UrbanFlyVentures » Fish of the Week http://urbanflyventures.com The Site Dedicated to So Cal Urban Fly Fishin' Thu, 29 Jul 2010 07:25:55 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 http://urbanflyventures.com http://urbanflyventures.com/wp-content/mbp-favicon/Favicon.jpg UrbanFlyVentures FISH OF THE WEEK http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/07/11/fish-of-the-week-50/ http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/07/11/fish-of-the-week-50/#comments Mon, 12 Jul 2010 06:48:24 +0000 Sean Fenner http://urbanflyventures.com/?p=3136 Rainbow Trout are the most common Trout found in Southern California. Wild bows can be caught in many So Cal mountain streams in almost every National Park that can be named. Yesterday I was talking to guy that claims to “know someone who you can show a picture of any Trout caught in Southern Cali, and he will be able to tell you what stream it was pulled out of”. So I got to thinking. Does this really work? Well, lets find out. The first person to name the waterway that this Rainbow Trout came out of will win one of our “soon to be available” UrbanFlyVentures Shirts.  Let the game begin!!!

(To win you will have to comment on this post directly and the winner will be chosen by the earliest time the correct response is submitted, only one response per person!)

]]> http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/07/11/fish-of-the-week-50/feed/ 13 FISH OF THE WEEK http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/06/26/fish-of-the-week-49/ http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/06/26/fish-of-the-week-49/#comments Sun, 27 Jun 2010 06:07:33 +0000 Sean Fenner http://urbanflyventures.com/?p=3004 It’s been a while since I’ve gotten the chance to catch a Tilapia. I was going through my pictures the other day, and found this one from a trip up to the San Gabriel River Bed last year. The last time that we were up there it looked really dead, just one cruising Carp. I heard a rumor from someone that DFG only stocks male Tilapia in California waterways, so as not to overpopulate them. Now I don’t know if this is just in the recent years or if this is true at all. I guess we will just have to make a trip down there to find out ourselves. Please if you fish there practice catch and release. If this is true there are only so many fish to be caught, and if not I don’t think that they would be safe to eat anyway. 

]]> http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/06/26/fish-of-the-week-49/feed/ 0 FISH OF THE WEEK http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/06/05/fish-of-the-week-48/ http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/06/05/fish-of-the-week-48/#comments Sun, 06 Jun 2010 05:44:12 +0000 Sean Fenner http://urbanflyventures.com/?p=2835 This week have been one of the worst that I have ever had in my life. My Grandmother is sick in the hospital with a heart attack and lung failure, Work has been crazy, I think I tore a ligament in my knee, and a kid stepped on my fly rod at a Park Lake breaking it in half. With all that said part of the reason why I fly fish is because of the relaxation, joy, irony, frustration along with the many other thing that I get out of it. It’s funny because within all of this chaos, I decided to take a 30 minute breather at a Local Park only to be pleasantly surprised by catching 5 Goldfish in a row. This inevitable put a huge smile on my face as I found myself thinking about how they got there (The little kid that I had never met that decided his goldfish were too big for his fish bowl or the Vietnamese guy who put them in as a tribute to a recently lost relative). Whatever the case catching them was fun and that to me is what Fly Fishing is all about “having a little bit of fun”.

]]> http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/06/05/fish-of-the-week-48/feed/ 1 FISH OF THE WEEK http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/05/22/fish-of-the-week-47/ http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/05/22/fish-of-the-week-47/#comments Sat, 22 May 2010 16:03:14 +0000 Sean Fenner http://urbanflyventures.com/?p=2762 I ‘ll bet you $20, I can catch a smaller fish than you can. I seem to have been born with this strange ability to catch record sized fish. Not the record sized fish that you want to catch (big fish), but some of the smallest fish that I have ever seen. I am not even sure half the time how the fish get the fly is it’s mouth, since the fly is usually about as big as the fish. So, I will continue to post pictures of fish about the size of my wedding ring and take really close up pictures to make then look like monsters.

]]> http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/05/22/fish-of-the-week-47/feed/ 0 FISH OF THE WEEK http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/05/15/fish-of-the-week-46/ http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/05/15/fish-of-the-week-46/#comments Sat, 15 May 2010 12:00:46 +0000 Sean Fenner http://urbanflyventures.com/?p=2720 Fly Fishing for Carp at times ranks very high on the roughest days that I have had on the water, and this day was no different. I sight casted at this one Carp for about 20 minutes and he finally bit flailing around like no Xarp I had ever seen. We Struggled back and forth as he pulled out line and I tried desperately to reel it back in, seeing the backing 4 times within about 10 minutes. Finally he had started to tire out and to the surface he came. Not a huge Carp about 10-12 pounds, but on the 5 Weight he felt big and the stamina was incredible. I swooped in for the catch and as soon as I grabbed him he came to life snapped my line and that was the end of it. In shock I headed back to the truck pulled the tailgate down and sat there thinking about what I had done wrong. Was the knot bad, had he cut my line on something, why was my net at home? These things were all racing through my mind, but man was it fun to feel that fish on the other end of the line.

]]> http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/05/15/fish-of-the-week-46/feed/ 1 FISH OF THE WEEK http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/04/24/fish-of-the-week-45/ http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/04/24/fish-of-the-week-45/#comments Sun, 25 Apr 2010 06:10:53 +0000 Sean Fenner http://urbanflyventures.com/?p=2663 This Spring has started off with some very extreme weather conditions. It’s 50 and raining one day and 80 with bluebird skies the next. These conditions seem to have wreaked havoc on the Sunfish and Bass as I have yet to see signs of spawning from either species. We’ll that is until today. I headed out to one of my favorite Carp waters and since there wasn’t any activity going on, I switched over to the Greenies. I caught three fish bursting at the belly with eggs. This is a great sign and hopefully means that the bite will start to pick up!

]]> http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/04/24/fish-of-the-week-45/feed/ 0 FISH OF THE WEEK http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/04/17/fish-of-the-week-44/ http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/04/17/fish-of-the-week-44/#comments Sat, 17 Apr 2010 13:00:52 +0000 Sean Fenner http://urbanflyventures.com/?p=2611 The other day I received a call from a buddy of mine that works with DFG and he told me they would be stocking over at La Mirada Park Lake within the next hour or so. He said I should go over and check it out since I was already off work, and I figured why not get out for an hour. I picked up my camera and drove up to park with my 5 weight in hand, just in case the fish felt like biting a fly. When I got there the truck was already dumping in the fish, and the bait fishermen were lined up along the edge with their powerbait in hand, those guys are like bloodhounds on a scent when it comes to stocked fish. I was amazed to see the Trout start on the bite as soon as they hit the water, and within about 30 minutes I had netted 4 or 5 Bows. These were some of the most beat up looking Trout that I have ever seen, and it made my heart ache to be on a clear stream catching wild Rainbows. But these genetic mutants are what keep many of the poachers and powerbaiters out of the sierras and local streams, so I guess it’s a necessary evil. It’s just hard to see such a beautiful species breed down like this!

]]> http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/04/17/fish-of-the-week-44/feed/ 1 FISH OF THE WEEK http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/04/08/fish-of-the-week-43/ http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/04/08/fish-of-the-week-43/#comments Fri, 09 Apr 2010 04:13:20 +0000 Sean Fenner http://urbanflyventures.com/?p=2543 Urban Fly Fishing can be a very strange thing! There are days where everything goes just as you had planned and then there are days that leave you scratching your head in disbelief. Last Saturday my wife’s younger sister was out from Vegas and they decided to go get their hair done, so I picked up the fly rod and off I went.  Now I only had about two hours to fish before dark, and I decided to do a little recon over at Alamitos Bay. I hooked up on two Spotted Soles on a sandy beach right away (they both came off I might add) and the bite went dead. Until I stumbled upon a little make shift dock and flung a Clouser Deep Minnow underneath it. After about 30 minutes I had caught 5 Lizardfish and was having a blast. While catching the last of the 5 fish a guy who had set up shop behind me to see what I was catching dubbed me “The Lizard Wizard”. It’s amazing what joy Fly Fishing brings me, and every day I become more and more addicted to the ways of the Urban Fly Fisherman.

]]> http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/04/08/fish-of-the-week-43/feed/ 2 FISH OF THE WEEK http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/03/27/fish-of-the-week-42/ http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/03/27/fish-of-the-week-42/#comments Sun, 28 Mar 2010 04:52:03 +0000 Sean Fenner http://urbanflyventures.com/?p=2460 There’s just something about being in the middle of Los Angeles County with millions and millions of people around you, and being the only person probably within a 50 mile radius fishing with a fly rod. I’ve had some strange comments from people (“you won’t catch any fish like that”, “what do you use for bait”. and probably my favorite of all time “there aren’t any fish in there don’t waste your time”) while fishing the Urban Oasis of the Greater Los Angeles Area. Yet, the handy ol’ fly rod produces fish most every time out, and Bluegill continue to be one of my favorite freshwater species to catch on a fly. They really are beautiful fish, and the constant readiness to take a fly makes them the ideal target and loads of fun to catch. I’ve often caught them on flies that can barely fit in their mouth, and they always seem fight with the vigor and spunk of a fish twice their size. Bluegill the Urban Fly Fisher’s Dream!

