Hungry trout are the draw for hundreds of fisherman to escape city life for the High Sierra on Opening Day. (Jim Ruebsamen)
By Jim Ruebsamen, Contributor
Saturday brought us another Opening Day. Real sportsmen know what Opening Day is. And it isn’t the start of the baseball season. No, Opening Day signals the beginning, not necessarily of spring, but of fishing season in the High Sierra.
There is no other day like it. It could be raining, could be snowing, could be 40 mile per hour howling wind. It doesn’t matter. This year Opening Day, fortunately like most years, was a mild, sunny, breezy 75 degrees of pleasure.
Getting out, getting away from the city and all that it normally offers, is what Opening Day is all about. Of course, catching a few hungry trout would cap the day. However, this year had a slow start. Fish were being caught, but there were a lot of fishermen and fisherwomen who dropped lines but reeled in only reeds and lake grass.
There are over 300 species of birds that make their home in the Eastern Sierra Nevada, including seagulls. (Jim Ruebsamen)
Some reported a day of what some would call frustration, returning to their motels at dusk with nary a nibble, let alone a bite. But they said it with a weary smile for there is always tomorrow.
Around 20 student volunteers from Santee School in Los Angeles pose after rounding up the muck during the 23rd Annual L.A. River Cleanup Saturday. (Jim Burns)
The Bad
Gnarly Stuff: a typical haul out of the river. It smells as good as it looks. (Jim Burns)
With the upcoming river cleanup happening Saturday, it’s an appropriate time to check in with California State Senator Kevin De Leon SB1201, a bill that could bolster efforts to open up the Los Angeles River for lawful recreational uses, such as fishing. For context and the finer points, read this excellent summary from Legal Planet, a collaboration between UC Berkeley School of Law and UCLA School of Law. The site defines itself as “providing insight and analysis on energy and environmental law and policy.”
As a fly fisherman, here’s my beef in a nutshell: I’m tired of being in a legal access morass as soon as I cast into the water.
“We want to see legal access to the river for kayaking, fishing, and swimming. This won’t be the panacea that changes the river over night, but it will create a legal basis for people to come down to the river, FoLAR’s Lewis McAdams said to the wonky The Planning Report late last month.
“Fishermen have been ticketed. The City just uses a loitering ticket because they don’t have any L.A. River tickets. Of course it usually gets thrown out, but people have to spend the day downtown dealing with it. We want people to feel that the river is open. When I started Friends of the Los Angeles River, my first official act was cutting a big hole in the fence, declaring the river open. It’s only taken 25 years to get to this point. We’re at the point where the river is about to be opened, and we’re pushing the door gently open wider.”
Participants carry a large traditional carp-shaped wind sock called "Koinobori" at a parade demanding a stop to all nuclear power plants in Japan as part of an event for Earth Day in Tokyo. The carp banners are flown in Japan from April to early May to wish for the good health of children. (REUTERS)
… instead, sign up for FOLAR’s 23rd annual L.A. River clean up, Saturday, April 28, from 9 a.m. until noon. Check the link to find which of the 15 locations is best for you, then … sign up!
Get to know the river, up close and personal, like this shot under the Sixth Street Bridge. (Courtesy FOLAR)
Over the weekend, the group honeyhoney played “L.A. River” at the Coachella music festival. You can listen to it on ITunes, part of the Billy Jack album, or here.
The lyrics are as melodic as the song, itself. Like the boat part (Kayaker-activist George Wolfe inspired?); don’t like the body part, but sometimes I’ve had the same sensation on its waters …
Went down to the banks of the LA river
Had to hop a chain link fence
Concrete walls on the LA river
Water lapping up on the cement
Oh, but I love my new home
Listen to the big city sound
Watching that LA river roll down
By the trains past Chinatown
Dip my fingers in the warm black water
Raw red skin on my knees
Sail my boat down the LA river
Thought I saw a body in the weeds
Oh, but I love my new home
Listen to the big city sound
Watching that LA river roll down
By the trains past Chinatown
Oh, but I love my new home
Listen to the big city sound
Watching that LA river roll down
By the trains past Chinatown
A recent White House carp eradication story caused much more of a stir in China than it did in the U.S. (Courtesy Weekly Times Now)
This fun read from Bloomberg’s Adam Minter explains how the Chinese view President Obama’s pledge of over $50 million to eradicate carp from the Great Lakes: with hungry amusement.
Wild carp is No. 1 on the Chinese dinner menu, according to Minter, and they find it odd that we don’t want to eat this fish as well.
The story earned its own Twitter tag, #Asian Carp on an American Rampage, and received over 85,000 hits.
Photographer Derek Bourassa was out on the river, snapping shots last week, as the carp boil went crazy. He was nice enough to let me post this amazing shot. For those of you who go beyond shooting with an IPhone, he reports this photo was taken using a Canon EOS REBEL T2i. Check out more of his nature shots on the river at http://www.flickr.com/photos/derek72.
If you were wondering if today’s weather in the low 60s would stop the spring spawn, the answer’s a definite “no.” Unless it’s raining tomorrow, considering going to the river to see one of the coolest things we’ve got going on in L.A.: spawning carp running up the river. We watched dozens and dozens and dozens of beautiful gold and sometimes rust fish going absolutely nuts.
Anyone who’s fished the spawn know that it’s not easy, but here are some tips:
— don’t go after jumping fish. They won’t strike.
— do get those egg flies out. Tie a bunch in chartreuse. That’s the color.
— don’t expect the fish to strike in fast, running water. Look for the slow pools.
— do let your egg hit bottom, in front of the fish you’ve targeted.
— don’t let your line foul under seaweed. You’ll get broken off (happened today).
— do get excited that you can fish the L.A. River right now.
— don’t play the fish too tightly(happened today as well!). This is not a San Gabes trout. These are big, frickin’ fish.
— do bring your camera. It’s that amazing.
See you on the river, Jim Burns
Oh man, nothing like springtime carp fishing! (Jim Burns)
If you think the only “boil” happens with calico bass in the Pacific, get down to the river, right now. (Jim Burns)
Tie up some extra-fatty egg flies in chartreuse. And don’t forget to use sexy red No. 6 Gamakatsu Octopus hooks. (Jim Burns
From top left, clockwise, the tranquility of carp-filled pools, at the beginning of Glendale Narrows. Once you get past the city locks, you can see self-shadows and nifty bridge architecture. (Jim Burns)
Dear Senator Kevin de Leon:
I strongly support the bill (SB 1201) that I understand would significantly widen access to the Los Angeles River.
The Los Angeles River is the whole reason I became an environmental and fly fishing blogger. I’d been assigned a story on carp fishing in the river by Richard Anderson, publisher of California Fly Fisher, a bi-monthly publication that is carefully read among the fly fishing community. As I’d never actually been to the river, my first step was to find access to the water. This turned out to be no easy task, and I can still clearly remember driving around the Atwater Village area of Los Angeles with my son. We zigzagged through parking lots, truck depots and all manner of what seemed possible entrances, only to find dead-ends, walls and barbed wire fencing.
Finally, we found an entrance tucked almost invisibly between the I-5 freeway and a golf course. I later learned that this entrance is known as Steelhead Park.
I spent weeks researching that first piece, gleaning lots of information about the river, its fish and its restricted access. For example, I learned that Griffith Park rangers as well as Los Angeles Police Department officers were charged with ticketing anyone who strayed off the bicycle paths. Obviously, those fishing were actually doing so illegally.
In a short two years, recreational access has increased, largely thanks to the work of river advocate George Wolfe, FOLAR, a mostly cooperative city, and a vastly changed U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. But we must go further.
When lives are not in danger from floodwaters, vast stretches of our 51-mile jewel should be open to the public. And, the public should be able to enjoy the access without the trepidation I first experienced.
Today, my blog www.lariverflyfishing.com reached its 10,000th hit, so I feel it is an apt celebration to make this letter to you public, in the hope that others will also write to you to support your efforts.
lariverflyfishing 