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By Dan Zambrano, September 29, 2009

Autumn 2009 officially began in North America on September 22, 2009 at 5:18 pm EDT.

For much of the country, Autumn or Fall traditionally means a transition into cooler temperatures, changes in the foliage and shorter days.

In SoCal, we get the shorter days all right, but for us, the Fall is notorious for being incredibly hot, dry and windy. The seasonal Santa Ana winds blow in and the temps can easily soar into the triple digits while the humidity plummets in the opposite direction to the single digits.

No one really knows why they are called the Santa Ana Winds, though many explanations are put forth as fact. My favorite one is that the name harkens from the Spanish colonial days and is a corruption of the phrase for “Devil Winds”. Besides appealing to the romantic notion of a California long gone, that explanation is certainly an apt description, especially when an unanticipated hurricane-velocity gust drives a size 10 wooly bugger between your shoulder blades– though I have been known to call them something else during those moments.

At any rate, urban fishing in SoCal during the Santa Anas is always an adventure – Sure, fickle breezes befoul every other cast and cause flies to drop into places not aimed for, but in the same way that the hot, irritating winds stir up the darker passions of Angelenos, they also seem to induce a frenzied, maddened bite in local Bass and Panfish populations.

Sean and I both experienced this during the last bout of “Devil Winds”, when we each had opportunities to sneak off for a couple of hours to different local lakes.

I had a scorching good time, taking a dozen five to six-inch bass on a yellow egg imitation rigged as a dropper off of a grasshopper fly – all in about an hour. Sean, likewise, smoked ‘em at the lake he hit, pulling in another dozen Bass and Panfish on a similar rig, though the lake he hit was paradoxically shrouded in coastal fog.

What made these little ventures exciting was the fury with which these relatively small fish hit our flies. These fish charged and fought and shook their heads just like the big boys. I even had one shake out the hook only to have another one hit it before the ripples of the first fish had died down.

When we compared notes, Sean told of similar ferocity amongst the fish he encountered.

Chalk it up to the season or the winds, either way, we both had a devilishly good time pursuing this addiction called urban fly fishing.

“Those hot dry winds that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands’ necks. Anything can happern. ”        

 —Raymond Chandler, “Red Wind”

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By Sean Fenner, September 28, 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!!!

NO FISH PLANTING SCHEDULED!!!

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By Sean Fenner, September 27, 2009

My wife had to put in a little over time at work yesterday early in the morning, and I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to check out a few new Urban Park Lakes down by her work in Santa Ana. We dragged ourselves out of bed at 5:00, then I dropped her off at her office and I was on my way. I ended up scoping out two new parks that we will be adding to our Locations page shortly. I could not believe how much fog there was, I could barely see driving and the sun didn’t end up coming out until about 12:00. The fishing was good, and I ended up catching about 15 Bass. This Bass that I caught was one of the most beat up fish that I have ever seen.

The Panfish were also out, and the Bluegills were decent sized. All in all. it was a great morning of fishing and I can’t wait to get out and explore a few more of the Urban Park Lakes that I have on my list.

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By Sean Fenner, September 25, 2009

The other day I just got it in my head that I was going to catch a Bass on Topwater. To me catching fish on dry or topwater flies if one of the most enjoyable things that you can experience in life. So, I headed over to the park, tied on my popper, then frog, then mouse, then diver, and still no Bass. I reached for my fly box to grab the hopper dropper and had almost given up on the possibility that I would catch any Bass that day. When all of the sudden could it be, a Small Bass took my hopper with the vigor of a bass 10 times it’s size, then another, and another, and another, and the fish just kept coming. Now I know they were small but my hand was still shaking, and I was loving every moment of it. I guess the moral is ”If the fish aren’t biting just keep changing it up, you’ll get one sooner or later”.

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By Sean Fenner, September 25, 2009

I remember the first time that I scoped a Mouse Fly, and you know what popped into my head  “there is no way a fish is going to hit that thing”. Oh, but I could not have been more wrong. After reading a bunch of articles about guys catching monster sized any kinda fish on Mouse Flies and years of seeing them sneaking around in the early and late hours of the day, I had to try it.  I was fishing  one early morning at Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley, and my first hit was a 2 pounder Channel Cat that grabbed it like that fish was STARVED in an aquarium for a few months. So, if you want a fly that can get you a few big hits in the early morning or late evening this fly needs to be in your box. Just remember when you take it out and tie it on “fish will take it”, and don’t worry about losing it to a big 5 pound Bass you can always pick up a couple more at The Trout Spot!

“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, September 21, 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, September 20, 2009

In the world of L.A. urban fishing, the Glendale Narrows portion of the Los Angeles River is frequently and favorably mentioned. And, indeed, today it is a pretty awesome place to get in some local brown-lining.

Forty years ago though, if you said you were going to fish or especially fly fish on the L.A. River, my school chums and I would have probably called you the “Spanglish” equivalent of a hick or an idiot and might even have thrown a few rocks at you if we saw you doing so.

Not that fish weren’t found there — to the contrary, my friends and I spent huge chunks of our summers and many of our weekend hours yanking hand-sized goldfish and catfish out of the various pools and pocket waters using home-made nets and traps we carted down there on our Stingray bicycles.

Likewise, while it is not uncommon today to see a guy wearing a pair of waders while plying the middle reaches of the Narrows, back then it was black canvas and white rubber Chuck Taylors and jeans for everything – hiking, biking, fishing, fighting, football, baseball, basketball, rock-hopping, school, weddings, funerals – everything. You would have definitely caught a portion of grief if you had shown up in rubber pants in those days. Forget about roughing up the Simms Freestones in polluted urban waters, we worried about the “tenderizing” our backsides would get if we couldn’t get our shoes to dry out by the time we got home.

Yeah, things down in the River were a lot different back then.

That’s why it has been such a blast to reconnect with the River through our urban fly ventures. Being able to pass on long forgotten secrets of the river to my fishin’ buddy, Sean (aka the young guy) and re-discover old stomping grounds and stretches of water I used to know the way some guys know the route from couch to kitchen, has been good for the soul.

I’m thrilled at the way the River has matured (recovered is probably a better term). The height and health of the trees, the clarity of the water, the number of bird species and the quantity of catchable fish are all signs of a thriving ecosystem … yet, there is one thought that keeps jumping around in the back of my mind after each visit to the Narrows…

Back in the day, tens of thousands of toads inhabited the River. They were everywhere. They even made annual mass migrations into the surrounding neighborhoods that became the stuff of legend. I can remember one hot summer night when the street literally undulated in the fading light of dusk as an army of toads made their way up from the River – I couldn’t sleep for a week.

Toads where so common that the section of the River tucked between the Golden State Freeway and the old Taylor Rail Yard was, and still is, known locally as “Frogtown”. There is even an art festival known as the Frogtown Art Walk that draws its name from that little piece of SoCal natural history.

It used to be virtually impossible to go down to the River and not see toads. Nowadays, I rarely see them.

Not that I mind all that much.

Truth be told, toads kinda give me the Willys. Don’t get me wrong; I’m a trained biologist. I understand the vital role they play in the balance of things and how they eat insects and such and how they in turn are an important food source for fish and birds. I know that they serve as indicator species – canaries in the global coal mine. I know all that stuff.

It’s just that I have much stronger, visceral memories of unexpectedly stepping on them in the wet grass at twilight and of them jumping out of the dog’s water bowl as I walked by in the dark and of riding my bike into a massive swarm of toadlettes in my haste to get home before my curfew and wiping out as though I had hit a patch of black ice. (If you think parents make a stink over soggy Converses, try ‘splainin’ away “toad kill” all over your good school clothes.)

Some folks speculate that improved water flow and quality have made it less favorable for tadpoles. Others issue dire warnings about climate change and eco-altering toxins. Could be. The water flow is definitely faster than I remember and some of the old familiar rock hops across the River are now partially submerged. There are definitely fewer stagnant pools where tens of thousands of tadpoles used to congregate. Not sure about the toxins theory either. The water sure seems cleaner now. Way more fish live in the River than in times past and I don’t encounter the dreaded Black Ooze nearly as often as I used to. Sure seems to be a lot more birds living down there now too, even some of the supposedly fragile species. I just don’t really know where all the toads went.

I do know that me and the River have this forty year plus history goin’ on and toads or no toads, it’s been a wild ride.

I love this addiction, called urban fly fishin’.