Mr. Shelton,

I'm new to the the site but have caught your last four or five articles in the mag. Do you ever do any clinics at the beach? I have a couple friends that would attend. Love the stuff you write. Very imformative.

Are you going to be out on the 21-24 (next grunion run) of this month? I was going to try to hit Dohene sp? Any other ideas on a better spot to go? Have a float tube. Alamitos Bay?

Also, is incomming tide critticle to success as in other salt water fishing?

Thaks for any help

Jimbo

Jimbo,

Welcome to the site, and thank you very much for your kind words re: the stuff that I've done for California Fly Fisher. It's heartwarming to know that there are some folks out there who read it and liked it enough to take the time to say so.

Although I plan to continue to do speaking engagements at fly fishing clubs and so forth, I have no plans to conduct any formal on-the-water clinics this year. After 7 years as a full-time licensed guide, wherein guiding was my "day job," I've decided to get out of that line of work and to use the time that I would have spent guiding to finish up a self-published book on fly fishing the Southern California coast that I hope to have completed by the next show season. I also wanted to have more time with my family on the weekends, and to have more "me time" to fish for the fun of it again. However, if you and your friends would like to meet up with me on the water sometime, I'd be honored to fish with you.

Unfortunately, I will be out of town during the next 04/21-04/24 grunion run, so I won't be able to fish it. If I weren't going to be out of town, I'd be fishing Doheny during that time. It's a long haul from Covina all the way down here to Doheny Beach, but in my experience, that particular beach has been one of the better places to fish for halibut, so you may find the trip to be worthwhile. You might also think about fishing the Long Beach shoreline, as the halibut fishing there can be quite good during this time of year. Dittos for Alamitos Bay and Huntington Harbour, too. Plus, all of those places are probably closer to your home than Doheny is.

In regard to your question about fishing flood tides, I definitely prefer to fish them over ebb tides when I'm at a shallow embyament like Alamitos Bay, Newport Bay, and so forth. I usually prefer to fish the flood tide at the beach, too. In looking back through the pages of my angling journal, it does seem to make a difference, as I catch far for fish on a flood tide than I do on an ebb, though there are some places that I fish fairly frequently--like Sunset Beach (Orange County) and Anaheim Bay / Huntington Harbor--where I do very nearly as well either way.

Blessings and Tight Lines,
--JP

_________________
"I fish, therefore I am."

Say hey JP,
I'm looking forward to your book buddy. Let me know when it's available.
Cheers, Ken

Thanks for the reply JP,

I appriciate the time you took to answer all my questions. I think Doheny will be the call. I am used to the drive, as I launch my boat out of Dana. It's not much to look at (26 center panga) but it gets me around. A jep for the ocean, I call it.

Thanks for the invite to meet up with you some time. Hey, I'd show up just to watch and ask a few questions. Lets make that happen sometime, ok?

Also if you have any interest in paddy hoppin a little later in the season with fly gear let me know, I can make that happen as well. I'd like to hang a nice Forkie on a 10 wt. To be honest it is someting that I have yet to do. Up till now it's been meat and lures on the boat. Interested? Maybe you could make it the subject of and article. I'm new enough to the mag that I'm unsure if your article is only surf. If you would like to give me a call so we dont have to take the time to type, give me a call. I'll send you a private e-mail with it.

Look forward to your book. Probably goes with out saying that you would sign it ehh? Books just seem more important w/ a signature.

See you later

Jim Lee

Jim,

We can definitely make an outing happen, and I'm looking forward to doing so, particularly if a recipriocal invitation to fish with you on a boat in the big blue goes along with it.

April is pretty much spoken for on my end, as I noted previously. From May through the middle of October, however, my schedule is pretty clear.
My e-mail address is south_coast_flyfishing@yahoo.com, if you'd like to shoot me a phone number where I can contact you and make something happen.

By the way, I had a decent day, catch-rate wise down at Doheny on Easter Sunday. The beach was thick with smallish surfperch, but they were fun to catch in spite of their size. I also got a nice smoothhound shark that I first observed just sort of parked in a trough right at the shoreline. It took off out to seaward when it spotted me, and I threw a cast to it and it took the fly. I managed to get the shark on the beach, but lost it before I could take a picture of it. I still have the fly with the hook broken at the bend to remind me of that fish. I got a little lepoard shark, too. I managed two long distance releases on fairly decent sized halibut, as well. I was there in the early A.M. and the surf was virtually non-existant. From a line control standpoint, you couldn't ask for better conditions.

I'm definitely up for some paddy hopping, and I would love to do an article on that subject, so your invitation is one that I'd definitely like to take you up on.

As for the articles that I've done for the magazine in the past, they have mostly been on fly fishing the surf zone and shallow embayments along the Southern California coast. The others were on the Salton Sea, Piru Lake, and a bittersweet tale of love, loss, and the blessed hope of redemption called "San Gabriel Days" that I entered in the mag's essay contest last year. I've wanted to do a couple of pieces that I can't becuase I no longer own a boat big enough to do allow me to do them -paddy hopping, Catalina Island, Outer Long Beach Harbor and the breakwalls there, and so forth and so on.

In closing, if you send me a phone number on my e-mail, I'll definitely be getting in contact with you. I get together every now and then with a group that posts on www.fliflicker.com, too, and you'd be more than welcome to join us on an outing.

-JP

_________________
"I fish, therefore I am."

Ken,

Thanks for the encouragement re: my book project! When I get 'em from the printer, I'll make sure you get one of the first ones to come off the press!

Blessings and TL's,
-JP

_________________
"I fish, therefore I am."

Can I get signed copy as well? Looking forward to the release!
Hey JP! Let's Go Fishing!!

GT