one on a size 16 flash gold ribbed hares ear nymph. We caught 20 wild fish, most 10 to 14 inch cookie cutter size on parachute adams and elk hair caddis. The fish seemed solitary in the best holes. Dana broke off the fish of the day which looked a good 15 inches. While the creek was far from how it normally fishes (25 to 50 fish days) it was fun and we had miles to ourselves. Guys drank beers on way out and were thrilled with the day. M-

30 YEARS IN THE MAKINGFinally, today Jeremey and I got to hike 6 miles RT to a “sister” SoCal river that supposedly has ...
04/17/2026

30 YEARS IN THE MAKING

Finally, today Jeremey and I got to hike 6 miles RT to a “sister” SoCal river that supposedly has big wild brown trout. I’ve put this spot off for many years due to the extreme hike in. Today, it was definitely grueling under the sun. When we finally arrived after close to 2 hours, the river was barely moving and far from being able to hold trout. I was so disappointed as I had big expectations, and the hike out uphill felt twice as long. We ran into a small rattlesnake and h***y toad on the way out. Getting back to the car was a big relief. We kinda salvaged the day by catching some small wild rainbows in a nearby creek on small size 18 and 16 parachute adams and small dropper nymphs. Jeremey lost an actual real sized fish on the dropper nymph. On our way back to the car we stopped at the best hole to give it one more try. I catch a small one on the dropper nymph. Then this older gentleman from Germany (who lives along creek) walks up to us. He has bread slices in a sandwich bag. He says he feeds the fish here everyday. I could not believe it, these wild rainbows started boiling on the bread being tossed in the creek! They were acting like Koi fish. Kinda cool to watch. Stopped at Blaze Pizza on way home. Listened to Padres game on the radio and now 8 wins in a row. Interesting, but definitely disappointing day. M-

ELK HAIR CADDIS VERSUS PARACHUTE ADAMSThese two dry fly patterns are my favorites for local waters and Im sure they are ...
04/14/2026

ELK HAIR CADDIS VERSUS PARACHUTE ADAMS

These two dry fly patterns are my favorites for local waters and Im sure they are with many others. Which one do I like more? I just can not say as they are equally effective. However, when fishing traditional white posts on the parachute adams they can disappear in white foam lines. I thus give the nod to a thick elk hair caddis with heavy hackle. I can see it the way it rests on the water. Its most important what fly you can track the easiest with your eyes. The Elk Hair Caddis (ideally with bleached elk hair) is a real workhorse and overall deadly fly imitating caddis, moths, stoneflies, etc.! An Adams Wulff or Royal Wulff would be honorable mentions as they float real high and have white visible wings. M-

CLEANING SUNGLASS LENSES WHILE FISHINGI’m digging my fairly new method to instantly clean my sunglass lenses while fishi...
04/12/2026

CLEANING SUNGLASS LENSES WHILE FISHING

I’m digging my fairly new method to instantly clean my sunglass lenses while fishing. I got a mini-spray bottle with cleaning solution and slid it into a small Fishpond floatant bottle holder. I attached the holder to my fly vest (see pics). A big advantage is the spray bottle is very accessible in front of me, yet out of the way near my nippers. I’m not having to open and zip pockets to find and remove a lense cleaner. I also put a small microfiber cloth in one of the front vest compartments, close to the spray, to clean and dry lenses. M-

DEN DASHWow, with our very warm weather it really seemed that all local rattlesnakes decided to abandon their cramped de...
04/11/2026

DEN DASH

Wow, with our very warm weather it really seemed that all local rattlesnakes decided to abandon their cramped dens and pursue some sun and warmth above. Here is a pic of the first rattler I’ve seen this year from Wednesday. I was on a bike and had to quickly swerve to avoid it. Sitings have been very common the last few weeks. In one month in SoCal 6 people were bit, with 2 fatalities. I try to always look down when moving, especially in and around streamside leaf litter, a favorite resting space. I’ve seen rattlers resting in the stream and once a rosy boa laying on a moss bed floating in the water. Not normal behaviors. Stay vigilant and be careful out there. We are lucky rattlesnakes have a mechanism to warn us when we are too close, compared to many other very venomous pit vipers. M-

REVISIT AND SCORE #7A few days ago I revisited a cool local creek with a killer 16 foot waterfall. My first visit to th...
04/10/2026

REVISIT AND SCORE #7

A few days ago I revisited a cool local creek with a killer 16 foot waterfall. My first visit to this brand new creek resulted in finding no fish. This time I was hoping the big pool below the waterfall was holding a wild trout or two. I cast a size 18 parachute adams on 6.5x nylon tippet a tad left of the center of the pool. All of a sudden my parachute got smashed and its fish on! I’m thrilled when it slipped into the net. My 7th successful new water fished in 2026. I luckily caught two others. I’m on track to reach or surpass 2026 goal of successfully fishing 12 brand new waters. Sometimes revisits and perseverance pays off. Super pumped to score this pretty, secluded little creek. M-

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Rancho Cucamonga, CA
92805

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+18589220237

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