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Trout Fishing in the Berkeley Hills*
Since the days when Izaak Walton wrote The Complete Angler, men have emulated his example, and gone forth with rod and reel to tempt the finny tribe from dashing mountain brook or quiet river. We, being his disciples, thought to follow his example, and spend the day in the Berkeley hills whipping the stream for the wary brook trout. April first is the open season for trout in California, but owing to the scarcity of rain we feared the water in the brook would be too low for good fishing. Providence favored us, however, with a steady downpour on Wednesday, which put new hope in our hearts, and water in the stream; and we decided to try our luck on Saturday afternoon, and take what came to our hooks as a "gift of the gods." Accordingly, we met at the Ferry Building, fully equipped, and took the boat across San Francisco Bay, thence by cars to Claremont, and from there struck into the hills. The wind blew cold from the bay, having a clear sweep up through the Golden Gate, but as soon as we began to make the ascent our coats became a burden. It was a hard, tedious climb over the first range of hills, but upon reaching the summit and looking down into the valley we felt well repaid for our trouble, as we gazed in awed delight upon the magnificent view spread out below us like a panorama. The valley stretches out in either direction far below us, as if to offer an uninterrupted flow for the mountain brook through which it passes. We counted twelve peaks surrounding the valley, their rounded domes glowing with the beautiful California poppy, like a covering of a cloth of gold, while below the peaks the sloping sides looked like green velvet. Here and there pine groves dotted the landscape, while madrones and manzanitas stood out vividly against their dark-green background. Orinda Creek, the object of our quest, runs through this beautiful valley, shut in on each side by the hills. Along the trail leading to the stream blue and white lupines grow in profusion, giving a delicate amethyst tinge to the landscape. Wild honeysuckle, with its pinkish-red blossoms, is on every side and the California azalea fringes both banks of the stream, its rich foliage almost hidden by magnificent clusters of white and yellow flowers, which send out a delightful, spicy fragrance, that can be detected far back from the stream. The meadow larks called from the hillside their quaint "Spring o' the year," the song sparrows sang their tinkling melody from the live oaks, catbirds mewed from the thicket, and occasionally a linnet sang its rollicking solo as it performed queer acrobatic feats while on the wing. Ahead of us a blue jay kept close watch over our movements, but at last decided that we are harmless, and with a last shriek of defiance flew away to pour out his vituperations on other hapless wanderers. Adjusting our rods, and baiting our hooks with salmon roe, we crept down to where a little fall sent the water swirling around a rock, making a deep pool, and an ideal place for trout. Dropping our lines into the rapids, we let the bait float down close to the rock in the deep shadows. As soon as it struck the riffle there was a flash of silver, and the game was hooked. Away he went, the reel humming a merry tune as he raced back and forth across the pool, the rod bent like a coach whip, the strain on the line sending a delightful tingle to our finger tips. But he soon tired of the unequal contest, and was brought safely to the landing net. He was by no means a large fish, as game fish are reckoned, but to my mind it is not always the largest fish that gives the keenest sport. From one pool to another we passed, wetting a line in each with fair success, scrambling over logs and lichen-covered rocks, wading from one side of the stream to the other, until the lengthening shadows warned us to wind in our lines and start for home. Well satisfied we were with the thirty-two trout reposing at the bottom of our basket. Our long tramp and the salt sea air had made us ravenously hungry, and the sandwiches that provident wives had prepared for us were dug out of capacious pockets and eaten with a relish that an epicure might covet. I shall never forget the trip back. Night overtook us before we were out of the first valley, the ascent was very steep, and we had to stop every few rods to get our wind. At last we reached the summit of Grizzly Peak, seventeen hundred and fifty-nine feet above sea level, while to our right Bald Peak, nineteen hundred and thirty feet high, loomed up against the sky. The path on Grizzly was so narrow we had to walk single file, and a false step would have sent us rolling down hundreds of feet. The view--although seen in vague outline--was magnificent. Berkeley and Oakland lay seventeen hundred feet below us, their twinkling lights glowing through the darkness like fireflies. Out on San Francisco Bay the lights flashed from the mastheads of ships at anchor or from brightly lighted ferryboats plying from mole to mole, while far to the left, Lake Merritt lay like a gray sheet amid the shadows. In the middle distance off Yerba Buena Island two United States gunboats were at anchor, one of them sending the rays of its powerful searchlight here and there across the water, and making a veritable path of silver far out across the bay. Jack rabbits and cotton-tails scurried across our path and dodged into thickets. An owl flapped lazily over our heads and sailed away down the valley, evidently on his nocturnal hunting. But we had little time or inclination to give to these mountain creatures, as we had to pay strict attention to our footing. The last descent proved to be the hardest, for the grade was as steep as the roof of a house, but we finally succeeded in scrambling down, and at last reached the grove surrounding the Greek Amphitheater; then home, footsore and weary, but happy with our afternoon's outing on the trout streams in the Berkeley Hills. _____________________________________________ *From "Byways Around San Francisco Bay", by W. E. Hutchinson Originally published by Abingdon Press. c1915 This work is in the public domain. According to the license agreement at my source, I may not name that source here without including the entire license agreement......which is much too long and dull. To the best of my knowledge, the use of this material here does not violate either that agreement or U.S copyright law. Wolfgang |
