Category Archives: Winter Fly Fishing

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.

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.

Fly Fishing Carlsbad – Agua Hedionda Lagoon

The Pacific Halibut – evolved both its eyes on one side so it can lay flat on the bottom, disguised, so it can attack prey that swim above it.

I have written about fly fishing in places all over the world so it’s long past time I write about the fly fishing in my own backyard: Carlsbad, CA

Southern California, including Carlsbad, has a long history of saltwater fly fishing. In the Surf, legendary Fly Fishermen like Al Quatrrocchi, Nick Curcione, Kirk Deeter, Dr. Milton Love, Jim Solomon, Glenn Ueda, Bernard Yin, Lee Baermann, Jeff Solis, and others have written, presented, and taught us how to fish the Socal Surf…especially for the elusive corbina. In terms of Off-shore John Loo for off shore fly fishing and Conway Bowman always come to mind when fly fishing for Mako’s off the san diego coast.

This article is about fishing Carlsbad’s Agua Hedionda Lagoon from a float tube (or fishing kayak). It’s funny that I have lived in Carlsbad for 22 years; within a mile of Aqua Hedionda lagoon and I had never fished it until just recently. Mainly because I’m a trout guy and just don’t have a lot of expertise in the salt water. Trust me. As I write this I have only fished Hedionda 5 times so I am no expert. But, because I have had success, I want to share it in case you are interested in C&R fly fishing it.

Firstly, let me elaborate my 2 main inspirations and motivations:

If you are a Socal then you have driven by this lagoon many times and stared at it. It’s just south of the Tamarack exit on the 5 in Carlsbad. It’s the lagoon with the water skiers on the east side of the 5. You may have stared at that water and said to yourself, “I wonder if that fishes?” You may have seen kayak fishermen in there and said, like I did for years, “How in the world did they get in there and I wonder if they are catching fish?”
Recently, Mel Ochs and Kai Schumann did a SDFF club presentation on how to fish the bays of San Diego in a float tube or kayak. It was outstanding. I learned so much from that presentation. Let me be honest: I serve as the programs chair for the San Diego Fly Fishers club. It is my job to ink the speakers for the club presentations and I have signed up some famous ones, both worldwide and from the list above. So when I roped them into doing this presentation I was a bit selfish in my needs.

The Spotted Bay Bass – affectionately known as “Spotty”

< Side Note: let me put in a plug for joining the San Diego Fly Fishers Club. It’s only $40 / year and along with all the other benefits, there are 2 presentations by zoom per month during the pandemic; in person once we are finally past it. If you want to go fly fish the bays with the group of folks from the club, at a minimum, they go every Wednesday and would love to have you and show you the ropes of fly fishing the bays. >

About Hedionda: The Science and History

Three major highways cross Hedionda: Highway 101 (aka PCH) along the coastline, the train tracks and Interstate 5. These 3 bridges divide the Hedionda into 3 sections:

outer bay – just east of the coast highway; closest to the ocean. This section holds the oyster, abalone and white sea bass farms along with carlsbad’s hydro electric power plant and the largest desalination plant in N America.
middle bay – separated by the train bridge and highway 5. This section holds the YMCA aquatic park
inner bay – east of interstate 5. This section holds California Watersports and numerous homes and condos with docks on the North side and the infamous Carlsbad Strawberry fields on it’s south site.

Hedionda extends 1.7 miles inland and is up to a half mile at its widest point. All three sections are 8-10 feet deep at their deepest part of the high tide….except for the channel that flows the tide to and from the ocean. That channel runs the entire length from the ocean to the head of the bay where Hedionda creek feeds it. The channel is over 30 feet in depth in and around the 3 bridges. This depth information is important in relation to the fishing. There is more on tides below in the fishing section of this article.

