My name is Bruce Smith and fishing is my life. One phrase that comes to mind
when people ask what I have been up to is this: I am either going fishing, fishing, or coming home from fishing. Not that I spend much time at home.
At the age of thirteen I tied my first fly and learned how to cast a fly
rod. Later that same year I caught my first trout on the fly rod and to
my great wonderment that trout bit on a fly that I had tied. Uncle Jerry
from Yuba city initially showed me the way of the trout in moving water.
From what mayfly nymphs look like to how to bounce a single salmon egg
along the bottom with just the right amount of weight to keep it ticking
the rocks.
Since that time long ago, I have attained a 100 ton Master Mariner
license from the U.S. Coast Guard and am using it to captain the
sport-fishing vessel Shogun out of Fisherman's Landing in San Diego,Ca., USA. www.shogunsportfishing.com
In past years we have run fly-fishing trips off the coast of
Magdalena bay. Trey Combs, Steve Abel, Terry and Wendy Gunn, Ed Ries, all
came out to sample the spectacular marlin and tuna fishing offered at
that locale. In small inflatables launched from the Shogun, we would
run up on large spots of marlin crashing through bait balls, throw our
flies at them. It was a sight to behold, phenomenal fishing with many
world records set in the first few years. My old thoughts and feelings of
fly fishing resurfaced. The contacts I was making in the bluewater
fly-fishing world spilled over into the freshwater side that I missed so
dearly. Steve Abel set me up with my first rods and reels for going after
the elusive wild trout once more. Nine years ago now, I began again to
relearn my lost techniques of quietly, stalking a gently sipping trout
and enjoying the hunt of stillwater and the size of its fish.
As of late my most recent project includes starting a fishing report
www.bigfishhappen.com.
Thanks for reading. Hope to meet you someday.
Big Fish Happen,
Bruce A. Smith