I would think you could buy them online.

CTOC (SW), 1976-1998. Still serving today as DoN civilian

As a matter of fact...back in the late 80s I was fishing a tributary of the Potomac River near Ft Washington, MD. I encountered an older woman who was all set up with a lawn chair, a small folding table to hold her tackle box, box of worms, knife, rag, etc., and a bucket for her fish-crappie and yellow perch. Lots of fish. She was outfishing me by 2-1, easily. I watched her reel in one crappie after another. Figuring she knew something I didn't I watched her closely and saw after she baited her hook with a worm she smeared a small dab of something from a tube on to the worm and hook. Wiped her hands on the towel, made her cast and before long the bobber would start doing the "crappie dance" and she'd put another one in the bucket. I finally swallowed my pride and asked what kind of fish attractant she was putting on the worm and she showed me. It was Preparation H. I think I later read somewhere it's made with shark liver oil. I never tried it myself, tho.

I use 'em both.

Right handed, and I use both. Baits that I want moving as soon as they hit the water are tied on left-hand retrieve reels so I can get my hand on the handle as soon as they land (I cast right handed). Others get tied on rods with right hand retrieve reels.

They run a lot of boat out of Santa Cruz municipal wharf. I grew up fishing there and my brother still lives/fishes the area and he seems to do well putting ling cod in the boat.

I like the idea of trying at muddler minnow. As I recall the last time this brood 'hatched' if you couldn't match it you got skunked. At least on Burke Lake in VA anyways. I got desperate and tried putting live ones on the hook but that didn't work out well. My son who might have been 9 or 10 at the time said "why not use that superglue in your tackle box?". Duh. It worked!

Now that I'm tying my own flies I'll renew the struggle all over again.

This is the year of Brood X (10), the 17 year cicada. They're a bit smaller than the annual bugs but they'll make up for size with sheer numbers. It's going to be SO FREAKIN LOUD! Blane Chocklett has a good how to video for the normals annual hatches. Super realistic, the guy is a wizard. Still looking for one to match the 17 year bugs. Guess I can just down size Blane's recipe.

A couple years ago we stayed in Kihei (est side) . I packed a travel spinning rod, a 2500 series spinning reel, and a bunch of saltwater surface and subsurface lures. I was undergunned. After a few straight retrives I tried twitch twich pause and got hammered by a big ulua. My 40 lb PowerPro sang off the real. I tried to put the heat to it, but...SNAP! So, make sure your gear's heavy enough.

I also took a make-up charter on START ME UP out of Maalaea. Left the dock at 0200 in 6-12 foot seas to make it to the FAD before daybreak. Made it really sporty when we stopped to toss live baits overboard - got hooked up within 30 seconds. Loads of "fun" fighting 5-75 lb yellowfin in the pitch black in those heavy seas. Some of the other 5 had never been fishing offshore, making it even more fun. One of the noobs was lucky enough to be on the stick when the big blue marlin hit but he lost it letting the line go slack when the mate told him lift up, wind down. He lifted up, lifted down, then started to wind. That's how noobs learn, I suppose.

So the short version is you can fish from the beach. Fish any rocky points or reefs you find. You can pick up charters out of Maalaea, Lahaina, or any number of locations. Google is your friend.

Talk about small world. My mother lived in Walnut Creek for years, and I grew up Felton and fished/swam in San Lorenzo River my entire childhood. Don't think my advice would do you any good, though, since I left 40 years ago for life in USN. But I sure did catch a lot of rainbows, steelhead and a few salmon back then! My first steelhead on a fly came on a Mickey Finn from under the bridge to the entry for Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. Best of luck and please post updates/pics!

One of MANY little redfish caught the day before Thanksgiving 2020.
Attached file:
(Download)

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome. Soon as I can figure out which is pic is the most recent, aka last fish caught, I'll post it.

Ed

In the interest of full disclosure and disrupting the stereotype that all fishermen are liars, that pic is more than 10 years old. Ten pound 13 ounce rainbow caught on a pellet fly near an Indian hatchery on the Columbia River. I have more recent pics (2 weeks ago) but none as impressive.

Hello everyone. Like my signature says, I've been fishing my whole life but just picked up a fly rod a few years back. Now I'm diving head first into the deep, dark rabbit hole of tying my own flies. Guess it keeps me off the streets. :)