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![]() "Wolfgang" wrote in message ... Trout Fishing in the Berkeley Hills* Since the days when Izaak Walton wrote The Complete Angler, men have emulated his example, and gone forth with rod and reel to tempt the finny tribe from dashing mountain brook or quiet river. We, being his disciples, thought to follow his example, and spend the day in the Berkeley hills whipping the stream for the wary brook trout. April first is the open season for trout in California, but owing to the scarcity of rain we feared the water in the brook would be too low for good fishing. Providence favored us, however, with a steady downpour on Wednesday, which put new hope in our hearts, and water in the stream; and we decided to try our luck on Saturday afternoon, and take what came to our hooks as a "gift of the gods." Accordingly, we met at the Ferry Building, fully equipped, and took the boat across San Francisco Bay, thence by cars to Claremont, and from there struck into the hills. The wind blew cold from the bay, having a clear sweep up through the Golden Gate, but as soon as we began to make the ascent our coats became a burden. I grew up in the Berkeley hills. El Cerrito. The creek down the street from my house was not covered over in those days (1950's) and the steelhead could travel all the way up to the railroad tracks a block below my house. Was a trash grate there that kept them from coming up further. The still spawned and the creek 2 blocks up would have lots of smolts and minnows swimming around. Only fished sal****er in those days off the shore and Berkeley pier as well as off boats. |
#3
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![]() "Bill McKee" wrote in message link.net... I grew up in the Berkeley hills. El Cerrito. The creek down the street from my house was not covered over in those days (1950's) and the steelhead could travel all the way up to the railroad tracks a block below my house. Was a trash grate there that kept them from coming up further. The still spawned and the creek 2 blocks up would have lots of smolts and minnows swimming around. Only fished sal****er in those days off the shore and Berkeley pier as well as off boats. I didn't think this one was an especially good bit or writing. What makes it interesting is the reference to quality trout fishing in close proximity to a major metropolitan center in what I presumed to be marginal habitat anyway, and the fact that brookies were already well established on west coast streams at least as early as 1915. I was kind of hoping that someone familiar with the area would offer comments. Thanks. Wolfgang |
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Wolfgang wrote:
"Bill McKee" wrote in message link.net... I grew up in the Berkeley hills. El Cerrito. The creek down the street from my house was not covered over in those days (1950's) and the steelhead could travel all the way up to the railroad tracks a block below my house. Was a trash grate there that kept them from coming up further. The still spawned and the creek 2 blocks up would have lots of smolts and minnows swimming around. Only fished sal****er in those days off the shore and Berkeley pier as well as off boats. I didn't think this one was an especially good bit or writing. What makes it interesting is the reference to quality trout fishing in close proximity to a major metropolitan center in what I presumed to be marginal habitat anyway, and the fact that brookies were already well established on west coast streams at least as early as 1915. I was kind of hoping that someone familiar with the area would offer comments. Thanks. I imagined the trout fishery was already doomed by then, so the report was a bit surprising to me as well. I once picked up a book in Berkeley titled "Berkeley 1900" that was a good informational read. Berkeley's human popuation growth was one of the fastest in the country between 1900 - 1920, going from 13,000 to around 56,000, with the bulk of that coming before 1910. Although business growth was already expanding, the 1906 earthquake sped up the growth on the east side of the bay due to a lot of business relocation from the devastated west side. Interesting stuff. -- TL, Tim ------------------------ http://css.sbcma.com/timj |
#5
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San Francisquito Creek is near my house in Menlo Park, along the
boundary of Menlo Park and Palo Alto. This in on the Peninsula, on the opposite side of the bay from Berkeley. There are occasional steelhead in the creek, which is amazing to me because it's completely dried up in the summer. I suppose the fish spawn in the headwaters, which have at least some water year-round. There are efforts to restore and improve the creek for steelhead -- for example: http://www.acterra.org/watershed/pro...shpassage.html. Apropos of nothing, there's a headwaters lake on the Stanford campus named Lagunita. I've see it referred to in the newspaper as "little lake Lagunita," which strikes me as funny -- even funnier than "the El Camino Real." -- Cut "to the chase" for my email address. |
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Tim J. wrote:
Wolfgang wrote: "Bill McKee" wrote in message thlink.net... I grew up in the Berkeley hills. El Cerrito. The creek down the street from my house was not covered over in those days (1950's) and the steelhead could travel all the way up to the railroad tracks a block below my house. Was a trash grate there that kept them from coming up further. The still spawned and the creek 2 blocks up would have lots of smolts and minnows swimming around. Only fished sal****er in those days off the shore and Berkeley pier as well as off boats. I didn't think this one was an especially good bit or writing. What makes it interesting is the reference to quality trout fishing in close proximity to a major metropolitan center in what I presumed to be marginal habitat anyway, and the fact that brookies were already well established on west coast streams at least as early as 1915. I was kind of hoping that someone familiar with the area would offer comments. Thanks. I imagined the trout fishery was already doomed by then, so the report was a bit surprising to me as well. I once picked up a book in Berkeley titled "Berkeley 1900" that was a good informational read. Berkeley's human popuation growth was one of the fastest in the country between 1900 - 1920, going from 13,000 to around 56,000, with the bulk of that coming before 1910. Although business growth was already expanding, the 1906 earthquake sped up the growth on the east side of the bay due to a lot of business relocation from the devastated west side. Interesting stuff. There are still some creeks in that area, where steelhead and salmon spawn. Local groups are trying to restore the habitat. http://www.ecologycenter.org/erc/cre...eekreport.html http://www.oaklandpw.com/creeks/yodeler1.htm http://www.ccrcd.org/alhambra.html Concrete lined ditches, steel grates, trash....you have to admire what these fish go through to procreate. I'd give up if a dinner and drinks didn't work. ;-) brians |
#7
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![]() "Wolfgang" wrote in message ... "Bill McKee" wrote in message link.net... I grew up in the Berkeley hills. El Cerrito. The creek down the street from my house was not covered over in those days (1950's) and the steelhead could travel all the way up to the railroad tracks a block below my house. Was a trash grate there that kept them from coming up further. The still spawned and the creek 2 blocks up would have lots of smolts and minnows swimming around. Only fished sal****er in those days off the shore and Berkeley pier as well as off boats. I didn't think this one was an especially good bit or writing. What makes it interesting is the reference to quality trout fishing in close proximity to a major metropolitan center in what I presumed to be marginal habitat anyway, and the fact that brookies were already well established on west coast streams at least as early as 1915. I was kind of hoping that someone familiar with the area would offer comments. Thanks. Wolfgang You want better writing, send me money. El Cerrito was the 2nd town over from Berkeley. My house was 6 miles from UC Berkeley and I fished the Berkeley Pier at the Foot of University Ave. Road my bike there. There were lots of streams uncovered in the 50's that held steelhead that fed San Francisco Bay. We still get steelhead and salmon in Walnut Creek, the stream and not the town, that flows behind the Sun Valley Shopping Center in Concord. Cordinices creek that flows through part of UC Berkeley had steelhead. We still get steelhead trying to run up Alameda Creek in Niles, but are stopped by the BART transit line bridge. There were only probably 8 million people in the whole state. We passed NY for the most populous state with about 13 million in about 1959 or 1960. The largest run of salmon in the lower 48 run up the Sacramento River, which enters the bay on the Northeast end. |
#8
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![]() "Bill McKee" wrote in message news ![]() "Wolfgang" wrote in message ... "Bill McKee" wrote in message link.net... I grew up in the Berkeley hills. El Cerrito. The creek down the street from my house was not covered over in those days (1950's) and the steelhead could travel all the way up to the railroad tracks a block below my house. Was a trash grate there that kept them from coming up further. The still spawned and the creek 2 blocks up would have lots of smolts and minnows swimming around. Only fished sal****er in those days off the shore and Berkeley pier as well as off boats. I didn't think this one was an especially good bit or writing. What makes it interesting is the reference to quality trout fishing in close proximity to a major metropolitan center in what I presumed to be marginal habitat anyway, and the fact that brookies were already well established on west coast streams at least as early as 1915. I was kind of hoping that someone familiar with the area would offer comments. Thanks. Wolfgang You want better writing, send me money. Hm...... Even taking into consideration a possibly confusing typo....."or" where it should have been "of".....I can see no reason that my comment on Hutchinson's offering should be misconstrued as pertaining to yours. In my second sentence above, the antecedent to "it" in "What makes it interesting..." seems to me to refer pretty unambiguously to Hutchinson's piece. At any rate, I have at my disposal the resources of the entire Milwaukee county federated library system, the Butler, WI library, the libraries of sundry universities and colleges, and those of dozens of other communities in southeastern Wisconsin......and all within an hour's drive. And then, there's the internet (including ROFF, of course) and my own humble collection of printed matter. All of this is available to me at no charge whatsoever, and some of it is indisputably good. Moreover, your relatively few contirubtions here thus far make you a more or less unknown quantity as a source of reading material. I trust you will not take it amiss if I hold on to what few shiny new nickels remain in my possession for the nonce. On the other hand, sans further evidence, one can hardly dispute the possibility that your offer to barter good writing for cash was made tongue in cheek, in which case..... ![]() El Cerrito was the 2nd town over from