Hedionda is fed by Agua Hedionda creek to the southeast and Lake Calavera Creek to the Northeast. Numerous spring creeks feed those two creeks. But, in reality Carlsbad is a a natural desert so a majority of the water feeding Hedionda is simply lawn sprinkler runoff from well into Oceanside and Vista. There is a significant amount of fresh water that enters the lagoon at the head of the bay making that “back-bay” brackish for those that want to chase mullet with a fly rod. When it does rain that creek is a raging dangerous river.

The most amusing part of Agua Hedionda is the name itself: It means “Stinky Water” in Spanish. The reason is most likely because before a small boat harbor was constructed in middle bay somewhere between 1940 and the 50s, the lagoon was not dredged; it was truly a lagoon. Between the decay of vegetation, the mud and the methane escaping it probably was pretty stinky before dredging provided a constant flush of tidal flow.

From the InterWeb: “The main difference between Bay and Lagoon is that the Bay is a body of water connected to an ocean or lake, formed by an indentation of the shoreline and Lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from larger body of water by a barrier.”

By way of this definition then Agua Hedionda is a bay; not a lagoon. In fact, it has significant tidal flow just like san diego or mission bay. There is plenty of great information from the Agua Hedionda Lagoon Foundation here.

The history of Hedionda is pretty sketchy but, in the early half of the 20^th century Carlsbad was a mostly an agricultural area….boasting the only place you could get the rare and hard to get exotic fruit: the avocado. At that time the bay was not used for anything short of the quickest transportation from the farms to the beach: by row boat. There is some interesting information about the area’s history that the Carlsbad Historical Society turned me onto here. But, not much on Hedionda itself.

most people who love eating halibut, and have never seen one, probably picture it this way: upside down

How to fish it

The Agua Hedionda Lagoon Foundation says there are 70 species of fish that populate it. Being that said only a small portion of those fish are predators: the type of fish you would be catching with a fly rod. And in my limited experience the spotted bay bass dominates that group. But, I’m a pretty friendly fly fisherman so I did talk to a number of gear guys both on the shore and in kayaks. And they all gladly provided a tremendous amount of knowledge to me. In fact, more than once I’d catch a fish, hold it up to a shore fisherman and say, “what the hell is this?”

There are pelagic fish that wonder into Hedionda with the tide. Of those the most common are white sea bass, rays and halibut. But sharks and even corbina are caught there too…along with all the usual suspects you see in the surf. It’s worth nothing that any ocean fishing in a float tube is not for the faint of heart for many reasons. And being that said I did fish Hedionda in a tube in January of 2021 the day after the beach in front of it was closed down because of a 15 foot great white patrolling the surf.

The author, devilishly handsome, paddling out just after sunrise

Harvesting – I have caught a couple legal halibut and let them go. It’s partly because of ~30 years of catch and release fly fishing and partly fear of eating from a bay fed by fertilizers and the cancer causing weed killer, round-up. If I ever do catch a legal white sea bass I’ll have a tough decision to make. The white sea bass farm is in outer bay and there are escapees.

It’s all about the tides – just like any surf or bay fishing in the san diego area your best success is going to be during an incoming and/or slack tide. In fact, the only time you will be able to fish close to the train bridge or Highway 5 bridge is during a slack tide. Not that it was unsafe, but the very first time I fished Hedionda, this trout fisherman was inches from getting pulled from middle bay under the 5 and out into inner bay. I wasn’t paying attention staring at my fish finder as the tide grabbed me. The current during that incoming tide was so strong it was like any large river I have fished before. It took everything I had to paddle my fins away from getting sucked in. I was huffing and puffing more than I have even done on lake Crowley in the wind. Again, I was never in danger. But, if pulled through to the other side I would have had to wait hours for the slack tide to even consider swimming back through again. and it’s not like I could have gotten out of the water on the other side and carried my tube back.

Along with the tide, there are a number of things that negatively or positively affect your fishing success. Here are a few:

fish finder – My aha moment was from the gang of bay fly fishers from the San Diego Fly Fishers Club. They all use portable fish finders. There are some super inexpensive ones from the company “Lucky”. You can find them on amazon.com from $40 and up. After a ton of research, I ended up with the Garmin STRIKER™ Cast GPS. Its list price is $179. It’s an amazing little device that deserves its own gear review on this site. you tether and drag it behind your float tube. I chose 15 feet (of old floating fly line instead of the cord they included). since you paddle backwards in a float tube it looks for fish right in the zone you are stripping through (as opposed to directly underneath you like all other fish finders). I’ll typically cast ~40 feet, let it sink, and strip back. The device uses your smart phone with the garmin striker app as its UI. It clearly shows depth and structure and the fish in the water column they are swimming in. it even counts the number of fish in the schools. I found myself not blind casting until I saw fish on the finder. but, in one of my fly fishing sessions, after running out of my allotted spousal time, I quickly paddled right across the bay where the fish finder showed a ghost town. For the purpose of straightening out my line and tightly winding it back up I hooked up and landed a nice halibut. It made me late. Oh well’ she’ll live. After 31 years of marriage, she knows the “one last cast” thing. So, there is the lesson learned. you will not be able to see the halibut on the fish finder because they sit flat and still on the bottom, typically waiting for prey to swim by.
notice my garmin striker cast fish finder in the background
time of year – I have only fished in winter and done pretty darn well. But, in talking to the experienced gear guys they have all said it gets pretty nuts in spring and summer so I am looking forward to that. They also told me the big halibut come in Hedionda to spawn in spring. Every year I read about 40+ pound halibut being taken in Hedionda by the gear guys. That sure would be fun on a 6 weight.
the moon phases and solunar theory – it’s the hunters and saltwater fisherman that believe in solunar theory. Read about my research and findings on Solunar theory here. Again I have limited experience fly fishing Hedionda but I did fish on a really good solunar day and “killed”. Plus I saw a ton of fish on my fish finder. I also fished on a really bad solunar day and didn’t do so well…and saw very little fish on my fish finder. Draw conclusions as you may.
red tide – whether you believe in climate change or not, the red tides are getting worse and worse each year here in San Diego. I had a bad outing and didn’t see a thing on my fish finder only to find out later there was a little red tide going on. FYI, there was a huge fish kill in Hedionda last year (summer of 2020) because of a red tide. Many of the gear guys I talked to were really worried that it ruined the fishing in Hedionda. It has not.

A gear guy on the shore told me this was a white sea bass. But, another fly fisherman in the club told me this is a Corvina (not corbina)

Gear

I use a fast action 6 WT with a sinking line. In my first outing I used a Rio outbound short line and didn’t do so well. That outbound line is an intermediate sink line. Although it was before my Garmin Fish finder I just felt like I wasn’t getting it down to where the fish were. It’s like my line wasn’t cutting through the current. So, the next time out I switched to the exact rig I use in Lake Crowley: a heavy sink fully integrated 450 GR integrated heavy sink line. That is a line that really gets down quickly.

For a leader I just use 4-5 feet of straight 12lb flouro. Flies: I tie my version of a clouser. I use synthetics, including EP fibers instead of buck tail. I always tie white on the bottom to imitate the naturals. And I tie in a red patch of flashabou to imitate an injured gill plate. I tie the top in chartreuse, blue and grey in sizes 2 and 4. And they all worked. I fish two flies: a size 2 in front trailed by 18 inches of more flouro and a size 4. i really think color does not matter. but, just like in trout fishing the trailing fly gets most of the hookups.

Here’s an example of a couple beat up size 4 clousers i tied. beat up from getting chewed by spotties and halibut. the clouser rides hook up so white is on the bottom. look closely at the red patch that imitates an injured gill plate.

Epilogue:

This may go without saying, but there is nothing peaceful and serene about fly fishing Hedionda. This not like fly fishing the Gallatin canyon in montana. The freeway noise is constant. And depending on which way the wind is blowing the freeway noise can be downright loud. In fact i had a trucker honk at me while i battled a halibut right off the 5. I raised my fist to him in glory.

