8 a.m., arrive at meeting site – The park gate on Burbank Boulevard, just west of Woodley Avenue. This is the kayak loading site and it’s roughly a quarter-mile upstream from Sepulveda Dam.
8:30 a.m., William Preston Bowling will greet everyone with liability waivers. Volunteers signed in, put on waders/sunscreen, and took the fishing gear and buckets down to the river at site 1 and Anglers bring their own gear and valid fishing license.
We are collecting fish to observe and throw back, showing all your catch to biologists once caught, they will decide what species to keep for toxicity study.
This will be the second outing of the third “Los Angeles River Fish Studies” created by FoLAR. This study is in Partnership with Stillwater Sciences and the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains.
BIOLOGISTS Sabrina Drill (left) and Rosi Dagit inspect part of the tilapia haul. (William Preston Bowling)
By Rosi Dagit
Guest contributor
Looks like we captured 3,699 fish, the majority of which were juvenile tilapia under 1 inch. Based on the few larger (up to 3 inches) fish, most appeared to be redbreasted tilapia (Tilapia rendalli), but that is not yet verified with the voucher specimens. These fish can breed year around in warm waters, and it was quite interesting to find such young fish at this time of year, but water temperatures were 24-27 degree C. (75-81 degrees F.), which is pretty warm. They can reach up to 18 inches and live for up to seven years.
They are native to Africa, and are primarily herbivores that spawn in the substrate and guard their nests. They are considered to be competitors with native fish for food and spawning areas, and high densities of fish can negatively impact native aquatic vegetation.
In other areas, they have not survived strong flows or colder temperatures, so it will be really interesting to see if they make it through the winter El Nino.
SEINE NETS yield more than 3,600 tilapia fry in Haskell Creek above Sepulveda Dam on Friday. (William Preston Bowling)
Here’s an updated message from organizer Rosi Dagit:
Alex and I will meet Bill by 7:45 and see if we can figure out how to open the gate – pending hearing back from MRCA. We will offload all the gear from my truck and stage it there either way.
8 am Meet Bill at the corner of Burbank and Woodley, see attached map where it says PARK HERE
We can direct you back across Burbank to the kayak parking area. Parking here at the Reserve involves a lovely 15-20 minute hike along Haskall Creek, back downstream under Burbank Blvd, through the south reserve and across the river, to grandmother’s house, oops, across the river and back upstream to eventually get to the kayak boat launch area where all the nets will be staged.
We recommend that you bring your lunch, water, etc. in a daypack so that you can carry it over 1 mile and have hands available to help with rods, buckets, waders, etc. (Full details here)
If you get stuck in traffic or have problems please call me at 310.488.6381 so we can sort things out.
Thanks everyone for your patience while we got this all sorted out! Looking forward to a fun day in the river on Friday. Can’t wait to see what we catch!
Cheers, Rosi
You can also email FoLAR’s William Preston Bowling at web@folar.org for more information.
Yucking it up in 1938: Herald-Express photographer Coy Watson Jr. (left) and reporter Fred Eldridge (Courtesy KCET).
Update: because of permit issues, this event has been postponed until Friday, Nov. 20.
Hi Everyone,
Attached please find the info for the upcoming fishing day.
We caught more fish in dip nets on our exploratory mission last Friday than we have at all other events. They were juvenile tilapia, but still!
We still need 2-3 more volunteers at least but the more the merrier! Please spread the word!
If some of the anglers want to bring kayaks and or floatie chairs along with their rods, there is a cool place under Burbank to send them.
We will also have lots of seine nets available.
Thanks to Bill for setting this up! thanks to all of you for your help in making it happen! This should be really fun!
If you are interested, please email me at oaksrus@verizon.net and I’ll send you the rest of the info.
Rosi Dagit
RCD of the Santa Monica Mountains
540 S. Topanga Canyon Blvd
Topanga, CA 90290
oaksrus@verizon.net
SEPULVEDA DAM- LA RIVER SAMPLING
Friday, 30 October 2015
PURPOSE: To characterize the fish community near Sepulveda Dam prior to the onset of the rainy season.
7am RCD team meets at office to load truck and carpool
RCDSMM gear to bring:
waders 8 buckets dip nets
seine nets GPS cameras
blocking nets fish measuring board fish id books
data sheets clipboard and pencils cooler and ice
meter tapes ziplock baggies fish labels/scale envelopes
8am Meet Bill and other volunteers at the pull out off Burbank Blvd.
(Directions to follow!)
EVERYONE should come prepared to get wet to the waist.
Close toe shoes required. Lots of algae to slip on so please come prepared.
If you want to borrow some waders, contact Rosi with your shoe size!
Bring lunch, water, sunscreen, hat and change of clothes if you wish.
If you have a valid CA Fishing License, please bring it along.
8-12 FISHING! We will be working between the Sepulveda Dam upstream to the
bridge under Burbank Blvd. If there is time, we would also like to sample at a few locations in Haskell Creek.
12-12:30 lunch on site (Rosi will bring cookies!)
12:30 – 3 FISHING!
3- 3:30 Clean and pack gear and samples. Head home after a fun day in the river!
lariverflyfishing 