Returning to the moving waters where my father first introduced me to the art of fly fishing three decades ago feels like a journey through time, each ripple on the surface a memory stirred.
What once was a simple father-son outing has now transformed into a pilgrimage of sorts, as I witness the fruits of nature’s labor. In the tranquil stream where my father patiently taught me to cast my line without snatching a tree limb above me, wild trout still spawn.
Not fires, pollution, and other of nature’s wrath can stop these fish. Even though graffiti and trash may still paint the picture, the trout are doing their part. It’s time that we do ours.
From Cal Trout: The evidence is undeniable: Southern California steelhead teeter on the brink of extinction. Southern steelhead serve as crucial indicators of watershed health and river ecosystem integrity. These fish play a role within the ecosystem that you, your family, neighbors and friends are also a part of. If one piece of the ecosystem changes or disappears this ripples throughout the rest of the ecosystem affecting every other species – plant, animal and human. Historically, Southern steelhead thrived, with tens of thousands of them swimming through Southern California rivers and streams. Today, it’s rare to see them in double digits. Their dwindling numbers stem from habitat loss, fragmentation, and the encroachment of urbanization. Please, Sign your name by April 4. CLICK HERE >>.
In 2021, conservation nonprofit CalTrout submitted a petition to the California Fish and Game Commission to fully protect Southern steelhead as endangered under California’s Endangered Species Act. Listing these fish as endangered would promote actions to protect them including removing obsolete dams, improving habitat, securing instream flow, and restoring watersheds. All of these actions would also benefit human communities. For example, improving aging infrastructure would reduce the risk of flooding and increase public safety and holistic watershed restoration would enforce and build strong relationships throughout the community.
In January, 2024, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife submitted a peer-reviewed species status report to the Fish and Game Commission. Their extensive review came to the same conclusion as CalTrout’s initial petition – the Commission found the petitioned action to list Southern steelhead as an endangered species under California’s ESA to be warranted.
Get this. The East Fork of the San Gabriel River is closed because of zealous miners and the Forest Service trying to mitigate any hassles between them and the general public. Apparently, the rain brings out better gold mining conditions. Also note, it is illegal to mine within the National Monument!
I imagine that the miners blame the fishermen for putting pressure on the forest service. I think the EF may be a very dangerous place right now.
Update: Malachi Curtis reports, “I ended up heading up to see the east fork and it wasn’t or was no longer shut down. The bungee jumping company had a full group of people they were taking to the bridge. I fished there for an hour or so and landed two fish.”
The Topanga Lagoon Restoration Project Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) officially dropped on Feb. 12. The public can provide comments and feedback on the DEIR until April 12 at 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Annenberg Community Beach House, 415 Pacific Coast Hwy, Santa Monica, is the public meeting, which will also be live-streamed on YouTube. Click the pic for more info and to comment.
There is a certain subset of the fly-fishing community, hopefully a sizable one, who pay extra attention to the fascinating heritage of California’s native fishes. The California Heritage Trout Challenge, recognizes those who have sought out six of the 11 cutty and rainbow qualifiers within the state’s borders.
Analiza del Rosario on the East Fork San Gabriel River
You have to log your catch diligently with the Department of Fish and Wildlife to receive a well-earned acknowledgment in the form of a colorful, personalized certificate featuring the art of renowned fish illustrator, Joseph Tomelleri. Your certificate will show six full-color images representing the trout you caught, along with the dates and locations. It is sized to fit in a standard 16×20-inch matted frame. Ah, trout geekery at its finest.
Up until now, the submission process has been antiquated and required some effort. Recognizing this, the department recently updated its website to include an interface that allows for online submissions. What makes this all the more exciting is that here in So. Cal., there are actually waters that qualify. And rejoice, the challenge’s founder, Roger Bloom, spent years cutting his teeth in our trout waters, seeking out native fish and studying them for the CDFW. In other words, the challenge’s founder truly has local stream cred.