I know what you are saying, “Where do I park? Where do I Launch? Where did you catch all your fish in Hedionda? I did write that part and created detailed maps. And then I removed it from this article. Why? Well, in respect to the handful of gear guys that helped me. But, honestly, although it’s rare, I recently got a hate mail from a selfish fly fisher that wants his fly fishing location to be his and his alone. So, consequently, doesn’t want me publishing this type of info on the public interweb. I am a strong believer in conservation by awareness. Granted, for every one “hate mail” I get a hundred emails thanking me for info. Fly fisherman are typically such unselfish, trustable and “giving back” type of people. But, there are exceptions; people are people.

I’d be happy to share that map, parking and fishing location info with you. Send me an email from here. And donate $5 to the Agua Hedionda Lagoon Foundation here while you are at it.

Fly Fishing Kauai for Bluefin Trevally from Shore

November 2022 Update:

I now sell Hawaii specific flies on this site:

The Huck Huna fly that I have had Blue Fin Trevally success with. order it here.
The Huck Oama fly that imitates the juvenille goatfish (weke). order it here.
The Hawaiian Islands Special which includes 3 Huck Hunas in sizes 2,4,6 and 3 Huck Oamas in sizes 2,4,6. order it here.

November 27 to December 4^th, 2020

When a fly fisher thinks about fishing Kauai it is typically about the rare and the elusive Kauai rainbows. I have written about hunting the fabled rainbow trout of Kauai many times. Hundreds, if not thousands of people have reached out to me over the years for guidance on how to find and fish the rainbows of Kauai. The “thing” about Kauai’s rainbows is that it’s an all-day thing requiring a big drive, a big hike, and lots of bushwhacking through plants and over lava that will take your blood. it is very physical. The rainbows live deep in the jungles of Kokee State park where the rain flows cool down streams and rivers from altitude on the rainiest place on earth. That also means you are using a machete just to get to the water and frequently to cut a path for your fly line.

This article is about DIY saltwater fly fishing from the Kauai shoreline for the Bluefin Trevally. I wrote about my success after 20 years of misery last year: https://fly-fishing-blog.timhuckaby.com/fly-fishing-guidance-for-hawaii/. Well, with the island pretty darn empty and a lot more time on the water I learned a lot more on my latest trip. There are so many ways to fly fish the saltwater of Kauai. In this article I will be focusing on just one of the ways: hunting the predator gamefish from shore.

This was a last-minute trip Kelly and I pulled off on points. We snuck it in between the closing of the Hawaiian Islands in the basically 3 week period that the islands were open in 2020 because of COVID-19. We own a timeshare in Poipu at the Marriott Waiohai. 20+ years ago I was totally against buying it, but talked into it, unwillingly, by my wife, Kelly. I was totally wrong. It was the smartest thing we have ever done. We go every September, travelling on points, after the kids go back to school and the island is less crowded. But Covid-19 cancelled this year’s September trip. With kelly going stir crazy at the house and a government regulated testing program in place we snuck in a weeklong trip…. And we were lucky. With “no one” on the island it was easy to be covid safe. The islands locked down again just a few days after we left.

how’d ya’ like to pull the fly out of the face of this beast?

The good news was that the island of Kauai was pretty empty of tourists because of the rigorous requirements of passing governmental covid testing and the short notice of the openings and closing of the islands. I am confident I will never ever again experience the beaches of that island so empty. I always worry about my back-cast hitting a curious tourist walking up behind me; not on this trip. The bad news is the Hawaiian economy, almost solely dependent on tourism, is decimated. So many businesses and restaurants closed. The people of Kauai are suffering….or will be when governmental aid runs out. The business owners are definitely suffering. Even the Hyatt itself in Poipu has closed indefinitely. That is a huge, wildly popular resort that is even frequented by the rich and famous. Such difficult times.

I had to pause the double hauling to just stare at this for a while.

The Fishing

Ok, let’s get to the fishing. I did well. I caught around a dozen bluefin trevally over 4 2-4 hour fly fishing sessions. So it’s not like it was steelhead fishing slow in terms of lack of action. But, it wasn’t like it was crazy nuts getting struck on every cast trout fishing. Typically what happens when we visit Kauai is that we pick a new adventure every day. The “battle” between kelly and I is that we are on one of the, if not the nicest beaches on the island in Poipu, so leaving that beach just feet from our condo is hard for her; understandably so. Since I can’t sit still I will typically snorkel or fly fish or find something else to keep me busy. Or she’ll just put a rum drink in my hand to keep me from being fidgety. rum does work to slow me down.

The Bluefin Trevally – quite a special fish

The Bluefin Trevally

The bluefin trevally was the fish I was hunting. 2 Septembers ago I caught a few special ones. After figuring out how to fish them and that changed me forever. I now dream about fishing for bluefin trevally. They are an amazing gamefish predator to battle on a fly rod; very special. They fight like hell. I have mentioned a few times on this site the monster bluefin trevally I lost many years ago at Mahaulepu that will haunt me forever. Also, one of my favorite stories from a few years back is fishing bait on conventional gear with my son, Mark. I bought a cheap $20 trout rod for him at the Walmart on the island. We were on top of the cliff at secret beach in Mahaulepu. He hooked and landed a large marbled hawkfish (called a piliko’a in Hawaii). The hawkfish looks poisonous it has so many spines. And you cant grab them because of those spines. We had trouble releasing it with forceps, so I told him to give it a breather in the water and we’d try again after it breathed a bit. While the fish struggled on the top of the water column, clearly tired, a 3 foot long Blue Trevally came from nowhere like lightning and swallowed it. It took off like a gun shot and started peeling 6 pound mono test from that cheap trout rod….for about 2 seconds when that cheap reel couldn’t keep up and the line just snapped. We both looked at each other in shock. I simply said, “that was the blue trevally.” He said, “Oh my God…”

One of the Bluefins I caught on this trip was special and has a story. More on that in a bit. I did catch a handful of predator reef fish in the mix. It was not crazy every cast getting struck upper Kern River or Clark Fork River crazy like us trout fishermen sometimes experience. I did have to work for the fish I caught. Frequently I had to work an area for 30+ casts before getting a strike.

blah blah

To be successful fly fishing the bluefin trevallys (and other similar predators shore-fishing in Kauai) there is a prescription for success. I am not claiming to be an expert, yet, by any stretch. But, every hour on the water; every year gets me closer:

You have to be able to double haul a cast more than 50 feet, frequently into the wind. So, this is the type of fly fishing that is just not for beginners.
You have to be able to do that double haul while standing on lava or rocks or sand getting pounded by waves. I never do anything too crazy that it’s unsafe, but it is annoying when you get pounded.
You aim for the back of the wave; not in front of it. if you have snorkeled you have seen fish follow the waves, not get pounded in the chop by them. It’s easier to keep a tight line in the back of the waves too.
You have to be willing to lose flies. Anything can happen with that wind and surf that will allow your fly to sink and catch the reef.
I use a Temple Fork Outfitters (TFO) TiCr2 9’0″ 4pc. 300-400GB Lefty Kreh 10 weight with a Rio Outbound short tropical line. TFO has replaced the TiCr2 with the Bluewater SG. With that super fast retrieve I’m fishing the top of the water column so there is no need for casting heaving sinking lines.
You have to strip as fast as possible. Because of that fast retrieve the take to landing ratio is really good. You rarely miss a fish when you are stripping so fast. Well, except for those damn foot long needle fish that nip at the tails of your flies all the way in.
You’re aiming for deeper water that has structure close. Some of my success is simply hunting where they hang out while snorkling. Then going back at where they are with a rod. On this trip I was very surprised to run into a school of 20 or so of them in 20 feet of water with a sandy bottom at poipu beach, though.
Flies? Well, who knows. My success came on a number of different flies, including bonefish flies (which makes very little sense). For that reason alone it seems that presentation, placement and stripping speed are a lot more important than the fly itself. But, what I was most excited about was catching them on an Avalon Permit fly that my buddy and co-inventor of the fly, William from Cuba and now working at RO Drift boats in Bozeman tied for me.

