We were late-night bleary, my wife and I, after flying across country for the holidays. Letting the LAX people mover trundle us as I looked blankly at the late-night crowd, suddenly I felt my wife touch my arm.
“Look at that poster!” she said. “It’s the L.A. River.”
Indeed, at the end of the motorized sidewalk, in dim, tunnel light, Mayor Eric Garcetti smiled at us, a welcoming smile. His kayak looked travel ready, and the background, well, it was an unmistakably beautiful section of the river. If the wind hadn’t already been knocked out of me by the air trip, the sight of our mayor sitting in a kayak on our river certainly would have done the job.
It turns out that UCLA photographer Catherine Opie took the snap, along with others that place the mayor alongside more familiar landmarks such as the Watts Towers. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, ideas for the backdrop were solicited online, and the top choice was the river.
In a matter of only a few short years, the Los Angeles River has moved from back-shadow orphan to upfront starlet. Instead of getting ticketed for daring to fish the river, now we have the top political figure beckoning visitors to come on down, don a life jacket, pick up a paddle, and get wet. Incredible.
What will 2014 hold for the river? Look for major riverside land acquisitions by the city, a renewal of the recreational zone during summer, and, possibly, the next step in the Army Corps billion-dollar makeover.
The Terminator Glo-Bug in chartreuse has captured many a wary carp. (Jim Burns)
Update: May 29, 2015
Summer carp journal
Saturday, May 23, 4:30-7:30, overcast, 70, 12 pound tippet. One carp charged and then turned away from a swimming nymph, rust brown dubbing with lighter rabbit tail (size 8).
Tuesday, May 26, 2:30-5:30, overcast, 70, 2X tippet. After rejections on bead head black wooly worm with red yarn tail and bead head swimming nymph with crazy orange dubbing and lighter rabbit tail. (size 8) hooked up on a carp dragon (Orvis). Carp eventually got free because I didn’t set hook deep enough. Saw about 50 pass me in the water, few feeding. Saw the white one again.
Thursday, May 28, 2:30-5:15, clear, 81, 3X tippet. Fish swam up to all of my flies, except the squirmy wormy. That means tortilla fly on red hook, terminator glo bug in chartreuse and orange, all got mighty big looks, but ultimate rejections. Saw the white boy several times, and there were lots and lots of carp. Also, again, “muddling” by one really aggressive fish, but it’s hard to see which way the fish goes through the mud. Also, chummed with two cans of corn to pretty negligible results. The tortilla fly is a dead ringer for canned corn. Didn’t make any difference.
Commenter Steve recently asked me: I’ve been down to the river several times and seen some beautiful and fishy waters, I have had no luck whatsoever hooking up with carp there. Any tips? Should I be sight fishing only, or should I toss my glo-bug in riffles, etc, “trout-like” spots? Are you moving around a lot or focusing on a particular spot for a while?
Great questions. Hope that my response will lead to more catches for more fisherman.
Catching carp on the river is tough, no doubt about it. Follow these seven tips:
1. Don’t be in a hurry.
2. Your best bet is to spend some time in a section and, yes, look for fish.
3. Once you’ve found them, check out their behavior.
4. If they’re swimming quickly upstream, they won’t feed.
5. If they’re circling quickly, ditto.
6.If they are jumping out of the water, forgetaboutit. What you want are fish close to the bottom (you’ll be able to see them) that are actively feeding. If you see bursts of mud coming up from the bottom, they’re feeding.
7. Target a single fish. Throw your Glo-Bug (chartreuse is good) upstream about six feet. The fish are also super-spooky. If the egg passes above their heads, add a bit of weight. You have to basically float it past a two-to-three foot feeding cone. Don’t let the line touch their head or sides. Immediate spook results.
Since late summer, Los Angeles City Councilmember Gilbert Cedillo has asked rallies of river supporters “Who stands against us?” He was speaking, of course, of the city’s bid to get a billion-dollar makeover for 11 miles of the Los Angeles River. That potential makeover has been extensively covered in the media and on this blog. Now it seems some members of the San Fernando business community don’t see the issue as many local, state and national politicos and environmental advocates do.
In a letter last week posted by the United Chambers of the San Fernando Valley on its website, the group said it seeks to delay the Los Angeles River restoration and to extend the Army Corps’ feasibility study.
