Native Southern California fish?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Matt724

Matt724

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Jan 19, 2009
1,418
0
66
Los Angeles, CA
Anyone know any fish I can catch in say a local stream in the Southern California Valley area? Like Sherman Oaks, Northridge, West Hills? I'd love to try picking up some small fish from local areas and buying maybe a small 20L. for them to put in my room. PLease letme know before Thanksgiving so I can go for a small fishing trip during Thanksgiving break =).

All feedback MUCH appreciated :)
 
oh very nice! So how'd you catch them? With a regular hand net? Did you ever get them to breed? So I gotta add Castaic Lake to my hitlist. lol. I was actually there a few weeks ago for a crosscountry race (did horribly, but thats besides the point) :) Do you have any information like size, water temp, pH, etc that you can share about these guys?

Anyone have anyother places? I was hoping someone knew some secret pond/stream that held some pretty darters or something.
 
Matt724;3627682; said:
oh very nice! So how'd you catch them? With a regular hand net? Did you ever get them to breed? So I gotta add Castaic Lake to my hitlist. lol. I was actually there a few weeks ago for a crosscountry race (did horribly, but thats besides the point) :) Do you have any information like size, water temp, pH, etc that you can share about these guys?

Anyone have anyother places? I was hoping someone knew some secret pond/stream that held some pretty darters or something.
Click to expand...
Caught them with sabiki jigs used for catching smelt off the pier or dock before any fishing trip. I don't know anything about these guys. They're VERY fragile. I lost a few and fed the rest to my fish. Also Santa Ana River Lake, there are white sturgeons.
 
I am pretty sure keeping a 2ft white sturgeon for a tank in CA is VERY illegal as they have to be like 60" to keep.
 
Oh wow! that's so cool that you caught a sturgeon down here in socal. I thought they prefered cooler waters like up by northern cali and oregon area. What a stunner! But I highly doubt I could keep one of those in a 20L for long lol. And the Santa Ana River Lake is a tad bit far for me, but if I'm ever in that area, i'll be sure to check it out, thanks.

I was looking around and everyone seems to have some darter sp. of somesort. Does socal have any? I'd love to try and catch one. I was also hoping that some local streams might hold native crayfish, maybe? Does anyone know?
 
i have caught plety of crays dipnetting in nor cal. have you consided sunfish?
 
Something called a Sacramento Chub :)
There are a lot of Cyprinids and Suckers found in Cali, as well as Sacramento Perch (which would outgrow a 20 Long)
 
Dipnetting just means using an ordinary small net with a handle and fine mesh to sweep through the water and try to scoop up some critters. Aquarium nets can be used, but are easily torn; sporting goods stores have more durable nets.

I understand California has pretty restrictive laws on taking and keeping fish. Be sure you check fishing regs first. It may be that you can only catch-and-release, but that's still fun. Many of Cali's natives are rare and protected. There are also many exotics present, which range from stocked sport fish such as bass and sunfish to invasives such as Shimofuri gobies. All of these may have different regs, and it's important that you know what you have, so study some field guides or online fish keys before going out.

That said, here are some links to fishes found in your area:

Los Angeles drainage area
Santa Monica Bay drainage area

And here's a clickable map that will let you explore the faunas of other drainages: http://www.natureserve.org/getData/dataSets/watershedHucs/#Using
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom