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By Sean Fenner, October 17, 2009

This season was not a great one as far as my Bass Fishing goes. No matter how big my flies got the fish stayed small, and I did not catch near the number as last year. One observation that I have made though is that, the lakes with Catch and Release Only signs for Bass positively had more and bigger fish. I really wish that the state would post these signs at all the parks, it really seems like it works as a deterrent and I would like the bass to still be there when I have kids and they start fishing. I think that I will be writing a few letters to our state officials, I hate to complain about something without trying to change it. So remember no matter where you bass fish in California, please practice Catch and Release!

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By Dan Zambrano, October 11, 2009

Southern fish experiencing identity crises

By Celia Rivenbark

Next time Bubba and Billy Bob  go fishing, they might discover the fish more or less moseys onto the hook, languishes on the line and then passively lays there in the cooler smoothing its scales instead of flailing.

Scientists have discovered estrogen in the water is making fish, particularly large-mouthed bass in the South, less aggressive. Turns out 70 to 90 percent of the bass in ponds across the Southeast have both male and female sex characteristics.

Which goes a long way toward explaining why some of the time they want to pound beers with the guys at BW3′s and the rest of the time they get giddy about the semi-annual shoe sale at Dillard’s .

This new revelation could result in a recall of that horrid wall plaque with the singing bass on it. Instead of singing “Take Me to the River” perhaps some show tunes would be in order. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

The bigger worry here is where all this estrogen is coming from and why is it so much more prevalent in the Southeast? In Alaska’s   Yukon River , for instance, fish are completely free of the intersex condition, preferring to wear lumberjack plaid shirts for the boys and something slightly slutty from  Forever 21  for the girls. Well, almost.

Scientists say this gender-bending may hamper the ability of fish to reproduce. With so many male fish taking on female characteristics, the fish are in a sort of sexual limbo, sadly disinterested in procreation.

Oh, if only deer, squirrels and Kardashians would acquire this particular affliction. I’m just kidding. I don’t really have anything against squirrels. Or deer.

Scientists also say there is no harm to the consumer in eating intersex fish. It’s not as if you’re eating those 24-eyed fish swimming around the nuke pond on “The Simpsons.” The absolute worst thing that would happen is that, if you’re a boy, well, your “bidness” will fall off. So what?

Having spent my formative years fishing in country ponds and catching more than a few large- and small-mouthed bass myself, I think this is going to make for some depressing trips in the future. The fun is in the fight! If the fish simply yawns in my direction and suggests a light breading of panko crumbs with a modest pinot on the side, there’s no real sport in that.

Of course this is serious business and I’m sure more than a few of you will write to say this is an ecological nightmare and they wish my “bidness” would fall off, too. In the meantime, stop flushing your birth control pills (?!) and give our Southern bass a chance to get their groove back. Are we good?

Taken From: http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1009/rivenbark.php3

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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 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 Dan Zambrano, June 15, 2009

“Serendipity”. A ten dollar word that translates to roughly, ” I had no freakin’ idea that would turn out so totally awesome”. It’s a word to use when you want to throw a kink in the stereotype that brownliners are a step down on the flyfishing/intelligence hierarchy. It is also how I would d escribe our day on the water this past Sunday.

About 3:30 in the afternoon we headed off to La Mirada park to try our luck among the hard core catfish fisher-folk and the innumerable kids that were hurling enough lead at the lake to make it feel like a beach assault. We hop-scotched between the families feeding the predatory ducks, squeezing in just close enough so as not to appear too predatory ourselves but near enough to piggyback on the chum line being laid down by all the two and three year olds emptying their bags of cheetos into the lake. The wind was steady and made for a slight chop on the water,  which was good for stealth but bad for anything other than casts made to the East. Our slow but fruitless dance around the lake was interrupted only to give a short lakeside instructional session to a ten-year old who nearly stove in the back of my head with the cannonball he was using for weight.

We had just about decided to move to another lake when my 8 foot, 5-weight “dinked”.  I honestly thought I had snagged some algae but played in the line anyway. Sure enough, I had managed to hook up with quite possibly the smallest large mouth bass on the planet. Exhausted from the battle, I forgot to snap a photo but it wouldn’t have a mattered much anyway unless you use a hi-def,=2 0home-theater sized screen for a computer monitor. Still a fish is a fish and it boosted our spirits just to know that we could, in fact catch a fish in an urban lake even amid the barrage of live fire lead and rooster tails.

Knowing that retreat is an effective and honorable strategy, we opted to head over to Laguna Lake, which despite it’s name, is located in the middle of Fullerton — about fifteen minutes away. Now, old-timers who haven’t been there in the last three years or so will hear you say Laguna Lake and simply burst out laughing. Laguna lake recently underwent a multi-million dollar make over and it’s once again a decent place to fish. Prior to the fix up though, the place just stank. The water resembled hospital jello and you didn’t have to fish, you just had to walk along the shore and scoop up dead carcasses from underneath the ducks that lined the shore like day workers at Home Depot.

Now, it is a different story.The place is clean, the number of ducks is regulated, the water flows in a cleansing circular pattern thanks to a series of pumps and jets and there is plenty of space to make decent back casts around most of the lake. Plus you can park along the street for FREE. A good number of families were already set up along the shore mostly bait fishing.  We headed over to a clump of rushes that had produced for us in the past and we begin fishin’. Almost immediately we began pulling in small bluegills.  ; As we split off in different directions, we each continued to haul in bluegill after bluegill. At one point, my cell phone went off while I was playing a ‘gill and the ID indicated that Sean was calling me.  I answered, thinking something was wrong. “Dude, switch to a small dry. You won’t be sorry.” I did and I wasn’t. All told, when it finally got too dark to see what we were doing, we counted close to a hundred bluegills and green sunfish caught and released between the two of us.

And that is what you call serendipity.

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By Sean Fenner, April 24, 2009

A Nice pic of a little Largemouth Bass that I pulled out of the small lake at Mile Square Park just before dark. I love fishing at Mile Square. It is a nice little Park Lake that does not get a ton of fishing pressure, and has a good population of Largemouth and Sunfish. If you want more info about Mile Square check it out under my locations section on the main blog page.

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By Sean Fenner, March 31, 2009

This is a picture of a nice sized Largemouth Bass that I caught Urban Fishing at a city Park lake. Some of these Park Lakes in Southern California are great water for fishing Largemouth Bass. I know a bunch of guys who pay alot of money going to privately stocked lakes to catch the same size Largemouth Bass that I am catching at Park Lakes for free. It’s not just quality though, you can also go for quantity if know what you are doing. I have had good days in the spring and summer, where I have caught 10 or more bass within a couple of hours.