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By Sean Fenner, December 29, 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 Sean Fenner, December 27, 2009

There are many great things about not having to work on Christmas Eve, one is that I can go fishing in the morning and another is that a lot of people are working or at home with family. That means that every year on Christmas Eve morning I am out on the water all by my lonesome.

I had to decide where I was going to fish and I have been long overdue for a hike up into Santa Anita Creek to get in a little Wild Rainbow Trout Action. I was amazed when I got the the Chantry Flats parking lot and it was almost empty, when it is normally busting at the seems with people looking to take a nice stroll amongst the beauty of the canyon.

The hike and the fishing was great.  I managed a few small native fish after just a few hours time and the weather was crisp, cool, and refreshing. I was amazed to see how many trees had been uprooted though by our recent rainstorm, after such a dry season the last couple of years and then the sudden rain the roots must not have had a very strong hold.

Can’t wait for my next trip up there, I am such a sucker for the beautiful waterfall dams that line the hike about every 1/4 of a mile. If you decide to do any kind of fishing up in Santa Anita Creek, please remember to practice “Catch and Release Only”. The creek is small, has not been stocked in a long time, and cannot spare even one fish to power bait and treble hooks!!!

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By Dan Zambrano, December 26, 2009

Merry Christmas to all of our loyal readers and fellow urban anglers.

We appreciate your support and comments.

In fact, your consistent feedback and positive comments have had a huge role in keeping us moving forward with this web site and blog – Thanks!

I spoke to the East Coast based “familia” this morning to wish them the joy of the day. After exchanging thank yous and other pleasantries, they started to whine about the temps hovering around 5 degrees F and threatening to snow hard. I happened to be standing in front of the kitchen window at the time and glanced at the outside thermometer attached to the glass. It read 60 degrees and I could not find a cloud in the sky.

Now far be it from me to gloat on the most charitable holiday of the year– especially over something like amazing weather but especially since my sister and bro-in-law are currently in the process of buying a Connecticut property with its own running stream and private lake (and which also happens to be mere minutes from the ocean).

So I just urged them to enjoy each others company whilst snuggled up in front of the fire and casually re-confirmed that the new house does indeed have ample guest quarters…

After additional phone calls to the rest of the family members scattered across the lower forty-eight, my lovely bride and I refilled the coffee mugs and sat down to open the gifts under the tree.

In keeping with the spirit of the day, let me publicly declare that we are blessed beyond compare with family, friends, adopted family and mentors whom we deeply love and appreciate.

But, since this is a FISHING blog – I gotta say, I am particularly blessed to have a fishin’ buddy who knows how to warm the cockles of the heart like no one else. I’m not bragging or anything, I’m just sayin’, who else but a fellow angler truly understands that you really can’t have too many hemostats or rigid fly rod tubes – thank you Sean.

Also, though it may cost me that new fly vest, I have to thank Sean again for providing a convincing argument to my Beloved that she would indeed look hot while participating in the very sport that is so near and dear to my heart.

A couple more pics of her outfitted in said fly vest and new hat and I bloody well may have her convinced that a week at a Montana fishing lodge IS as much fun as Maui.

So, thank you readers, thank you Sean and thank you to the unsung seamstress somewhere in China that skillfully sewed that new fishin’ vest – God bless us, everyone!

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By Sean Fenner, December 22, 2009

I received this email from a regular follower of our site Jeffry Lizar, and I wanted to pass it on to you guys!

Sean,
 
Thanks again for the information and keeping up such a great website.  I thought I would give you some feedback on our weekend fishing endeavors.  My brother and I set out to try our hand at mountain fly fishing for the first time.  It was an adventure to say the least.  We were discouraged by the weather on Saturday but were resolved to get in some fishing wherever we were able to find a place.  We met up at about 6am Sunday morning on Azusa Blvd. before we head up the mountain.  Shortly after, we were met with CHP and CA Dept of Transportation telling us that most of the mountain passes were closed due to mud slides.  Since we were resolved to do some mountain fishing we tried Rancho Cucamonga (don’t remember the river) and were met again with a road closure.  We head over to Lytle Creek and found some pretty cold temps but running water.  The flow was extremely fast and we could barely find more than muddy white water.  The couple of pools we found around the water department dams were mostly muck with zero visibility.  We of course got in some casting practice at these spots for kicks.  All in all, Lytle Creek was a bust.  After an hour or two of that we head over to the North side of Silverwood Lake.  I had on one of my maps that there was fishing on the West Fork of the Mohave River just to the north of the lake.  All we could find was an Owens River-like stream running through private land.  We jumped over a few unmarked fences to get close to the water but neither of us was much interested in fishing on private land so we left.
 
