It’s good to check a fish’s stomach contents once in awhile. The practice is always informative and sometimes surprising. In all the material I’ve read concerning menu items for barred surfperch, there’s been no mention of the by-the-wind sailor jellyfish “hatch” that occurs along West Coast beaches in the spring and early summer. I’m not sure about the reason for the omission, because powerful evidence reveals that barred surfperch do love to eat wind sailor jellyfish, and the availability of these serves to bring the larger perch to the beach, even when surf conditions are less than ideal. Some of the best days I’ve experienced fishing for barred surfperch have been during wind sailor hatches, and when I’ve arrived to find them washing up on the beach, good fishing usually follows. This happens often enough in the spring and summer that one can only deduce that it is a seasonal occurrence, and not a rare anomaly.
So why has the jellyfish hatch been overlooked? Perhaps the biologists publishing on barred surfperch haven’t checked stomach contents at the right time. And though there are canny beach anglers who know about the wind sailor hatch, most presume that surfperch are at the beach to root for mole crabs (which they usually are), and it doesn’t occur to them that any self-respecting sport fish would want to eat those little jellyfish washing up on shore.
By-the-wind sailors, Velella velella, are hydrozoans that, like stream insects, undergo a multiphased life cycle. There is only one known species. At the mature phase, they emerge to live on the surface of the open ocean. When mature, they have no means of propulsion but for the fin-shaped sail rising from the oblong base of the body. Velella is not a true jellyfish. Its body is formed around a delicate, skeletal “quill” that looks like slightly opaque clear plastic — like the quill found inside squid. Mature wind sailors gather on current breaks at sea and are moved inexorably toward the beach in untold numbers. When caught in the breakers of the surf zone, they are tumbled and sunk, a happy circumstance for surfperch, who munch them like unsupervised children in possession of a sack of gummy grape candy.
It’s always wise to pay attention to what has gathered in the drift line just above the wet sand, where you find the accumulated dross deposited at the last high tide. Sometimes it will contain the molted shells of sand crabs, a positive sign that they are present, also indicating a good chance that surfperch may be lurking in the surf zone. The drift line will reveal the presence of wind sailors, as well. Sometimes, usually during a period of large swells or a stiff northwesterly wind, the beaches will be covered with them, and if those beaches are known to attract barred perch, rest assured that the perch will be there to feed on the incoming wind sailors — an excellent reason to carry a fly to simulate the accumulating groceries.
Wind sailors are fairly amorphous in shape while submerged in the surf, and that’s a good thing, it being difficult to imitate something that looks like a dollop of blueberry jam with a shark fin sticking up out of it. I haven’t found profile, in this case, to be particularly important. The distinct, violet-blue coloration of the naturals seems to be the key to simulating them. The pattern featured here is my go-to fly when wind sailors are present. And it often works when wind sailors are not present, the violet coloration serving as a hot color for barred surfperch in any season.
By-the-Wind Sailor
Hook: Dai-Riki 930, size 2 or 4. Fasten a lead or brass barbell to the top of the hook shank about a quarter of the shank’s length from the eye.
Thread: Blue or purple
Body: Blue Krystal Flash, six strands. Tie in at the hook bend, twist counterclockwise until a “rope” is formed, and wind forward to the barbell.
Wing: Colors stacked on the underside of the hook in the order tied in between the hook’s eye and the barbell: dark blue or blue-toned purple calf tail; a few strands of blue Krystal Flash; pearl gray (light gray) calf tail; a few strands of pearl Midge Krystal Flash; a small pinch of blue/-purple calf tail. Whip finish.