Here’s a hot-off-of-the-press statement from a Department of Fish and Wildlife representative per my inquiry:
“For Coastal Rainbow Trout any watershed that flows, or used to flow, into the ocean will count. All the rivers you mentioned and their tributaries (East Fork San Gabriel, West Fork San Gabriel, North Fork San Gabriel, Arroyo Seco) will count. Piru is another good spot. The next closest species for someone in Southern California would be the Kern Watershed. They can get Ca Golden Trout out of the South Fork Kern or Golden Trout Creek, Little Kern Golden Trout out of the Little Kern River, and the Kern River Rainbow Trout out of the mainstem Kern River.”
The idea of a road trip is also echoed by So. Cal.-based author James Pogue, who has completed the challenge four times.
“There is no way for a SoCal angler to get six (legal) species without making at least one trip up to the top of the state,” Pogue wrote in an email, “so combining the HTC with a trip to explore the North Coast or the high reaches of 395 is a necessity.”
But, he also noted, once up in the Jefferson area you can easily get a new species per day, every day, if it’s the right time of year and you plan well.
What more encouragement does one need? All this lies a shopping cart’s throw from, well, the LA River – nudge nudge wink wink.
Should any of you reading this already have accomplished the challenge, please leave a comment. It would be great to know of which species was the most challenging or interesting to find; whatever you feel like sharing.
Tight lines and safe travels!
Editor’s Note: The CDFW reports the Paiute region and the entire area, including the Paiute’s native range, is closed to fishing at this time into the foreseeable future.
Guest contributor – Bernard’s passion for fly fishing goes back over 40 years having started as a junior member of the Diablo Valley Fly Fishing Club and working in the legendary Creative Sports Fly Shop in Northern California. He has since guided in the Sierra Nevada, worked at the Fishermens Spot in Van Nuys, and managed social media for the Southwest Council Fly Fishers International. His “blue lining” exploits in the So Cal mountains are renown. Currently, Bernard and his wife Rebecca also serve as CalTrout’s “eyes on the ground” in Southern California. Both also serve as conservation co-chairs for the Southern Sierra Fly Fishers Club and a Patagonia Fly Fish Ambassador. – and this is the short version folks.
The Los Angeles River is again raking in grant money for its makeover, a boon to us Angelenos, as well as to the species who depend on the river for survival.
First off, Trout Unlimited South Coast chapter received $4.6 million late last year from the California Wildlife Conservation Board for the planning, design, education and outreach for the Lower L.A. River project over the next three years. It includes creating riparian habitat, slower currents and shady rest areas for steelhead migrating back home to the San Gabriel Mountains. That is the largest grant ever received by any TU chapter in the country. Emphasis on the Lower River and Dills Park, as well as the city of Paramount, is a hopeful sign that communities long neglected by LA’s power players will begin to get their due.
Meanwhile, the Bowtie, the former headquarters of Southern Pacific Railroad, was recently awarded $5,896,000 in funding for remediation and construction. In 2003, California State Parks bought the property called G-1, which is now referred to as “the Bowtie” (due to its shape), with the intent of transforming the currently undeveloped industrial land into a safe and clean, vibrant public green space, according to California State Parks. The makeover will focus on nature conservation and restoration, education and providing opportunities for passive recreation.
In all these two projects join:
— LA River & Caballero Creek Confluence Park (MRCA) – Construction
— LARiverWay Bike Path Segment 1&2 project (City of LA) – Design, partially-funded
— LARiverWay Bike Path Segment 8 (City of LA) – just became funded
— LA River East Bank RiverWay (City of LA, along Atwater Village) – Design, funded
— LA River Bike Path Improvements (City of LA, along Elysian Valley) – Design, funded
— Paseo del Rio project at Taylor Yard (City of LA, MRCA, State Parks) – Early design, partially-funded
— LA River Ecosystem Restoration and Recreation project Reach 1 (US Army Corps of Engineers, north side of Griffith Park) – Design, funded
— LA River Path Project (Metro, through Downtown LA and Vernon) – Design, funded (mega-project)
— Fish passage in the Downtown LA area, which is also in design but needs to find implementation funding.
The list totals nearly $500 million in project investments.
