Tag Archives: Kern River Rainbow

check out the propeller on this KRR… with a huck hopper stuck in his face…

It was mid September, 2024. In all honesty, I wasn’t as normally excited as I am to get to Upper Kern River by way of the Forks of the Kern Trail with 45 pounds on my back. I was coming off 5 straight weeks of fly fishing adventures in Wyoming and Montana. I was just home for a week. Let’s just say my wife was not pleased. And she made it very clear she wasn’t happy about me leaving again for 4 nights backpacking on the Upper Kern River. But, this was the annual trip with the San Diego Fly Fishers club. I’m the president of the club. I organize and “cat-herd” this trip each year. I mean, the Forks is my place, right? I should have been stoked. This trip was postponed 2 months earlier when the forest service cancelled our permits because of fire. I had people counting on me. I couldn’t back out. Plus, the flow of river and the weather seemingly lined up perfectly. It had all the makings of a special trip.

But how do you top 5 straight weeks of fly fishing in WY and MT on some of the most famous rivers in the world? I mean, I fished for 33 straight days and loved every minute of it. Sometimes I went days alone. And I cherished those times. But, mostly a new set of friends joined me each week. It was such a great trip for my soul. I lost weight, my blood pressure went down and I stopped biting my fingernails. After that trip, I decided I was going to do everything possible to do it every summer for the rest of my life. So, how do you top this?:

Lower Green River, Section A near Dutch John, UT
Worthen Creek, WY
Leg Lake, WY (backpacking in the Wind River Range)
Unnamed Lakes in the Wind River Range (backpacking) + streams, WY
Wind River in Dubois, WY
Hoback River, private section, WY
Green River headwaters near the Green Lakes, WY
New Fork River, Alpine, WY
Cliff Creek, WY
Upper Green River near the Warren Bridge, WY
Upper Green River BLM, WY
Hoback River in the Canyon, WY
Crystal Creek, WY
Gros Ventre River, WY
Wiggins Fork of the Wind River, WY
Stillwater River, MT
Clark Fork River, MT

There is one thing I’m not good at: taking selfies w my iphone. but, you can imagine the size of this one just by how huge his eyes are. also notice the amount of spots below his lateral line; “head to toe”. that is one way to just how pure strained the KRRs are

It wasn’t that I was burnt out on fly fishing. Or that I missed watching TV. I brought a starlink with me on that 5 week adventure so I could stay connected with family and with work and still make meetings. I think it was just that I had seen so many new places and fished so many new rivers, the Upper Kern just didn’t seem that special anymore. I had fished that section of the Upper Kern river hundreds of times before. I know the first 10 miles of the Upper Kern from the confluence of the Little Kern River like the back of my hand. I know every run, pocket water, hole, head, tail, riffle, rapid and pool. There are only 2 permits that allow guiding on that part of the Upper Kern River in the Golden Trout Wilderness and I’m listed on one of them.

It was special. I didn’t know what I was in for. I had a special day on the Upper Kern River that fly fisherman dream about their entire lives. The funny thing was that a big storm hit Kernville (35 miles to the south) hard the prior two days and that crash of the barometer made the first two fishing days below average. It was that 3^rd fishing day that was special.

It has everything to do with a unique species of trout, indigenous to this special river in California’s Golden Trout Wilderness. The Kern River Rainbows (KRRs) are wild natives which constitute 99% of the fish in the river. There are so few places left in the world where a single unique species of wild trout are untainted by nonnative stocked fish. The Upper Kern River is one of those places. Granted the hybridization of the Kern River Rainbow (KRR) is spreading upriver from the stocking mistakes of generations before. Hybridization is where one species breeds with another. In this case it’s the KRRs breading with stocked rainbows. There is also a brown trout population in the Upper Kern that is growing and moving up river. You can’t stop it. There doesn’t even seem to be a motivation to slow it down. When describing the hybridization problem, I even had a biologist from the Forest Service say to me, “What is the problem? The fishing is still great, right?”. Well, yes it is. But, that is not the problem. I have written this non indigenous and hybridization “issue” before.

You have heard/read about “the stages of a fly fisher” undoubtedly many times before. My version goes like this:

You’re happy to catch a stocked trout on a fly rod
You catch fish on flies you tie yourself
You focus on quantity (40+ fish days)
You focus on quality (big fish and/or only wild fish)
You catch fish on a rod you built yourself
You focus on other species (ie: saltwater and/or bassfly fishing)
You only fly fish with Dry Flies
You purposely make fly fishing more challenging becuase the rewards are so much greater

Well, now after close to 35 years of fly fishing I’m in phase 8. The sheer pleasure of making fly fishing more challenging; accomplishing those miracles casts and drifts, those impossible sets, those physical battles. Largely fishing with Dry Flies. Well it, is a thing that is difficult to describe.

Just another beautiful KRR stuck on a huck hopper.

This is a great example. On this special day I got to fish alone. Don’t get me wrong. I love fly fishing with others. Especially beginners and those in stages 7 and 8. But typically if I’m not fishing alone on the Kern I’m guiding at some level. But, I love fishing alone just as much. I was working up “the other” side of the river. At 250 CFS there are places where it is possible to cross the river. Since this was the lowest flow of the year and I did have a bit of trouble crossing I knew I was going to fish water that had not seen an artificial fly yet this season. In the distance I saw a big KRR rise. But, It was over 50 feet upriver. Instead of exiting the river and walking up stream and putting myself in a good position for an easy cast like you should. Or slowing carefully wading closer with stealth. I grabbed the challenge of the 50+ foot cast to the 2 inch window it required. Other than the obvious challenge of the cast, the set is almost impossible in a situation like that. With so much line out, you cannot get tight without a lightning quick, herculean set. Assuming you get a take, one of 2 things typically happen in this scenario: You miss the set or you break off in the violent process of setting. I lucked out. My Huck Hopper stuck him in the face and he stayed on. Now I faced the issue of battling a fish who was now over 60 feet away and swimming fast. And the guilt that comes with fighting a wild native fish too long to exhaustion and consequent death because of it. So I “horsed him”. I turned him hard, he jumped. Even at distance I could see it was a big KRR. But, then he ran back fast at me. I was ready for that. With that 16” KRR in a manageable range now, I fought him quickly to hand where I released him without ever taking him out of the water. I smiled and said to myself, “I could call it a day after that.”. I did not.

this one had been caught before. notice his maxillary (upper jaw) is dislodged.

My problem is I’m having trouble understanding why most of the fly fishers I know (and I know a lot of them… all over the world) have not come to this stage 8 of “enlightenment” with me. “Why would you throw a bobber on the Upper Kern when you can dry fly?” And don’t get me started on tenkara… that is just plain stupid on the Upper Kern River. “Why would you even run a nymph if fish are rising?” When you do the hopper / dropper thing you are negatively affecting the drift of the dry fly on top.

Here’s a hot tip for those wanting to be a great fly fisher on the Upper Kern: Don’t automatically go to a dropper. The dropper negatively affects your drift. it acts as an anchor slowing your dry fly down making it drift unnaturally. I believe a huge part of this special day, and why i did better than everyone else, was because without a dropper I was getting great drifts (well, that and the Huck Hopper just works there). Wait until you stop getting takes on top for 20-30 minutes before tying the dropper on.

There is a stretch of the Upper Kern just short of 6 miles from the confluence that I kept thinking about as I worked up river. It’s where my son Mark, now a guide in Montana, caught 2 fish at a time when he was 15. It’s winding bend of 3 separate runs. It’s barely fishable unless the river is under 250CFS because it’s a dangerous set of rapids. At this flow tamed, I had already crossed the river and was fishing the “left handed” side. As I approached, I could see multiple places that could hold KRRs. I had a single big Huck Hopper on. I think I C&R’d the first 5 of my casts. I said out loud to no one, “Does this get any more fun?” as I laughed. I moved around and up, I bet I caught 3-4 more. And they were all big fish.

“Sand Camp” was just up river from me now and a hour earlier, on their way back to camp, a couple buddies from the SDFF club said, “We hit sand camp pretty hard so you may want to skip it.” As I approached it, phase 8 kicked in. The challenge was obvious. Two people caught multiple fish here and put it down. So, yea, with the same Huck Hopper on, I looked across the rapid at the head of the run. “There’s no way those guys had the ability to cast it across the river, over the rapid, mending in the air, hoping for a rise on less than a 2 foot drift.” Whack! Another 16”. I nailed another 20” with a “normal” drift in the seam next. That is where I called it.

I probably have taken this selfie 30+ times over 30 years….and this view of the river as you hike in still never gets old

It was a long 2 mile hike down river and over the mountain back to camp. I looked at my fancy Garmin watch and I already had 27,000 steps. All by myself with plenty to reflect on. I was smiling and thanking the fishing friends I have accumulated that have now passed. “Mike, Ken, Jack, Sam, thanks for a great day.” All in all, I know I caught over 25, none smaller than 12” and all on dries. 5 over 20”. All on a rod my buddy Jack, who passed a year earlier, had made for me.

