Los Angeles Where the "Mud Marlins" Are

The L.A River is a conservation nightmare, a running cesspool of concrete, plastic bags, the odd corpse, and for one enterprising fly fishing fanatic - The Valhalla of Giant Fish.

Known to the fly fishing community as "Mud Marlin," giant carp (Cyprinus carpio) are said to inhabit the toxic depths of the L.A River and Steve Blair is their nemesis.

With fly fishing skills honed on the Eastern Sierra in the hunt for trophy trout, Steve has discovered where the Mud Marlin are found and over the past year what imitations these leviathans of the toxic stew which runs through downtown L.A will hit on.

It's a remarkable adaptation as this urban fly hunter turns his sights on the least understood and shattered eco system in America, to haul out 20-30 pound fish.

Of course these fish are quickly put back.

Here's to the real trailblazers within the fly fishing world, those who's desire to catch big fish can be found in the most unlikely places, like the L.A River.

When not on the hunt for Mud Marlin in L.A you can find Steve on National Geographic playing with giant squids and at the Long Beach Aquarium.

Invasive Species-American Style

While we're on the subject of Crazy Invasive Fish Species (CIFS) and what to do about them, we would be amiss if we didn't introduce you to the Asian Carp.

Now you might be asking yourself as we did, what's up with all these Asian Invasion Fish?

We have no idea.

Anyway, this carp, (from Asia) is also known as the Flying Carp and basically it has completely taken over half of America. Really.

Now here's where it gets interesting. Unlike our friends in the U.K who are all but crying over the Giant Snakehead invasion, and don't get us wrong, that's pretty scary. On this side of the pond, good old American know how, fueled no doubt by Coors Light, has come up with a novel way to deal with the problem, and yes, it has something to do with weapons.

Let us introduce you to the American answer to Invasive Species: