The Price of a Brown

This blog entry is an homage to one of the most bizarre and remote So. Cal. waters I know of. I have been there very few times and timing can be key to avoid overgrown jungle-like bushwhacking, bugs, snakes and summer heat. It's also one of the most obscene workouts I know and my buddy and I pondered whether or not we'd ever return. Recent training for a run (race) had me a bit better off fitness-wise than I feared but it was still a brutal trek of off-trail terrain and elevation issues. Let this serve as an indicator that 2010 is going to be an amazing year for So. Cal. trout fanatics.
Take a close look at this shot. Click to enlarge. This adorable trout stream has a line of PVC in it. Middle of nowhere. Not cool.

The "Black Diamond Trout Society" tradition lives on as we scrambled down impossible banks to find fat butter-bellied browns.

Be careful and go get 'em!

The Hills Are Dead and Alive

A recent trek had not only trout make an appearance but also a number of random characters such as a dead fox, a cougar slaughtered deer(?), a VERY alive rattler and the telltale signs of Smokey himself! Hmmm am I forgeting anything? It was life and death in a nutshell. Pretty intense.





The gloves, for you black diamond trout folk, help reduce sun damage but really shine in giving you less fear when grabbing branches, bushwhacking, leaning on boulders and clearing plants that could be toxic. The gloves are certainly not ideal fish handling items but these were soaking wet and the fish was gently handled and quickly released.

The Obama Trout

Somewhere in Southern California is a stream or should I say a section of stream? Dead by most accounts and heavily tormented by the manipulations of men and the elements. The last few years were brutal. With heavy heart I wandered back to see how it has fared. The fish were fewer and smaller but they were there. Perhaps there's HOPE. Taken Pearl Harbor Day 2008.

Here's what I and some friends used to find in this stream (photo currently being used by Cal Trout at their site).

Note the signature "arched thumb for dramatic effect".