Category Archives: Huck Perdigons

Forks of the Kern Report – October 20-23, 2022

That is my wife Kelly with a beautiful fish she nailed on a Huck Bow Warrior Perdigon

Relevant Stats for the 4 days:

Flow & Water Conditions

CFS (https://dreamflows.com/graphs/mon.681.php) :

Crystal Clear, stable
~10 feet of silt to 18″ deep at rivers edge
10/20-23 – ~100 CFS

Solunar

(I use the app “Fishing & Hunting Solunar Time PRO” $3.99):

10/20 – 14%, Poor
10/26 – 26%, Fair
10/22 – 59%, Average

Water temp: 48-48 in the mornings rising to 53-55 in the late afternoons

Air temp: mid 70s in the day lowering to 38-45 at night

Weather: mild, then wind gusts to 30mph. stretches of overcast and light rain

Group: Annual Couples Trip: Huckabys, Novaks, Cooleys, Conrads + Jake

This trip was the annual couple’s trip. I love this trip because my wife Kelly comes. And some really fun couples. And Kelly never backpacks anywhere without her best buddy, Meredith. Which means my buddy Lance “has to come”. Also joining us were John and Delia Cooley who you have also read about on this site through many adventures. That is the 3 “over 30 years of marriage” couples. Topping off the group was Micah & Dasha Conrad. Micah is the young filmmaker with the awesome youtube channel who I taught how to fly fish earlier in the summer down at the Forks. Stay tuned on Micah’s Youtube vide of this trip. I will update it here when it publishes.

And sure enough, my old friend Jake Blount, an excellent fly fisher and guide showed up.

Mere took this picture of the run just over the Rattlesnake creek hill. How about that water clarity?!

Peppermint Creek

The plan I typically do with a group like this is to hike in a day early, find a site, then hike out empty the next morning to meet that group filling up with fresh food, beer, etc. before hiking back down with the group. So, I drove up Wednesday, listening to the Padres-Phillies playoff game on Satellite Radio. I made it through LA without much trouble so I still had a good hour of daylight when I hit the lower peppermint creek campground. There was a video of the peppermint creek waterfalls from August when the monsoon rains came. It was a shocking view of the ash from the fire finally making its way down the mountains into the river system. You can see it here. I wanted to see the effects. Not only because of Peppermint creek. But, because I was getting a lot of reports of ash and silt blowing out the Upper Kern River from the Huck site all the way down to the Johnsondale bridge. Also, because in July I fished Peppermint Creek above the campground and did really well. Well, the effects of the flash flooding in the creek are obvious and concerning. Below the campground, the creek is choked with ash and soot. I don’t see how trout could even hold in that first ½ mile before the structure by the BLM primitive camp sites. I don’t believe I even casted once. So, I hiked back up the creek, crossed the road and hiked the creek above the campground. It’s steeper terrain so the creek is not as choked up but there is soot / silt on both sides. I did not see a trout…nor anything alive like bugs in the river. I did cast some moving water but not a single take after an hour or so of fishing while making my way upstream above the falls. In July I was pretty much getting struck on every cast. Granted the water was really low because of the drought and the end of the season. But, I am not confident there was a single trout in that milelong stretch above the campground. It was clear the flash flooding of soot pushed them out or killed them. Mother nature has a way of quickly fixing things so my guess is after a good winter it will be back in shape and the trout will come back.

In Quest of the Huck Site

When I got to the Forks of the Kern Trailhead it was already dark. The mission was to get the Huck Site the next morning. To my surprise and dismay there were 4 cars/trucks in the dirt parking lot and 4 more sets of trucks and campers in the primitive campsites. Then it hit me: camping at the trailhead. Without running water nor anywhere close to fish, the only reason to do that was to hunt. And yep, I had forgot deer hunting season had started. That was confirmed the next morning around 5am as I peered out my window seeing groups of guns pass my truck on the way into the wilderness. It was really cold sleeping in my truck that Wednesday night at the trailhead; uncomfortably cold. My guess was low forties. Hmmm….

Sunrise at the Forks of the Kern Trailhead

There was an awesome sunrise at the trailhead. That is pretty rare. I started my hike in on quest for the Huck site around 8am. There was not a single sole camping for the first 3 miles. But, when I got to rattlesnake camp (the site with the cement picnic bench) I had a giant black dog charge at me barking with it’s fangs bared. Two old guys were in the site and couldn’t control their dog. It was one of 4 times during the trip that dog charged me barking uncontrolled. But, my concern now was if the Huck site was taken I’d have to double back over a mile to “bend camp” and set up there. The more I write on this site about the Huck site, the more popular it gets. That is not a problem for me. I encourage it. I want more people, especially young people to experience the wilderness. That is why I write it on this site. But, I really don’t like doubling back and the next site that can handle 4 or more tents is another mile over the mountain. I was confident the couple’s group was not up for that long a hike in. As I approached the huck site I could see a couple people and gear. Darn. So, I approached them with a smile saying something like, “Hi, are you just setting up here?” “no.”, they said, “We are just leaving.” “Thank God”, I said. “I have 4 tents coming tomorrow and the Huck site is one of the few sites that can handle that many tents.” “Wait, are you Tim Huckaby?”, they said. I believe I said the exact same thing I always say when people recognize me down at the Forks: “Tim Huckaby? That guy is a douche.” Then I laugh and introduce myself. Julian and Lauren were their names. A great young fly fishing couple that loves the Upper Kern like me. Well, it wasn’t long into the conversation before Julian told me he proposed marriage to Lauren at the Huck Site! Talk about proud… I had tears in my eyes hearing that.

Julian and Lauren: A wedding proposal at the Huck Site!

So, I set up my tent in the Huck site. I pinged the couples group I had secured the Huck site with my Garmin InReach.

Soot and Silt

I examined the water in front of the Huck Site. Just like I was warned, the bank was ten or so feet of silt and ash. Silt that was over a foot deep. It had settled so the water was still crystal clear. But, if you stepped in it, the water exploded clouding the water to zero visibility.

I had heard from friends and a number of visitors to this site that after the monsoon rains of august, the johnsondale bridge section (JDB) was completely blown out with soot and ash and silt and unfishable. Mother Nature had finally pushed the ash, soot and exposed dirt of the fires into the river. I had also heard from the same folks that the silt made the fishing from the confluence at the forks all the way up to the huck site really tough. Well, the unfortunate news for spring fly fishers is that the huge amount of silt is going to make its way down the river when runoff starts. Even another drought year is going to push that silt downstream. How bad and how long will depend on the winter we have. I love to fish the JDB stretch in April. But, I fear blown out conditions in 2023 will prevent it.

Yea, that is a Huck Hopper in his face. But, i tied it tiny, size 14 in orange to imitate the October Caddis

Fishing upriver of the Huck Site

I rigged up a 3x mono leader to a size 4 tan huck hopper trailed with 3 feet of 3x flouro to a size 16 Huck-bow Warrior perdigon and set off to fish. I had already told the couples group in planning that I didn’t need to fish much and would concentrate on guiding the beginners. I also wanted to spend a lot of time with Kelly because close to 2 months in Montana and Wyoming over the summer took its toll. So, this was my chance to get in some fishing before Kelly and the gang showed up the next morning. I didn’t cast in front of the huck site. I could see trout in the crystal-clear water in front of the Huck site, along with a group of huge pike minnows (aka squawfish or suckers). I wanted to save those for the beginners. So, I started up stream about 100 feet above the Huck Site just below “Latrine Hole”. First cast: “Whack!” An 8” Kern River Rainbow (KRR) took the Huck-bow Warrior perdigon. “Hmmm…” I said to myself. “Oh no. The first cast jinx.” I casted again….drifted… Nothing. 3^rd cast: “Whack!” A 12 inch KRR that rose to the Huck Hopper! I continued to fish upstream and continued to get rises to the Huck Hopper and continued to catch and release KRRs.

Another nice rainbow with a Huck Midge Perdigon stuck in his nose

I was about 20-25 minutes into it… about 100 yards upstream from the Huck Site when I heard, “Tim!” I looked to the bank and could see someone, but he was obscured by the trees. He came closer and said, “It’s Jake.” I smiled and said, “How in the world did you find me?” “Well, I saw your truck in the parking lot.” That’s Jake. He asked if he could stay a couple nights in the site with me and excitedly, I said, “Absolutely yes. In fact, I’m going to need your help guiding.” Jake, like me, is the type of fly fisher that gets more joy over teaching and guiding other people to catching fish than he does catching his own.

It was around 1pm. Well, Jake ran back to set up his tent then met me in river. I had only moved a hundred yards or so upstream the fishing was so good. I fished the left handers side of the river and he fished the right as we moved up stream together. And we did really well. I can only remember a little lull when the wind blew and I simply switched to two huck perdigon droppers; one size 14 and the lower one 16 and never missed a beat. One out of four takes was on the huck hopper. I caught between a dozen and 20 fish to 16” and Jake did the same. Maybe more.

That’s Jake: an excellent fly fisher who loves guiding and teaching others more than catching fish himself

I told Jake that Micah was going to show up with his wife Dasha around 4:30PM and that I told her I’d teach her how to cast. I asked Jake to take Micah while I did the basic fly casting lesson with Dasha. He gladly agreed. We walked back to the site at 4:30 and no Micah. At 5:30 still no Micah and I started to worry. But, they did show up. All we had time for was a simple casting lesson, though. It was getting dark. Dasha did get 4 takes though. Right at the huck site. We had time to cover setting or fighting fish yet. But, she was a natural at casting. I know this is a generalization, but, it just seems like females take instruction so much better than males. It’s just so easy to teach absolute beginner females to cast for me.

John took this fantastic picture of Delia. It looks like she’s hooked up. If i was there I’d be yelling, “Rod tip High! Get tight with him.” 🙂

I did buy a $9 transistor radio and hike it in hoping to listen to the Padre playoff games. And at nighttime it works! We got to listen to all the games when it was dark.

Why does AM radio work better at night? It is called the ionosphere because when the sun’s rays hit this layer, many atoms lose electrons and turn into ions. You can pick up some radio stations better at night because the reflection characteristics of the ionosphere are better at night.
Source: rovertip.com/which-goes-further-am-or-fm/

That radio now lives in the cache. You could argue it is a safety device. In fact, the Huck Site Cache is more abundant now than it was before the fire incinerated everything. Tools, Camp Tables, extra Fuel, cutting board, kitchen stuff, pads, etc. If you want to use the cache at the Huck site email me and I’ll give you the detailed directions to find it.

Well, it was a huge relief that Jake showed up because I had to do the big hike back up to the trailhead the next morning. I didn’t anticipate getting back to the Huck Site until 11am with the gang. Jake gladly agreed to guide Micah and Dasha the next day while I was on the hikes out and back in.

Does that look like a fun run to fish or what? I put 4 beginners in this run and i believe everyone caught fish

The Hike Out Empty

The next morning, I got hiking with an empty pack at 6:45AM. I got to the trailhead at 8:30AM as planned. But, none of the gang had arrived yet. I talked to some nice folks in the lot and filled my pack with 24 beers and fresh food. The gang showed up, we got a late start, hiked slowly with breaks and didn’t even make it to the huck site until after 12pm. The gang was tired and needed to set up their tents. And frankly so was I. So, I grabbed one of the 24 beers I just hiked down, sat in my backpacking chair and stared at the water looking for rises. It wasn’t long after that Micah, Dasha, and Jake showed up. Jake had a smile on his face when he approached me so I knew it went well. Micah said something like, “Well, tell Tim.” Dasha caught 3 KRRs over 15”! ..a total beginner. I was stoked. Micah did well too under Jakes’s guidance.

That’s Dasha – a total beginner and a natural. Micah gets credit for this outstanding picture

So, suffice it to say that jake and I had our hands full guiding a bunch of beginners and didn’t fish much for the next few days. The moon was totally against us and the gang still did ok on dry/dropper rigs. In the following days the barometer crashed, the wind moved in, we even saw a little rain. All that really hurt the production. So we did see weather… and we were fishing during a really bad solunar stretch. It was tough for the beginners. The wind was bad. It was cold. The wind blew the aspen leaves into the river completely shutting off the dry fly thing. There is only one scenario where I’d switch to the bobber and this was it. The nymphing was still good if you could make the cast and get a drift. It was on the bobber, that my wife Kelly caught a nice 15” in what looked like spawning colors…. But, only after some significant frustration with me as her guide. What is it about trying to teach your wife how to fly fish?…or play golf?…or anything for that matter?… Mere did catch a couple nice KRRs in that session too.

That’s Mere in the background with what looks to be a juvenile pure strain KRR with a Huck Midge Perdigon stuck in his face

Kern River Rainbow Hybridization

What was interesting is we kept seeing colorful fish that looked like they were in spawn…. And sure enough Micah harvested a fish to eat and it had eggs in it. That totally explains why we do so well in the end of season trip. There is a late fall / early winter spawn on the upper kern. Last year I asked steve Schalla of www.flyfishingthesierra.com aka steven ojai about it and he reasoned it could be a sudden drop in water temperature. But, Steve has been watching the hybridization of the rainbows in the Upper Kern closely. And now we have confirmed it: There is a winter spawn in the Upper Kern River. But, environmentally, this is not a positive thing.

I got this from Steve in an email when I sent him pictures: “Notice the spots…they are somewhat large and very few below the center stripe. I would guess there is considerable hybridization with Rainbows.” Steve went on to describe what has happened in the Upper Owens and Lake Crowley seems to be happening in the Upper Kern. “During the winter, the eastern sierras guides call the migrating rainbows their “sierran steelhead”. They come out of Crowley Lake and spawn upstream in the Owens River. I suspect the same is true on the Kern: the Rainbows are not just a Spring Spawn species any longer.”

“Notice the spots…they are somewhat large and very few below the center stripe”. Steve Schalla says this is a hybridized rainbow trout

Translation: stocked rainbow trout (not native to the Kern) have made it all the way up to the Upper Kern River above Fairview dam. That stocked species of rainbow is a winter spawner. These trout are now wild and they are breeding with the Kern River Rainbows (KRRs). The hybridization of the KRR with other species of rainbows is now significant. When you couple that with a significant increase in the number of brown trout in the Upper Kern River (In 1932 a group of women on horses released brown trout fingerlings into Peppermint Creek), it is a huge red flag for one of the very few places in the world that contains a majority of wild native trout.

I have fished the Yellowstone River and its tributaries for years. And I have watched the hybridization of the pure strained Yellowstone cutthroat. Many of the guides in the area claim there will be no pure strained Yellowstone Cutthroats within a few short years. That is a shame and a very tricky problem to fix. As far as I know you can only slow it down. So, my ask of you is this: if you are the type of person that likes to harvest the trout on the Upper Kern (current regs is 2/day). Then make sure you don’t cull a pure strained KRR. Make sure you harvest a hybridized trout. Or a brown trout…. Which are also turning into a problem on the upper kern river.

Check out the spot pattern on this KRR that Micah nailed. Notice the peppery spots that pretty much cover the entire body of the fish: that is a pure strained KRR with a huck hopper in his face.

Last year (2021) I fished the end of the season, nov 15. And we did very well. The fishing was just awesome. Story here. I always seem to slay at the end of the season. And for years I have explained it as “the fish know the food sources are ending and have to fatten up for sitting at the bottom of the deep pools for 3 months until spring”. Last year, many of the fish looked so colorful that they looked and behaved like they were in spawn. Well, now I know for sure why the fishing is so good: Many of those males are in spawn and they just get stupid when they are in spawn.

I am headed back into the Upper Kern for the end of the Season in a couple weeks. My mission is to pay very careful attention to the spot patterns… ie: the pure strained KRRs caught above the big waterfall which is around a mile up river from painters camp. If the hybridization is significant way up there…. Well….uggg… the Entire species of the KRRs in the Kern River is going to suffer the fate of the Yellowstone cutthroat.

Forks of the Kern Report – June 23-28, 2022

It’s difficult to do a trophy shot alone when the KRRs are big

Sidebar: Treat yourself to the professionally done video by Micah Conrad, who I taught how to fly fish on this trip here.

Relevant Stats for the 6 days:

CFS: blown out muddy, 350 when we got there to off colored 225 perfect when we left

Solunar:

6/23 – 13%, poor
6/24 – 13%, poor
6/25 – 26%, fair
6/26 – 59%, average
6/27 – 82%, excellent

Water temp: 57 in the mornings rising all the way to 72 in the late afternoons

Air temp: low 50s to mid 60s at night all the way to 90 at the trailhead on the last day

I have this 25-year love affair with the Forks of the Kern River. If you have read me before you know I have said that for years. I feel like I know the 10 mile stretch of the river above the confluence like the back of my hand. But, I did have some firsts on this trip:

The Forks been closed because of the fire for 2 long years. That made this trip special
I didn’t fish that long or that hard. I guided two sets of young people: two beginners and a first timer. I find guiding / teaching beginners so much more fun than fishing myself. Because of that I hiked out up the mountain from the huck site to the trailhead twice during this trip. I have never guided two separated sets on the same trip. That means I went down to the huck site and up to the trailhead 3 separate times in 5 days. In those two hike out days I had over 35,000 steps… pretty good for an old guy.
This is the first time I have had the luxury of 5 nights down there. When it was time to hike out I said, “I could easily stay another 5 nights.”
I have never seen the Upper Kern blown-out before. A freak storm hit the area the day before I hiked in. When I hiked in, the river rose from 250 CFS to 350 CFS in 8 hours and muddied up. It was blown out.
My buddy Marty hiked in with me….carrying a portable cooler with ice so we could have proper cocktails for a couple days. Margaritas at the Huck site have to be a first!

Hey, there’s me in a selfie with the new GTW sign we installed a year ago

Wednesday, June 22

My plan from the beginning was to hike in 2 days early so I could have the time to prepare for the first two folks I was guiding on Saturday. that meant driving in on Wednesday and camping at lower peppermint campground before hiking in early on Thursday. Although the Huck site survived the fire it took a beating. All the wood logs we used to stage food and toys and sit on incinerated. And 2 years of growth after the fire needed to be trimmed back to make it not only easier for beginners to cast and comfortable to swim, etc. But, to provide an end to end view of the river from up at the camp site. I knew the fire pit needed to be cleaned out and rebuilt. I also wanted to figure out the fishing before they came. And lastly going in early allowed me to hike back out empty to meet them and fill up my pack again with fresh food (and beer!) to hike back down to the huck site. I firmly believe as good food as possible really enhances the backpacking experience. And a beer or a little JD helps too.

After talking to my buddy Marty Jansen who I have been on a number of adventures with… chronicled on this site… we planned to meet at lower peppermint campground around 6pm. Well, the gods were with me that day because I blew through LA barely having to brake. I made it to Kernville so quickly I had time to drop off a six pack as a gift to Guy Jeans of the Kern River Fly shop and to find some food. But, another 1^st for me: it was raining like hell. In a drought year that is pretty darn good for the area… but in late June? So strange. It was raining so hard it occurred to me that it might screw up a river that was in perfect shape when I left 5 hours earlier.

The waterfalls at Lower Peppermint Creek

I drove on another hour to Lower Peppermint campground and did something I have always wanted to do, never had the time, and have heard much about. I grabbed a rod and started fishing peppermint creek up stream. I did well on a size 16 stimulator that Steve Schalla tied for me. I had heard there were a set of waterfalls up stream, but I didn’t realize how close to the campground they were. Here I had been camping in lower peppermint for years, but always as a temporary stop to the forks. I never stayed long enough to enjoy the awesomeness of it. my bad. I only fished for an hour, caught and released 5 small wild trout and stared in awe at a set of waterfalls. I hiked the 10 mins or so back to camp to find Marty: “I figured you were fishing”. ?

Marty Jansen: notice he’s hiking in a cooler… with ice. As far as i know, Marty is the first person to serve margaritas at the Huck site.

Thursday, June 23

Marty and I got a decent start in the morning, drove the 20 mins to the trailhead and started hiking in. Since we already worked on the trailhead a year earlier it was not a shock to see the effects of the fire. What was a pleasant surprise is how the rain cleared out the haze. It was crystal clear skies with puffy white clouds like in Montana. Well, we made it to the Little Kern River crossing pretty quickly. And then the reality. The little kern river was blown out. it was running way high for that time of year and muddy. In fact the lack of clarity in the water made the crossing a little tenuous only because I couldn’t see where I was stepping and I was wearing sandals to cross. My heart sunk. I was guiding 2 beginners in a couple days and the river might be blown out. There was still hope that the main fork of the kern was still clear but it was obvious when we got a peek at it a quarter mile later on the trail that it was blown out. so, I said to myself it’s got 2 days to back down and clear up or else there is going to be a lot of casting and very little catching. I knew the solunar thing was against us too.

Blown Out: Notice the brown color of the water and the level up to the willows on the banks upstream

We got to the huck site and it was clear to me how much work needed to be done. there was a lot of growth since I checked the huck site out a year ago. I set up camp and attacked the fire place first. The structure was still in tact but I had to remove cubic feet of soot, rocks and sand to get it back into a safe effective shape then build a grilling platform. After that I turned to making firewood.

Marty’s plan was to hang a night with me and then backpack up to his favorite place: Kern Flats, which is about 11 miles up river from the trailhead. then he’d come back on Monday and hang until he hiked out. So, I took a break, marked the water level and we fished for a couple hours or so. We caught fish. But, as expected because of the high murky water it was slow.

After fishing I attacked the riverside willows with lopers. It was brutally difficult work. I also attacked a few tree branches with a backpacking saw that I hiked in. I was exhausted but when “happy hour” rolled around I quickly noticed that, although I made two good places for an overhand cast, I had a lot more work to do to clear enough view to be able to watch rises from the site.

I hiked in a couple beers and lamb chops so it was a good night.

you cannot beat that view on the forks trail on a clear day

Friday, June 24

Like always I woke up with the sun around 5:30AM. The river looked to be clearing. That was encouraging. I made coffee and wandered down to the river. I looked at my mark on the river and the river was down 8”… sigh of relief. The river was falling. After coffee I worked on the view with cutting sheers and lopers. Then I made more firewood. Exhausting work. but, I got so much done I set out to fish with Marty. This time for 3 or 4 hours and we did ok. We caught fish, but, I knew the river was still not in good enough shape for beginners. But all the signs were that the river was slowly getting back into shape right on time for the folks I was guiding the next day. Vicki and Alyssa are young gals that give me hope for the next generation. The list of outdoor adventures and places they have been at such a young age is impressive. Both had fly fished a few times…even from a drift boat guided in montana. their exuberance for outdoor adventure was spirit lifting for me. Late afternoon I txted Vicki and Alyssa who had a hotel in Kernville for the night. The plan for the next morning was for me to hike out and make it to the trailhead by 8:30am to meet them.

That is a the huck-bow warrior, perdigon style in this guy’s face

Saturday, June 25

I got out right on time at 6:30AM. I said my goodbyes to marty (knowing he’d be back on Monday), gave him access to the huck hoppers and perdigons I tied for the trip) and I was off. I was hiking an almost empty backpack so the pace was quick. And it was early morning so my senses were on alert. It was not 20 minutes before I ran into my first fresh bear scat right on the trail. it was fairly close to “bend camp” (my second choice if I can’t get the Huck site. It’s elevated right on a bend in the river ~ 3 miles from the trailhead) and as I walked by it there were 4 guys in that camp. I shouted about them having a visitor last night. “We know.” they said laughing. I ran into more bear scat about a mile from the little kern river that looked to be from the night before. Most likely the same bear.

I made it to the little Kern Crossing in 45 minutes and was up the hill an hour from then. right around 8:15AM which gave me time to arrange all the fresh food and beer I was taking down. Vicki and Alyssa showed up (in a Prius I may add which tells you how good a shape the dirt road to the trailhead is) right on time. I got firm handshakes from them which is an instant indicator of them being firmly planted in the working world which I didn’t know at the time. By 8:45 we started hiking down and it was already getting hot. Our pace was fine. I did a lot of talking including asking the question (I stole from my daughter, Camille): “How is team morale?” To which Vicki always answered, “Team Morale is good.”

Vicki took this shot of me releasing one of the KRRs she fooled. She had this amazing waterproof enclosure and lens for her iphone.

At the Little Kern Crossing these two navigated easily and nicely without my help. You can always tell how well a fly fisher is going to be by their “river legs”. And these two were quite agile. With 2.2 miles to go to the Huck site, though, it was getting hot. I’m a hot weather guy having grown up in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles so I have to pay special attention because most people hate hiking in the heat. Our pace slowed because of the heat so I kept the conversation going while hiking to take their minds off the suffering. When we got to the Huck site the plan was to set up camp, eat and relax before we headed out to fish. That plan worked because when these two were ready they were re-energized. We had a good portion of day light left in the day. the plan was to head down river for this half day of fishing then fish up river over the mountain on the next full day we had. I had them both start in the huck site overhand casting. Then I taught them how to roll cast…. Which they both took to immediately. The only issue was that we didn’t get any takes. We always get takes at the Huck Site. Hmmm….

That’s Alyssa with one of the many KRRs she fooled

So we ventured off down river. these two were casting well and getting good drifts. But, we weren’t getting any takes. So I kept lengthening the leaders… which is a sign they were getting better and better at casting on really tough rig: a huge huck hopper dropped by 4 feet or longer with perdigons. Finally we started catching. What a relief for me. between the river still not in good shape and the warming of the water in the latter part of the day it was just slow. We hiked a mile and a half or so back to the huck site and I got happy hour going while those to relaxed and waited for heads…. During the witching hour, 7:30 to 8:30pm at this time of year, there just weren’t a lot of rises…. Hmmm. “Tomorrow will be a new day,” I said to myself. And I was right.

I hiked in 3 enormous high quality steaks prior that day, which I complimented with a doctored up version of fettucine Alfredo… we pigged out…well, I did… we didn’t even come close to finishing it. “Not to worry. Steak and eggs in the morning!”

That’s Vicki in action: pretty much fearless because the submerged rock she is standing on is deep on all sides

Sunday, June 26

I woke up with the sun around 5:30AM and immediately checked the river. down another 6”! and good water clarity! Yes! I just knew then it would be a good fishing day. Myplan was to hike those two upriver over the mountain and fish upstream all day long. And they were excited about it. So that is exactly what we did. As we crested the mountain I decided to not do my normal plan of scampering down 300 feet like goats and fishing the cliffs. I took them straight to my dry fly patch with a great run above it. And we caught fish! Fishing the Upper Kern is very physical…very physical. You cannot be successful without climbing up and down river banks and getting scratches and cuts and aches and pains. And that is what these gals were doing.

I love this pic for a couple reasons. 1st, the view. 2nd, check out that roll cast from Alyssa

When guiding/teaching fly fishing I always cover my 7 components of fly fishing with emphasis on the very first and most important component: “reading the water”. In my not so humble opinion, it really doesn’t matter where you cast or how good your drift is if your cast doesn’t land or drift to where the fish are. Well, these two… well into their 2^nd day were now reading the water really well. As we approached each new “hole” I’d ask the question, “What do you see?” and sure enough I’d get back things like, “Well, there is a run with a seam between it and the eddy”. Or “There are two runs with a tail-out at the end.”

My favorite moment of the day was fishing “the island”. It’s ~2 miles upriver from the huck site. It’s not usually accessible or fished. And that is because there is good water before and after and it requires a scramble down to what is typically a tough river cross. But, I fished it a couple days before and caught a bunch of fish. Plus, the water was low enough and these two were agile enough for a cross. Alyssa decided to take the bottom so I put her in place at the end of the island which had runs on both side of her with a tail-out 60 feet down river. But, she had to cast downriver on both sides of her which is a tough set. “What do you see?” I said. I can’t remember exactly what her answer was but it was spot on. Then I said something like, “let out a ton of line and don’t be afraid to let that thing drift all the way down. Many times trout will hang in the tailout in a run like this with two food sources converging.” And with that Viki and I walked 50 feet up the island in a deep run that is always productive. I think I was changing out Vicki’s rig to a longer dropper because I heard the shout and Alyssa was on. So, I ran down, netted and we did the 7^th component: the trophy shot. Back to Vicki… and Alyssa was on again. I’m pretty sure Vicki nailed one there too after I finally got done running back and forth from Alyssa to get her all rigged up. Very pleased.

Those two got a lot of takes that day considering their experience, the conditions, and the fact they were fishing in one of the most technical fly fishing rivers in CA. my guess is about 20 takes each that day. My land ratio at the forks is about 50%. And I know my way around a trout stream. My guess is these two landed about 1/3^rd of every fish that they got a take on. Pretty darn good. It was then that Alyssa said something I will remember for a long time: “I used to like fly fishing. Now I love it.” I was like a proud father.

So good that if I didn’t hint we should do the long hike back those two would have fished until well after dark and we’d be stuck with a 3 mile hike back to camp in total darkness. I believe we made it to camp around 6:30. Enough time for happy hour and watching heads through the witching hour. But no real significant rises again. Very strange. What makes it more strange is that timhuckaby.com readers JT and Stu were in the picnic table aka rattlesnake sight and they told us it was nuts during the witching hour just down from them. That is only ¼ mile away. So strange the hatch can be prolific in one spot and just ¼ mile away nothing. Isn’t that just fly fishing?

Now, after two days of hiking and guiding these two I was “done”. After dinner, I literally passed out in my backpacking chair watching the river. If vicki didn’t wake me up I might have slept in that chair all night.

I love this shot. Vicki roll casting off the island with Alyssa below

Monday, June 27

The plan was to hike out with Vicki and Alyssa as early as possible. Instead of hiking out empty I offloaded some of stuff from their packs. We didn’t get too late a start but, it ended up being about an hour too late. In the hike up the mountain we didn’t have a breeze, were exposed to the sun and it was hot. Halfway up I asked, “How is team morale?” and Allyssa shot back something like, “below average”. That made me smile.

that is a huck-bow warrior hanging out of this guy’s face

In the week prior I told Micah (the next guy I was to guide) that I’d meet him at the site around 9am. We were over an hour late for that. Not a problem. I said goodbyes to Vicki and Alyssa and met an excited Micah.

Treat yourself to the professionally done video by Micah Conrad, who I taught how to fly fish on this trip here.

I filled my now empty pack with 6 beers and more fresh food (little did I know that Micah had venison steaks in his pack!) and we headed down.

I’m already way beyond my self-inflicted word count limit here, but the way Micah and I found each other is a great story I have told many many times. Micah was… and I emphasize was a conventional gear trout fisherman who’s love of the river is infectious. He reached out to me on timhuckaby.com about flies using “fly and a bubble”. So he bought some flies off the site and we went back and forth on the tactics of fly and a bubble. Well, I didn’t think anything of it until he emailed me a week or so after his experience on the JDB trail with a link to a youtube video where he calls me out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GOhJa5Qjy4 . anyways, his success and pure joy was so intoxicating I sent the link to the video to my son, the fly fishing guide in Montana. And my son Mark said, “Dad, you gotta’ teach that kid how to fly fish.” So, a few communications later we worked it out to meet on this trip. I was pushing it close to my international flight the next day. But, teaching this kid how to throw a fly was more important.

Micah’s joy of fly fishing and the wilderness is intoxicating

So, back down the mountain we went. And it was hot. I was fine but I believe micah’s pack was a little heavy so he slowed towards the last mile. As we staggered into the Huck site there was Marty as planned.

After a little rest and food at the Huck site we did the same routine of fly casting teaching and practice at the sight. Marty had killed in front of rattlesnake creek a few days prior. But, it’s a brutal bushwhack in there. But, Micah said he was up for it so off we went. And sure enough that is the area I gave the most blood trying to get into on the trip. I put a size 8 huck hopper on him. Micah was not ready for casting a dry dropper yet. His first few casts were nasty… probably because he was excited. So, I settled him down and he got into the timing of the overhand cast. He put one upstream about 30 feet and it drifted perfectly…as if God shined down on him slowly next to this huge boulder in about 10 feet of water. It was like it happened in slow motion. One of, if not the biggest kern river rainbows I have ever seen in that river shamoo’d slowly like the west slope cutthroats of northwestern montana and pulled down that huck hopper. I screamed, “Go!” and he did… unfortunately I had not worked on line control in any depth with Micah yet and he just couldn’t get tight quick enough. But, I was screaming “Woo!” and he was screaming “Woo! And we were high fiving and I was so excited I fell in the river. It wasn’t 5 minutes later that micah set properly and landed a nice one. More yelling and screaming and high fiving in joy. A first timer… on the Upper Kern. It was magical. The rest of the day went like that. Micah, since he has so much trout experience with conventional trout fishing took to fly fishing like a natural. He had a lot of takes. And landed some nice fish. Of course I have now ruined him financially as he will buy a ton of fly fishing gear.

Again no rises in the witching hour while I prepared happy hour and dinner. So no catching in the huck site in over 3 days. Very strange. In the morning we broke camp as early as possible. I did the ceremonial last cast (which is always about 10 casts) with a size 18 BWO. After a number of good drifts I said to myself, “huh.” And reeled my fly in. Sure enough a little KRR caught himself while I reeled it in. As I let him go, I said, “huh….fly fishing…”

That next morning I scrambled to pack up as quickly as possible, but it was 5 nights and my stuff was strewn everywhere. Add to that I never found the time to find a place for the new cache of stuff I left down there and that took time. Well, when micah and I made it to the trailhead it had already crested 90 degrees and even I had some misery hiking up that hill for the 3^rd and final time in 6 days.

Yep, that’s a huck hopper hanging out of this one’s face. but, this is a brown trout. i’m starting to see them more and more….which is concerning. i didn’t have the heart to kill this one, though.

2-nighter on the JDB trail: May 1-3, 2022

Although i still haven’t mastered my fancy GoPro, this release gives you an idea of how dirty the water was

Forks of the Kern Update: It’s Open!

I cannot tell you how many emails I have answered asking about when the Forks will open again. As of Today, 5/13/22. IT’S OPEN!

Just got word from a buddy who said, “Western Divide, he said Lloyd Meadows and the Forks will be open as of today. He said they’re “in the process” of clearing it all out, and “there may be escorts”, but it will be open for sure for my trip on Sunday. I even got my Wilderness permit approved.”

Beware: There are a couple of barriers to your fishing fun when the Forks finally does open after its 2 year hiatus. Firstly, in high flow of the main river, the little kern river crossing (which is part of the Forks trail) can be treacherous. Secondly, the Upper Kern is just difficult to fish in flows over 500CFS. It has everything to do with the willows, trees and other bushes that line the river. It’s just hard to find spots in the river to wade in safely when “it’s up.”.

