David Siskind | Sunday, 9 November 2025
Ahhhh the joys of Civic Participation. I voted (early by mail) to redistrict CA in yesterday's bellwether election. I may have underestimated my peeps. It was a top-to-bottom rebuke of the current regime here and everywhere. My friends in NY joyously reprised the days of Fiorello LaGuardia celebrating the election of Zohran Mamdani to the mayoralty. I’ll try not to smoke too much hopium but it’s better than doomscrolling. Good days have been rare and their effect is overwhelmed quickly by scary stuff. Sunday night I’ll call into the Los Angeles County Superior Court to see if they need me to fill out a jury. I’ll be on call all week. Though the Feds are closed, everyone else is open for business.
I’ve been practicing on the grass since returning from NY a couple of weeks ago and needed to go out for a fish. There are’ waves at Shitpipe (outfall of Hyperion* STP) are 8-10’ for the next couple of days so the river was the only option. I went to the bowling alley. Plenty of fish showed. I got two to eat a pink merkin crab, the most popular corbina fly and my favorite on the beach. I might be able to fish LA with only one fly year round. Wouldn’t that be cool. Also made me wonder why I’m fishing a sinking line in the swash. I’ll try the floater next time the beans are on the beach. Certainly would be easier to pick up and reposition. I know some people fish halibut with floating lines in the surf - the theory there is that flatfish don’t like the sinking lines stripped over their backs.
I fished with my HT6 and a SA Amplitude Bonefish WF6F with a 12’ 3x leader. I worked with my drag and drop presentation - casting a bit past the fish and stripping the fly into the dinnerplate and dropping it. It’s challenging in a river even if slow moving. I lined and spooked several fish when approaching from downstream and found curved casts stealthier. Maintaining good contact with the fly and drawing it by or tumbling it close to the fish worked twice. I only brought one of the eaters to hand. The larger one got unbuttoned as I was trying to net it. The one I photographed was probably 18 months old I’m guessing - small enough to hold in one hand and shoot a selfie like Ben Crump did a month ago. Neato.
I went out again on Friday and ran into Ben. He has really immersed himself in LA River carping and his drag and drop and approach to carping have evolved noticeably. I felt like I was showing him the ropes last year and am now sitting at his feet. He’s been killing it. I’m impressed for sure. He covers the whole river relentlessly (I get tired) and fishes with confidence and economy. My central take-away from watching him converse with some tipping fish is that he casts quartering upstream and well past the fish. The plop of the weighted fly spooks the fish way more than the settling of the cast line. I’ve been too close - the fish flinch and game over. My attempts at this fell short as I was losing track of my fly before I could drop it in. So today I went out to a rocky stretch a mile further upstream to train it using my bright pink merkin and feeding it to rocks rather than fish. I think I’m getting it. Despite my intention to limit my efforts to training today, I came upon some fish, fed and caught one on a small (no 12) dark nymph - bye bye pink fly. Ben has been throwing some larger meat further downstream. He told me he was inspired by witnessing what looked like a mass moulting of crayfish. They were everywhere. I, on the other hand, saw a spinner-fall of small baetidae where I was fishing and the fish appeared to be picking stuff out of the drift. Complicated fish, complicated river.
I have a lesson with Paul tomorrow. Can't wait.
*Note to Tourists
Hyperion Reclamation Facility is one of the largest waste treatment plants in the world. It’s huge, like a city, with a mind-boggling array of technologies in use treating 450 million gallons per day. It’s really amazing. There are various ways of signing up for a tour. It’s worth it. I bet your traveling companions will prefer it to Universal City or Disneyland.
David Siskind