The punk rockers of fly fishing – angling on the LA River
Few Angelinos are aware that prior to the 1930s, the LA River was home to native rainbow trout and seasonal runs of steelhead and Chinook salmon. The Los Angeles River was, in fact, a trout stream. Then, in 1938, the Army Corps of Engineers began a nearly 20-year process of channelizing the river, encasing its banks in concrete in an effort to control flooding. Today, the concrete canyon of the LA River is not the idyllic, catalog-ready backdrop that comes to mind when most people think of fly fishing. When the water is low, it makes a great location for Hollywood car chase scenes, but it’s not a typical destination for the average fly angler. Luckily, the community of misfit fisher-folk who call the LA River their home waters is anything but average.
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