]]> http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/03/27/fish-of-the-week-42/feed/ 6 FISH OF THE WEEK http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/02/26/fish-of-the-week-41/ http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/02/26/fish-of-the-week-41/#comments Sat, 27 Feb 2010 07:11:48 +0000 Sean Fenner http://urbanflyventures.com/?p=2265 There has been so many times that I have gone Fly Fishing places where there are a bunch of bait fishermen lined up on the shore with there Powerbait and Worms not catching a single thing, while I’m on the other side of the lake with my fly rod pulling in fish. Then I go to put the fish back in the water, and I can here them groaning and saying things like “There Goes Dinner” and “What is he Doing”. Don’t get me wrong on a very rare occasion I will take a stocked fish, but 99% of the time it’s Catch and Release Only for me. If you do decide to take fish, please make sure that they are stocked fish  and only take what you will eat!

]]> http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/02/26/fish-of-the-week-41/feed/ 4 FISH OF THE WEEK http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/02/19/fish-of-the-week-40/ http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/02/19/fish-of-the-week-40/#comments Sat, 20 Feb 2010 07:55:41 +0000 Sean Fenner http://urbanflyventures.com/?p=2204 I’m sitting here writing this post listening to the rain outside my window, and the one thing that comes to mind is that timing is everything. I was so exited all week for Saturday to come, so that I could get on the LA River and finally hook up on a long overdue Carp. But apparently the weather just doesn’t agree with me, and it’s just not meant to be. In the meantime I will just have to go through my Previously caught Carp Photo Selection, and dream about seeing my 5 weight strained to the max while hearing the scream of my reel as the line peels off.

]]> http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/02/19/fish-of-the-week-40/feed/ 0 FISH OF THE WEEK http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/02/13/fish-of-the-week-39/ http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/02/13/fish-of-the-week-39/#comments Sun, 14 Feb 2010 06:04:58 +0000 Sean Fenner http://urbanflyventures.com/?p=2173 A few of the Sunfish that I have been catching recently Bass, Bluegill, Green Sunfish, etc have had strange “Red Bumps” on them. It was starting to concern me, because these bumps were found on different species at a few different locations and I hadn’t seen it or noticed it on any of the fish that I had caught before. So, I called up Dan and asked him if he knew what it was. He quickly answered that it is the beginning of a bacterial infection that is found a lot in fish that are stressed for whatever reason, and that he had seen it in many fish. I read up on it and it looks like this is very common in Sunfish for many different reasons. The infection will start to cause ulcers in the fish and ultimately kill it if it does not go away. I was also told that this is quite common before fish start to spawn due to the pressure and competition from other fish. I also read that as the water temperature rises in spring, the bacterium’s life cycle is spead up quickly killing it and returning the fish’s health back to normal . Here is an example!

]]> http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/02/13/fish-of-the-week-39/feed/ 1 FISH OF THE WEEK http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/02/06/fish-of-the-week-38/ http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/02/06/fish-of-the-week-38/#comments Sun, 07 Feb 2010 03:16:28 +0000 Sean Fenner http://urbanflyventures.com/?p=2109 I can’t even begin to describe the excitement that runs through my head when I get a Lagemouth Bass on the fly. There is just something about seeing that fish come up in the water column and clobber a fly. My favorite time of year to fish for Bass is in the Late Spring and the Late Fall, and if I had to choose only one fly to use it would hands down be a Bead Head Bugger. I love sight fishing and I love aggressive fish that will chase after a fly when you strip it away for him. So all you Bass Fishermen out there put down your Baitcasters and Rapalas and pick up a 5Weight and a selection of Buggers, and who knows you might just get hooked worse than the Bass.

]]> http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/02/06/fish-of-the-week-38/feed/ 0 FISH OF THE WEEK http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/01/29/fish-of-the-week-37/ http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/01/29/fish-of-the-week-37/#comments Sat, 30 Jan 2010 04:18:36 +0000 Sean Fenner http://urbanflyventures.com/?p=2005 The Bluegill are back in action and that means that spring is coming soon. Usually ever year I can’t wait for the winter time to come, it brings the Holiday Season and Trout Fishing Season here to Southern California. Yet, this year was different. I found myself fishing warm water until the end of Fall, and then in the Winter waiting with anticipation for it to come back. I guess I am experiencing the transition into a “True BrownliningAddict”. Hopefully this year will bring a ton of warm water action.

