Saltwater Fishing part 6

No birds no problem! If you can't find any birds you can still find bonito, there are a few simple steps to finding fish most days, even if you do not see any birdpiles. First find out where the bones were the last few days, check the fish counts of your local partyboats, check with friends to see where they have been catching bones, or go to areas where you have caught them in the past.

If bonito have been caught recently in an area, I may start out trolling a small tuna feather about 4 inches long, I usually troll about 6 to 8 mph when I'm searching for fish, and run my lures 30 to 40 feet behind the boat. Trolling in a slow "S" pattern is better than trolling in a straight line. I always have someone on the binos looking out at distance.

If I see a kelp paddy, I troll by it from several directions, if there are lots of paddys I usually only make one pass. If there are only a few I make three or four passes and throw some live chum on them as I go past. Keep an eye out for boils on the chum as that may indicate bones are present.

I keep the fly rods sitting in the corner of the rail so they will be handy when we get a trolling hookup. When a fish hits the feather, immediately throw a handful of chum and cast your fly out behind the boat and strip it in fast. If fish start boiling in the chum, keep throwing chum a few at a time to keep them around the boat.

If no fish are located trolling, I usually look for a partyboat and anchor about 200 feet behind him ( don't get too close, always give anchored fishing boats space to fish in ) Party boats usually throw lots of chum and it will come down current towards you, this can get bones in a chewing mood if they are in the area. If no bonito are to be found, all is not lost, there are plenty of other fish species that will hit the flys, calico and sand bass, mackerel, halibut ( sinking line in shallow water ) yellowtail, white sea bass, and many others. I have caught all these and more on the fly here in Southern California.