It is not a river in the strictest sense of the term, nor is it exclusively in Southern California, but it is the closest thing the Los Angeles area has to a year-round, large-flow watercourse that contains big fish. I am talking about the California Aqueduct, which flows more than four hundred miles from the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta to San Bernardino County, mostly as an open channel. In large part, the aqueduct courses along the western edge of the San Joaquin Valley. However, the focus here is on that portion south of the Tehachapi Mountains known as the East Branch, generally between Interstate 5 and Interstate 15, which snakes along the northern side of the San Gabriel Mountains north of Greater Los Angeles. There are big rivers in the Los Angeles region that carry large amounts of water during rainy winters, but they are often reduced to low or no flows during the summer. Those extreme conditions are not conducive to sustaining a population of large resident fish or to fishing. The California Aqueduct, in contrast, has a large and very consistent flow and is fishable throughout the year.
Many Southland fly fishers drive by the East Branch of the aqueduct on their way to the Sierra in their pursuit of trout, perhaps without giving the adjacent waterway a second thought or even realizing that it contains fish. And it does contain fish! There is a large variety of fish, both prey and predators, throughout the aqueduct. According to Mike Giusti, a biologist for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, there are no known fishery studies of the aqueduct, and unfortunately, none are planned. However, Giusti says that the same species that are found in the Delta can be expected to inhabit the aqueduct, since it serves as a conduit for fish dispersion. In the East Branch, the prominent baitfish are shad, perch, sculpins and silversides. The prominent game fish are catfish, carp, largemouth bass, and striped bass, with the premier game fish being the stripers.
Striped bass are special because of their fighting ability and because they can grow very large. The sport-fishing world record is 81.8 pounds, for a behemoth caught off the coast of Connecticut in 2011. The record striper for California is 67.5 pounds, caught in 1992 in the San Luis Reservoir’s O’Neill Forebay, which is part of the State Water Project, of which the aqueduct also is a part. Although stripers can be taken with a fly rod, relatively few fly fishers pursue them. Still, the California and world record for a striper on a fly rod is 54.8 pounds, caught on a 16-pound-test tippet by Alfred Whitehurst in 1989, also in the O’Neill Forebay.
The stripers in the East Branch of the aqueduct grow very large, too. Department of Water Resources staff members report finding stripers up to 68 pounds when draining sections for maintenance. That would be a new state record if caught by rod and reel. So it is possible to catch a very big fish in the East Branch. Usually, stripers are targeted from a boat in the many reservoirs supplied by the aqueduct. But the aqueduct gives fly fishers a chance to pursue this prized game fish on foot.
The Watercourse
The East Branch of the aqueduct is smaller than the aqueduct north of the Tehachapi Mountains, but it is still impressive in size. The concrete channel is trapezoidal in cross section — its dimensions vary, but generally, the width at the top is 90 feet, the flat base is approximately 14 to 20 feet, and the total depth is typically 18 to 20 feet. The depth of the water is typically 12 to 16 feet, making the width of the actual stream about 75 to 80 feet across.
In several places, the open channel goes underground via huge tunnels in order to pass under canyons and roads, then resurfaces, often quite a distance downstream. This creates segments or sections of the aqueduct, with water gates at each end. Flow is generally by gravity, and the rate of flow is controlled by the water gates. There are seasonal and daily differences in flow, with summer and night volumes usually greater than winter and daytime volumes. According to the California Department of Water Resources, the East Branch can push through 3,000 cubic feet of water per second. The speed of the current ranges from zero when the gates are closed to three feet per second when the gates are open. But anecdotal reports indicate that the current can rip through the aqueduct much faster.
A few words of caution: due to the steep concrete embankments of the aqueduct, people have slipped into the water and drowned. There are permanent ladders and float lines placed along the channel for safety in case someone does fall in, but the safest practice is to wear rubber-soled shoes and avoid the steep sides of the channel, especially if they are mossy and strewn with pebbles.
