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By Dan Zambrano, July 30, 2009

Go to most any park in the greater L.A. area on any given Sunday and you will immediately step into a multi-cultural festival of sights, sounds and smells. It is almost like being at the airport, only folks are usually much happier.

Travel guides claim that over 90 languages are commonly spoken in the L.A. basin and it is a simple matter of turning to the left or the right when deciding if it’s going to be Thai, Korean, Chinese, Mexican, Peruvian, Indian or African food for dinner.

 Naturally, this multi-culturalism presents an interesting set of interactions when you show up at an urban park to do a little fishing. If you don’t bring a good attitude, an ear for accents and some give-away hooks and leader material, you are more than likely going to end up pestered and frustrated…throw a fly rod into your equipment mix and you are pretty much guaranteed to have an audience of sweaty kids surrounding you wanting to know what you are doing.

 Ironically, many of these kids can tell you how to rig a trot line, set a fish trap, build a weir, snag fish and even use dynamite safely to catch fish. Yet they have no clue what a fly rod is or how one is used.

A while back, I was fishing Legg Lake in the Montebello area when a small herd of kids surrounded me and began the usual rapid-fire list of questions.

After a few minutes, I noticed one of the quieter kids off to the side, imitating my casting style with a tree branch.

I called him over and asked him if he wanted to try a real fly rod. He shook his head affirmative so, much to the delight of his pack-mates, I gave him some simple instructions and let him cast a couple of times.

The smile on his face indicated a new rank in his status amongst his peers. I reached into my pocket and gave him an old, battered wet fly and about ten feet of leader material. I then showed him how to rig it to the end of his old tree branch so that he effectively had a Japanese style fly rod.

I pointed the herd toward a spot I knew from previous visits usually held Bluegill and settled back for what I thought would be a peaceful rest of the afternoon.

About a half hour later the same kid came wondering back my way, clutching his branch as if it were a new Sage 3-wt. and asked me how I was doing.

At the moment I was working on roll casts and not really actively pursuing prey. I replied that I had not caught anything lately.

He looked at my with that look that only another angler can understand and knowingly replied, “You must be doing it wrong then.”

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By Sean Fenner, July 29, 2009

The Black Gnat is a great imitator for almost any dark flying bugs. This fly works well when the fish don’t seem to want to hit light colored dries and can be  used with a hatch or when no hatch is going on. This is my go to dark dry, and I have caught Trout, Bass, Sunfish, and Tilapia on it. For a price price on this fly and others go to The Trout Spot!

“The Trout Spot has been generous enough to give our readers a 10% discount on any purchases made on their site. Just reference the promotion code UFV at checkout”

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By Sean Fenner, July 28, 2009

Here is a photo of a nice Rainbow Trout that I pulled out of the South Fork of the Santa River. I was fishing on Memorial Weekend which also happened to be my Birthday Weekend, my present was getting to fish the whole time we were up in Big Bear (I LOVE MY WIFE).  I caught a few nice Rainbows and Browns, and pulled this fish out of a hole that was holding about 20 Rainbow Trout that I could see. Caught all the fish on Dries, which was amazing and I can’t wait to head back up there and get into a few more fish!!!

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By Sean Fenner, July 27, 2009

The California Department of Fish and Game has posted the list of the fishing spots that they will be stocking this week for Region 5-South Coast Region. Remember to practice catch and release as much as possible, pick up trash when you see it, and respect this resource so that everyone can enjoy it!!!

(Rainbow Trout)

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By Dan Zambrano, July 26, 2009

I love Big Bear Lake. It fascinates me and frustrates me all at once – just like my wife. It is one of the most beautiful local lakes I know and it is also one of the most elusive lakes I have ever fished.

Big Bear has some twenty miles of accessible shoreline, shallow flats, deeper water, rocky coves and quiet back bays. Trout, Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Catfish, Crappie, Sunfish & Carp are all found there.

Unfortunately, Big Bear is not known as a great place to fly fish, which is too bad. Virtually every piece of literature you read about fishing there recommends using floating bait or an inflated worm fished off a sliding sinker or trolling with lead core line –possibly two of the most boring ways to fish, in my mind.

Don’t get me wrong…If you were fishing to eat or as a cover for consuming massive quantities of beer while sitting in a fold-up chair… well, then I suppose those methods would be fine – I’m not judging here, I’m just saying…

Anyway, I had a chance to sneak off to BB recently with my bride and I had it fixed in my mind that I was going to pursue Carp…on a fly rod.

Yup, Carp.

Now, right about now, some of the purists out there are getting a shrinking feeling in their nether regions and likely just spat out their coffee in an involuntary spasm of disgust.

So be it. I like catching Carp and I like catching them on flies. Not that I actually get to catch them on flies that often but I love the pursuit nonetheless.

So, we get up to BB and decide to take out the kayaks into Grout Bay. Grout Bay is generally protected from the wind, is shallow and quiet and makes for a great place to paddle around and have lunch while quietly bobbing amongst the floating patches of water plants.

While our little float was primarily an opportunity for some quality time with my spouse, it was also a chance to do a little reconnaissance since Grout Bay is a well-known hang out for Carp.

Sure enough, they were there and they were active. In fact, a courting/mating pair literally ran into the bottom of my kayak as they romped around in spawning oblivion. Viva l’amour!

I took mental notes, plotted a strategy and waited.

Around 6:00 pm, I drove back to Grout Bay, stripped down to swim trunks and t-shirt, a neck lanyard with just the bare essentials, my 9-wt. with sinking tip line and a few carefully chosen flies.

Grout Bay is named for the sandy soil that was just the right consistency to be used as mortar during construction of the Big Bear Dam. Sure, it has accumulated a nice thick layer of black ooze on it over the years but, I gotta’ tell ya’, there is something totally cool about sloshing through the warm water with the aquatic plants brushing gently against your legs and feeling the coarse sand and silky ooze squish up between your toes while sight fishing for massive, feeding Carp.

During the next hour and a half I cast repeatedly to some two-dozen fish but none would take my offerings. They didn’t spook – except the one I actually hit on the head with a leech imitation (note to self: keep working on the targeting skills)– but they wouldn’t be fooled either.

Yet, with the glassy water reflecting the setting sun, the soft calls of the various birds and the absolute peacefulness of the entire surroundings it didn’t seem to matter all that much.

Like I said, I love Big Bear Lake.

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By Sean Fenner, July 25, 2009

The Zebra Midge is used to imitate  Chironomids which can be up to 50% of a Trout’s food source. I love to fish the Zebra Midge on my dry dropper set up and they work great for Panfish , because the fish can get the whole fly in it’s mouth. I also use it alot up in the San Gabriel Mountains on small streams for smaller fish, again for the same reason. Check out The Trout Spot and pick up a couple today.

 “Richard over at The Trout Spot has been generous enough to give our readers a 10% discount on any purchases made on his site. Just reference the promotion code UFV at checkout”

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By Sean Fenner, July 24, 2009

This is a photo of a  little “Golden Ghost” that I caught in one of our local OC waterways. Carp can be one of the most challenging fish to catch on a fly. Which is how they earned the title “The Poor man’s Bone Fish”. It can be one of the most frustrating things when a school of Carp is less than 20 feet away from you and won’t take a single fly in your fly box. But, on the other hand hooking up on a 10 plus pound Carp is like pure adrenaline flowing through your body, expecially when they take into your backing. So, the next time you hear the term “Trash Fish” being thrown around, take the time to educate that purist on the ways of Roughfishing!!!