Tag: Carp
caught this absolute beast back in
October on the LA. Pasadena Casting
Club’s Caroline Craven’s fly design turned out to be a real winner!
(Credit: Caroline Craven)
Ask any stream fisherman where to find trout and one of the answers will be “Behind the rocks.” That’s exactly what this brilliant drone video from Trout Unlimited’s Bob Blankenship shows to be true on a long, lonely stretch of wet concrete here in LA. If you are in a hurry, go to about minute 2 and you’ll see big carp hanging out behind the few rocks on this desolate river run. Most of this trench is a foot deep by maybe three foot. That ain’t much room for anything, much less a school of 16-inch-plus carp.
When I saw this, I thought to myself, anytime you give nature half a chance, it comes back. With a little help from us, in the form of shade, boulders and occasional slower water, we could see a return of the fish we really want — endangered So. Cal. steelhead. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that there are no fish in what look to be uninhabitable sections of our river. And where there are fish, there are birds! Anyway, check this video out!
See you on the river, Jim Burns
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| There are literally miles and miles of carp water throughout Southern California and beyond. Some of these watersheds literally untouched and ready to reward the intrepid fly fisher. Please plan on attending his presentation “Planet Carp” as Glenn Ueda will be sharing his experiences over the past decade, personal fly fishing tackle, and specific techniques when sightfishing for carp. A native of Southern California, Glenn was introduced to surf fishing as a child by his father. Every Sunday, from Morro Bay down to San Onofre, they caught their own bait and targeted everything from striped bass to barred perch to corbina. Reading about fly fishing in Field and Stream, Glenn soon learned basic fly casting and tying at world famous Long Beach Casting Club, He was ten. A local pond provided endless joy fooling bluegill, crappie and bass. Almost five decades later following a rewarding career as an architect, he sought new challenges. Taking all of those cherished surf and freshwater lessons he built a very successful business “So Cal Flats Fishing Guide Service” teaching fly anglers the art of sightfishing in shallow surf for one of the world’s most challenging species, the California Corbina. Guiding highly skilled anglers from all over the globe, many agree after a day’ of stalking that they our “Ghost of the Coast” is as difficult if not worse than the very popular and highly coveted flats permit. Thursday, March 10, 7 p.m. San Marino Masonic Lodge 3130 Huntington Drive San Marino, CA 91108 Editor’s Note: This is the monthly meeting for members of Pasadena Casting Club, but non-members are also invited to attend. It’s free. |
Sept. 4 is one of two yearly license-free fishing days in California, and was the final summer session of South Coast Trout Unlimited’s successful Vamos a Pescar learn-to-fish events. (Credit Miranda Robin) 
Patricia Perez, who took the Vamos a Pescar course in 2018, returns to catch and release a beautiful carp. (Credit Miranda Robin) 
With the help of California State Parks Luis Rincon, this young fisher examines her carp’s gills. (Credit Miranda Robin) 
Carp fishing put the LA River in the map, and now Ricardo knows why — hard to catch, lots of fight. (Credit Miranda Robin)
I think I’ve been avoiding posting about this because it just seems so discouraging. During the pandemic year, we’ve all needed a lift. But I can’t avoid it any longer. After so many years of advocacy for the LA River from, for example, Friends of the Los Angeles River (FoLAR) and Heal the Bay, to transform it from miles of concrete into a robust ecological space for surrounding communities as well as all Angelinos, now we have a celebrity-fueled vision to create elevated platform parks.
Talented as he is, celebrity architect Frank Gehry is clearly the wrong person to redesign our city waterway. Here is a letter to the editor printed in today’s Los Angeles Times in response to its opinion piece, “A river renewal plan to benefit the Gateway Cities.“
Mark C. Salvaggio writes: ” I have seen this so-called river plan. Lets MacAdams would be rolling over in his grave if he saw it. He started Friends of the Los Angeles River and was a mild-mannered poet and outdoors type of guy. MacAdams never sought to develop the L.A. River into an urban spectacle as envisioned by architect Frank Gehry. This plan would require billions of dollars and would destroy the “parkway” vision of MacAdams. This is what happens when big shots grab onto a community-based idea.”
When I searched the word “fish” in the recently released LA River Master Plan, I found three references: one to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, then these two mentions.
“Along the LA River, access points take on many different forms. Following the advocacy that led to the LA River’s designation as a federally protected waterway in 2010, there are now two section of the river designated as River Recreation Zones created to allow access into the river for kayaking, canoeing, and fishin (sic).”
“The 11.3 miles of soft-bottomed section (portions of the channel with earthen bottom) at Sepulveda Basin, The Glendale Narrows and the tidal estuary are the most ecologically healthy; however, much of the river corridor continues to support algae, insects, fish, and local and migratory birds.”
That’s literally it. Three mentions of fishing, one part of a state agency’s official name. Incredible.
On a recent fly-fishing trip to the awesome Southern Sierra, the guide I was with told me that the LA is now a destination spot for fly fishers who wanted to test their skill against out infamous carp. Celebrities now fish for carp; hip web publishers ballyhoo it, and generally speaking its cred has come a long way from when I started this blog more than 10 years ago.
So, if you love fishing and don’t want to drive for hours to find a decent spot to toss a fly, please take a few minutes, click on the LA River Master Plan above and comment. We all need to voice our opinion that this plan is going in the exact opposite direction it needs to go. I mean we already have a guarantee from the U.S. Army corps to restore a wide swatch of the river to its natural state. Yes, the money has languished in the Congressional coffers for years, but it has still been approved.
Please take a moment. Tell the city we want to have more areas to fish, not fewer, and certainly not to have to go underneath elevated park platforms to do it.
For a primer, listen to KPCC’s Larry Mantle’s “Air Talk” about the LA that runs around 20 minutes.
See you on the river, Jim Burns
lariverflyfishing 