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Greetings Everyone,
My first book signing will be on Sunday, February 17th, at the California Fly Shop, in San Carlos, California from 11 - 5. Besides signing books, I will be doing a program on Delta fly fishing, and a great lunch will also be served. Please contact the shop to let them know if you will be attending. I will also be signing books at the Pleasanton Fly Fishing Show on Saturday, 2/23, starting at 12pm and then again on Sunday, 2/24, at 10 am. Finally, I will be in Van Nuys, California at the Fishermen's Spot on March 9th from 12pm to 3pm. I will post any other book signings on my web site and Face Book page. Hopefully I will get to see some of you over the next couple of months, thank you for your support.
Here is a list of stores that are carrying my book:
The Fly Shop 530-222-3555
American Fly Fishing
Company
FISH TALES 2012:
OCTOBER - DECEMBER
November continued to fish very well as we boated 329 keeper size stripers in 23 guide days, with 12 fish going over ten pounds. In fact, most of the fish we landed were in the six to eight pound range with the West Delta offering us the best fishing opportunities. Angler Bill Scharninghausen landed our first steelhead ever from the Delta getting the fish to fall for a black over chartreuse clouser on a I-line. Fly fishermen Mike Denega won an amazing battle on the water when he landed a 16 lb. striper along with a 300 lb. sea lion that didn't want to give up his meal. After being taken into his backing over 150 yards, Mike finally got the fish away from the stubborn critter and we were able to safely release him back into the water to fight another day.
The rains and cold weather came in December and the Delta water became off-colored and cooled off dramatically. Despite tough conditions, my clients and I were still able to have some fantastic striper fishing. The South Delta fished very well and in 20 days of guiding we landed 172 stripers over 18 inches. Our best fish was landed by long time client, Charles Kittrell, who subdued a nice 12lb. linesider on a I-line.
Chatt
Wright and his 18 1/2 lb. North Delta Striper! Fish
Hard, Mike Costello JULY - SEPTEMBER
Sydnie Kohara with a 10lb. Stanislaus striper, capping off a memorable day of fishing!
During
the month of August I had many two day trips on the Lower Sacramento River
and from Redding to Red Bluff my anglers experienced fantastic fly fishing
for rainbow trout. Anglers, Anthony and John Iaccarino had a quality two
day campout where they boated 85 trout up to 20 inches with birds nest
nymphs and stone fly nymphs providing the best
Fish Hard, Mike Costello APRIL - JUNE
Below: Angler Chris Barza with
a very nice
It
seems like the wind never stopped blowing on the Delta this Spring and
even into Summer, but the striper fishing was nothing short of incredible!
Toward the end of April my clients and I had three of the best days of
striper fishing I have ever seen. Murray Low and Mike Bates kicked off a
Thursday landing 81 stripers with an amazing 70 fish over 18 inches. In
fact we landed many linesiders in the 6 to 8 lb. range despite the 20 to
30 mph west winds. The very next day, my clients Anthony and John
Laccarino hit the jackpot as the winds laid down and they caught fish,
lots of them. At the end of the day we had broken my all-time legal fish
record by putting an amazing 110 legal stripers in the boat along with 27
smaller fish. Most of the stripers averaged around 6 to 7 lbs. and we had
several double digit fish. Finally on Sunday Bill Scharninghausen and Jeff
Stegall started off slow but finished on fire as we ended the day landing
an astonishing 187 stripers with 70 fish over 18 inches, including 4 that
went over ten pounds. In three days of fishing we landed 405 stripers of
which 250 were legal fish, capping of one great month of fishing!
The
month of May continued the hot fishing with many days producing 40 to 50
stripers with 15 to 25 linesiders being over 18 inches. At the end of May
I ventured off to the Florida Keys with my family and best friend Jeff
Solis, and Jeff and I chased tarpon out of Key West for 4 days with
Captain Justin Rea. I have been fishing with Justin for the last seven
years and over that time we have had some awesome flats fishing. Jeff and
I landed 4 tarpon and jumped 6 others and had around 10 other eats despite
having some inclement weather for a couple of days. As my Delta fishing started to unwind in last part of Spring, we still had some very productive days chasing stripers. In early June I started my first drift trips on the Lower Stanislaus and we had some excellent trout fishing using dries, nymphs, and streamers. Anglers Tom Brutsche and Mike Nelson started it off right landing 54 rainbow trout with almost 20 of them going over 15 inches. The good fishing continued day in and day out with the average trip producing 30 rainbows in the boat as our number one streamer was the Beck's Deepwater Bugger. Angler Chris Barza landed our biggest fish on the river this summer, a 23 inch beauty that inhaled the brown, rubberlegged, maribou streamer. The Lower Sacramento River in Redding also was very productive as I had two 3 boat campouts with guides Earnie Dennison and Lonnie Boles.The river produced some very fat rainbows up to 20 inches and we had days with up to fifty trout in the boat. My top trout nymphs were my personally tied, tungsten-maribou-birdsnest, in olive and tan.
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VIDEOS
Delta Top Water Catch
Landing the Big One
I love to read, especially
books related to the outdoors and fly fishing, so I wanted to share some
my favorite books with my friends.
Mike is the Author of
EXCITING NEW TOYS I have had the pleasure of fishing the Loomis NRX 9 ft. 9 wt. prototype for the past year and my clients and I agree, it is one of the best fly rods ever designed. 20 % lighter and stronger than the GLX Cross Current, this rod has handled some huge linesiders over the last 12 months and its performance has been nothing short of perfect. I am pleased to announce that the NRX is now available to the angling community from 3 wt. to 12 wt and should be on everyone's wish list.
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Sydnie
Kohara, had
one incredible day of fishing on back on July 12th
when she landed 24 rainbows
using dries, nymphs and streamers and then followed it up with seven
quality stripers up to 10 pounds. The Delta also produced
some quality striper and smallmouth bass fish in July despite the warm
temperatures. While fishing over the July 4th weekend, my best friend Jeff
Solis and I landed some very fat 7 to 9 lb. stripers on the Mokelumne
River.
results.
My long time client Tom Brutsche had the best day, landing 55 hard
fighting rainbows back on August 22nd. The heat didn't keep us from having
some awesome fishing for linesiders in the Delta. Anglers Murray Low and
Paul Wilms had a spectacular day on August 27th, landing 56 stripers with
Murray subduing a fat 22 lb. trophy in only two feet of water. For the
month we landed 186 legal size stripers in 14 fishing days, giving us a 13
fish-a-day-average.
steelhead, and stripers. Once again the early fall fishing on the Delta
remained solid, with my clients and I landing 222 stripers over 18 inches,
in 14 guide days, giving us a 16 fish-a-day-average. Anthony Iaccarino
landed our top striper of the month, a long 16 1/2 lb. fish on September
25th. Our best fish of the month came on September 21st when angler Wayne
Horiuchi landed a chrome 19 lb. king salmon that we targeted on the
Sacramento River near Rio Vista.