Berkeley. My house was 6 miles from UC Berkeley and I fished the Berkeley Pier at the Foot of University Ave. Road my bike there. There were lots of streams uncovered in the 50's that held steelhead that fed San Francisco Bay. We still get steelhead and salmon in Walnut Creek, the stream and not the town, that flows behind the Sun Valley Shopping Center in Concord. Cordinices creek that flows through part of UC Berkeley had steelhead. We still get steelhead trying to run up Alameda Creek in Niles, but are stopped by the BART transit line bridge. There were only probably 8 million people in the whole state. We passed NY for the most populous state with about 13 million in about 1959 or 1960. The largest run of salmon in the lower 48 run up the Sacramento River, which enters the bay on the Northeast end. We've got much the same situation here along the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, roughly from the Michigan-Indiana state line to north of Milwaukee. Despite a population well in excess of ten million and badly abused watersheds, there are impressive runs of steelhead and salmon on many of the tributary streams, as well as significant (and improving, in recent years) populations of at least some native species. Water quality on some of these streams has been brought up enough so that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and various cooperating organizations have invested a great deal of time, effort and money in restocking sturgeon into waters from which they've been absent for over a century. Here's wishing us all good luck! Wolfgang |
#9
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![]() "Wolfgang" wrote in message ... "Bill McKee" wrote in message news ![]() "Wolfgang" wrote in message ... "Bill McKee" wrote in message link.net... I grew up in the Berkeley hills. El Cerrito. The creek down the street from my house was not covered over in those days (1950's) and the steelhead could travel all the way up to the railroad tracks a block below my house. Was a trash grate there that kept them from coming up further. The still spawned and the creek 2 blocks up would have lots of smolts and minnows swimming around. Only fished sal****er in those days off the shore and Berkeley pier as well as off boats. I didn't think this one was an especially good bit or writing. What makes it interesting is the reference to quality trout fishing in close proximity to a major metropolitan center in what I presumed to be marginal habitat anyway, and the fact that brookies were already well established on west coast streams at least as early as 1915. I was kind of hoping that someone familiar with the area would offer comments. Thanks. Wolfgang You want better writing, send me money. Hm...... Even taking into consideration a possibly confusing typo....."or" where it should have been "of".....I can see no reason that my comment on Hutchinson's offering should be misconstrued as pertaining to yours. In my second sentence above, the antecedent to "it" in "What makes it interesting..." seems to me to refer pretty unambiguously to Hutchinson's piece. At any rate, I have at my disposal the resources of the entire Milwaukee county federated library system, the Butler, WI library, the libraries of sundry universities and colleges, and those of dozens of other communities in southeastern Wisconsin......and all within an hour's drive. And then, there's the internet (including ROFF, of course) and my own humble collection of printed matter. All of this is available to me at no charge whatsoever, and some of it is indisputably good. Moreover, your relatively few contirubtions here thus far make you a more or less unknown quantity as a source of reading material. I trust you will not take it amiss if I hold on to what few shiny new nickels remain in my possession for the nonce. On the other hand, sans further evidence, one can hardly dispute the possibility that your offer to barter good writing for cash was made tongue in cheek, in which case..... ![]() El Cerrito was the 2nd town over from Berkeley. My house was 6 miles from UC Berkeley and I fished the Berkeley Pier at the Foot of University Ave. Road my bike there. There were lots of streams uncovered in the 50's that held steelhead that fed San Francisco Bay. We still get steelhead and salmon in Walnut Creek, the stream and not the town, that flows behind the Sun Valley Shopping Center in Concord. Cordinices creek that flows through part of UC Berkeley had steelhead. We still get steelhead trying to run up Alameda Creek in Niles, but are stopped by the BART transit line bridge. There were only probably 8 million people in the whole state. We passed NY for the most populous state with about 13 million in about 1959 or 1960. The largest run of salmon in the lower 48 run up the Sacramento River, which enters the bay on the Northeast end. We've got much the same situation here along the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, roughly from the Michigan-Indiana state line to north of Milwaukee. Despite a population well in excess of ten million and badly abused watersheds, there are impressive runs of steelhead and salmon on many of the tributary streams, as well as significant (and improving, in recent years) populations of at least some native species. Water quality on some of these streams has been brought up enough so that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and various cooperating organizations have invested a great deal of time, effort and money in restocking sturgeon into waters from which they've been absent for over a century. Here's wishing us all good luck! Wolfgang Our problem with the sturgeon is the Russian immigrants. 100,000 in Sacramento alone, and several groups have been busted as well as Russian Deli's in San Francisco for poaching sturgeon and making selling caviar. |
#10
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Around here it's "Rio Grande River"
bh |
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