My last trip up to the San Gabriel River was let’s say “interesting”! Filled with exploring little tributaries and portions of the West Fork that are extremely hard to get to. All of the work climbing over boulders, under fallen tress, and through poison oak producing some very beautiful dark colored Rainbow Trout. It was amazing to see the coloration of these fish, almost more resembling a Brown Trout. Equally astonishing was their readiness to take anything that hit the suface of the water. I specifically remember catching about 20 4-9″ fish out of just one tiny little hole. I guess a little adventuring does pay off, even if your legs are burning for a couple of days!
Themocracy
i had a great day up there yesterday as well. caught 30-40 little rainbows with a few 10-12 inch “lunkers.” stimulators and caddis were the ticket. some of the fish are practically iridescent… truly amazing coloring. also saw a cougar and several blue herons. on the way back near the parking lot i glanced in the water and saw 2 ~20 inch fish… and i have no idea what they were. certainly not trout or bass, and they were a pretty uniform dark color and built like a football. they actually resembled a parrotfish in appearance. any ideas what they were? i haven’t lived in socal for long and i’m unfamiliar with the non-game species or former exotic pets that tend to end up in local waters around here.
Chad,
Not sure. That’s interesting that you say that though, because every once in a while I see a few large fish like that in the river (but I never catch them, or by the time I get to them they are gone). The only thing I can think of is a Bass or maybe a carp from the reservoir. When the water levels get high, the fish from it have a clear path to the streams. If you ever catch a Carp(KILL IT)! I hate to kill any fish, but we cannot afford to have Carp invade one of these streams!
after some research, i believe they were part of this genus:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ictiobus
Wiki says they’re more common in the east, but if people can catch piranhas and goldfish in southern california, why not buffalo fish? Gotta love the bucket biologists. I second the motion to kill all carp.
hi chris, hey is the trail open all the up to the dam