The old adage, “all the news that’s fit to print” might be changed in the future to “all the bad news that never seems to end.”

First you read or watch the bad news — never good news — then you hardly ever hear what happened later. Weeks, months, years may go by with nary an update.

Well, this is one of those few and far between “what happened later” stories, about a cause celebre, at least one for those who love rainbow trout and their cousins, the “steelies.”

It was September, 2020, and God smote the San Gabriel mountains with his fury, namely an ongoing, record-breaking drought and the Bobcat Fire, one of the largest in L.A. County history. The fire broke out near Cogwell Dam at the top of the beloved West Fork of the San Gabriel River bike path. As it happened, a story I wrote about the WF had just come out in California Fly Fisher. A letter to the editor put it succinctly: “Unfortunately, shortly after the issue came out, much of that river’s watershed was reduced to charcoal and ash by the Bobcat Fire.”

The letter writer went on to predict what anyone who has lived here a while realizes: without vegetation to hold back mud and debris from our steep hillsides during even a moderate rain, streams quickly get hammered, creating sediment that kills fish and makes hard for those remaining to spawn.

Shortly after the fire, the Forest Service predicted as much greenlighting a rescue effort to save the rainbow trout population in the West Fork. As an influential genetics study put it, “ The WFSGR coastal rainbow trout population is recognized as a valuable genetic resource for Southern California Steelhead and native coastal rainbow trout.”

In other words, the trout swimming in our local mountains could eventually become steelhead trout, tragically few in number and endangered.

According to Joseph Stanovich, an environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, “Over a period of four electrofishing efforts, 1,365 coastal rainbow trout were rescued, 469 of which were translocated to Arroyo Seco Creek on Nov. 24 and Dec. 1.”

Since then, CDFW biologists have snorkeled Arroyo Seco Creek the last three years to see if this bold rescue worked. And, fellow fishers, here’s that good news to come out of a tragedy — it has.

The numbers vary by year, but Stanovich’s team found a total of 657. Here’s what the data look like:

Why the overall drop from 2022 to this year? What’s interesting to me is the precipitous decrease in fry (under 2.9 inches) and the increase of the last three categories.

“Most of the population’s size is less than 2.9 inches. This could be attributed to the fact that drought conditions i.e., thermal shifts, low DO, and minimal water availability, may have stunted growth in fish or caused mortality in larger fish,” Stovich said. “Furthermore, prey availability may also be a contributing factor to the concentration of smaller size fish. Lastly, based on the results of size class distribution there appears to be successful recruitment across all size classes.”

So dream with me for a minute. We have two fish passages, one close to downtown, the other near Paramount down river, that eventually could help steelhead return to spawn in our mountains. Slower currents, resting areas and shade are all on the drawing board. Now, there could be a third piece to the puzzle.

According to Natalie Ouwersloot, the Engineering Manager with Pasadena Water and Power, the $15 million Arroyo Seco Canyon Project, a bypass fishway is also in the works, about a half-mile into the canyon behind Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“We will remove the existing concrete structure and in its place construct an operable gate that will be lowered to bypass sediment and raised to take in water to the infiltration basins. Here is also where we are working with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) on a bypass fishway for the rainbow trout,” Ouwersloot said in an email. “We are currently working on finalizing designs, applying for grant funding, and applying for CDFW permits.”

The project, which was halted and revised because of a lawsuit from the Arroyo Seco Foundation and Pasadena Audubon, could be completed by 2027.

In other words, the dream of Lewis MacAdams, co-founder of Friends of the LA River, to see steelhead freely swimming from ocean berms to mountain tops, is a little closer today, thanks to the efforts of the smart, dedicated people you never hear about in the news. More on this story soon.

See you on the river, Jim Burns