What do you make of it when you see an insect in your man cave? Not much. I spy all kinds of wiggling legs there, spiders (OK, arachnids) maybe a beetle or three, the odd brown ant.

But last night as I looked closer at that speck on the wall, it was … a mayfly! I mean a mayfly in late December when Santa is on his way, how crazy is that? I immediately texted a fishing buddy, who responded “L.A. City of Trout.” I fingered the “haha emoji,” to which he replied, “I’m serious! Spring creeks galore, back in the day.”

His typed words hit me. Back in the day, sure, Octogenarian Robert Richardson who has volunteered in the now-monument since the ’50s — you read that right — regaled me this fall with eyebrow-raising stories about pulling 18-inch trout from the West Fork, when there was a game warden up there who would catch poachers as they emerged from the shore, pitch black of night, waiting for them in his jalopy, necking with his girlfriend. When there was a size limit on keeping trout from Cogswell Dam, bigger than 36 inches (now, no fishing allowed)! His stories are jewels of a time we’ve lost, but then again …

Stories from Bernard Yin, rock-n-roller activist, mountains archivist and fly fisher extraordinaire, will keep you coming back to our steep slopes and deep canyons above the City of Angels, just to get a glimpse of what he sees, what he knows. Another deep source of knowledge, but gleaned from a different time than Robert’s tales. He and Rebecca Ramirez, his co-rocker and wife, put in so many miles scouting trout in our most beautiful wild places, as well as our dumpster dives.

Then, there are the miracles, themselves the making of possibly timeless stories, like the one in my man cave last night. Keep those especially close, for we need the optimism and strength drawn from experiences that skirt the boundaries of mere intellect. These are stories visited upon us, instead of told to us by another.

For I need the energy of miracle when I pick up what seems to be unending amounts of trash on the way to my fav off-the-track spot; I need that unexpected freshness to keep me in a good spot when I contemplate the graffiti spray-painted across rocks raised up more than 6 million years ago. I need it to not despise those who threw out the trash, the ones who defaced the forest, as well as those charged with protecting it, yet do little.

Nature is the key to what we are missing. It’s that simple. Go into it, breath it, embrace it, feel your own soul, calm and serene, as the miracle of peace settles upon you.

Oh, and don’t forget to fish! At the top, the left shot is from the West Fork and the right, from the East Fork.

See you on the river, Jim Burns

Larry Pirrone

When I first started fishing the West Fork I was returning from a long layoff from fishing local waters. I was just starting a new business and up the street was Alex Seimers fly fishing shop and Ray Bianco who got me back into fly fishing. Life was good. Then it started. A huge flush of mud released from Cogswell. Years later the stream was back and so was I. The Stream Born Fly Fishing club was still alive. I was catching fish on the WF again. I was catching two trout at a time on a two fly rig. Then it happened. The Center for Biological Diversity who could care less about human family fishing recreation helped kill off a load of trout. Who knows how we let this happen or why it happens. I am hoping that the fishing will get and stay healthy for me to recapture some of the good times. At 78 I don’t have a lot of time. How can we protect this great resource?

Jim Burns

Thanks for these great comments, Larry! What was the Stream Born Fly Fishing Club? As for protecting the WF, I think a lot of people have that same idea, but it is the “how” that hasn’t yet come into focus. John Tobin, Pasadena Casting Club’s former Conservation Chair, had this to say: “My big concern is the poor invertebrate recovery so far.  What are these fish eating, besides our flies?  I’ve turned over a few rocks and don’t see much yet.  We need an invertebrate survey.”

Scott Boller

Well said, Jim! Happy Holidays!

lariverboy

Jim,
What an honor to be mentioned. Having Rebecca by my side (and very much enthusiastic about the quest) and the added prod of CalTrout asking me to seek maximum clarity on these SoCal hills and their ever-persistent trout has kept me banging my shins and removing ticks for what seems to be forever and it is far from over. All in the name of locating even a tiny fish in a tiny trickle that has been “smote by God” as someone once said 😉 The Cogswell conversation is always entertaining. It is constantly manipulated and the entire region has these crazy moments of boom and bust. There’s little rhyme or reason except for the obvious one: if there’s some water then there’s some chance. I will bite my tongue with respect to the Bobcat Fire and the following winter’s muddy runoff. Simply mind-blowing how happy the WFSG was before that terrible volley of events. Gosh I could go on. 

As for age, time, etc. you know, a game I very often play is to challenge myself with the humor or irony of finding fish virtually roadside. This includes the access on the WFSG but there are a surprising collection of non-stocked trout populations; legal to fish for; within 500 feet of one’s parked car in So Cal. 

Scott,
I think the concern about invertebrate life as a food source is totally valid however it is not unheard of for a trout to make terrestrial’s a substantial percentage of their diet. Just throwing that out there for the sake of the discussion. Now, in the case of an area that is also denuded by fire then, sigh, yeah, we have very hungry fish and an ecosystem that needs some time to recover.

Larry,
Ray continues to appear from time to time at fly fishing events. His casting skills dazzle me and last time I saw him (less than a year ago) he sported some boots that even the Beatles would envy (with Cuban heel too by the way).

I am not intimately familiar with the center of biological diversity is actions of what you speak. There are a handful of moments in Southern California where they have influence the course of an ecosystem. I would be surprised if a deluge of silt or mud was intentional given how they are so fond of amphibians. Speaking of which, protections initiated by them for a particular So Cal endemic toad has actually done wonderful things to protect a few pockets of wild trout including some with primarily native genetics. * And not always resulting in an angling closure.

In closing …This last wet year has helped several local populations of trout get a breath of fresh water and if we have what amounts to an even “normal” winter, I think next year is going to be glorious in the “locals” and give us all some joy.

– Bernard