Life has come roaring back on our local rivers, given up for dead just six months ago. If you love angling, there are fish to be caught (and released), trout that had been hiding out way up canyon top are now eating in our lower reaches. They are bigger, fatter than I’ve seen in some time. And these rainbows are busy gorging themselves on multiple hatches.

Do be careful of the high flows. As a fisher prone to swimming and wading stick averse, I told myself this twice recently, trying to get across fast water to that yummy section just out of reach. You know the one: There have got to be trout in that pocket water, the reasoning goes, but how to reach it? In a word, “carefully.” Lots of us fish solo, and taking a swim now means you’ll be holding on to breath and an increasingly curb-rashed bottom for a while, hoping a convenient fallen tree limb within reach might come to the rescue.

Meanwhile, this from intrepid angler Larry Pirrone

4 days ago

I had a successful day last week on WF. Not going to be specific where, but encountered three fish. One was a tap,tap,tap. One was a full on take and I landed a healthy and feisty 6 incher and released it. One was a full on take and he threw the hook. About three hours and I waded a lot of river. My wading staff got a workout. Used a two fly rig with a 16 Prince Nymph on point and a 16 Hornberg on dropper but fished wet. The one I landed ate the Hornberg. I saw no rising fish. There are fish there. I am encouraged.

Just remember the West Fork is still closed weekdays, apparently through December. This is our local water, incredible as that statement may seem. You’ve heard the mantra “fish locally,” right? Well, there is no time like the present.

So get out there and love all the forks of the San Gabriel (yes, even the North) before the summer rush of swimmers bums your wah. After what our mountains, our fish, ourselves have endured these last few years, it’s a friggin’ miracle.

See you on the river, Jim Burns