For the past 16 years I have been an avid trout fisherman, spending between 50-100 days a year at it, mostly in the Eastern Sierra. I concentrate most of my time fishing at Crowley Lake, and for some years now, I've been a seasonal employee at the tackle shop there. A few years ago, I became a licensed and bonded trout fishing guide.

While working at Crowley, I noticed thousands of Japanese Americans, including Nisei (second generation), Sansei (third generation) and Yonsei (fourth generation), coming annually to fish. On some days, as many as half of the anglers would be of Japanese descent. I already knew that the Manzanar Relocation Camp was nearby -- down in the Owens Valley along Hwy 395 near Independence and on the way to Crowley from L.A. -- and I began to ponder the question, "Did any of Japanese Americans who fish the Eastern Sierra today get their first experience trout fishing while they were interned at Manzanar?"

I visited the Manzanar National Historic Site & Interpretive Center in 2004 to find out if there were any records or information about its internees leaving the compound to go trout fishing. Ranger Richard Potashin confirmed that, indeed, there were internees who went trout fishing, and there were even some who actually did sneak out when the heaviest security was being enforced. I was on the right track!

I explained to Ranger Potashin that Manzanar had always been a subject of critical importance to me because of my own Japanese heritage. (In fact, it was the subject of my senior film project while a film student in college.) Because of my interest in this subject, I was invited to become a docent at theHistoric Site & Interpretive Center, and since then, I've developed a lecture, a tour and artifacts exhibit about the Manzanar fishermen. I have already interviewed about a dozen people, including actual survivors who shared their stories. Some of them even donated artifacts like their original fishing gear for the exhibit. I'm continuing my research and am currently compiling an archive of audio and video interviews for the Interpretive Center's historic database. A documentary film is also in the works.

If anyone reading this knows someone who was sent to Manzanar and went trout fishing while they were interned, please have them contact me so I can ask them to be interviewed for this time sensitvie project.

This project is based on careful research from interviews, documents, resource information from the Eastern California Museum and the assistance from the Manzanar National Historic Site and Interpretive Center. Any comments, corrections, or additions are welcomed and appreciated.

In 2008-2009 I was awarded a grant from CCLPEP (California Civil Liberties Public Education Program).  This grant was utilized in filming the oral histories of surviving internees who shared their experiences of leaving the barbed wire of the camp just to enjoy brief moments of freedom from their incarceration by going trout fishing.  I am committed in completing this compelling documentary film but I am in need of the community's support. If you would like to help, please send your tax deductible donation to: 

The Manzanar Committee