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Escaping the intense heat of SoCal for some summer trout fishing in the Eastern Sierras. What a trip!

It's become something of a tradition - an annual pilgrimage of sorts to a favorite fishing hole in Riverside County, Southern California, for largemouth bass each year, with float tubes. A good friend and I finally got out onto the water a little while back. The conditions were much tougher this year than other years, but we still managed to land several chunky largemouth, including one pushing 18-20". I'll let the pictures and video do the talking. 

The Owens River is one of California's most beloved trout fisheries, and has slowly experieinced a comeback with recent changes to water releases. The lower portion is currently choked with thick reeds and tules, making access very difficult, for anglers, birdwatchers, hikers and just about everyone else. Fortunately, the Inyo County Water Department has just received a $500,000 grant to clean up the river and improve access. If you would like to help out, read on: "Inyo County is a grant finalist for a $500,000 CA Natural Resources Agency grant to develop the first designated water trail for kayaks, canoes, and paddleboards, in the Western U.S.! The 6.3 mile trail near Lone Pine winds through one of the most scenic sections of the rewatered Lower Owens River--with numerous green meadows, willow trees, and spectacular views of the Alabama Hills, Mt. Whitney and the Inyo Mountains. Resources’ grant staff will be out to appraise the project on June 21st. We want to get the Resou...

Fished the beautiful Eastern Sierras over opener weekend at the end of April. I landed a few nice brown and rainbow trout on ultralite gear, and safety released them all.  Hiked to several creeks, and explored a few others but had quite a few trails blocked by snow. With temperatures down to the 20s at night, it was important to dress warmly! Enjoy the photos: And yes, I spotted the locked-up Haiwee Reservoir(s) from the 395. Sad Haiwee is still closed to fishing. 

After a helpful discussion on the FishingNetwork forums , I have determined exactly what the classic lure I found at Puddingstone Reservoir is! It is a Spinno Minno Lure, produced in the 1950s and 1960s by Pecos River Tackle Co./Uniline Bait Co. The design is unique and close inspection reveals that it was most likely one of their earlier generations of the Spinno (based on the spinner hinge design). Check out this great collectable lure website for more information on the Spinno Minno Lure: Spinno Minno Lure - Pecos River Tackle Co./Uniline Bait Co.

Remember the GitUp1 action camera I reviewed several months back? I recently got to try out the latest upgrade to the GitUp series, with the GitUp2 courtesy of GearBest. Wow! I am happy to report that it blew away my expectations and has taken the premium features seen in many more expensive action cameras, and packaged it all into a very affordable package.  First, let's start with the specification. The GitUp2 the high-quality Sony Ezmor IMX206 16MP image sensory + Novatek NTK96660 chipset, a significant upgrade from the GitUp 1. This allows it to take not only high quality video (with resolution up to 2K video resolution) but also photopgraphs in up to true 16MP quality. One of the weak points of the original GitUp was the very low-quality photographs (unless you extracted individual frames from each video); the GitUp2 has rectified that problem nicely. (Continued below the jump!) The GitUp2 also rocks 1080p 60FPS resolution, in addition to the higher resolution 1440p and 2...

Haiwee Reservoir ( Summitpost ) Have you ever spotted an awesome body of water from the road and wondered if you could fish it? On a recent road trip to Bishop, I encountered Haiwee Reservoir and could not help but think about just that. After considerable research, emails, and phone interviews, I have a tale for you! North and South Haiwee Reservoirs may be seen just to the east of 395, before Olancha and after Fossil Falls. Two picturesque bodies of water, they represent a tantalizing target for anglers and a symbol of the historic conflict over water that has haunted this region for years.  Do they have fish? Absolutely, according to the LA Times, the lakes hold rainbow trout, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, brown trout, Sacramento perch, bluegill, carp, and more. The lakes were even stocked by DFG for several years ( Daily News Outdoor ). Sadly, while once open to anglers, these lakes remain closed for the last 10 years. Fortunately, concerned locals are pressing fo...

Fished Puddingstone Reservoir (Frank Bonelli Park) this week.  Fishing was very slow, only landed one small largemouth bass. The water was very stained. Did find an old fishing lure, no idea on the identify.  Check out the video of fishing at Puddingstone!

Spent a few hours tossing jigs and bait into one of my favorite saltwater fishing harbors here in Southern California. The water visibilty was very poor, but we still managed to catch several nice fish. Caught two kelp (calico) bass and one opaleye, all released after a few photos. Great way to spend the afternoon!

Have you checked out the Hunting the River King page on Instagram ? There is plenty of freshwater and saltwater fishing photos, from California and beyond featured on it. Follow today! Also, I've partnered with GearBest for select coupons on action cameras. You can find them on the Product Reviews page . As a Chinese company, shipping can be much longer, but the tradeoff is much better prices for action cameras. Also, they will be hosting their 2nd Anniversary Sale, called the Epic GearBest Party, from March 22nd to 24th. If you are holding off on buying an action camera for a better deal, that might be the chance.

High above the urban sprawl of Los Angeles are tiny mountain creeks, holding wild rainbow trout. They are few in number, small, and undeniably striking in a myriad of colors. Despite drought, habitat destruction, harvest by uneducated humans, and a host of other challenges, they continue to survive in stream pockets and pools off the beaten path. How much longer will these creeks continue to hold such beautiful finned treasures?  For Southern California  Oncorhynchus mykiss , catch and release fishing is the option for ethical anglers. 

Just got back from a great trip to the beautiful island of Maui. Snorkeling, hiking, and, of course, fishing! I relief heavily on the awesome fishing tips of iFish user Joloni (read his guide here ) and my past experience fishing in Hawaii. Managed to land several small fish and one awesome barracuda! Check the video for the fishing from the whole trip!

Recently there has been an explosion of portable sonar fish finder devices. As a kid angler, I could only dream of getting my own boat and mounting a sonar to it. It seemed like an eternity till this dream could ever be realized. Now, you can purchase all sorts of portable fish finders, including several exciting models that sync with your phone via Bluetooth or WiFi. Many of these can be casted or trolled, allowing anglers to learn precious information on bottom contour and fish locations.  One of the more powerful portable options is the Fish Hunter 3D . This device is jam packed with fish catching tools, all packed into a ball-shaped sonar roughly the size of a baseball. Courtesy of the guys behind Fish Hunter, I've been using one on recent fishing trips and wanted to share my thoughts on it. I hope this review is useful for anyone considering such a portable fish finder! As I mentioned, there are a lot of different portable fishing sonar devices out. The Fish Hunter is one of t...

[Video report, report with new photos!] Will I ever get tired of urban creek fishing? Tired of fish eager to bite, the thrill of finding a new spot smack dab in the middle of suburbia with no other anglers in sight? Tired of bass and sunfish fishing that doesn't cost me a ridiculous $12-$15 (cough Diamond Valley Lake cough) just to fish? Received a friendly tip on this new urban creek from a great fellow angler. Tales of eager bass were readily received and I quickly hit the road. The creek had recently overflowed its banks, spilling the trash of modern wasteful life across the banks and leaving gross suds in the water. Still, the fish were incredibly eager to bite. I had a hit on my first cast, with a black  Mangler 4'' swimbait  (not my favorite lure but it got the job done), then landed another on the swimbait on my second cast. Nothing amazing, just typical urban creek bass (10'' or so). I continued fishing the rest of the afternoon, catching green sunfish and l...