a river runs through it…

It is great to see lots of young anglers excited about fishing the la river these days. I recently went back to the LAR these past two weekends with a couple of good buddies, and had the first hand experience of enjoying them hook and land their first carp on the fly. I was fortunate to get introduced to this place around ten years ago by another good fishing buddy Jon Nakano, me and James Dwyer met him at the concrete river and fished what we called dough flies back then. They were just some wool over a small hook with maybe one wrap of lead around the shank to let them sink very slowly in the current. We would drift them right to the holding carp and they ate them like popcorn. We all connected back then but it was to be quite frank, a little sketchy down there, populated with some crazy local homeless characters.

Al Q back in 2007 with a concrete carp. Photo by James Dwyer.

Al Q back in 2007 with a concrete carp and a vulcan sleep hold. Photo by James Dwyer.

Now with Friends of the LA River (FOLAR) making people more aware of this really cool place, it is getting a little cleaner, family friendly and more people are starting to experience the little jewel that runs right through the heart of downtown LA. If you can eliminate some of the trash, wires over head and graffiti, there are some stretches of the river that can make you forget you are in a populated urban environment. Anyhow, here a a few pics from the last couple of weekends, the smiles in my friends faces will paint the pictures and as you will see the carp are still eating flies…

photo by Al Q

couple of canadian geese enjoying the early morning photo by Al Q

my good buddy Jim Solomon with his first LA river goldfish. Photo by Al Q

Nick Blixt changing flies. Photo by Al Q

Here’s one I got drifting a fly through a run. Photo by Al Q

any fly that rides hook up and has some weight deepening on the flow of water will work. If the water is deeper that two feet add a small split shot. Photo by Al Q

any fly that rides hook up and has some weight to get it down depending on the flow of water will work. If the water is deeper that two feet add a small split shot. red and black, white and chartreuse work good. Photo by Al Q

Glenn Ueda is all smiles after masterfully landing this trophy LA river carp. His first carp on flyand it ate a #10, red and black fly I tied. Photo by Al Q