Specifically, the group believes its voice has not been heard by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and asks both the city and the county to request that the corps re-study its plan in light of objections that include:
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who grew up in the valley, spoke to the group at its Ninth Annual Mayor’s luncheon last month. During his 20-minute speech he referenced the Los Angeles River once, and didn’t go into the revitalization push, which has included his recent visit to Washington to discuss the matter with, among others, President Obama. He did, however, emphasize the need to capture rain water by removing concrete.
“The largest natural aquifer reservoir — or manmade, second largest in the state — is called the San Fernando Valley, but it’s pretty dry. We have to clean it up, and we have to figure out a way to unpave our city, to recycle our water,” he said.
According to its website, UCSFV has 21,000 member businesses that provide 387,000 jobs to the area.
The board reads like a who’s who of the wealthy and powerful, and includes Jacque McMillan of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
“To say they weren’t represented wasn’t true,” Army Corps Spokeswoman Kristen Stopeck said. “This isn’t a done deal. The great thing is that they are interested in being part of this discussion — and still have time to weigh in.”
Then Councilmember Eric Garcetti opens a part of the bike path along the Los Angeles River in 2011. (Jim Burns)
Making good on his pledge to push for a billion-dollar makeover of the Los Angeles River, yesterday Los Angeles Mayor
Eric Garcetti pushed the idea to President Obama, whom he campaigned for in California.
Here’s a report from KPCC, and another from Los Angeles Magazine.
THE EYES HAVE IT: craw daddy fly posed on a piece of found river glass. (Jim Burns)
The river looked beautiful today, baking sun shimmering on the Glendale Narrows. I haven’t had a chance to fish this fall, so I headed to my favorite spot for carp, across from Betty Davis park. It’s fun to watch the riders gently walk their horses toward the stables, which are almost adjacent to the park. Their hooves land with little dust clouds in contrast to the thick, green grass and voluptuous sycamores inside the park. Plus there are plenty of holes in the fence that separates the park from the river. This is, after all, the terminus of the soft-bottom section before the river is corseted by concrete forming a “Y,” as it heads deeper into Burbank.
I was anxious to plop my craw daddy fly with its heavy eyes into the water. I could already see hungry carp in my mind’ eye, and just where I would put the fly in, so it would gently ripple into my favorite pool on the river.
Only one problem: between the last time I was here and today, our river guardians had come in and changed the subtle flow of the river, stripping foliage, so that the water into the side channel increased. Just like that, my sweet spot had disappeared. Just like that, the carp I’d watched so vividly in my mind were, in reality, just a mirage.
Which, if you’ll indulge me, is the problem of our age: What was solid yesterday is quicksand today. What appears to be terra firma during daylight, folds into the shadows of the moon at night.
What will our outlaw river, a place of ragged fence openings, sudden danger, and equally friendly encounters, become?
At Thursday night’s USACE public comment meeting, almost every person who spoke, echoed the one before, 20-20, a vision of the future with Alternative 20, and its billion-dollar makeover of 11water miles. A few concerned themselves with flood safety, the reason we Angelinos asked for the Corps help some 80 years ago. No one argued for the other three lesser alternatives.
This blog has received only one comment that questions the entire endeavor, wondering if there would even be a river without its concrete girdle.
So, it would seem that if the voice of river advocates is heard by the local Corps, it will switch its tentative choice from 13 to 20. It also seems that locally, the top brass is as enthusiastic about 20 as are the mayor,vocal councilmembers, elected officials in adjacent cities, a smattering of state representatives, and a few powerful allies in Washington, itself.
Mayor Eric Garcetti noted Thursday night with some 4,500 names of signees to his petition for 20 scrolling on a screen as he spoke to the standing-room-only crowd at the River Center, “I can’t remember the last time that many people agreed on anything.”
If we were to score the river’s political will versus everything from voter apathy (15 percent), to Congressional approval rating (9 percent), the people have already won. In this time where precious little rings with optimism, the river’s song has captured many of us, and called for us to be better than we were.
Will Washington listen?
I’d like to know that someday the hole I love will actually still be there the next time I’m on the water.
