‘81 Flood Devastated Area Trout Stream : Fly Fishermen Volunteered Time, Money to Rejuvenate San Gabriel’s West Fork

It’s a wild trout stream, 5.35 miles long. On any weekend, you might find 100 fly fishermen, tossing Adams dry and Hare’s Ear nymph patterns on its riffles and quiet pools.

The little stream flows through a canyon, at roughly 2,000 feet elevation, before emptying into a downstream reservoir. Old, gnarly oaks, sycamores and assorted conifers grow on the stream banks and canyon hillsides.

Some of the streamsides have healthy stands of willow and alder, holding the banks together. Wild grasses, white clover and California wildflowers grow on the banks, preventing erosion. It’s a quiet place. You hear cool winds whispering through trees, the hissing of the water and the chatter of birds.

Where is this stream? In the foothills of the Western Sierra Nevada, perhaps? The Wind River range of Wyoming? Somewhere in the Yellowstone system? In the fabled wild trout country of southern Idaho?

None of the above. It’s right here.

The West Fork of the San Gabriel River is only 40 miles from Los Angeles City Hall, 16 miles from the San Bernardino Freeway, no more than an hour’s drive from millions of people. Clearly, wild trout streams aren’t supposed to be in places such as this.

But, even more startling than its close proximity to a major population center, is the fact that only four years ago the West Fork of the San Gabriel River was deceased. You could have found more trout on a tennis court than in the West Fork.

In April, 1981, the Los Angeles County Flood Control District decided to drain upstream Cogswell Reservoir for repairs. Unfortunately, too much water was released too quickly. A devastating flood resulted, killing not only trout in the stream but much of its trout habitat, too. Spawning gravel, streamside grasses and trees--all vital to wild trout habitat--were swept away. More than 100,000 cubic yards of earth were displaced in the flood.

The Department of Fish and Game filed a $2-million suit against the flood control district and the case is pending. But in the spring of 1981, a lot of fly fishermen were asking: “Who’s going to repair the West Fork?” Some gave it up for dead. It was too good to have been true--a wild trout stream, 40 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

Enter the Pasadena Casting Club. Recalls Jim Edmondson, who headed a four-year club project to rehabilitate the stream:

“It looked like a monumental job at the time, and it was. But we realized the DFG didn’t have the money or manpower to do the job, so we volunteered.”

Four years later, the West Fork is back, better than ever, brought to you by those good folks from the Pasadena Casting Club, the fishermen who care.

The stream was reopened to fishing by the Department of Fish and Game last month, after 3,000 volunteer hours of labor by the PCC and 10 other fly-fishing organizations. The PCC’s 250 members spent several thousand dollars of their own money to return the West Fork to its unique role--a genuine wild trout stream, in water-scarce Southern California.

The PCC’s restoration project, under the guidance of the DFG, was divided into four major operations:

Operation Gravel--In August, 1983, the club spent $827.60 for 90 tons of spawning-size gravel to replace what was washed away by the deluge. On one Saturday, more than 70 club members in pickup trucks carrying gravel, wheelbarrows, shovels and gangplanks showed up to spread gravel in the most devastated portions of the streambed.

Operation Grass--Tall grasses such as rye are necessary for erosion control of a wild trout stream’s bank. In December, 1983, club members bearing rakes and sacks of wild seed, walked along the banks, planting seed. Today, high grass grows along the river.

Operation Trees--The flood ripped out rows of willows, alders and birch trees that provided critical shaded areas for trout. In addition, trees on the edge of the river held undercut banks together, providing trout with ideal cover. PCC members cut 1,200 alder and willow cuttings and planted them along the river.

Operation Fish--When all the elements were in place for wild trout, the final ingredient was added.

“We had the stream ready for fish at roughly the same time the Mount Whitney Fish Hatchery had 52 brooders they didn’t have room for,” Edmondson said. “They were put in the West Fork. They spawned shortly afterward. And, right after that, every one of them was poached . . . at a time when the stream was closed to fishing.”

Next, while tiny fry from the Mount Whitney brooders were hovering under the young trees and grasses, some wild trout were transplanted to the West Fork.

“In February, we helped the DFG electro-shock and catch 110 wild little rainbows in Mountain Home Creek in the San Bernardino Mountains,” Edmondson said. “We moved them to the West Fork that same day and released them.”

The West Fork of the San Gabriel, devotees readily admit, will never be a major-league fly-fishing stream. It’s too short and gets too much fishing pressure, they point out. Translation: The stream will never be known as a producer of big trout. That’s not the point, though.

“The West Fork is a terrific instructional stream,” said Ross Merigold, a PCC member. “It’s a great place to conduct seminars and fly-fishing instruction, and we’ll do a lot of that there. If you’re teaching someone to fly fish, the ideal site is a stream with wild trout, not hatchery-raised fish. There’s a special feeling to fishing a wild trout stream, and that’s what we have with the West Fork. To us, it’s special.”

The West Fork of the San Gabriel River is considered one of Southern California’s three best-known wild trout streams, the others being Sespe Creek in Ventura County and Deep Creek in the San Bernardino Mountains.

The West Fork is most easily reached by driving into the San Gabriel Mountains from Azusa on Azusa Avenue (Highway 39) off the 210 Freeway. The stream flows under the highway just after the road passes by the San Gabriel Reservoir. A locked gate bars vehicles, but fishermen can hike the paved flood control district road about a mile and a half to the West Fork’s second bridge, where the 5.35-mile wild trout section begins. The downstream portion is open to bait fishing.

At the second upstream bridge, a sign proclaims:

“Wild Trout Area.

“Limit: 0 (Zero). Catch and release only. All trout hooked must be released unharmed immediately. No trout may be possessed.

“Method of take: Only artificial lures with single, barbless hook . . . the hook barb must be bent closed, removed or manufactured barbless.”

There are roughly 285 miles of officially designated wild trout stream waters in California, plus five lakes.

Emil Godfrey of Westminster, a baker, grew up learning to fly fish the streams of western New York. Later, he lived in Logan, Utah, and caught big brown trout in the Logan River. But he spent one recent afternoon on his first visit to the West Fork.

“I’m new to Southern California and I’d heard this was about it in terms of wild trout streams in Southern California,” he said.

“I’m surprised. It’s much prettier here than I expected. The fishing’s OK--I’ve caught maybe a half-dozen little trout. It’s a pretty, quiet place to escape to once in a while.”