Chasing Steelhead on the Los Angeles River
April 1, 2001
Well, I just got back last night from a pretty cool fishing vacation. It was nice to get away and do a little fishing for myself — especially since I have not wet a line in several months. A good friend of mine who guides the Mad River told me before I ever started that the last thing in the world I’d get to do as a guide is go fishing. Man, was he correct!
Anyway, I’ve had Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week set aside for a fun trip since early January…but I just didn’t know where I was going to go. I thought about doing a few days on the Eel River chasing steelies but the rain last Saturday night blew the river out. Same for the Mattole River. The Trinity sounded good, but I’ve done that a million times. I needed to do something new, something different. So, I decided to rent a houseboat on Shasta Lake. I know, that’s not all that exotic, but this time of year, there’s a good trout bite to be had up there and I figured I’d have the lake to myself.
While I was on-line last Thursday looking at houseboat rentals, I got a call from the Los Angeles Visitors and Conventions Bureau. They were invitng outdoor journalists to Southern California to sample (and hopefully write about) the wonderful fishing oppotunities in the L.A. basin. At first, I thought it was prank call.
Fishing opportunities in L.A.? You’ve gotta be kidding.
But as soon as that thought popped into my head, I knew what the lady on the phone was going to say…of course, the waters of Santa Monica Bay were full of calico and sand bass, halibut, bonita, baracuda…plus seasonal migrations of fish like yellowtail and white seabass…and some pretty darn good fishing could be had there. Free plane ticket or not, I wasn’t too excited about trekking to Los Angeles on a fishing expedition, however. It just didn’t feel right. I was looking for somthing a little more remote with about 10 million fewer people around! Undaunted by my obvious lack of enthuiasiam, she went right into the “extraordinary angling prospects to be had in the area’s freshwater….” I had to choke down a hearty chuckle as she described how I’d be “dazzled and amazed by the wonderful fishing” in urban put-and-take trout farms like Happy Valley Fish Camp & R.V. Park, Garvey Reservoir (which is loacted in the heart of East L.A.!) and Gravel Pit County Park.
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