TR Kern River
 

I had planned to fish the upper Kern River three weeks ago. The river was
running about 400 CFS and clear. Unfortunately, the flu bug bit me and I had
to postpone the trip until last weekend. By the time Harry and I arrived in
Kernville last Thursday, unseasonably warm temps had caused some early
runoff and the river was running about 1000 CFS and muddy. Pretty much
unfishable unless your quarry was kayaks.

Acting on some info from the local fly shop and also from the proprietor of
the lodge where we were staying, we tried a couple of sections of the lower
Kern and a small trib of the Kern. The lower sections of the river are
divided by various dams/powerhouses. We found one section that was flowing
low and just a little off-color. No hatches available, but the rocks were
full of green rock worms, caddis pupae and mayfly nymphs. We used hare's
ears and PT's with a fair amount of success. We had to do some hiking to get
between riffles and holes as much of this section was slow and deep, but we
found a few places where the trout (and a few suckers and squawfish) were
holed up. A couple of pix are on ABPF.

We hiked about 2 miles of a trib to the upper Kern on Saturday morning. It
is a beautiful stream, but the bushwhacking, rockhopping, and lost tackle to
very small fish ratio got to us after a while, so we returned to the lower
river whereupon Harry whacked the trouts pretty good.

The weather was a little too warm, but otherwise cooperated. Beer and
company were great as usual. I'll definitely go back up on the upper Kern
when the flows go down.

BTW, while in the Kernville area, you could do a lot worse than stay at the
Riverview Lodge and trade dollars for gear with Guy at Kern River
Troutfitters.

Dan

Hi Danl,
Thanks for the TR. I will go look at your fish next. Call Penny at Slide Inn
if you need a room or call me for some other info.
Another "Guy" at Troutfitters?
Guy

"Danl" wrote in message
...
I had planned to fish the upper Kern River three weeks ago. The river was
running about 400 CFS and clear. Unfortunately, the flu bug bit me and I
had
to postpone the trip until last weekend. By the time Harry and I arrived
in
Kernville last Thursday, unseasonably warm temps had caused some early
runoff and the river was running about 1000 CFS and muddy. Pretty much
unfishable unless your quarry was kayaks.

Acting on some info from the local fly shop and also from the proprietor
of
the lodge where we were staying, we tried a couple of sections of the
lower
Kern and a small trib of the Kern. The lower sections of the river are
divided by various dams/powerhouses. We found one section that was flowing
low and just a little off-color. No hatches available, but the rocks were
full of green rock worms, caddis pupae and mayfly nymphs. We used hare's
ears and PT's with a fair amount of success. We had to do some hiking to
get
between riffles and holes as much of this section was slow and deep, but
we
found a few places where the trout (and a few suckers and squawfish) were
holed up. A couple of pix are on ABPF.

We hiked about 2 miles of a trib to the upper Kern on Saturday morning. It
is a beautiful stream, but the bushwhacking, rockhopping, and lost tackle
to
very small fish ratio got to us after a while, so we returned to the lower
river whereupon Harry whacked the trouts pretty good.

The weather was a little too warm, but otherwise cooperated. Beer and
company were great as usual. I'll definitely go back up on the upper Kern
when the flows go down.

BTW, while in the Kernville area, you could do a lot worse than stay at
the
Riverview Lodge and trade dollars for gear with Guy at Kern River
Troutfitters.

Dan

"Danl" wrote in message
...
I had planned to fish the upper Kern River three weeks ago...........
......... BTW, while in the Kernville area, you could do a lot worse than
stay at the
Riverview Lodge and trade dollars for gear with Guy at Kern River
Troutfitters.

Dan


Nice TR.

Where is the Kern in relation to San Diego/Los Angels? I just did a quick
search and the sites I found weren't very map friendly.

Still hoping to get out their one of these days. My next big project at
work is for our new West Hills laboratory which opens later this year. May
be able to get them to splurge if I'm lucky.

Mike

"Mike Makela" ten.tsacmoc@alekamm wrote in message
...

Nice TR.

Where is the Kern in relation to San Diego/Los Angels? I just did a quick
search and the sites I found weren't very map friendly.

Still hoping to get out their one of these days. My next big project at
work is for our new West Hills laboratory which opens later this year.
May
be able to get them to splurge if I'm lucky.

Mike

Lake Isabella is on Hwy 178, about halfway between Bakersfield and Inyokern.
The Upper Kern empties into Lake Isabella at Kernville, on the north side of
the lake. The Upper Kern is at least 40 miles of undammed, freestone river.
It's about 275 miles from my humble abode to Kernville. It's a little less
from the LA area.

WTF is West Hills and how can we manipulate this into a fishing trip?

Danl

Danl wrote

I had planned to fish the upper Kern River three weeks ago...

Acting on some info from the local fly shop and also from the proprietor
of
the lodge where we were staying, we tried a couple of sections of the
lower
Kern and a small trib of the Kern.

Any luck with smallies on the lower section. I've caught a few on
streamers but couldn't really find a pattern that got 'em super excited.

I hiked in from the bridge on the upper section last summer, but it didn't
seem as productive as before the fire. Silted in bottom is much easier to
wade on now, but seems to have had an adverse effect on the insects.