]]> http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/01/29/fish-of-the-week-37/feed/ 2 FISH OF THE WEEK http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/01/23/fish-of-the-week-36/ http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/01/23/fish-of-the-week-36/#comments Sun, 24 Jan 2010 04:09:50 +0000 Sean Fenner http://urbanflyventures.com/?p=1914 All this Rain and Gloomy weather that we have been having lately, is really giving me the warm water blues. I find myself wishing for the spring to come faster, and I cannot wait to get a nice Sunfish on the end of my line. Sunfish on the fly are a great way to have a good fun fly experience, and on a good day you can catch a ton of fish. Whenever I am taking someone fly fishing for the first time it is almost always in warm weather on water that I know is infested with Bluegill, Green Sunfish, or some other kind of Sunfish. So when the weather starts warming up get out your 5 weight and those poppers, and get out and hit up that local Park Lake that is just around the corner from your house!

 

]]> http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/01/23/fish-of-the-week-36/feed/ 1 FISH OF THE WEEK http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/01/02/fish-of-the-week-35/ http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/01/02/fish-of-the-week-35/#comments Sun, 03 Jan 2010 07:08:36 +0000 Sean Fenner http://urbanflyventures.com/?p=1782 There is nothing like bringing in a New Year and a New Decade with the first caught fish of the year. Last year was a rough year for Fly Fishing in many ways. Water was low due to drought, the weather was hotter than normal, there were a lot of fires, and so on and so forth. But, I have great expectations for this year, and I am hoping that it is packed full of wonderful fishing memories. Thank you to everyone who has supported and helped us build this site, and we are looking forward to what 2010 is going to bring for UrbanFlyVentures!!!

]]> http://urbanflyventures.com/2010/01/02/fish-of-the-week-35/feed/ 0 FISH OF THE WEEK http://urbanflyventures.com/2009/12/11/fish-of-the-week-34/ http://urbanflyventures.com/2009/12/11/fish-of-the-week-34/#comments Sat, 12 Dec 2009 06:23:23 +0000 Sean Fenner http://urbanflyventures.com/?p=1637 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!

Colorful Carp

]]> http://urbanflyventures.com/2009/12/11/fish-of-the-week-34/feed/ 4 FISH OF THE WEEK http://urbanflyventures.com/2009/12/05/fish-of-the-week-33/ http://urbanflyventures.com/2009/12/05/fish-of-the-week-33/#comments Sun, 06 Dec 2009 01:32:37 +0000 Sean Fenner http://urbanflyventures.com/?p=1560 This fish of the Week goes out to one of my clients, who loves to say “I know that every time you see a puddle, you’re thinking I bet there’s a fish in there!” That is exactly what goes through my mind every time I see water, but if I didn’t I would have never know that places like “Glendale Narrows” and “Whittier Narrows” hold fish. So all you guys out there that think the the same way I do, make sure you fish that water. You just might feel a bite at the other end of the line!

Surprise, Surprise, It's a Fish!

]]> http://urbanflyventures.com/2009/12/05/fish-of-the-week-33/feed/ 3 FISH OF THE WEEK http://urbanflyventures.com/2009/11/21/fish-of-the-week-32/ http://urbanflyventures.com/2009/11/21/fish-of-the-week-32/#comments Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:15:51 +0000 Sean Fenner http://urbanflyventures.com/?p=1486 As a Fly Fisherman I have grown to have a Love/Hate relationship with Winter. On one hand I love the fact that many people stop going up into the Moutains, and living in the year round fishery that is Southern California that means Trout Fishing actually becomes bareable. But on the other hand the Urban fisheries slow down the Trout get stocked in the Park Lakes and people are out fishing for them elbow to elbow, and the Warm Water fish stop biting. I chose this photo of a Largemouth Bass that I recently caught, because it will probably be the last one until spring arives!!!

The Bass bite is slowing down!

]]> http://urbanflyventures.com/2009/11/21/fish-of-the-week-32/feed/ 2 FISH OF THE WEEK http://urbanflyventures.com/2009/10/30/fish-of-the-week-30/ http://urbanflyventures.com/2009/10/30/fish-of-the-week-30/#comments Sat, 31 Oct 2009 04:33:24 +0000 Sean Fenner http://urbanflyventures.com/?p=1321 It’s Crappie time! Dan did a post about 3 weeks back on one of our ventures out to El Dorado park where I caught my first Crappie on the fly. Ever since then I have gotten emails, comments, and have talked to tons of people about Crappie fishing in Southern California. Those sources have told me that the Early Spring and Late Fall are when the Crappie Fishing peaks (as far as shallow water fly fishing goes). I heard from one guy that he caught 19 in a couple of hours over at Legg Lake on Weighted San Juan Worm, and another guy told me that he caught the biggest one he had ever seen in his life at El Dorado last week. So, if you have never caught a Crappie, then get out on the water and try to add it to your life list. “Just be warned, there’s a reason they are nicknamed Papermouths!”

El Dorado Lake White Crappie

]]> http://urbanflyventures.com/2009/10/30/fish-of-the-week-30/feed/ 2