Digital Camera

 Locating a tiny creek through online research and discussion with other fishermen, then hiking in and actually fishing it sucessfully is truly rewarding. Such was the case for one of my recent fishing trips in the San Bernardino National Forest.  Armed with my ultralite fishing gear, I located this miniscule watershed and proceeded to catch many healthy Redband-strain rainbow trout in less than an hour. All fish were quickly released back into their mountain stream environment, colorful patterns and all. The creek has been through a lot, with natural disasters and manmade problems really hurting the fish population. Still, some fish still exist here, as evidenced in the video I took of the trip: 

Flows were low but still consistent on this wild stream deep in the Southern California mountains. We landed several beautiful brown trout from crystal-clear pools    Photos and video with BlackVue Sport Action Camera All trout were released safely.  Until next time! Video:

Went hiking and exploring the San Gabriel River for new spots. The weather was a little chilly, by California standards, but the clear skies made up for the cold. We found plenty of interesting water, including deep pools and bends, but no fish. Perhaps in the coming months these spots will be worth returning to. Still, it wasn't a bad trip, as the fantastic scenery is a testament to! Check the video below as well for a better idea of the variety of locations we scouted.

Fishing for wild rainbow trout in the many mountain streams of Southern California has become one of my favorite pastimes.  While I love hunting largemouth bass and other warmwater species, wild trout in crystal clear, ice-cold streams are a treat to catch like no other. Recently, I took a new approach to photographing these fragile wild fish.  Keeping them out of water too long for a picture unduly stresses them, making it difficult to get a nice shot. Instead, I brought along a small "trout box", a clear plastic container, filled with (on occasion) stream water, to allow the trout to calm down and get a nice photo. (Click below for more photos after the jump) On my trial run with this box, at an unnamed stream, the trout box was perfect.  The fish all appeared considerably more relaxed than they normally would be in the grasp of a human and were all returned to this secret mountain stream quickly, without noticeable harm. I hope you enjoy t...

Went hiking in the San Gabriels, Angeles National Forest. Came across a fantastic waterfall with a deep pool at its base. The rest of the creek wasn't great for fishing, but this pool produced two tough, chunky rainbows, around the 12-14'' range. First was caught on a soft plastic worm/jighead, the second on a Yo-Zuri Snap Bean imitation lure. Both released to be caught another day.

San Dimas Reservoir, in the Los Angeles National Forest, is in the hills above San Dimas, California. It's a fairly small reservoir, when compared to the nearby San Gabriel, Morris and Big Dalton reservoirs (only one of those is open for fishing, sadly). This region was hit pretty hard by the Williams Fire , several years back. I've heard the fire resulted in a lot of soot and other debris being deposited in San Dimas Reservoir, and that, along with recent draining and dredging, supposedly killed the most of the fishery that previously existed. Reports from local fishing websites described trout, bass, sunfish and catfish being caught at San Dimas Reservoir prior to that fire, but I hadn't seen any new reports in a long time. Still, the reservoir is listed as open for fishing online and that was enough for me to go check it out.(More on the legal status of fishing at this reservoir below). I was able to shoot some footage while overlooking the reservoir and you can watch i...