Reading the water of the aqueduct can be daunting. The aqueduct lacks many of the features of a natural river. However, there are structures that help in locating fish. The aqueduct water gates play a key role in fishing, in that they are a main source of structure and attract fish by creating feeding lies when they are open. Other prominent features are bridges and the outer bends in the watercourse, where the current rubs against the channel. Although few in number, an important feature are grates within the embankments, where baitfish seek shelter from predators that lurk nearby. There are other large structures submerged and usually unseen in the channel, such as automobiles and in one case a rocket launcher. These items, resulting from illegal dumping, are eventually removed by DWR maintenance crews. While such structures are temporary, they are important to the fish and to the angler who knows their location. There are also subtle features that provide structure for fish, especially largemouth bass and baitfish, such as sandbars and weeds. And of course, the fish themselves occasionally reveal their location.
Generally when the aqueduct waters are still, reading the water becomes a more difficult task. When the water is not flowing, you are essentially fishing a lake or pond, so you will be casting to cover the water. But knowledge of the structures noted above and careful observation will still help you locate fish.
Tactics
For specific knowledge about fishing the aqueduct, I turned to a veteran local fisherman, Bill Rini. Known as “Striper Bill,” he has been fishing the East Branch of the aqueduct intensively for more than thirty years, usually daily from the spring through the fall and weekly during the winter. If the author Malcolm Gladwell is correct that it takes roughly ten thousand hours to achieve mastery in a field, Striper Bill is an expert many times over. He maintains a Web site devoted to fishing the aqueduct, and he has caught untold numbers of big stripers in the East Branch up to 30-plus pounds. Although Bill flings lures, his tactics can be applied to fly fishing. Indeed, he has helped many anglers over the years, including fly fishers, to become successful on this water, and I have relied on his expertise throughout this article.
Gear
A 6-weight to 8-weight medium-fast or fast fly rod used for streamers would work well for stripers. When fishing subsurface flies, you could use conventional sinking or sink-tip lines, but you may have more success with a T-8 tungsten shooting head (or T-11 for an 8-weight) tied to Amnesia running line to get your fly down deeper and quicker and to gain more distance on your cast. The weight and action of your rod will determine the length of the shooting head. Your local fly shop can set you up with a shooting head and running line for about half the cost of a conventional fly line. A stout 7-1/2-foot to 9-foot leader with a 2X or 1X tippet will complement this setup. This is consistent with Striper Bill’s recommendation for a 15-pound-test line. A reel with a large arbor is preferred, but one with a good drag is a must.
Surprisingly, Bill Rini fishes the surface first and foremost, and he is very effective at enticing big stripers up from the depths. For top-water action, you could use an intermediate sinking, intermediate sink-tip, or floating line to work flies across the surface.
Flies
Subsurface streamers such as Whistlers, Deceivers, Clousers and Larry’s Minnows are proven flies that striped bass relish. The 54.8-pounder mentioned above was fooled by a Lefty’s Deceiver. Striper Bill recommends a rattlefly if there is no surface action. For top-water action, pencil poppers and other conventional top-water flies are viable options. Or you can make the Low Rider Popper described in Nick Curcione’s article in the January/February 2015 issue of California Fly Fisher. Remember, aqueduct stripers are landlocked anadromous fish, so what works in the ocean will work in freshwater, too. When Bill Rini talks about “matching the hatch,” he really means having the lure match the baitfish in color and shape, then “supersizing” it.
He is a firm believer in the old adage, the bigger the lure (or fly), the bigger the fish.
The Cast
Conventional fly-fishing wisdom says that 90 percent of the fish are caught within 40 feet of the angler. That’s probably because only 10 percent of the casts are longer than 40 feet. For lakes, ponds, large rivers, and the aqueduct, I contend that the biggest fish and the most challenging fish are often caught beyond 40 feet, or at least result from a cast longer than 40 feet. Moreover, it is indisputable that a longer cast will potentially show your fly to more fish.
It is imperative to make long casts if you want to increase your odds of success by covering all the water from bank to bank. If you cannot consistently cast a shooting head with a streamer a minimum of 75 feet or cast an intermediate or f loating line a minimum of 60 feet, you may want to work with a casting instructor and practice until you can achieve and exceed that goal. Ultimately, you will want to cast a streamer consistently with a shooting head over 90 feet or with an intermediate or a floating line over 75 feet. Knowing how to make a long cast will pay off whether you are fishing the aqueduct or a lake or if you want to pick off a big, bank-feeding trout on the far side of a river.
