Carren Jao has consistently reported on the river’s progress for KCET’s Departures, and her most recent piece delves into the world of fishers as citizen scientists. She’ll also tell you just how clean the river water actually is by answering the oft-asked question, “But can you swim in it?”
Meanwhile, in the freshly minted June issue of California Fly Fisher, Jim Matthews pens a humorous article about the difficulties of catching carp on the fly. He spends time with LARFF guest contributor Greg Madrigal chasing golden bones, sings the praises of Matus Sobolic’s “Over Sleazy” carp fly and sets the stage for the fourth annual Carp Throwdown at Lake Henshaw next month. The article isn’t available online, so check your local fly shop.
And Andrew Wilcox includes “Stalking Carp” in the new anthology “LAtitudes: An Angeleno’s Atlas.” I haven’t gotten a copy yet, but the Los Angeles Times review is here. Colleague and river pal Charles Hood gets a shout out for his contribution on trees within a half-mile radius of Union Station. The reviewer writes: “Not only does Hood guide one to all the Indian Laurel Fig trees in the area (there are three), but he links the city’s arboreal history to newly arrived migrant communities, civic beautification campaigns and foliage fads that, for example, explain why an area prone to drought-driven wildfires ended up importing so many flammable eucalyptus trees.”
Finally, my own “California Gold Rush” appears in the UK’s Fallon’s Angler, a new quarterly, also only available in print.
I’d say all this activity bodes well for another mega-summer on the water.
See you on the river, Jim Burns
lariverflyfishing 