Tag: Marsh Park

volunteer

Innovative Vamos a Pescar program teaches locals to fish

 

Co-event organizer Ban Luu asks the kids in the crowd, “Hey, close your eyes. What do you hear?” (Jim Burns)
Poet and river visionary Lewis McAdams would have been proud to see the next generation of river stewardship unfold. (Jim Burns)
Not only did these lucky children get their own rods for free, they also got to put their names on their very own mini-tackle boxes. (Jim Burns)
Mini-tackle boxes include a waterproof chart on knot tying. (Jim Burns)
Casting practice boils down to getting that itty-bitty bobber into that great big Hulu Hoop. (William Preston Bowling)

 

(Click on the photos above to read the captions.)

They came, they saw and, boy, did they conquer.

The first day of the first weekend of Vamos a Pescar brought kids, parents, young adults and volunteers to Marsh Park on a May Gray morning to learn the beginnings of becoming an urban fisher for life: tidbits about our river; safety; rigging a spin outfit; casting a bobber inside a Hulu hoop ring, sort of like the pros, only with more smiles (and tangled line).

“We gave out 120 spots, an overflow from our original number,” said Bob Blankenship, Trout Unlimited South Coast Chapter and co-organizer of the event.

What does this mean for readers of this blog who know how to fish and want to pass that skill along to others? There are volunteer spots open next weekend  (Saturday and/or Sunday, 9 a.m.-noon) when all these new fishers will try out their nascent skills at the Bowtie Parcel. Please sign up by contacting Blankenship at southcoasttu@gmail.com.

See you on the river, Jim Burns

 

 

 

Email

From today’s e-mailbag …

Thanks for all the information you’ve posted about the LA River over the years. I was finally able to make it to the LA River during my recent visit to California. My friend and I started at Marsh Park (near the 2/I-5) and did some exploring with our Tenkara rods. Wrapped up the day at Spokes Café. The LA River surpassed my expectations!

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David Oh says:
June 22, 2015 at 3:05 pm Edit

Hey Jim,
Have been trying my luck near the Sepulveda Basin. No luck but any day outdoors no matter how cold, uncomfortable, or skunky beats a sedentary afternoon on the couch.

From what I can collect, there is life but on the bottom of the river. They weren’t going for any of my dries (I usually use a scud, killer bug as my go to emergency fly and even that didn’t work out too well). I ran across some environmental students that had a kayak hooked up with sonar and they let me there are schools of fish down in the river. (I was near the bridge where the river and Balboa meet). The biggest problem however is where the Glendale Narrows have plenty of spots that you can fit to get to the river, The Sepulveda Basin was very hard to find elbow room of any sorts (I have not walked the complete length but a few good miles)

Balboa lake is an awful mess on the weekend (as expected)
Could be good for micro fishing though.

I did find a section where the lake empties out into the river, and for what I can surmise as about 200 yards is a very nice looking stream. Were it not in Los Angeles, where it is, I would almost guarantee amazing fishing in these spots. You just have to ignore empty modelo 20 pack boxes sometimes though.

Let me do some more exploring and maybe I can let you in on a more educated review.