Also fished with Guy on a couple of high country creeklets to the east of
the main fork. Nothing but pure goldens (a few browns) on drys. Small but
fun, in beautiful meadows with nobody around. Great fun for a 3 wt. You
might want to inquire about these at the shop as alternatives during the
late spring/early summer when the upper main fork is still raging and full
of floaters and any action you get is strictly sub-surface.


-dnc-

"DavidC" wrote in message
news:01c52df3$e7960a80$cbfe1345@micron...

Any luck with smallies on the lower section. I've caught a few on
streamers but couldn't really find a pattern that got 'em super excited.

I hiked in from the bridge on the upper section last summer, but it didn't
seem as productive as before the fire. Silted in bottom is much easier to
wade on now, but seems to have had an adverse effect on the insects.

Also fished with Guy on a couple of high country creeklets to the east of
the main fork. Nothing but pure goldens (a few browns) on drys. Small
but
fun, in beautiful meadows with nobody around. Great fun for a 3 wt. You
might want to inquire about these at the shop as alternatives during the
late spring/early summer when the upper main fork is still raging and full
of floaters and any action you get is strictly sub-surface.

Nah. No luck with the smallies, unfortunately. But we didn't spend a lot of
time targeting them as the trout were somewhat cooperative.

I think I know those streamlets. Lots of fun and, as you said, no people. In
the summer, I tend to just drive right by the lower section of the upper
Kern and target the areas from about the Forks of the Kern up both the main
stem and the Little Kern. Lots of water and very few folks.

Thanks for the input.

Danl

"Danl" wrote in message
...

"Mike Makela" ten.tsacmoc@alekamm wrote in message
...

WTF is West Hills and how can we manipulate this into a fishing trip?

Danl



Somewhere near Van Nuys and Tarzana I think in and about Los Angeles. They
are also taking over some of the work from the San Diego lab, but the
facility will be in West Hills.

Working on manipulatin' them as much as possible, but this outfit is getting
too smart for the their own good. Really I think it' s too cheap, but I'm
the one trying to take advantage so whom am I to judge...

I'll keep you posted, and if they spring me, I should have notice of several
weeks.

The Finn of another kind...

Danl wrote

I think I know those streamlets. Lots of fun and, as you said, no people.
In
the summer, I tend to just drive right by the lower section of the upper
Kern and target the areas from about the Forks of the Kern up both the
main
stem and the Little Kern. Lots of water and very few folks.

About 10 years ago, a buddy and I hiked the Little Kern up from the Forks
looking for the "waterfall". A rough trek. No trail. 7 tricky fords
(with packs). And lots of little bows and hybrid goldens. We had heard
that above the "waterfall" only native goldens abounded. About 3 miles in
we finally came to an impassible (wall to wall) deep pool that required a
swim, so we gave up. Never did find that fall, and it doesn't show up on
the topos as a fall (probably a long cascade that only appears as a bunch
of scrunched isobars)

I'm still kind of curious if that natural barrier exists. However, I have
a naturalist friend that more recently hiked in to the Little Kern (to the
"bridge") from the Western Divide highway access (well above the rumored
fall) and they were catching bows. So it sounds like the Rotenone program
they tried up there to eradicate all but native goldens didn't succeed.

Two weeks ago, the San Diego Fly Fishers had a speaker, Steve Beck, who
talked about fishing the main Kern fork in Sequoia National forest. The
claim was spectacular fishing but it's many miles hike in.

"DavidC" wrote in message
news:01c52ffb$4c3a19a0$bafe1345@micron...

About 10 years ago, a buddy and I hiked the Little Kern up from the Forks
looking for the "waterfall". A rough trek. No trail. 7 tricky fords
(with packs). And lots of little bows and hybrid goldens. We had heard
that above the "waterfall" only native goldens abounded. About 3 miles in
we finally came to an impassible (wall to wall) deep pool that required a
swim, so we gave up. Never did find that fall, and it doesn't show up on
the topos as a fall (probably a long cascade that only appears as a bunch
of scrunched isobars)

I'm still kind of curious if that natural barrier exists. However, I have
a naturalist friend that more recently hiked in to the Little Kern (to the
"bridge") from the Western Divide highway access (well above the rumored
fall) and they were catching bows. So it sounds like the Rotenone program
they tried up there to eradicate all but native goldens didn't succeed.

There are a couple of trails from the Western Divide down to the Little
Kern. One of them is a favorite of mine, though I haven't made the hike in a
couple of years. Higher up, where the trails start down, there are several
healthy populations of pure Goldens. But near the bottom, as you approach
the Little Kern, there are hybrids and rainbows. The creeks I am thinking of
have several falls that would prevent upstream migration, but I don't know
of anything on the Little Kern that would. At least not in the first 10
miles upstream from the Forks.

Two weeks ago, the San Diego Fly Fishers had a speaker, Steve Beck, who
talked about fishing the main Kern fork in Sequoia National forest. The
claim was spectacular fishing but it's many miles hike in.

I suppose he was speaking of the main Kern stem above the Forks(?). There's
an awful lot of river from there to the headwaters. I wonder how many miles
upstream he was talking about. Do you know? I'll bet that starting about 2
miles upstream the water doesn't see much angling pressure and that each
additional mile would be better and better. Have you been up that far?

Danl