2-nighter on the JDB trail: May 1-3, 2022

Flow:

Sunday: 545 CFS
Monday: 560 CFS
Tuesday: 585 CFS

Solunar

Sunday: 92%
Monday: 77%
Tuesday: 52%

Conditions:

A muddy, rising, raging torrent of death topped off with 30 MPH gusts of wind. I was a week too late; the runoff has started. I caught it perfectly in 2020 and 2021. The Upper Kern will be pretty much unfishable to anyone but experts as it rises to over 1000 CFS through mid June.

Notice that brown raging torent of death beyond my tent in the background. normally this is one of the best plunge pools and runs on this stretch of the river. it’s a great campsite because of the location and view of the river.

Report:

On a full day of fishing on Monday, I got ~10 to hand losing about twice that many. So, considering the bad conditions and still getting around 30 takes one might think I’d be stoked. But, I expected to get 40 to hand and lose another 40 like the prior 2 years. Still totally fun. How can getting takes on a size 4 huck hopper in April not be fun?

Casting for Recovery:

I drove straight from guiding the Casting for Recovery Event near Yosemite to the Johnsondale Bridge. I cannot tell you what a pleasure and honor it was to help in that event. 14 ladies who stared down death in the gun barrel of cancer to get out in the outdoors for 3 days of learning about fly fishing. I was teamed up with an extraordinary woman. I’ll call her “B” because her story of breast cancer survival is personal. It was personal for me because my wife is a breast cancer survivor. “B” is a young beautiful lady originally from Toronto and now living in Temecula with her husband from Northern Ireland. I have been to Northern Ireland a few times; I have a first cousin there. So we had a lot to talk about. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to fish a river teaming with trout. We were put on a pond that had not been stocked. To make it even more challenging trees lined this pond so a traditional overhand cast was impossible. Not to worry it wasn’t about catching. It never is about catching…is it? The night before the event, I tied a bunch of Squirmy Worms in the hotel room I had in Reedley, CA. The squirmy and the mop fly are now illegal in competition fly fishing events….for a reason….and I tie them with glow in the dark materials… it’s totally cheating…I don’t even sell them on this site anymore for that reason. I only use them when teaching beginners. So, yea, perfect for an event with beginners like casting for recovery. So, I started by teaching a roll cast. But, we talked through what an overhand cast would be…the 10-2 thing.. teaching the casts in that reverse order was a first for me. but, in the long term probably a good strategy I may use again. if you can roll cast you can fly fish anywhere. Especially on the Upper Kern where it’s tough to find room for an overhand cast. “B” picked it up pretty quickly. She clearly has an athletic set of genes in her. Well, sure enough…within 15 minutes a huge largemouth took that squirmy super close to the shore in 1.5 feet of water . Unfortunately her teacher (me) didn’t focus on how to set to deeply because I never dreamed we’d get a take. It was an enormous bass and I was clearly more excited about it than “B”. ? we only got a fish for 2-3 hours. I could have done that all day with her and had the time of my life. So fun.

“B” is headed to Scotland this summer…and yes, she’ll fly fish with her husband. I’d really love to get those two on the annual couples trip to the forks this fall. And I told her as much. The casting for recovery event was just a great time. All the guides and support staff are simply awesome people….as you’d imagine. I can’t wait to be honored to do it again.

Yep, that’s a mountain lion and pretty fresh. I stepped over it entering the river at the end of the JDB trail intersection with the canyon trail to the Rincon Trail. the print was right at the river’s edge and he’s up on his toes taking a drink.

Upper Kern Backpacking and Fishing Details:

I had a long 3 hour drive south and east into the sierras from the Casting for Recovery event to the Johnsondale bridge. While driving I checked the flow and my heart just sunk. The river was rising. I knew exactly what that meant: I was too late.

I got to the parking lot at the JDB around 3:45PM and took off with 42 pounds on my back from the at 4pm. I knew I had a couple hour hike and that I should get to camp well before the sun went down at 6:30. I did not see a single sole from the minute I got on the trail until I hiked out and reached the parking lot on Tuesday at 10:15 AM. Nice. But, it was hard not to stare at that rising river as I hiked in. It had a brown tint to it too. It was already blown out.

If you are a backpacker, you know the hassle and stress of getting your campsite set up while racing the sun. So, I didn’t get a cast in that first day. I didn’t have time to string a rod. And that was fine. I knew I’d have a full day tomorrow. I just love the occasional backpacking alone thing. It so good for clearing the mind and letting go of the stress of every day life.

Anyone who has caught a Native Wild Kern River Rainbow can relate to this. although the picture isn’t in focus notice the two splash circles. This fish did a double 360 spin in the air while i laughed in amusement. I probably didn’t land him.

Also, as I my habit I was asleep pretty early. Between the long day, the hike, jack daniels, a fire and bbqing a steak I hiked in I was pretty toast. I retreated to my tent to listen to fly fishing podcasts and was soon asleep. And that means I was up and out of the tent at 5:45am. Guess what I did first. I stared at the river. in that low light of the morning when the sun is rising i said to myself, “It’s big; but, It doesn’t look that bad.” So I strung a rod. Although I hadn’t seen any I had heard the salmonfly hatch was still on. I had tied a dozen for the trip so I quickly tied one on and got in position for a 6am cast. It made a simple 40 foot cast straight up river on the seam. The light was so poor it was hard to see that huge salmonfly coming back at me. But sure enough I saw what looked like a take and I set hard. I was on. I laughed as I released it because I have not caught many fish that early in the day. Then I made the mistake of saying to myself, “this is going to be a good day.” because it was exactly then when it hit me: The first cast fish jinx… I cannot tell you how many times that has happened to me.

Well, I know that upper couple miles of the JDB stretch like the back of my hand so I fished all day where I knew fish held. But, when I wasn’t getting consistent rises I faced the reality of nymphing by way of the Huck Hopper/Dropper. The prior two years of me fishing the JDB stretch in April before the Forks opened I absolutely killed on dries. Not this year. I was just a week too late. The river huge, dirty and blow out. The flow was tough to get the flies down in the deeper water. And I knew I had to get them down because the water clarity was only about a foot. That was why I wasn’t getting rises. The fish just couldn’t see through the dirty water. But there are two plunge pools up river from the trail end where I did pretty well on Huck Midge Perdigons in less than 3 feet of water. Then that wind came in. I guessed 30mph gusts because I was actually blown off a rock I was standing on in the river. At points it was really hard to get a drift but I kept fighting through it. What else was I going to do? I’m not much of a sit and wait guy.

Normally i miss the nature shots like this one. Springtime can be pretty spectacular in the Kern River Canyon

Out of the ten or so to hand only one was a larger Kern River Rainbow (KRR). All the others were in the less than 10” class. Most of which I guessed to be 2 year fish. But, the reality of the conditions and the river still rising made me decide I’d hike out early the next morning instead of battling all day again.

So, I hiked out early in the morning after breaking camp and was on the road in Huck-Truck by 1030AM back home. My next adventure will be at the forks. Most likely end of June / early July. Hope to see you there.

Upper Kern River End of Season 2021 Fly Fishing Report

BlackRock Trail Head -> Jordan Hot Springs -> Painters Camp

11/12/21 to 11/15/21

Mark Huckaby with just another huge Kern River Rainbow. Notice the fall colors in the background

Intro Summary

My 26 year old son Mark (the fly fishing guide from Bozeman, MT) and I caught and released over 150 Kern River Rainbows in 2 days. It was ridiculously good fishing for the wild and native Kern River Rainbow. I mostly fished dry/dropper with a Huck Hopper on top and Huck perdigons dropped below. The backpacking hike in and out was not easy; in fact, it was a real challenge.

The Hike

I was “jonesing” to get a backpacking fly fishing trip in before the fishing season closed on 11/15. With most of the forests that encompass the Upper Kern River closed, it was a real challenge to figure out how to get to the Upper Kern River. I did hike all the way back from the forks to the Johnsondale bridge in the summer with my buddy Marty Jansen…and that was awful. The Rincon trail is a motorcycle trail which makes it awful. Well, sure enough Marty talked me into hiking to the Upper Kern River with 45 pounds on my back…. From the east side… the 395 side. This time from the Blackrock Trailhead. We were joined by fellow SDFF member and buddy Bruce Bechard and my 26 year old son, Mark, who is a fly fishing guide at my two favorite lodges in Montana: The Clark Fork Outpost and the Stillwater River Outpost.

From Left to Right: Mark Huckaby, Bruce Bechard and Marty Jansen….all smiling still because it’s the beginning of the hike down.

For over 20 years I have had a dream to access the Upper Kern River from the Eastern Side of the Sierras. The problem is that access is just brutal. For the first decade I hike it, I always thought backpacking the Forks of the Kern Trail was difficult. I know now it is not. The Blackrock Trail is difficult. I never knew how spoiled I was by the Forks of the Kern Trail until I tried accessing the Kern River miles above the Forks. From the Forks trail I had never made it all the way up river to painters camp. it’s a challenge just to make it to the first up river bridge crossing from the Forks, which I have fished to many times.

Well, the Blackrock Trail goes to Painters Camp on the Upper Kern River. It’s only 8.8 miles… which doesn’t sound that bad at all. But, it starts at 9,000 feet of elevation and you lose 3,800 feet doing it. We did the entire 8.8 miles with 3800 feet in one hike. Never again. Not that the hike in was easy. It’s steep and I had 45 pounds on my back. but, it was sheer agony on the hike out: 6.5 hours of misery. The altitude and steepness was one thing. But, doing it in November meant many parts of the trail were iced over or snow covered. Bruce went down 3 times…and it was so slippery he had trouble getting back up.

From the Blackrock Trailhead you hike to Casa Vieja Meadow. From there you hike steeply downhill to Jordan hot springs in a canyon that follows 9 mile creek. And from Jordan Hot Springs it’s a brutal downhill single track, through canyons and miles of fire damage that make it look like the moon down to the river. In hindsight we should have broken the trip out into 2 days.

Was that hike worth it?…

The fishing

I’m not a counter, but my son Mark is. That is what guides do for their clients. That is how I know Mark and I caught and released over 150 Kern River Rainbows in two days. The fishing…my god… It was stupid good fishing. Most of the time, I fished a large Huck Hopper on top and trailed them with Huck Perdigons. And yes, I did catch most of the fish on the Huck Perdigons. I’d guess 75% of the fish i caught were on the Huck Midge Perdigon, size 16. But, it was November and I did catch a number of fish on size 4 Huck Hoppers. Where else in the western hemisphere can you consistently catch fish in mid-November on huge hoppers? During the witching hour as the sun went down i fished size 18 BWOs right in front of camp. And did well. At that time of year, other than the midge, the Blue Winged Olive Mayfly would be the only hatch on the Upper Kern. There were plenty of double hook-ups on this trip and Bruce even caught 2 at once!

And yes, we did pack waders and wading boots into our backpacks…worth every ounce at this time of year. Understand 150 means fish landed. The Kern River Rainbow is wild and native. I have written this many times: The Kern River Rainbow fights like hell and they just don’t give up. I cannot tell you how many fish I hooked, but failed to land….which is normal for that river.

Does this stretch look like dry fly paradise or what?! just upstream from camp i caught a 19″ KRR just about 200 feet upstream from Mark

The reason? Well, I have my speculations that I will share with you:

These fish have not seen an artificial fly in a year and a half and most won’t for over 2 years. The fire closures just have made it really hard for “normal humans” to get into the upper kern to fish.
I have now fly fished 4 end of season (11/15) closings on the Upper Kern River. And I have killed every time. I believe the trout just know that winter is coming and the food supply is about to grind to a halt so they go nuts feeding in anticipation of a long miserable winter.
The River is always low in November. It’s crossable and there just are not many places the fish can hide from a good cast with a good drift.
I think it’s also interesting to note that this part of the river is in a steep canyon which makes the days at this time of year super short. We didn’t see the sun until after 8am and lost it around 2:30 pm. Fishing NOT in direct sunlight could help.
A winter spawn? There are rainbows that spawn in the winter…like the Steelhead. But, Kern River Rainbows are Spring Spawners. Some of the fish we were catching looked like spawning males because of the colors. They were dark and colorful not like the chromers we catch in the summer and fall. Lately I challenge myself to see how quickly I can hook a trout, get it to hand and release it. I wish I would have taken more pictures. I also noticed what I thought were spawning behaviors. I caught one decent sized fish and a huge fish followed it in. that is normal, of course. But, what wasn’t normal was this 2 footer was nuzzling next to my hooked fish side to side like a male trout lines up next to a female on a redd. I watched this behavior 3 times before I released my fish.

Notice a few things in the video above. Firstly, the colors of the rainbow i have hooked. then look closely at the huge 2 foot+ rainbow following it. normally i wouldn’t have played that fish so long in front of me. But, i was fascinated by the behavior as if they were in spawning mode.

My favorite stories from the trip:

On the first day Mark and I fished up river from where we camped. Bruce and Marty fished downriver to Marty’s favorite runs at Kern Flats. Well, within a couple miles of fishing Mark and I wandered into the series of Waterfalls we had heard about. We had already done really well. Hiking above the first waterfall was pretty easy on the eastern side. I watched and took pictures as Mark nailed some nice fish “between the falls”. But, for the life of me I cannot figure out how fish got into that pool. It’s well documented that waterfalls are natural barriers that prevent fish from moving up and down river. And somehow they figure out how to do it. But, it was after 2:30PM and the sun was already behind the canyon walls. I stared at that huge waterfall trying to figure out how to get around it for the next days’ adventure. We decided we’d scale it from the west side because there was a huge bolder scree on the east side that looked impenetrable – big mistake.

Well, Marty joined Mark and I on the next day. The plan was to hike all the way to the falls and scale it, and start fishing from above. It took an hour to scale that mountain and it was quite physical and relatively dangerous in spots. After fishing, we took the trail on the way back to camp. The trail goes way away from the river and up and over the mountain, but it was easier than the way we climbed in. But, in between, my God the fishing was good. Mark and I approached a run that was shaded by trees on both sides. Like normal I said, “Do you want the head or the tail?” He took the head. Within seconds he was battling a big fish. That big fish is the first picture in this article. Well, I moved into the river below him where I could cast straight up stream into the run. I caught a couple quickly. Mark moved on up river on the assumption that big fish put the pool down. I told you I’m not a counter but, this run was so prolific I counted…because I caught a fish on almost every cast. At 14 landed and 2 LDR’d I laughed, left and caught up with Mark.

Fly Fishing the Upper Kern River is not for the faint of heart. There was no river trail in most of the areas we fished.

Sidebar from Mark Huckaby

“On the way down the mountain I knew nymphing was going to be our best option not only because the time of the season. But also because the introduction of the perdigon to the fly fishing industry has everyone confident in fishing the winter months (at least that is the case in Montana). Because my dad refuses to nymph and always starts with a dry fly. When we got to camp he started fishing dry and alas, fish were rising. The next few days we were lucky enough to experience some of the best dry fly fishing I’ve ever experienced in November. The type of fishing where your hands start hurting because you’re catching so many fish. If you’re like me and like to switch it up. I recommend tossing a streamer in the big pools we found. A green, brown, or yellow wooly bugger seemed to do the trick and it was awesome to get chased by the native Kern River rainbows. It seemed like every time you casted into those pools a bunch of little fish would swim right up to check it out. The waterfall created many big deep pools for me to attack; perfect for streamers. To get the big fish, cast up into the white water, let your bugger sink very close to the bottom and strip back quickly.”

Here’s Mark changing out streamers beneath a small waterfall

Summary

Would I do this again? Was it worth that awful hike out? absolutely yes. I’d do almost anything for that type of success in fly fishing for wild natives. But, next time I’ll break up that hike out into two days with an overnight at Jordon hot springs. And even then that hike from Jordon Hot Springs to the trailhead is pretty gruesome. Also 3 nights with only 2 fishing days for that amount of hike is too short. It should be at least a 4 nighter. Adding that night hiking out makes it a 5 nighter.

Here’s Mark battling just above “Marty’s Hole”. i swear i watched Marty yank 10+ fish out of that hole.

Special thanks to “Steve Ojai”, aka Steve Schalla, aka owner of www.flyfishingthesierra.com for the help on how to pull this backpacking trip off. Steve was so kind to provide much of the guidance we needed. Steve has fished this part of the river many times. We used Steve’s map of the area religiously on this trip. After the trip I talked to Steve in email. He speculated the spawning behaviors and colors may have been confused trout as a result of the sudden drop in river temperature.

Forks of the Kern – June 18-22, 2021

“Wait what?! You got to fish the Forks?! But, it’s closed…”

One of the many big Kern River Rainbows i nailed

The San Diego Fly Fishers Club (SDFF) got to fish the Upper Kern by the way of the Forks of the Kern Trail in June of 2021. Technically the only people legally allowed to fish that stretch of the Upper Kern for over 2 years until the trail re-opens in the Spring of 2022. But my God we earned it. We worked our asses off fixing up the Forks trail.

A group of 6 of us worked with 2 members of the Western Divide Ranger District to do trail repair on the first 2 miles of the trail: from the trailhead to the confluence of the Little Kern River and the Main, North Fork of the Kern River 1000 feet and 2 miles below.

A great example of the devastation…with the green coming in the following spring

It was physical work in hot conditions with hand tools over a long weekend. The trail had not been touched in 17 years and the fire most certainly didn’t help it. I have been using that trail well beyond that 17 years and I can tell you I have never seen it in better shape as a result of the work. You can practically roll a baby stroller up and down it now. Unfortunately, no one will not be able to use it until Spring of 2022 when Western Divide reopens the area.

In addition to the trail repair, hand sawing felled trees off the trail, and trash removal, my 5 years of frustration to provide the western divide ranger district the financial resources to replace the “welcome to the golden trout wilderness” sign on the forks of the Kern trail is over. The sign didn’t succumb to last year’s largest fire in California History. It succumbed to vandalism around 5 years ago. Hands down that sign was the most photographed on the entire Forks Trail. Well, the SDFF club funded the new sign. I personally was honored to carry it a mile down the trail where we installed it.

The SDFF and Western Divide Forest District Group with the newly installed GTW sign. from Left to Right: me, Daniel, Brooke, Evan, Kevin, Steve, Marty, Warren

A huge thanks to Evan Topal, a fairly new hire of the Wester Divide Ranger district. Evan handled all the bureaucracy and red tape behind the scenes to make this first of its kind project happen. Evan succeeded where I had failed navigating for years. Evan also figured out how to pave through the red tape and legal indemnification to provide hands on the ground for the trail repair. I cannot tell you how nice it is to have a “doer” in a so poorly under-funded and under-resourced group protecting our forests. We are in talks about the San Diego Fly Fishing Club “adopting” the trail and what that might mean in terms of financial and hands on resources. Execution of that would please me intensely.

I personally picked up and carried out over 30 pounds of cans and bottles accumulated over 20 years that were exposed when the trail and surrounding areas burnt. And I felt like I was working half as hard as my buddies who were using picks and shovels and hand saws. It was the logical job for me. the lord didn’t give me much, but he did give me the “goat gene”. I climbed up and down about 100 feet max off trail from above and below the trail to retrieve cans, bottles and a variety of other junk (ie: a 20 year old white gas latern, mangled jet-boils, etc.) that survived incineration in the fire.

Btw, I am working with Evan Topal to do another foray into the Forks Trail to fix up the next 2 miles of trail in the fall. Being that said the 25% snowpack year in the Southern sierras is a much bigger concern. The upper kern is only flowing less than 130 CFS as of writing this. that is the lowest I can remember for this time of year; lower than I can remember in the 4 drought years. And it is just July. We could see disastrous low flow conditions in sept and oct. I may have to self-inflict “hoot owl” restrictions like they do in montana when rivers get too low and too warm. At a certain point it is just too dangerous to catch and release the fish in low, warm conditions. You end up killing them. And no fly fisher wants that. Only time will tell. But, if you are interested in helping; either with hands on the ground or financially then please do send me an email. Let me tell you that the fly fishing makes the tax of the work completely worth it.

The Fire Aftermath

Honestly I have zero expertise in the science of Forest Fires: the recovery, patterns, etc. But, I have been reading up on it and it’s fascinating stuff. This area badly needed a burn. So, let me tell you right off that the entire area is already showing recovery… green where it looked like the moon. Trees recovering and growing back. So much plant growth so that I’m confident when we all get back in there next year we’ll have to look hard for the signs of the fire on the ground.

And yes, the biggest fear from most fly fishers was that the fire would poison the river. Let me tell you it did not. it fished better than I can remember it in years. It’s the simple fact (and irony) that this drought year did not produce rain or runoff conditions that pushed ash and mud into the river. It’s still as crystal clear and pristine as it ever was. And because of the new growth from the ashes we will not have mud slides. Of course the fish not seeing an artificial fly for over a year also helped.

What shocked me first and foremost was seeming contradiction of the areas that barely burnt, the areas that did not burn and the areas that were scorched like the moon. For instance, a huge area right at the confluence didn’t see fire at all. Even though it was surrounded by burn in all directions including across the river. There must have been a sudden wind shift (or fire fighting) that prevented it. Yet in other places on the Forks trail it still looked “Nuked”; like the moon.

I have good news for you “Huck-site” fans. The Huck Site Survived. It burnt all right. But all the tall pines trees on the plateau survived and were green on top when I got there. Most of the wooden “benches” around the campfire ring burnt to ashes. But all the trees down at the river’s edge did not see fire at all. Even the tree swing survived. Marty and I both quickly caught and released a couple fish right at the Huck Site after surveying it.

That’s Marty roll casting the big pool in front of the Huck Site. notice the rope swing in tact

The Huck-Cache, however, did not fare as well. It’s gone. Just a few hundred yards up river and about 200 feet above the trail, the cache, and the entire area around it incinerated including the giant pine tree it was hidden behind. Before seeing it, I assumed it burnt and that I would be responsible for hauling out a ton of trash because of it. there was no trash to haul out. Everything incinerated short of the saw blades and a backpacking grill. My buddy Jeff Kimura from the SDFF club hauled in a super nice little camp table just a couple weeks before the fire for a club trip to the forks. It was aluminum. It completely incinerated. Two tents, 5 pairs of wading boots and river shoes and a variety of other stuff donated by the many visitors to the Huck Site: all incinerated. Not a tragedy; not even sad. Just interesting. That cache can be replenished over more time. It’s just stuff.

Is that a Huck Hopper hanging out of that KR rainbow’s face? why yes, it is…

The Fishing

Nuts. Ridiculous. Stupid Good. I had a day where I caught 40+ Kern River Rainbows. 4 of them were over 20”. 20 of them were over 14”. And 95% of the time I was fishing dries: huge size 4 huck hoppers. I could kick myself for even dropping a nymph off my size 4 huck hoppers. But, i did want to test my new Huck Perdigons. I did it for around 20 minutes mid-day on the full day I fished when it slowed. And I ended up getting takes on every drift. When they started taking the huck hoppers on top again I just caught off the dropper.

The Kern River Rainbow. Look at that fan of a tail

And it wasn’t just me. Marty Jansen caught 40+ on that day too.

But, my favorite fishing story from the project / trip has to be from Brooke Sargent. Brooke is a 25 year old fly fisher, who on this project, was stuck with a bunch of old guys. Not only is she a hoot of fun to be around, she guided one of the Forest Rangers to landing a 16” KR rainbow… a forest ranger who had never touched a fly rod before.

is that a Huck Hopper hanging out of that Fish’s face?

The Mistake

It seemed like such a great idea at the time. A little background is that earlier in the spring I was fishing the 5 mile section of river above the Johnsondale Bridge. I came across a family coming down the river trail with backpacks. It was a dad and two kids, 10 and 8. I was shocked to find out they had hiked all the way from the Forks. “My God.” I said to those two kids. “You are incredible. That has to be 14-15 miles. I didn’t even know there was a trail that goes there.” The dad told me, “There really isn’t a trail. You have to bushwhack the last 2 miles into the canyon. We lost that trail numerous times. And we did take a full week to get there and back.”

Well, armed with that information and remembering that Evan Topal from Wester Divide said, “Your group’s special permits expire at 3pm on Sunday. That is when we’ll lock the gate on the road preventing access. But, if you camp on the other side of the river, then you can hike out whenever and wherever you want as long as you stay out of the closed area on the north side of the river.

So the plan for Marty and me was to stash our trucks at the Johnsondale Bridge on the way in. Then get a ride in from the other SDFF club members. That would allow us to stay another two nights with a full day of fly fishing in between. Then we’d hike our way out of the Kern River canyon for 2 miles to find the Rincon Trail which is a straight shot on top of the canyon for 9 miles to a junction trail back into the canyon catching the Johnsondale Bridge trail for the last 4 miles to our trucks.

Here’s Marty climbing out of the Kern Canyon as a process of trying to find the rincon trail

It was awesome. But, I will not do it again. 10+ hours; 15 miles. The middle 9 miles of the hike on the Rincon trail was awful. The first 2 mile hike out of the canyon was quite the adventure. We lost the trail numerous times. We were smart about it. We spread out until we either figured a way forward around the obstacles or wandered until we found the trail. We did a fair amount of research in advance, so we knew “the trail” followed the creek the entire way. So we were never really worried about getting lost; just worried about getting stuck. It’s just that the creek was a pretty rugged canyon. It’s a barely used non-maintained section of a trail that probably has not seen any work on it for 30 years. It was a beautiful section, well forested and tons of signs of bear. So much so I could smell them. You know that stench of a bear when they are around? We didn’t see any, but I’m pretty sure they saw us. But it took us over 2 hours to get out of that canyon and find the rincon trail above. Not an issue. We had all day to hike the 9 miles back to the river. The big mistake was that neither Marty or I paid any attention to how straight the rincon trail is on the trail maps other than finding it interesting. We also didn’t pay too much attention that you are allowed to drive motorcycles on that trail. Well, that trail goes straight through the forest for 9 miles because a motorcycle can go straight. Unfortunately for us humans it was a ton of up the mountain then back down the other side on badly rutted out motorcycle trail. it was brutal and it was hot. At one point I said to Marty “if we don’t get to Durwood creek soon I’m going to be in trouble in terms of water.” He said something like, “and if it doesn’t have water we’ll both be in trouble.” Well Durwood creek did have water and did support a healthy amount of trout. My guess is they were Little Kern Goldens, but I am still not sure because we didn’t fish it.

The only highlight of the next 4 miles of the rincon trail was me running into and startling a multi-point buck (deer). It was a hot death march for the most part. I was so pleased when we finally got to the turn off from the Rincon Trail to hike back down into the canyon for the last 4 miles to our trucks. Our original plan was to fish and camp a night there before hiking out. But we were so beaten up and exhausted when we did finally get down to the river again, we just decided to get it over with. Even though I have hiked the 4 mile JDB trail a gazillion times it was just a death march. I actually fell too. That can happen when you are tired. That could have been a disaster. Thank God I landed on a flat piece of granite like a cat.

The Huck Site in tact. Green trees at the river. the pine needles fell from the charred, but alive pine trees on the burnt ground after the fire went out.

Of interest…

Right before Marty and I staggered into the huck site we found the remnants of a wild turkey. I had never seen a turkey in the forks area but, it most certainly looked like a mountain lion had a party.

Summary

Epic trip. One of the most special I have had at the Forks…and I have had a lot of them. We were so fortunate to fish the Upper Kern while it was closed… even if it was just for a few hours. We did pay the price, though, in terms of physical labor. Would I do it again? absolutely. the hard work is a simple price to pay to fish that special place. But, there is no way I’m hiking out the 15 miles by way of the Rincon Trail again just to get in a single full day of fishing. If there is a next time where we work on the next 2 miles of the trail, I will leave the civil way like normal humans.

For the literally hundreds who have emailed me about the status of the Forks after the complex fire of 2020 I can tell you that this is going to be a special place to fish come spring of 2022. Let’s go!

Believe it or not this is a different fish caught close to the other monster. i put my iphone on timer on the bank to take the picture

West Fork San Luis Rey River – Wild Native Trout of San Diego

Barker Valley Spur Trail – April 10-11, 2021

Is there a place in San Diego County:

That has a healthy population of native wild rainbow trout?
That has nice hatches of mayflies and midges
That has a series of spectacularly beautiful waterfalls including one over 100 feet?
Is within 30 miles from my home in Carlsbad, but takes a 68 mile drive to get to the trailhead?
That requires a truck with 4WD and high clearance to travel the last 8 miles on non-maintained dirt road just to get to the trailhead?
That requires a 3.7 mile hike into a canyon before it becomes crazy-ass climbing dangerous to get to the trout?
That includes poison oak, snakes, ticks and leeches in the adventure?
Is only for the fit and fearless of heights willing to climb with hands and feet where the penalty for failure is sure death?

Yep. The West Fork of the San Luis Rey River drains the eastern side of Palomar Mountain into Lake Henshaw. You get to it from the Barker Valley Spur Trail. From the hike into Barker Valley you can see the eastern side of the Palomar Observatory looking west. Looking South you can see Lake Henshaw. From where I live in Carlsbad, it’s only 30 miles away by “the way the crow flies”.

A typical 8″ rainbow of the west fork of the San Luis Rey. Notice the Huck Midge Perdigon hanging off his nose.

Inspired by last October’s SDFF presentation by Russ Barabe of California Fish and Wildlife on the wild trout of Southern California, SDFF club members John and Delia Cooley led me into one of the craziest most dangerously adventurous and fun fly fishing trips I have even been on. During Russ’ presentation in the q&a section, I asked some specific questions about the wild native trout of san diego. I was really intrigued. The native trout of san diego are legendary. I convinced myself I needed to check it off the bucket list. After Russ’ presentation John reached out to me and said he’d been there…around 30 years ago. And would love to go again. And that he remembered it “very physically challenging.” I also learned from John and Russ that we’d have to wait until spring when the water was flowing well. “It’s too skinny in Fall and Winter and too hot and dry in Summer”.

The fearless threesome

So, we planned the trip on the Barker Valley Spur trail for the wild trout of San Diego for the springtime. I had backpacked and fished with John and Delia before. They joined me and a big group for the SDFF club trip to the forks last summer. I got to guide Delia on that trip for the better part of one of the days. The 3 of us had a blast. That club trip to the Forks was less than 3 weeks before the castle fire hit and destroyed the place. We will not be able to get into the Forks until Spring of 2022. The western divide forest district has closed the entire mountain because of the aftermath of the fire.

For this trip, we were going to don the backpacks and do a one-nighter in the Palomar Mountain Wilderness. John said 2 nights would be too much. I didn’t think much of that statement at the time, but now I understand. There is no way you would hike into where the fish are in the canyon two days in a row. It’s too physical. And there is no way you could do the entire thing in a single day. It is too physical.

I still can’t believe this waterfall exists in San Diego County…. and that we made it down from up top….

John and I planned a 730AM meet up at the intersection of highway 79 and the Palomar Divide Truck Trail. I got there a bit early to find a flock of wild turkeys. it was 38 degrees. I didn’t have anything but a fleece in my pack. Hmmm… Well, there is a sign right at the intersection we met at that said high clearance 4WD required…which I poo-poo’d at the time. I have done a ton of 4WD in the quest for trout and rarely would I say it was actually required. This dirt road requires 4WD. It’s rocky, steep and not maintained.

Well, after the slow 8 miles up the dirt road, we started the hike in with packs on our backs. Since it was only a one-nighter my pack was light (under 35 lbs; light for me, I have a lot of toys). It was obvious the first part of this trail used to be a dirt road. It was now single track and completely overcome by mother nature. After a couple miles the trail turns into true single track as it descends into the barker valley. Around that point John said, “Tim do you want to know what your mission is?” and I quickly retorted, “To put Delia on fish.” “Yep.” John said.

Around the 3 mile mark the trail hits the river. When I first saw it, I thought to myself there is no way that little frog water creek supports trout. In Montana they would not call this a river or even a stream. They would call it a creek. By the way that is where the trail gets dicey and is barely distinguishable. So, as we bush-wacked “down river’ I kept saying to myself 2 things, “This can’t be right.” and “there is no way I could do this alone”. Well, I had all my devices and I knew it was only ¾ of a mile to where we’d camp. John said he remember camping in a meadow. and sure enough we ran right into it. We picked the best primitive site in the area (there were only 2 choices) and set up our tents quickly. It was well shaded by trees and close enough to the creek to make water easily. It was mid-day now and I had no idea that the 3.7 mile hike in with 35 pounds on my back would pale in comparision to the physical effort I was yet to experience that day.

With day packs, we loaded up some food and the fishing stuff and off we went. Within 100 yards we were climbing. There was a weir, but it was so wild, over-grown and steep I barely noticed it before pointing it out to John and Delia. I remember saying to myself, “I read about the weir and the trout were below it”. I also remember the guidance from Russ and reading that the trout were below the waterfalls. Well, we were climbing in a canyon steep granite now and everything was a waterfall. But, it was skinny and crystal clear water. There were no trout that I could see. So, we kept going. And it was slow going because we were basically climbing with all fours. As we progressed we hit pool after pool of crystal clear water and I didn’t see any trout. “hmmm” I said to myself.

In a place so remote you’d expect a lot of well camouflaged creatures like this one

Well, we hit a cliff and I thought that was it. I could not see any way to descend farther. I stared over the cliff and looked and the walls on both sides and thought, “that’s it. there are no trout. This is over.” As Delia and I peered over the edge, my eye caught john wandering over to the eastern side of the cliff. To my shock he said, “there’s the way right there.” I peered over to what he was pointing at and under my breath said, “no f-ing way.” But, as we scaled a small patch of granite, I could see that it wasn’t a game trail. I also noticed freshly cut branches. So, humans had done this recently. It’s just likely those humans were probably 1/3^rd of my age and not 15 pounds overweight. Well, we followed what was seemingly the way for a few hundred yards past the huge cliff. But now we were 300-400 feet above the water. And the only way down was straight down. But again, there were signs it had been done before. This is where john got a bit skeptical. He’s a big guy (tall and slender). I’m a tiny mountain goat like guy. So, I said, “let me see how far I can get safely.” And I did. Some of the first 100 feet involved climbing while holding on to granite edges and some was dirt you could get a foot hold in. I knew this was definitely the way down and not an animal trail because a deer would never go straight down like this (not having hands to grab, a deer has to take an angle). I shouted to John and Delia that we could do it and we did. Although I have to admit I was dreading scaling back up that thing at the end of the day. And I also have to admit I was a bit tenuous about a couple other climbing stretches of granite we faced on the way back. But, we were long past committed.