Making the long cast with a fly rod is counterintuitive. If we could increase the distance of the cast simply by trying harder, that is, by using brute force, that would be easy. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. Instead, it takes timing, smoothness, and form (think relatively narrow loops) to maximize distance. Using more force without the right timing, smoothness, and form will generally kill the cast. We are all familiar with the old exhortation, “Let the rod do the work.” There’s a lot of potential energy stored in a deeply bent rod. Use it to make long casts.
The Retrieve
Regarding retrieves, stillwater trout expert Denny Rickards says, “Let the fish tell you what they like” — experiment until you get some action. This is generally good advice, but when going for stripers in the aqueduct, Bill Rini says it pays to be on the aggressive side. By that he means using faster retrieves and creating a lot of surface commotion. He likes to cast directly across the channel, with some casts aimed slightly upstream and some downstream, to within a couple of feet of the opposite bank. His basic method is to “walk the dog,” that is, make a popper zigzag across the surface in quick, short bursts. This may imitate an injured baitfish, or it may just trigger a primordial, savage response in stripers. Either way, this retrieve can entice a large striper to launch like a Polaris missile from the bottom and intercept your fly. This is dry-fly fishing on steroids.
For subsurface fishing, Larry Kurosaki, a fly-fishing guide from nearby Castaic, also recommends an aggressive retrieve. The pulls on the line should be quick and erratic, consisting of a combination of short and long pulls. And these pulls should be in an irregular pattern, for example, 6 inches, 12 inches, 6 inches, 24 inches, 24 inches, 6 inches, 36 inches, and so on. Again, the pulls should be quick, with hardly a pause between them. Kurosaki suggests that this retrieve imitates a vulnerable baitfish, something that stripers find hard to resist.
Where to Fish
There are 16 official fishing access points along the California Aqueduct. (Google “California Aqueduct Fishing Access.”) Most are located at the western edge of the San Joaquin Valley. Five are located along the East Branch of the aqueduct in the Antelope Valley, north of Greater Los Angeles: Elizabeth Lake, on the east side of Munz Ranch Road, approximately 1-1/2 miles north of Johnson Road; Quartz Hill, at Godde Hill Road, approximately 3/4 of a mile south of West Avenue N; Palmdale, on the north side of Avenue S, 8/10 of a mile west of Highway 14; Littlerock, at 77th Street East, 3/10 of a mile south of Highway 138; and Pearblossom, on the southeast side of Longview Road (131st Street East), approximately two miles south of Highway 138.
These are the official access sites. There are other access points — basically where roads cross over or are near the aqueduct and where there is an entry portal and signage permitting fishing. Once you have access to the aqueduct, you can range along the paved access road that parallels the channel (the Littlerock site has a dirt road). Of course, there is fencing restricting access around the water gates for safety and security, and at some sites, there are short fences near the access openings, presumably to protect kids and pets from falling into the channel. Two other sites that Striper Bill likes to fish in the Palmdale area are the west side of the Sierra Highway, one mile north of the Pearblossom Highway intersection, and the east side of Barrel Springs Road, approximately half a mile southeast of the Pearlblossom Highway. He likes these spots because of they are convenient to his home and especially because they have water gates. Rini states that all sections of the aqueduct contain big fish, and it is just a matter of connecting with them.
More important than which section of the aqueduct you choose is where in the section you fish and how you fish it. Although striped bass move around a lot, they do gravitate to structure at times, such as water gates and bridges. Water gates are the most prominent structure in the Elizabeth Lake, Sierra Highway, Barrel Springs, and Pearblossom locations. When the gates are open, water flows, and they attract fish. On the upstream side of an open gate, stripers typically position themselves immediately in front of the gates to intercept food that the current brings to them. These are the conditions in which Bill Rini once caught a 30-pound striper and on the following cast a 20-plus-pounder. On the downstream side of a gate, the stripers often are in the calmer water adjacent to the current rushing through the gates, again waiting for food to come by. They often lie 100 to 200 feet downstream from the gate.
