Outdoors : State Taking Flyer on Piru : A 1.3-Mile Section of the Creek Will Become Wild Trout Fishery Thursday

This might come as news to the trout in the upper reaches of Piru Creek, but after today it’s no more worms, no more salmon eggs, no more Power Bait.

That’s it, fellas. From now on it’s a steady diet of artificial flies and lures-- yecchhh!-- but here’s the good news: no barbed hooks, and even if you are caught by fishermen, they’ll have to throw you back.

With the revised, 1990 state fishing regulations becoming effective Thursday, there will be a statewide limit of five trout per day, 10 in possession, and the top 1.3 miles of Piru Creek below the Pyramid Lake dam will join Sespe Creek, Deep Creek, Bear Creek and the West Fork of the San Gabriel River as the only Southern California streams to be managed as wild trout fisheries. That means no more fish plants and, for Piru, a zero limit.

Some bait fishermen might have to adjust, but fly fishermen are delighted--particularly the Sierra Pacific Flyfishers of the San Fernando Valley for whom the designation comes as the culmination of a long campaign.

“It’s the closest stream to our club’s area, so we sort of adopted it,� said club President Duwayne Chebul, an Inglewood police detective.

The club’s proprietary attitude about Piru is understandable. The members have not only fished it but cared for it, periodically organizing weekend work parties to pick up trash, build trails down the steep banks, install concrete pads for trash cans and manage the trees and brush.

Initially, Piru will be the state’s first roadside wild trout stream, which isn’t necessarily good. The old Highway 99, replaced by Interstate 5 26 years ago, runs alongside from the Frenchman’s Flat undeveloped campground to Pyramid Dam. The stream is only 45 miles from downtown Los Angeles, accessible via the Templin Highway turnoff from I-5 north of Castaic, and an abundance of litter is evidence that it attracts heavy use for many outdoor activities.

“This doesn’t have to be the exclusive property of the Sierra Pacific Fly Fishers or fly fishermen in general,� Chebul said. “But I think you’ll find that fly fishermen tend to be conservationists.�

CalTrans, considering maintenance costs, is thinking about placing a chain across the abandoned road that would force anglers to walk a mile or more to the wild trout stretch. The fly fishermen would welcome the chain. They figure they would be able to spend more time fishing and less time picking up after other users who don’t regard Piru with the same reverence.

George Chapman, a retired Navy commander who spearheaded the campaign, organized last weekend’s project to tidy up Piru for its wild trout debut.

“We fishermen do not mind walking a mile or two,� Chapman said. “The picnickers and others who leave their trash are looking for something close to the road.�

Mike Wickman, district ranger for the U.S. Forest Service, said: “There is a segment of the public that feels they have to drive right down to the stream--or in it. It would enhance that wild trout area if they couldn’t drive all the way there.�

The Department of Fish and Game ceased planting most of the wild trout stretch a couple of years ago as it studied Piru for possible designation. The new regulations extend the zone another half-mile down to a 10-foot waterfall created by a broken-down concrete culvert, which is decorated with graffiti. Below that, for another 1.3 miles down to Frenchman’s Flat and beyond, bait will still be permitted, and the DFG will continue to plant 17,000 trout annually.

The purpose is to create and preserve a higher-quality fishery with bigger, smarter fish, without shortchanging bait fishermen. The falls form a natural separation. The wild trout will be able to wander downstream, but the more easily caught lot from the hatchery can’t go uptown to mingle with the wild bunch.

By the nature of their regulations, wild trout streams are for fly fishermen, who observe the catch-and-release ethic like a religion and reserve their contempt for Power Bait. Or litterbugs.

But an angler can’t have it both ways. Unlike artificial lures or flies, fish tend to swallow the hook with edible bait, sealing their own doom.

John Deinstadt, associate fishery biologist for the DFG in charge of the wild trout program, said: “It isn’t our mission to establish fisheries for fly fishermen. If bait angling would work, I’d be very much in favor of it.�

Deinstadt’s figures show that fish hooked on bait have a mortality rate in excess of 50%, those taken on artificial flies and lures only 3% to 5%.

Fly angling takes some practice but, Deinstadt said, “Almost anyone can handle a lure. We are establishing an area for anyone who enjoys the challenge of wild trout fishing and is willing to use gear which allows them to quickly release the trout they land back into the creek.�

The plan, he said, is “to displace as few ‘catchable’ anglers as possible.�

Dennis Halliwell of Tujunga, fishing Piru with 9-year-old Jerrod Macpherson on Saturday, didn’t know he was about to be displaced. His favorite fishing hole is a large pool at the head of the new wild trout area.

“It’s a nice, quiet place,� Halliwell said.

The fishing was so good, Halliwell said, that “I’m trying to teach the kid patience, but he gets a bite every time he throws the bait out.�

They were using red salmon eggs. Told that the new regulations were to go into effect Thursday, Halliwell noted: “That’s my birthday. Bureaucracy in action. They seem to regulate the things you enjoy the most.�

Halliwell didn’t think he would become a fly angler.

“I’ve tried,� he said. “Can’t get the hang of it. I usually throw ‘em back, anyway.�

The Sierra Pacific Flyfishers were organized in 1973, and a few years ago when the DFG was mandated to add 25 miles of stream and two lakes to its wild trout program every year, the Flyfishers started thumping for Piru Creek.

“We were politically naive,� Chapman said.

But with the help of CalTrout’s regional director, Jim Edmondson, they learned. Chapman wrote letters and circulated petitions. The DFG took surveys--one showing that Piru held about one fish per linear foot, most only 3 to 6 inches but some up to 14 inches.

Another survey showed that from August of 1988 through July of ‘89, Piru--a year-round fishery--was subjected to 56,344 angling hours and yielded 66,054 trout, of which 46,634 were released. Bait anglers released 57% of their catches, fly anglers 97%.

The conclusions were that Piru had the potential to become a premier trout stream, but the fish would need a chance to grow--thus, a zero limit.

Deinstadt thinks it can rival Hot Creek, the premier Eastern Sierra wild trout fishery. “It will not be a Hot Creek in terms of the size of trout or the splendid setting, but it should equal Hot Creek in terms of total trout landed (per) mile of stream.�

The stream’s future seems assured by a guaranteed flow through the California Aqueduct system. Most of the water from Pyramid is passed to Castaic Lake, but Piru Creek has a steady flow, recommended by the DFG and mandated by the State Department of Water Resources’ permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Even without that guarantee, Chapman said, he would be willing to make sacrifices. “I’d give up my green grass in Los Angeles for a trout stream,� he said.