Once we got down there was a giant water fall roaring that we could hear. But, we couldn’t really see it. so, we bushwhacked and climbed our way up stream a few hundred feet. Honestly, I stood there shocked. It was just beautiful. There was a huge pool at the bottom of a 100+ foot waterfall. I just shook my head and thought how few people would believe this waterfall actually existed in San Diego. It was like we were in Kauai. The pool at the bottom of the falls had to be 20 yards long and 30 yards wide. Huge. And my guess is that it was 20 feet at its deepest. All fly fishermen have done well under a waterfall, so I was excited. I said to myself, “It was an effort, but, we found it.” But, there was no way to cast to the zone without getting in the water. It was way too far for a roll cast. Especially with the water coming down the falls creating a wind coming straight at us. We unpacked the rods and rigged up. Delia and I removed our shoes. I was ready first so I ouch-ouch-ouched by slowly navigating over slippery sharp rocks to a bed of gravel in about 2.5 feet of water. There was a rock that barely crested the surface so I managed to climb up it not worrying about how the hell I’d get back down without slipping and breaking my neck. Well, I can cast. And with my latest inventions in perdigons I was really confident in those perdigon flies under a size 12 black huck hopper. You can read all about the value of the Perdigon style of fly tying in my article, here.

John takes credit for this picture. i still can’t believe we worked our way below this to the trout

Waiting for Delia I worked the hell out of that pool. I roll casted into the zone on all sides of where the waterfall crashed into the pool and drifted perfectly in all directions. And nothing. Not a single take. I have to admit I was a little discouraged. All that way, through all that pain and risk to get skunked. Delia wandered out so I hopped down and put her on the rock. John had tied on a large hopper pattern on her rod so I thought, “what the hell. It will be easy to see.” Well, I hung with her for 10 minutes or so. she was roll casting and drifting just fine. But, not getting anything to rise. During that 10 minutes, as I re-evaluated my life, I remembered something I read. “The trout are not in the pool at the falls. They are in the pools below the falls.” I told Delia I was going to check farther down stream and I’d be back. John had climbed his way into casting from the side. Smartly, he didn’t take off his shoes.

After wiping small leeches off my feet and ankles (that looked like tiny slugs) I put my socks and boots back on and bushwhacked my way down stream. After about 150 feet I saw it from distance: rises. In a pool about 200 feet away. Lots of rises. There were mayflies in the air too. But I was at the head (on top) of an awesome pool with a 10 foot waterfall feeding it. I passed it up and moved down to the pool with the rises. As I got closer to the pool I could actually see the rainbows in crystal clear water. There were a lot of them from 4” to 12”. I needed to get down river from them so I could cast upstream and doing it without spooking them. Thank God they weren’t spooky at all. They just continued doing their thing, feeding. I shortened my dropper because the pool was only 3 feet deep. I pulled out line, I roll casted to the middle of the pool. I could see my huck green caddis perdigon sink quickly on slight angle with the current. 3 fish moved in, but the biggest got their first opened his mouth and I set. I was on. I screamed, “Woo!” He jumped (like wild trout do) twice before I got him to hand to quickly take a picture and release him.

“No, Delia, I have no idea how we are going to do this.”

I buttoned up my rod and went to get John and Delia. Quickly, I rock hopped back to them. I shouted, “I found them!” John said, “I heard you scream. I thought you had either caught a fish or fallen down.” “Delia, come with me.” I said. “John, you take the upper pool. I’m pretty sure there are fish in there too.”

So Delia and I moved into position. I dropped that big hopper she had on with one of my huck green caddis perdigons. Sure enough she locked into a trout within 60 seconds. I was hooting and hollering because I have more fun watching people like Delia catch fish than catching fish myself. She railed 4 fish before I went to check on John. He was doing well in his pool too. And he was catching them on dries! After we had put the two pools down we started exploring downstream. One of us caught fish in every pool we fished. I even spotted a 6” trout in current in a riffle and nailed him without even casting. I just high-sticked him.

John caught this one on the dry

Ultimately, we got to a drop in the canyon so high and steep there was no way down, let alone down safely. John climbed up on a rock and looked down into the abyss and I couldn’t even look at him. It scared the hell out of me. And if you are a male you know that feeling of your you know whats stuck up in your throat… John explored every which way to get down because at the bottom was an epic pool. But, there was no way. There was no way down and no way back up. So, we fished our way back.

At one of the middle pools, John was fishing and we could clearly see him getting refusals on a traditional nymph pattern. I think it was a flash back size 16 hare’s ear. I dropped my huck midge perdigon next to his in a high stick way and caught a trout. I laughed as he said, “You have to be kidding me.”

That’s John positioned perfectly to get the good drift from the falls

But, John got the last laugh. When we got back to the two original pools below the big falls John and Delia took the lower pool and I took john’s original pool where Delia and I fished. I was having trouble setting and sticking the little trout that were attacking my size 12 black huck hopper. After 15 minutes or so I had put the pool down. So, I buttoned up to rest the pool. John walked up and I told him I hammered the pool pretty hard so I was not getting takes anymore. He asked if he could fish it and I, of course said yes, but I was not confident in it because I really hammered that pool with like 40 drifts. He took a position up closer to the falls and with his right handed cast he was getting a much better drift through the zone under a tree where I saw the fish first rising. He was fishing a size 14 royal wulf. if that is not awesome enough, within a few casts a big fish (~ 12”) rose and “Whack!”. John set hard downstream. It was a beautiful set across his body and the battle was on. the fish jumped a few times before John got him to hand and let him go. I looked at him and said, “That is a fish to end this on.” he agreed.

The devilishly handsome author with another lousy drift and a missed set in “John’s Pool”

Now, it was reality time. I was already tired and sore. the 3 of us now needed to ascend the climb out of that canyon to the free climb across the granite to the hiking and rock climbing our way back to camp. I told myself to focus because a mistake would be disastrous for all of us. It was a bit stressful at points. But, we made it back to camp where I collapsed into appetizers and jack daniels I shared with john and delia.

In hindsight I know understand how those trout have survived, arguably thriving, over the years through scorching hot summers with low water conditions. That canyon is so steep and narrow it just doesn’t get a lot of sun. In the summer, those trout must hunker down in the deep pools waiting for the cool temps of fall and winter, then the surge in water in the spring to spawn and do it all over again.

It got cold and I swear I was asleep by 815pm. which means wide awake at 4am the next morning. After waiting for the sun to light up the place, I took 45 minute hike (with coffee) along the creek looking for animals before John and Delia rose. We ate breakfast leisurely around 8am. We packed up and hiked out agreeing to never do that again. and totally pleased we did do it. Bucket-Lister.

Huck Flies Tied Perdigon Style – Ridiculously Good Success

A 2 Week Perdigon Test through the Eastern Sierras in CA, Montana and Utah.

look closely for the huck green caddis perdigon hanging out the side of the mouth of this pure strained bonneville cutthroat

During the winter of 2021 I talked to long time friend and Guide Mike Hillygus of the Stillwater River and Clark Fork River Outpost lodges in Montana. Mike mentioned he had bought a ton of perdigon flies for the upcoming season. I asked him, “Isn’t that the fly that all the world champion fly fishers use for euro-nymping?”. I said it with disdain because there is no way in hell I’m ever going to euro-nymph the rivers of montana. More on that later.

His answer completely changed the way I approach fly fishing: “Yea, but at the end of last season we started hanging them below indicators and in dry/dropper set ups. And we killed.” That got my attention so I went on a 3-week research and interview process to find out everything I could about the Perdigon; its history and why it is used. After my research, I speculated that if I tied the 3 nymphs I sell of the site (Huck Green Caddis, Huck Midge, Huck-bow Warrior) perdigon style that they would do better in fast, deep water conditions. So I went on a 4 week tying binge. Then I sent out the prototypes of them to expert level fisherman to test them in real conditions. At the same time I went on my own 2 week testing adventure through the eastern Sierras in CA, Montana and Utah. The results were ridiculous. I had a number of 40+ days in that 2 weeks fishing them solely in a dry dropper set up. Realize this is fishing in March in brutally cold conditions and I was still killing. In reality perdigon styled flies provide all the effectiveness of raking the river by Euro Nymphing, but, unlike in euro-nymphing, you still get to cast…and cast beyond the ~20 foot limitations of euro nymphing.

the clark fork river has lots of these

This email from my buddy Ronnie in Colorado summed it up well:

“Howdy Tim! Great day on the Arkansas yesterday! Big aggressive browns love the Perdigon’s! I was using a golden stone at first and decided to switch to the Huck green caddis perdigon to try it out. Plenty of big fish on that one..I was trailing a red midge as an attractor but only caught on the lead fly; the perdigon you tied for me.”

-Ronnie Swafford, CO

The West Slope Cutthroat fooled by a Huck-bow Warrior Perdigon (Go Padres!)

Background

Let me be totally honest. I am not a fan of fly fishing competitions. Fly fishing is not like golf where you have a tightly coupled objective to get the ball in the hole with as few shots as possible. I respect that people love fly fishing competitions. And I have met plenty of competition fly fishers both here in the states and internationally. and that is ok. It’s just not me. Not because of the competition, but, because “most fish caught” forces you into tight lined nymphing. I love to cast. I love to cover the water and I love to move. If you take casting away it’s just not fly fishing to me. Fly fishing includes quite a bit of scientific knowledge for success, some athletic skill to cast, set and fight, and lets face it: a little bit of luck. When I heard that until recently the only flies used in fly fishing competitions were skwirmy worms and mop flies by euro nymphing or tenkara I sighed. Lobbing a 22 feet leader on a ten foot fixed “rod” over and over to the same spot is wildly effective. You rake the river. It’s just not me. I liken it to an electric mountain bike. Sure, you can get to the top of the mountain quicker with a motor….by why would you? But, there is something to be said about the Spanish team winning 3 straight world fly fishing championships on what that call a “Perdigon” fly. And then the French came in and won two in a row with their version of the perdigon fly. Strictly translated Perdigon means pebble in Spanish. Loosely translated it means “sinks like a rock.”.

If you look closely you can see the huck-bow warrior right in the top center of the nose on this brown-zilla

The Science behind the Perdigon

Perdigons are super heavy and sleek in profile so they get down quickly in fast moving current. What they gain in an aerodynamic quick ride to the bottom, they give up in realism. Perdigons don’t look like anything in nature. They are nymphs without the buggy look and feel to them. Any resistance that might keep the fly from getting down quickly is covered in epoxy.

The Huck Green Caddis Perdigon

Like the international fly-fishing competitors, I tie them on competition style wide gap barbless jig hooks with a slotted tungsten bead. The benefits, and consequently my (and your) success is directly related to:

Rides Hook Up

The slot in the tungsten bead is to allow the bead to slip around the bend in the jig hook. Then I stuff the slot end with lead, not only making it heavier, but it forces the bead into a keel position making the perdigon ride hook up and level. Perdigons ride hook up and level and and can bounce along the bottom without snagging it. Riding hook up means you are not scraping and dulling your hook point.

notice the angle of the jig hook and the slotted tungsten bead

A Better Hook Set

Because the Perdigon rides hook up you get a better set in the fish’s mouth. Typically this means getting the fly set in the top center of the mouth (frequently called “the nose”) or in corner of the mouth. These spots in the mouth hold hooks much better. Normally I range around a 50-50 hook to land ratio. With Perdigons I was getting closer to landing 19 or 20 hook sets. Honestly I fight fish much differently barbless. I really play them, having to exhaust them to get them to hand. That is bad for the fish. With Perdigons I had much more confidence in fighting them to my hand as quickly as possible so I could let them go as quickly as possible. With Perdigons I felt like I had much better control when turning the fish’s head and direction head while fighting.

to make the perdigons sink even more rapidly i stuff lead up into the gap in the slot

Better Feel of the Flies

When bumping along the bottom I felt like I could discern the difference between a strike and bumping the bottom. You know that old rule, “set on everything.”? Well, I didn’t feel like I had to. It gave me a better feel of if/when the flies were hitting the bottom, which in turn gave me feedback on where in the water column I was.

Slotted Beads

As mentioned, when a slotted tungsten bead is used on a jig hook, the center of gravity changes. This helps to angle the hook in a position where the Perdigon rides hook up.

Fighting Fish

When you hook a fish with a jig hook and slotted tungsten bead, the fly line, leader and tippet rides almost parallel to where the bend of the hook is. This reduces the leverage that the fish has providing a much more solid hook set in the fish’s face. With Perdigons, you will find the fly pops out a lot less.

Movement

The term “jigging” comes from conventional fishing and it wildly effective. With the slotted tungsten bead as “the keel”, the fly imparts a particular movement in the water that is unique to traditional fly fishing. Additionally, the angled eye of the jig hook gives the fly a very undulating movement when stripped back. It that “up-and-down” movement which can give the look of an injured or confused baitfish or bug.

I just love the way the suns shines through this big brown’s tail.

Results

Montana

I hit Missoula first where I was met by my buddy Mike Hillygus. We drove 60 miles north to his lodge on the lower clark fork near St. Regis, MT. We fished for 3 days in bitter cold and did pretty darn well. I couldn’t get a fish to rise for the life of me, but man those perdigons did well for both Mike and Me.

I moved south towards my son in Bozeman and fished Silver Bow Creek near Butte. I absolutely killed on the huck midges tied perdigon style. I had a 40+ fish day and caught a 20” brown just 10 minutes into fishing.

The next day my son Mark and his buddy Burnsie rowed me down the lower Madison. It was bitter cold; windy and snowing. A day you’d expect to get skunked. But, we were still catching fish on the Perdigons.

That is a Huck Midge Perdigon stuck perfectly on the nose of this rainbow

Eastern Sierras of California

I was home for 32 hours before I loaded up Huck Truck II and headed north to the eastern sierras to join up on an annual fishing trip centered out of Bishop, CA with 30 guys at a cheap ass motel. I drove straight to the wild trout section of the lower owens river and had a nice brown to hand on the 2^nd cast…on a huck-bow warrior tied perdigon style. Hmmm.. So, I did well and consequently had a decision to make for the next 2 full days of fishing. I had intel from a buddy of mine in the DFG that the Owens River Gorge was fishing well and that it had some big fish in it. So, I talked a couple buddies into joining me for a very physical day. If you have not fished the gorge it is not for the faint of heart. You have to hike into a canyon and there is no river trail. It’s a brutally rugged canyon. Coupled with that I had not fished there in years and I mistook my intended trail (middle gorge) for central gorge. The central gorge “trail” is used by the rock climbers to get down to the sheer granite walls quickly. Meaning straight down. As we hiked/climbed the trail down I couldn’t imagine hiking/climbing it back up at the end of the day. As it was we chose not to. We fished all the way to the middle gorge trail and hiked that out. Then hiked the miles on the road back to our cars. We caught fish but, it wasn’t crazy. I caught plenty of fish on the perdigons to make it fun. I did a water temp check and it was 41 degrees. That is a bit chilly for the fish to be active. It’s a beautiful place and even though we were exhausted burning a gazillion calories it was a beautiful great day in the canyon.

what type of idiot climbs up and down this boulder cliff to go fly fishing?

I speculated that the water in the lower section of the gorge would be warmer the next day because the weather was due to be warmer and it would see a lot more sun before hitting the power station above pleasant valley reservoir. So, that was my plan. I was going to park at the power plant and fish my way up river. That is something I had not done in over a decade. At the start I had 5 of my buddies with me. I caught a nice brown on my first cast with a huck green caddis perdigon hung under a small huck hopper. Hmmm… Within 30 minutes all my buddies bailed for the wild section of the owens. Without waders it is impossible to fish that section. It’s also super rugged. And none of them wore their waders. I was wearing my simms G3 guide wading pants and loving it. The other reason they bailed: You cannot fish that section from the bank. It is totally overgrown by willows on both sides. Like willows that are so thick you cannot see through them. Since it is a small river (which would be called a creek in Montana) that meant it was a technical river to fish requiring tight loops and long casts directly up stream. It also meant you had to fish in the river; there is no bank with the willows walling up on both sides.

another good looking brown with a huck perdigon stuck in the top of it’s mouth which makes the fight and landing so much easier.

Well, I was killing. Honestly, I had not had a day on any stretch of the owens like that in years. I was landing fish in every section I threw at. Big fish too. I rarely count but, it’s was so nuts I started counting. When I hit 20 by 11am I stopped counting. Here’s where it started getting a bit dicey. Down in that canyon it was hot. I had a liter of water and it was quickly disappearing. I was also battling a bout of diverticulitis. If you don’t know that old guy disease, it’s painful. It’s the only thing that has ever hospitalized me. Well, I feel like the pain involved in bending over and releasing what was now around 40 fish by 1pm was sucking the life out of me. I was tired. It was only 1pm. That is not like me. So, with my water running low I said to myself, “I’ll just actively start looking for a way to get out of this river, walk back to my truck, take a break and end it in the wild trout section with my buddies.” Another mile travelled upriver. it was after 2pm and I was a mess. I did not see a single place where I could get out of the river to hike back. And I was still killing. In fact, the fish were getting bigger. But, I was abnormally weak. I took a fall in the river simply because I didn’t have the strength to step up on a large rock. That is when the reality hit me. I had pushed the safety thing too far. I have some history in endurance sports having run multiple marathons and I could tell I was “bonking” (in scientific terms that is called hypoglycemia). I had my Garmin satellite communication device with me so it’s not like I was going to die of exposure. And I was not in a panic. But, I was a mess and needed to figure out how to end it. Not kidding I saw a foot wide gap in the willows. I knew it would be a struggle with a fly rod, but, I had no other options available to me. Well, I wiggled my way out of 30 feet thick of willows….to find another 30 feet of head high heavy brush. That was a bush whack in itself. When I finally got to the clear, the reality hit me. I totally forgot that not only is there no river trail, the only way back was climbing miles of scree; 5’ by 5’ granite boulders. Well, let’s just say that hike….errr climb back took hours. I staggered back to my truck, drank 40 ounces of Gatorade zero quickly and sat lifeless for 45 minutes composing myself. By the time I got back to my motel it was 530pm and I was still a mess. That’s when the shivers hit me. I could not get warm. This is another symptom of bonking and why you always see runners wearing space blankets after a race. I had to get in the bed to get warm. 2 hours later I finally warmed up. But, I couldn’t eat. I missed out on the ending party with the guys and didn’t get out of bed until 14 hours had passed. Another safety lesson learned. I did fish the Huck Green Caddis Nymph Perdigon under a size 12 huck hopper all day and killed all day. I bet I landed close to 60 trout; all browns. And my hook to land ratio was over 95%.

Beaver, Utah

From Bishop I did the 7 hour drive to Beaver Utah to meet up with Ed and Jim from the SDFF club. I had never fished the Beaver Utah area and was inspired by a club presentation given by Cody Prentice of lost river angler. From where I live in Carlsbad, CA it takes just as long to drive to Beaver, UT than it does to drive to Mammoth (eastern sierras). I have been looking for an alternative to mammoth that is drivable and fishable in the same day for a long time because the eastern sierras (mammoth) gets so much pressure. I had two and a half days to fish in the beaver area.

As difficult as it is to not focus on how good looking the author is… try to focus on that red slash of the bonneville cutthroat and the huck green caddis perdigon hanging out of it’s face

I got to Beaver mid day where Ed and Jim were waiting for me. Ed led us down to a stretch of the Beaver below the dam. When I first looked at the “river” I had to admit I was not encouraged. It was skinny and froggy. But, as soon as I started hiking everything changed. Their seemed to be fish in every place that trout should hold. I was killing again. This time I was fishing the midge perdigon I tied. I actually had a double in this session that was pretty epic. I had a huge brown hit my huck hopper hard and didn’t realize at first I had a small rainbow on my midge perdigon at the same time. We only fished a couple three hours, before the day light ended but, I was shocked at how prolific that river was. Hmmm.

Go Padres

The next day we had a full day. First Ed led us to a stretch of the Sevier River he had fished many times prior. He caught bunch of trout right below where we parked as I was still gearing up. I knew this was going to be special. And it was. I killed. I was fishing the Huck-bow Warrior Perdigon this time (below a huck hopper). I got very few to rise, but I bet I landed 40 in that section of river. We fished about 3-4 hours to a bridge where it became private. We reconned to eat a little. I was shocked to hear Ed say we were going to a different place because I did so well I was ready to do that stretch all over again. Of interest was the high water line. We seemed to catch the Sevier in March perfectly before the Spring Runnoff. The river was easily crossable in multiple spots. But, that high water line was at least 20 feet higher than the level we were fishing. It must really get blown out raging in spring. I’m curious as to just when you can fish that river effectively. My guess is mid march to mid may. Then august to November. Which would be a really similar pattern to the Kern or the Kings.

Wild fish do crazy acrobatics when hooked. but, the barbless competition style jig hook just stays in.

So we moved to a tributary creek that Ed new of. It was tiny. But, it had holdable water. And sure enough we all started catching fish immediately. The first fish I caught I looked at and said, “It’s a cutty!”. Then I realized it was not just any cutty. It was a Bonneville Cutthroat. Soon a local pulled his pickup off the road and was watching us. I waved and eventually went up and talked to him. He was an old timer that was very pleased we were catching fish. He did confirm that the fish we were catching were 98% pure strained Bonneville Cutthroats. And then he told me that the local DFG guy stocked tiger trout into that creek. I didn’t believe him. “Why in the world would someone spoil and creek with pure strained, indigenous, wild fish?” Well, I caught 15 or 20 bonnevilles in the short time we had on the creek before the day ended. This time I used the huck-bow warrior perdigons.

The perspective is tough here but, that is a big fish going longer than 1/4 of my 9 foot rod

My last day was another full day of fishing. Ed led us to another stretch of the Sevier that Cody from Lost River Angler pointed to on a map for us. I was excited about it. Here is an edited (siri generated spelling errors fixed) version of the email update to Cody that I dictated the next morning driving home. It sums it up quite nicely:

“Well like I told my 25-year-old in Bozeman last night I didn’t think the fishing could get better but it did I had to land over 50 fish yesterday maybe close to 60 and some real large quality ones too. I even caught a 14” tiger trout.

We fished upriver on the Sevier where are you showed us on the map. We only finished like 11 AM to 1:30 PM and I swear I was getting a take on every cast I only casted at water where you couldn’t see the bottom basically 2 1/2 feet or deeper and there seem to be a fish in every one of those pockets. I pulled 10 fish out of one of those pools. In a handful of those pools I had multiple fish that I landed. some quality fish too. I caught a brown over 20 inches. I’m not a counter but this new perdigon style of nymphs that I’m tying on the traditional flies that I’ve always tied and sold off timhuckaby.com are just killing and because of the competition style wide gap hook. Even barbless my land to hook ratio is almost 100%. In that session I also caught three on top on a size 12 huck hopper. I was fishing dry dropper. My dropper was about 3 feet from the dry. I know I landed close to 40 in that session on the Sevier.

Then we moved over to the creek tributary from the day before. we parked in the same place that we did the day before but me and Jim walked down and put in where we finished the prior day and fished up river in water we had not seen yet.

I shortened up the dropper I’m pretty much fished the exact same way. and the fish were in the exact same places even though it’s much smaller water. I was hooking more fish on top in that session; landing them on my dry fly, a huck hopper tan size 12. My Perdigons were killing on the same Huck green Caddis Perdigon that imitates a green rock worm. Size 16 oh yeah i finished 3X entire time.”

That’s a tiger trout with a Huck Midge Perdigon hanging off his nose

Summary

Well there it is. 3 states, 11 fishing days, 13 stretches of river / creeks, and over 350 trout caught and released thanks to the Perdigon style of fly tying. And with this article let me announce that you can buy those Perdigon flies off this site here.

Yea, the Bonneville Cutties fall for Huck Hoppers too