Hey Everyone,
If you have been wondering why I havent been posting on here lately its because I have been doing a bunch of Tenkara and fly fishing. I have been really busy posting info on the guide site. So, for all of you trout bums out there check out my other blog. And for all of those other hikers out there, bear with me. I'll have some additional info about hiking gear and wild food up shortly.
Ive been invited to be the guest speaker at two Trout Unlimited chapter monthly meetings. I will be discussing how my passion for ultralight backpacking and fly fishing lead me to Tenkara. I will also be talking about how I view the sport and where I plan to take it. If you're in either of the areas feel free to drop by and say hey. You may already be a TU member or might even decide to join after being around all of us trout bums.
Well I'm back from California. It was quite the trip and I went for several reasons. I flew into LAX and my first impression of Los Angeles was that of too many people, too much traffic, and too much city. You can imagine my excitement and relief once I was in the mountains. We hiked up the East fork of the San Gabriel river. There is a lot of history to this small river that flows through a high dessert just North East of L.A. If you pay attention as you hike you will see the evidence of an old road that was built in the thirties which was washed away in a flood only a few years later. If you are willing to take on a ten mile hike you can hike up the canyon to "the bridge to nowhere" which is five miles from the nearest road now. There are several other signs that this remote area was once much more populated than today. The main goal for our hike was to do some prospecting. This area has a rich history of producing gold that goes all the way back to the Native Americans who settled there. The other reason for going was to do a little fly fishing or I should say Tenkara. There are native wild rainbows which are the descendants of the steel head that used to run all the way up the river before dams were built down stream. The area is truly rich with trout and I spent every morning before the sun and anyone else was up, walking the river casting dry flies to these little gems. Well Ive attached a video and some photos. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I did taking them.
This is just a short post and video that is in addition to my last post. I wanted to post a video of some of the fish that we have been catching on the fly. Its been a pretty fun adventure, and were not done yet!
I had been given a few days off for the holidays as expected. However, I realised that I only had plans for Christmas eve, which was to see my daughter. I soon came to the conclusion that I had no plans for the other few days. Well, it didn't take more than a second for my mind to wander to the stream. So that's what I did I drove to the river to spend a couple days with a fly rod in my hand. Besides, I knew that I would have the river to myself since I figured everyone else would be home eating turkey and playing with their new toys. It was a great couple of days. I'm not going to say it wasn't cold but the fishing was fantastic! Believe it or not but the trout were actually rising to my dry on the dropper. I took to time to shoot a few short clips and here they are.
I was up on the river a few days ago and had yet another wonderful day. The weather was actually pretty warm and the sun was out. I didn't expect such a banner day since it wasn't overcast and certainly didn't expect what I was about to catch. I had landed several trout that day and was just moving along the overhangs drifting small nymphs when out of no where a huge brown slammed my fly. This fish was 24 inches and all of five to five and a half pounds. I'm pretty sure I'll be looked at like I'm crazy for even attempting to film this fish but that's what I did. I don't want to take away from the video that I risked so much to shoot so here it is.
Needless to say it was a real caper on what was a great day on the water. I had the strangest thing happen to me as well. I was standing there casting away and all of the sudden something hit my boot. I looked down and to my amazement there was a brook trout just resting between my feet. Now I'm a very still person and sometimes don't move my feet for hours while fishing. So with that said I had a fishing buddy for about forty five minutes which I thought was pretty cool. Check out the photo I took of my good friend. I talked to several guys on the water that day and even handed out a few pointers here and there since I apparently had the magic touch for the day. I cant wait to get back up on the water and try and beat my own record.
See you on the trail,
Lance
Well I'm back from California. It was quite the trip and I went for several reasons. I flew into LAX and my first impression of Los Angeles was that of too many people, too much traffic, and too much city. You can imagine my excitement and relief once I was in the mountains. We hiked up the East fork of the San Gabriel river. There is a lot of history to this small river that flows through a high dessert just North East of L.A. If you pay attention as you hike you will see the evidence of an old road that was built in the thirties which was washed away in a flood only a few years later. If you are willing to take on a ten mile hike you can hike up the canyon to "the bridge to nowhere" which is five miles from the nearest road now. There are several other signs that this remote area was once much more populated than today. The main goal for our hike was to do some prospecting. This area has a rich history of producing gold that goes all the way back to the Native Americans who settled there. The other reason for going was to do a little fly fishing or I should say Tenkara. There are native wild rainbows which are the descendants of the steel head that used to run all the way up the river before dams were built down stream. The area is truly rich with trout and I spent every morning before the sun and anyone else was up, walking the river casting dry flies to these little gems. Well Ive attached a video and some photos. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I did taking them.
