Fishing below Morris Dam?

[Ifishtoolittle]

Hello there everyone. To those who have read up to here I hope you are having a good day. If anyone knows the answer to this please chime in and explain.

I was wondering if it is legal to fish below Morris Dam. More specifically I was wondering if one could fish across from Encanto Park.

Thank you all.

-IF2L

[TonyLisa]

Hello there everyone. To those who have read up to here I hope you are having a good day. If anyone knows the answer to this please chime in and explain.

I was wondering if it is legal to fish below Morris Dam. More specifically I was wondering if one could fish across from Encanto Park.

Thank you all.

-IF2L
No fishing there, but I fished it in my younger yrs caught a lot of carp

[ScottyP]

Here's the deal on that place. That section of the San Gabriel River below the dam is open to fishing. The cliffs and land around Encanto however are no trespassing, making access to the river impossible. But, if you hike in down the dirt road, you'll come to a valley first and see some nice pools. This whole valley is owned by a religious commune/temple and is no trespassing as well, so I'd advise to keep on walking. Eventually, you will have access to some nice pools of water, and then the road turns to a trail and ends after a couple of miles. I've fished all the pools and only caught 1 tiny LMB despite how fishy it looks. I did see a dead trout and heard stories of smallies, but I have no proof of that. Go and have fun exploring and let us know how you do.

[Ifishtoolittle]

Here's the deal on that place. That section of the San Gabriel River below the dam is open to fishing. The cliffs and land around Encanto however are no trespassing, making access to the river impossible. But, if you hike in down the dirt road, you'll come to a valley first and see some nice pools. This whole valley is owned by a religious commune/temple and is no trespassing as well, so I'd advise to keep on walking. Eventually, you will have access to some nice pools of water, and then the road turns to a trail and ends after a couple of miles. I've fished all the pools and only caught 1 tiny LMB despite how fishy it looks. I did see a dead trout and heard stories of smallies, but I have no proof of that. Go and have fun exploring and let us know how you do.

Thanks ScottyP.

Now this trail, is it before the biking bridge? Or is it before Huntington?

I may go there tomorrow or Tuesday. Are there common sightings of Coyotes or Mt. Lions around that area?

[carpanglerdude]

Here's the deal on that place. That section of the San Gabriel River below the dam is open to fishing. The cliffs and land around Encanto however are no trespassing, making access to the river impossible. But, if you hike in down the dirt road, you'll come to a valley first and see some nice pools. This whole valley is owned by a religious commune/temple and is no trespassing as well, so I'd advise to keep on walking. Eventually, you will have access to some nice pools of water, and then the road turns to a trail and ends after a couple of miles. I've fished all the pools and only caught 1 tiny LMB despite how fishy it looks. I did see a dead trout and heard stories of smallies, but I have no proof of that. Go and have fun exploring and let us know how you do.

Scottyp, thanks for the info. We explored the canyon yesterday using your info. You were deadon about the nice pools, they look great! Here's the report link (http://fishingnetwork.net/forum4/showthread.php?70022-San-Gabriel-River-Hiking-and-Fishing-Report-%28Loads-of-Photos-Video%29&p=649825#post649825).

[shinbob]

. This whole valley is owned by a religious commune/temple and is no trespassing as well, so I'd advise to keep on walking.

Got $4.5 Million? That land could be yours:

http://www.redfin.com/CA/Azusa/9447-N-San-Gabriel-Canyon-Rd-91702/home/21656900

[Ifishtoolittle]

Rock hopping along that river is pretty darn fun!

Man my legs were sore after that little exploratory trip.

[ScottyP]

Glad you guys had fun. It's a beautiful area, and I've never seen anyone else fishing there.

[carpanglerdude]

Got $4.5 Million? That land could be yours:

http://www.redfin.com/CA/Azusa/9447-N-San-Gabriel-Canyon-Rd-91702/home/21656900

There's a few photos of the inner grounds on Flickr. Pretty surreal.

[Sebastian323]

I was there about half a year ago.... There where a few pools but they were drying up quickly... I saw several carp up to 2' in length, a 1 inch LMB and a 1.5' Catfish! it appeared to be a blue cat... Unfortunately, this section of the river doesn't seem to have permanent water and I think the fish did not survive. The fish must have washed out of the reservoir. Directly below the reservoir there is a huge pool that seems permanent, but looks inaccessible/illegal.

[dbargaehr]

Here's the deal on that place. That section of the San Gabriel River below the dam is open to fishing. The cliffs and land around Encanto however are no trespassing, making access to the river impossible. But, if you hike in down the dirt road, you'll come to a valley first and see some nice pools. This whole valley is owned by a religious commune/temple and is no trespassing as well, so I'd advise to keep on walking. Eventually, you will have access to some nice pools of water, and then the road turns to a trail and ends after a couple of miles. I've fished all the pools and only caught 1 tiny LMB despite how fishy it looks. I did see a dead trout and heard stories of smallies, but I have no proof of that. Go and have fun exploring and let us know how you do.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but here's the deal - tried this spot this weekend because it's got that big old concrete walkway in the middle of the river at one spot and was teaching a friend how to fly cast. It's about a 15-minute walk after you park to get past the private pieces of water.

I was always curious about whether or not the river held any fish since I did that trail a few months back, and figured this was a no-harm scouting trip since my buddy didn't know how to fly fish.

Spent about 4 hours on the river. We didn't catch or see a single fish despite some prime-looking water.

On the way back we met someone who explained why. They use Morris Reservoir mainly as a groundwater recharge station. They regularly open the dam valves to flush sediment and they turn the CFS of the river waaaay up. It pushes all the fish downriver into the wash downstream, and they get stuck. The guy I met said a few months back they flushed the dam, and the next day they saw about 500 fish stuck in the wash spillway with no way back up.

So even though this river is a prime-looking tailwater (I measured the river at 50 degrees and saw several mayfly and midge nymphs when I seined the river), it will never be good fishing. It's a shame because if they stocked below the dam every once in a while and did better flow control, I bet it would make a fantastic trout fishery.

-DEREK