“The Southern California Angler” is Brandon Hayward’s new book, from Western Outdoors Publications, printed in Canada, Copyright © 2008. The new paperback was selling briskly, and Brandon signed copies at the Fred Hall Show in Long Beach.The subtitle, “A modern day guide to southern California Sportfishing,” lets you know what to expect from the 260-page paperback, which retails for $24.95. That’s a fair price these days for something to help a rookie fisherman get started toward success as a saltwater angler.
Hayward has considerable experience working aboard sportfishers, from dayboats like the First String to his last stint on the luxury long ranger Excel. He has a skipper’s license, and has been long range fishing, local fishing and fishing in Mexico and other places. His job as saltwater editor at western Outdoor News means he has a good handle on what’s going on in the fishing business. Brandon has a sense of regional history and tradition that makes him a lover of the long rod and the iron jig.
Hayward begins with the notion he calls The Theory of Fishing: “When you do something different and better than the other anglers at the rail, you catch more fish.”
So it’s a book about how to become a better fisherman, and therefore will be helpful to newcomers and experienced anglers as well. TSCA is easy to read, with photos and drawings to help the reader understand method and technique.
Hayward begins with yellowtail and tuna fishing, and moves on to calicos and white seabass. These fish cover the whole scope of regional fishing, from searching the offshore blue water to fishing the island drop-offs, and to pulling bass out of the kelp “salad” right off the beach. Brandon talks about baits and choosing the right ones, how big the hook should be and how to set it without losing the biter. His interviews with famous experts like Pete Haynes and Dan Wade are extensive and very informative. Coming out of the biz, Brandon knows many skippers, and their input is also central to “The Southern California Angler.”
“You have to wind tight before you set the hook,” says Pete Haynes. “Take all the slack out of the line by turning the handle, then set the hook.”
Discussing baits for ten-pound kelp bass, Ben Secrest told Hayward, “I’ve seen a lot of guys catch a lot of big bass on bait, and it’s either live octopus or live mackerel, but to me it was live Spanish mackerel. It seems like the bass really like Spanish mackerel.”
Where Secrest goes big for bass bait, tuna angler David Choate goes small for baiting cows.
“I just love fishing the ‘dine,” says Choate, who has a lot of lore about tuna tackle. “I always fish J hooks and I almost always fish 130-pound fluorocarbon.“I always have at least a 30-sized reel and a stout rod,” adds Choate, who reps for Accurate and Seeker and favors the Trilene knot and a ringed hook.
Long rod, wired-jig guru Dan Wade of San Diego gets the most ink from Hayward, who discovered Dan’s well-known reticence to let out many of the jewels of information he’s acquired over decades of jig casting for yellowtail.
Wade knows much he won’t say, but he is generous with some things few other anglers know. He favors Salas and Tady jigs.
When he’s picking out Salas iron, “The thinner ones are the ones that swim better,” Wade told Hayward. He looks for a 7X that’s, “squared up,” with sharp edges. “You want sharp edges.”
And it’s not just about picking out the best-swimming jigs. “You can have the best lure ever made, but if you’re casting in the wrong direction, not reading the conditions, or if you can’t cast at all, you’re never going to be any good,” noted Wade.
Hayward and his experts get down to the nitty-gritty, down to how to hold a live bait for hooking, how to cast under several circumstances, how to get around in a mess of hooked-up anglers, and how to choose the right gear for the species you’re after.
I’d recommend “The Southern California Angler” to any and all who’d like to dip a hook in the ocean. It’s a valuable book, and will be for some years to come.
Available to ORDER at FishingVideos.com