one of the obstacles to avoid when fly fishing Kauai: the endangered hawaiin monk seal

Catch and Release

In Hawaii the bluefin trevally is called the Omilu. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluefin_trevally. The Hawaiians not only eat them but consider them a delicacy. If I was offshore in a boat railing tuna I wouldn’t have a problem keeping a fish. But, as a tourist, I just don’t feel comfortable harvesting fish from shore. There are a lot of local Hawaiians that fish from the shore (netting, spear fishing and bait fishing) every day for simple sustenance. I just don’t feel good about being their competition, so I let everything I catch go unharmed. And yea, I sure do get some strange looks and even some comments when people see me let fish go after catching them.

Other fish i caught on this trip included the marbled hawkfish – piliko’a and a big ol wrasse or parrotfish that I had trouble releasing so I didn’t take a picture trying to release it without killing it.

Another not so endangered species to avoid tripping over: the green sea turtle.

My favorite Takeaway Story of the Trip

There are some things we do every time we visit Kauai. One of them is what we call “the north shore” – Kee beach at the very northern part of the island where the road ends at the Kalalua trailhead. Officially it’s called Hāʻena State Park and you have to reserve in advance and pay a fee because it is so popular. I like that. I assume those fees are going to the conservation of that magical place. It’s a huge trek from Poipu where our condo is on the southern part of the island in Poipu. It’s an all-day thing. It’s 51 miles and frequently takes longer than an hour and a half to get to. You can see from this map. The interesting thing truly unique about Kauai is that the road doesn’t go entirely around the island; not even close. A full third of the island is completely undeveloped jungle. I like that a lot. Anyways, my point is it is a very popular place and normally I have to walk for over a mile to get space to cast. Not on this day, though. No one there. So, I got to hunt.

A completely empty Mahaulepu. i’m pretty sure i will never see that again in my lifetime

I saw the flash, but it was a good 60 feet away. The wind backed down just long enough for me to double haul my TFO 10 wt TiCR2 into the zone. Whack! At first, I thought I caught the reef…until the reef started peeling line away. That rod is a single hand rod designed by the Lefty Kreh, but it is a beast with two handles and the fighting butt of a spey rod. The fly was an Avalon Permit fly tied by the William of Cuba, one of the designers who currently works at Ro in Bozeman. That fish gave me everything I had in the fight. Picture little ol me with two hands on the rod and line peeling away. I was using a 20 lb flouro leader and actually worried about it at points in the battle. Those Bluefins fight so hard. Well, after what seemingly took forever and was probably just a few minutes I had it tired out and on a shelf with water so I could release it. I wanted to do it as quickly as possible so as not to harm the fish. A couple Hawaiians watched in shock as I let it go. I put it on my Instagram here.

That’s Kelly on Kee beach with the sun shining and completely empty – shocking

Epilogue

I still have not caught a bonefish on Kauai. I thought I did two Septembers ago, but one of you readers pointed out that the fish I caught was a related species, but not an actual bonefish. On this trip I did not see a single bonefish so I never got a chance to try. Of course, the way I fished for Trevallys is totally contrary to the way you’d fish for bonefish; hunting in shallow water from the beach with pinpoint accurate casts and slow retrieves.

school of small bluefin trevally

Update: i now sell the Huck Huna fly that i have had Blue Fin Trevally success with. order it here.