PADDLE UP: The L.A. Conservation Corps guides a group through still waters and overhanging willows. (Jim Burns)
Just in time to rouse your river passions for tonight’s U.S. Army Corps hearing comes KPCC’s Photos: Angelenos share their L.A. River stories. OK, I’m in it (shameless self promotion), but the point is if you haven’t ever been to the river, take a look at what the site’s social media editor Kristen Lepore has put together, all from crowd sourcing. Awareness of what our river is — and what it can become — continues to grow.
Could the Los Angeles River ever resemble water inside Yosemite National Park? Time to cast your vote. (Jim Burns)
All right, so where are we on the eve of the first possible U.S. government default in history? And by “we,” I actually mean the people who would dare to reimagine the Los Angeles River, which would be, for the city of Los Angeles, a great healing of an old wound.
— As Congress’ inability to agree on compromises that would reopen the partially shut-down government and raise the looming debt ceiling continues, Americans give Congress an 11 percent job approval rating, down eight percentage points from last month and one point above the worst rating in Gallup history. (press release)
–The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District today announced it will close its regulatory offices due to the absence of available federal funding. Regulatory offices will be unable to evaluate individual permit applications, Pre-Construction Notifications for Nationwide Permit or Regional General Permit authorizations, or requests for jurisdictional determinations until after current year funding is received and the offices reopen. (press release)
— Mayor Eric Garcetti, who recently visited Washington to push for Alternative 20, the most expensive of the Army Corps restoration projects at over $1 billion, has an online petition he is urging Angelinos to sign. The city would have to bear around $500 million, as the Corps partner. The rest would be federal money.
— If you want to officially comment on the various river options, you’ve got until Nov. 18.
— You can show up and speak up Thursday at the ARBOR Study public hearing, from 5:30 p.m., at the river center, 570 W. Ave. 26, Los Angeles. Should be a fun time.
— p.s. I was in Mammoth Lakes over the weekend and was anxious to show my wife a great fishing spot my son and I discovered (photo above) over the summer. Lots of gorgeous brookies. The only problem: it’s in Yosemite Park, which is closed because of the partial government shutdown. Does that lead to pessimism on my part? NO, not by a long shot. I want the big bucks for our river, even if we have to wait until the approval rating is at 12 percent.
Saturday’s rally brings Councilmembers O”Farrell (left) and Cedillo, to the bull horn in Marsh Park. (Jim Burns)
While we all wait for a decision from Washington about the fate of the Los Angeles River, here’s something to ponder: urban rivers in both the United States and Europe are experiencing major cleanups, moving them from dumpsters to recreation areas. World Rivers Day, which was celebrated yesterday, should give us all some tangible goals when it comes to fly fishing urban waters. Consider:
The River Wandle, which runs through central London, went from a haven for brown trout where the disabled Lord Nelson tossed a line in the early 1800s, to an officially declared “open sewer” by the 1960s. Now, thanks to vastly improved water quality, trout actually spawn again in the river. A £2 million award from the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Landscape Partnership Scheme means that the river literally won the lottery in June.
And much closer to home is Denver’s South Platte, covered extensively by the Fly Carpin‘ blog.
Environmental scientist John Novick told the Denver Post this summer “the city has a stated goal of improving water quality for all streams and lakes so they’re fishable and swimmable. We’ve got some issues with elevated background levels of arsenic, and fish are pretty sensitive to arsenic. It’s not a level that’s harmful to human health.” Denver has banned urban camping, an issue that affects cities nationally, a social justice issue with consequences for water quality.
Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency is funding the new Urban Waters Small Grants to improve water quality, and will award grants of $40,000-$60,000 up to $1.6 million, according to its website. The Los Angeles River watershed is one of 18 eligible geographic areas. The deadline is Nov. 25.
SAY “CHEESE”: Wihelmina, age 5, holds the fish, while father Peirce takes the snap and sister, Ursula, age 4, looks on. (Peirce)
Tomorrow is the big day for the long-awaited release of the ARBOR study and its four alternatives to remake the L.A. River. It’s also a chance for you to weigh in, by reviewing the alternatives, then going to the Corps’ website to comment.
I began this blog as an obscure homage to our river and its fish some two and a half years ago, but this summer traffic spiked to just shy of 35,000 hits. Even I’m pretty amazed (in a good way!) at the buzz and comments lariverflyfishing has received. I’d like to think it’s because of my stylish reporting, but, in truth, it’s because a flood of big federal money is coming and people are excited by what the future could hold. As I wrote last month:
“At stake is how much money the federal government is willing to put into implementing an ecosystem
restoration that could possibly remake the Los Angeles River into a vital part of the city. Last week, the
Los Angeles City Council made it officially known that it wanted to see the biggest package possible, that’s
$1 billion (Alternative 20), which would be spent on the river from Glendale Narrows to downtown, an
11-mile area. There are three other “best buy” alternatives that will be spelled soon-to-be-released report,
each with a lesser price tag.”
Interest from many has been very keen as well. We’ve had the L.A. Weekly weigh in on what it says is the conflict between the Los Angeles Army Corps and higher-ups in Washington, D.C.; we’ve had powerful pols wax poetic about the river’s perfumed waters, with both Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and Rep. Adam Schiff (D, Burbank) putting some eloquent thoughts down on digital paper. Even the lifestyle mag Sunset featured a spread in its print version.
So, amid all the excitement, the day finally arrives tomorrow when Angelinos can sound off about the direction they believe the river should go. My hope is that along with the inevitable commercialization, some areas will be left as sanctuaries for wildlife as well as for those who want to be among them. I hope fly fishing — fishing, in general — will remain a viable option; and that the many birds nesting in Glendale Narrows will be given the habitat they need not only to survive, but to thrive. And, let’s get the lead out and do some kayaking. There have been some wonderful stories about kids who dipped a paddle for the first time in our river. I advocate a multi-use, multi-purpose river that is safe during the dry season, with adequate signage, parks and, importantly, law enforcement patrols, one in which a single legal jurisdiction calls the shots.
And, I hope as well that the river reclamation by residents who live close by its banks will continue. Many were amazed at the positive hyper-local response to the Los Angeles River Pilot Recreation Zone. When gangs are forced out, families come in.
As we all move forward into the uncertain future, one thing is sure: change, the river will. Let’s make it the right change.
Signs such as this one inform visitors to the two-and-a-half mile stretch of water (Courtesy MCRA)
For Immediate Release (from the MRCA)
Los Angeles River Pilot Recreation Zone Season to End on Labor Day
Hugely Successful Summer Program Allowing Kayaking and other
recreational activities on a 2.5 Mile Stretch of the River Will Close at
Sunset on Monday, Sept. 2.
The Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority
(MRCA) announced today that the Los Angeles River Pilot Recreation Zone will be
closing for the season as planned at the end of the Labor Day weekend, on Monday
Sept. 2.
The popular 2.5 mile Los Angeles River Recreation Zone in Elysian Valley near
downtown Los Angeles stretches from Fletcher Drive south to MRCA’s Egret Park. The
Recreation Zone has been managed by the MRCA for 14 weeks since it opened
to the public on Memorial Day. Rangers will officially close the river access at sunset on
Labor Day. Signs will be posted “Closed for the Season,” access points will be closed
off, and other fixtures in place for the duration of program will be removed.
By all measures, the pilot recreation zone was a success,” said MRCA Chief Ranger,
Fernando Gomez, an expert kayaker who is certified in swiftwater and low-angle
rescue, and who organized and led many of the public programs offered by the MRCA.
“People really enjoyed themselves on the river this summer. In addition to all the
kayakers, we saw a big increase in family activity and more people coming close to the
river and getting a new perspective.
“We hope to work with the City of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Flood Control
District, and the Army Corps of Engineers to offer the program again next year,” added
Gomez.
Under permits issued by the MRCA, the kayak operators Los Angeles River Expeditions
and Los Angeles River Safari provided guided trips to the public. Several thousand
park visitors toured the river through these services or as independent kayakers. In
addition, MRCA rangers provided kayak tours for teenagers from Los Angeles City
Recreation and Parks Recreation Centers throughout the city, as well as “Junior
Rangers” from the MRCA River Unit, Ballona Unit, and the Compton Junior Posse.
_________________________
I’ll only add that Gomez told me that MRCA didn’t give one fishing ticket during the season. Whether through leniency or compliance, I’m not sure.
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