After taking the back road through Hesperia (don’t ask) we made our way back to the 138/5 intersection.  Just as we were about to give up on the day, I checked the CADOT road closure report on my phone and found that the 39 was back open.  So…we headed back to West Fork and arrived at about 3pm.  There were a couple of dozen people there, most notably four or five youngsters singing and playing guitar on the rocks by the river.  I’m sure the fish were enjoying themselves!  We walked up an eighth of a mile or so (at this point we wanted to fish more than hike) and found a couple of interesting looking pools. Not much action there.  As it started to get dark with a few more rain drops, we started walking back to the car.  As we walked past the area where the troubadours were playing, we realized it was a promising spot to fish.  It was getting dark but we could still see enough to tie on a tippet and fly (we used various nymphs).  About ten feet from the side was pretty active with small sized trout.  In the 20 minutes we spent there I failed to pull in three smallish fish (I used barbless for the first time with much too large gear 9’ – five weight).  My brother had about the same amount of action but pulled in a five inch bow which he promptly returned to its habitat.  So there you have it.         
 
West Fork is a beautiful place and we will certainly return.  We can see why it would be beneficial to hike in a bit to get away from the crowd.   

-Jeffrey Lizar

I you have any stories or photos that you would like to share with us, please send them in we would love to hear about them and maybe even post them on the site. Thanks to all our readers out there for your continued support!

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By Dan Zambrano, December 16, 2009

In the world of veterinary medicine there is an adage that goes “see one, do one, teach one”. It is an adage that is most frequently cited and recited in the surgical theater where mental acuity, fine motor skills and, sometimes, physical endurance are valuable traits but where the realities of time and resource limitations mean one best be a quick study. For some, it is a reassurance and confidence builder. For others, it is a grim reminder of abilities lacking.

Without going into potentially endless philosophical debate and all, I would suggest that that adage is applicable to how the art and practice of flyfishing is most often passed along from one fellow to the next or from generation to generation.

Now just to be clear, let me state up front that I am an avid proponent of taking classes from a fly fishing school, joining a local fly fishing club, hiring professional guides or some combination of all three in that never-ending quest to improve one’s casting abilities.

However, I am also a realist and understand that sometimes fellow anglers see you out there and just want you to let them try their hand at that “crazy stick waving” before fully committing to the fine art of fly fishing and a lifetime of perpetual debt and insatiable envy for the next greatest 5-wt.

Such was the case last Monday, when my friend Ray convinced me to take him out for a morning of “instruction”.

(Disclaimer time: Those three things I mentioned earlier as being an avid proponent of…I’m none of them.)

Now, Ray probably has more years of fishing under his belt and more pictures of himself holding more Trout over fifteen pounds than anybody I know. This guy knows fishing and knows how to catch fish like there is no tomorrow. When he rattles off the names of all the lakes he’s fished, it is like an atlas of California waters. His rod and gear collection rivals the Christmas inventory at a Bass Pro Shop.

Yet, despite all these reasons for me to like Ray, he has never flyfished. Nevertheless, I felt a twinge of anxiety as we scheduled to meet up for some informal lessons and “crazy stick waving”.

So, Monday morning, after a restless night spent listening carefully to see if the 50% percent promise of rain and wind would materialize, I headed over to El Dorado Park to spend a couple of hours flinging fly line.

I brought several rods with different actions and a variety of line types and made sure to tie on a hook-less piece of yarn to the ends of the leaders. I wanted Ray to like flyfishing and, in my experience, nothing spoils the lesson like a hook in the back of the head, especially when said head is as bald as a cue ball.

The park was mostly deserted and we had virtually the entire Horseshoe Lake to ourselves. There was no wind but due to the storm from the day before, the lake had an abundance of broken tree limbs and floating debris. As we went over the basics, the surface would occasionally boil from Carp taking advantage of the floating salad bar so aside from me actually figuring out how to explain things in a comprehensible fashion I had to suppress my desire to let Ray figure things out on his own while I tied on one of the new carp flies from Mad River Outfitters.

But, like I said earlier, Ray knows his way around fishing and gear and such so soon enough, we were swapping stories and sharing the locations of favored fishin’ holes between casts and coaching tips and we fell into an easy rhythm of back and forth which pretty much sums up my attitude of how to approach urban fly fishing.

Interestingly, the old and mostly forgotten adage mentioned above popped into my head as I found myself assessing my own acquired bad habits while trying to verbalize what I had learned and knew to be correct.

I found myself once again becoming the student as well as the instructor – which is probably a good thing.

I ’m not sure if I converted Ray to the “Way of the Fly”, but I think he was excited to have gained some insight into this method of going after fish.

He asked multiple times if he could accompany Sean and me next time we hit the L.A. River so I’m guessing that he wasn’t completely turned off or maybe he just needs a picture of a massive Carp to complete his picture album

Whatever the case, it was an enlightening morning for both of us and it was one of those mornings that makes Urban Fly Fishing such a blast.

I love this addiction called urban flyfishin’!

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By Sean Fenner, December 15, 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 Sean Fenner, December 11, 2009

I know you guys are thinking what happened to all the Carp fishing. My schedule has been really busy lately and I just haven’t really gotten a chance to get out on some good Carp water. I was going to try my hand this Saturday, but the rain took any chance of that happening away. I am hoping to get in at least a few times up at the La River this Spring and hopefully I can come away with a few fish. I’m telling you though once you have one of those bad boys on the other end of the line it just gets into your blood. It is so easy get caught up in not wanting to do anything else but think about the sound of your line screaming off that reel when you fooled that fish. So here is a little Carpage to hold you guys over until the next hook up!