The Quartz Hill, Palmdale, and Littlerock access points have bridges as prominent structures. Stripers tend to congregate under bridges and adjacent abutments or even in the shade cast by bridges. And although the aqueduct is generally linear, it does have sweeping curves and often a series of S curves. You should target the outside bends when the water is flowing. Stripers can be found there at the current edge where the fast and slow water meet.
In the long stretches between curves and structure, look for weed beds, sandbars, and signs of fish. Occasionally, with careful observation you may notice small bubbles on the surface, which often indicate the presence of carp. When you notice plumes of murky water billowing in the current, these usually indicate that carp are aggressively bottom feeding, which often dislodges sculpins. When that happens, according to Bill Rini, big stripers are not far away, picking off the sculpins. You may also notice baitfish near the banks, which is a good sign. When they are acting agitated, it is even a better sign, because it indicates that a predator is nearby. In the fall, stripers corral baitfish and force them on to the embankment. If you are fortunate to experience this “boil,” simply cast your fly in or near the frenetic jumble, then hold on.
When
According to Bill Rini, water temperature is a main determinant of fishing success. Mike Giusti, a Fish and Wildlife biologist for the area, says that the optimal temperature range for striped bass is 77 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit. Water temperatures reach down into the 40s and 30s in the winter, Rini says, so stripers can be very lethargic during this season. You will need to slow down your retrieve when the water is frigid. Still, stripers can be caught at that time of the year, and Striper Bill has a photo of a large striper in the snow to prove it.
However, things really start to heat up, literally, in April and continue into the summer. This four-month period and a small window during the fall are the prime times to fish the East Branch. To be candid, the conditions can be sweltering at midday during the summer. The aqueduct is on the edge of the Mohave Desert, after all. So during the summer, you may want to focus your time on the water on when the sun is low in the sky. Dawn is one of the coolest times of the day and, coincidentally, the best for fishing, Rini says, because the gates are usually open and the water is moving. The water gates typically are open from the late evening to the early morning and often all day on weekends. Summer evenings, especially the time before dusk, though it is still warm, is a special time for surface action.
The Experience
The East Branch of the California Aqueduct doesn’t compare with the rivers of Northern California or the Sierra in terms of scenery. The aqueduct’s surroundings are stark, although the Lake Elizabeth and Pearblossom sections, which are in rural areas, are surrounded by hills covered with chaparral and desert scrub, and they have their own beauty. There are no trees, and there is no other riparian vegetation adjacent to the channel. But on the other hand, there is no vegetation to snare your casts. Nor do you have to bushwhack to get to the water’s edge. As indicated previously, there is a paved road for walking along the channel, and the gradient is imperceptible. That is, access is extremely easy along the aqueduct. Moreover, all the areas of aqueduct mentioned above, even those adjacent to urbanized areas, are surprisingly free of litter, graffiti and, on weekdays, crowds. So, the aqueduct is not without positive attributes as an angling destination.
The water, of course, is the primary focus. You are not preoccupied with the aesthetic qualities of the surroundings when your rod is doubled over and the reel’s drag is slipping under the surge of a heavy fish. However, the fishing can be challenging. It is not a game of big numbers, although you may find a pod of schoolies and rack up a half dozen or so stripers in the 2-to-4-pound range. You may also have days when you pick up one or two large ones, that is, in the 5-to-10-pound range or larger. If you do land a really hefty fish, don’t bask in the afterglow. Recast quickly. Bill Rini says that big stripers seem to come in pairs, so a quick recast may connect you with another heavy fish. And, of course, you may have days on the aqueduct when you basically just practice your casting.
In times of drought, when the water levels of lakes, reservoirs, and streams are diminished, it’s a good bet that the aqueduct will continue to be full, since it is a main source of water for Southern California. And the fish will be there, too. It is a fishing resource you may want to consider. If you live in the San Fernando Valley, the San Gabriel Valley, Santa Clarita Valley, and especially the Antelope Valley, the aqueduct makes for a convenient day trip. Or on your next trek to the Sierra from the Southland, you may want to plan your itinerary to include a stop at sunrise to fish the aqueduct. You could end up catching the biggest fish of your trip — or perhaps the biggest fish of the season.