So, here’s a question for you: How much money does South Dakota have for conservation project in a year?
According to Ballotpedia, $23,650,008, which was the most recent available figure was for 2015. Now that sounds like a truckload of cash until you look at the figure for California, $9,108,000,000, you read that right.
On the high end, three states spent more than $1 billion on environmental and natural resources departments in fiscal year 2015 — Cali, Florida and New York. And just for the record, California spent more — way more — than both Florida and New York combined.
While on the low end, four states spent less than $30 million on environmental and natural resources departments in fiscal year 2015— Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Dakota and Connecticut.
Since passage of the Endangered Species Act 50 years ago, more than 1,700 plants, mammals, fish, insects and other species in the U.S. have been listed as threatened or endangered with extinction, according to the Los Angeles Times. And just like the big the states, there are winners and losers. Guess which species are the biggest winners of federal environmental bucks.
Of the roughly $1.2 billion a year spent on endangered and threatened species, about half goes toward recovery of just two types of fish: salmon and steelhead trout along the West Coast. Meanwhile, the tiny Virginia fringed mountain snail had $100 spent on its behalf in 2020 after only being seen once in more than three decades. There are also species — more than 200 imperiled plants, animals, fish and other creatures, according to the article — that had nothing spent on their behalf.
This sign near the Pasadena Bait Club House, didn’t survive the Bobcat Fire, but it still say it all. Next sign, let’s scratch “fishermen” in favor of “fisher folk.” (Credit: Jim Burns)
Just when the SoCali fly fishing community thought it could relax and put the wet boots up, turns out that’s not the case. Word on the stream-street is that the weekday closures will begin again in March for more silt removal that could last another two to three years! Yup, that means all the heavy equipment comes back, the guy at the gate will most likely be shooing folks away and — you will be trying to fish your weekend way through the inevitable growing spring and summer crowds.
So, enjoy this wonderful winter quietude while you can. It ain’t gonna last.
As first reported in 2016, then again in 2019, bald eagle sightings are the celebrities in 2024, bringing muscular telephoto lenses to bear on Highway 39. The last time I saw this many outdoor photographers was in Rocky Mountain National Park during the fall Elk bugle. (Credit: Jim Burns)
Well, seems like another year has slipped through our collective fingers, and now we are almost on to the new. Lots of drama, political and otherwise; lots of things to ponder (in 2004, Facebook seemed like harmless fun and Google was a search engine where maybe you could win a prize); lots of wonderment, if you know where to look, and, of course, that mostly always begins with nature. Friends come in second, followed by family. (Don’t ask …)
I’d like to thank everyone who is reading this for supporting my blog these many years. The stats are in, and, like I say, I so appreciate your support. And in the spirit of all the emails we get saying, “there’s still time …” to support whatever your favorite cause is, how about this? Support a fly-fishing print magazine in 2024. The ones that come to mind are three I’m currently writing for: Fallon’s Angler, Fly Culture and American Fly Fishing. The first two are based in the UK and full of thoughtful stories about fishing, as well as how-do-I-get-there photos. Actually, both of those mags are more about people fishing than the fishing, itself. No how to cast farther, construct a better dry fly, etc. They also are strictly print-only, embracing the ethos of the new Romantics, who want to get away from all-online, all-the-time living.
Meanwhile, American Fly Fishing covers lots of destinations throughout the US in detail, with a meaty conservation section to boot. It’s available in print as well as online.
So here’s to the new year. Let’s celebrate this new beginning.
See you on the river, Jim Burns
A cold November day steelheading on the Klamath, with friends Bob and Karen. (Credit: Jim Burns)
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Ken Iwamasa
Jim Burns, Keep up the good work. I would have loved to see a publication like this when I was growing up in Gardena. But many years later I am doing research on the Genus: Baetis in Colorado But I am writing to see if you would help me do research on the mayflies in the LA River or the West Brach of the San Gabriel. In particular, I am interested in the Baetis or commonly known as BWO. Let me know if you or someone else can help with knowing more about the mayflies in your immediate area.
lariverflyfishing 