As I walked into camp, I leaned my rod against a tree and dropped my fishing pack. I walked towards the group headed for my backpacking pouch of Jack Daniels. One of them proactively came at me with a “How did ya’ do?” I smiled and simply said, “Great day”. No details. Just a simple, “Great day.” Everyone had good days. I congratulated each of them. I mixed the JD with river water in my cup. I sat, stared at water, smiled and reflected. No one there needed to know about my special day. I’m blessed.

Here’s a great example of a beautiful run that just hadn’t been fished yet this season because of the lack of access on either side.

The State of the Upper Kern River – 2023

Update – June 28, 2023

If you read my article below and watched that video you are going to be shocked by this incredibly surprising great news:

As of today, 6/28/2023, The Forks of the Kern is Open!

Yep, it’s true. Steve Day of Golden Trout Pack Station just called me with the news. I then called Western Divide Ranger district and confirmed it. As it turns out the private businesses (ranchers, loggers, etc.) that are on Forest Road 22S82 fixed it themselves. They couldn’t afford not being able to get in there. My guess is that Western Divide Ranger District then went in and fixed the dirt road to the trailhead.

of course, the river is currently a raging torrent of death at 5,500 CFS and rising right now. It’s unfishable. Just crossing the Little Kern River that is part of the trail would be a challenge, if not impossible. But, i will be watching the flow closely through July and get in there as soon as possible and report back. Remember that the Upper Kern fishes best under 500 CFS. if you are an advanced / expert fly fisher, you could manage under 1,000 CFS. But it would be difficult to find fishable water.

I was resigned to the fact that the Forks would be closed the entire year like it had been in two prior years after the fire. So, this is just awesome news for someone like me. I’ll be guiding under the permit of Golden Trout Pack Station this year. If interested in fishing with me guided on a backpacking adventure contact me to discuss details, questions, etc.

———————————————————————————————————————-

This is the article I have procrastinated on for months. But daily I answer so many emails, calls, txts, messages about the 2023 fly fishing season for the Upper Kern River. It’s time to come clean on the reality of the situation. I have talked to a few experts and done a ton of research.

It’s official: 2023 is the biggest winter in California Recorded History. The mountains above 12,000 feet in the Sierra Nevada, we have a lot of them, have over 75 feet of snow.

On March 10th, 2023 my beloved Upper Kern River shot up from 500 CFS to 26,000 CFS in just 12 hours! By the time that water reached Kernville the river was at 39,000 CFS and there was worry of the bridge being compromised. The bridge did survive. On the Upper Kern, I doubt anything at the huck site still exists. My guess is even the fire pit is gone. The good news is that type of flooding flushes the Kern of it’s silt and makes for a better spawning habitat. We want wild native Kern River Rainbows spawning in abundance.

So I have some news and it’s not necessarily good. The biggest winter in CA history has already wreaked a lot of havoc.

I recently heard from Western Divide Ranger District that the road to the Forks of the Kern Trailhead turnoff, FR 22S82, is destroyed in numerous places.

Check out this helicopter video footage of FR 22S82. It’s shocking. The road is just gone in multiple places. There are landslides and boulders as big as cars on that 20 mile stretch. God only know what that 2 mile dirt road stretch looks like that goes to the trailhead.

Video Courtesy of Jim Uni

Western Divide Ranger District told me it is very unlikely that the forks of the kern trailhead will be opened this year. That’s all they can say right now. There currently is no official word. IMHO, It’s going to take 10s of millions of dollars to fix that road. Since it leads nowhere and so few people live on that road, it’s not going to be a priority like fixing highway 180 is on the western side of the Sierra. And come springtime there will be a lot more roads to fix.

So the reality is that you will not be able to come even close to driving to the Forks of the Kern Trailhead this season.

I have been discussing this with my backpacking fly fishing buddies, the forest districts and Steve Day of Golden Trout Pack Station. You have heard the saying: “Where there is a will there is a way”. Well, with fly fishers, where there is a river, there is a way. The yearlong closure of the roads to Forks Trailhead means the backpacking into the upper kern are just going to be longer, harder and more arduous this year. It’s also just a given that the river won’t back down and be fishable until august. It’s funny that for years I thought of the Forks as a difficult trail. Now that it’s gone, I think of the Forks TH as convenient. Realize that the Forks Trailhead was closed for 2 years just a couple years ago because of the fire. Talk about a river getting a break to recover: for 3 of the last 4 years the Upper Kern won’t feel the pressure of us waving sticks throwing artificials at it.

Here are the most legitimate options for Backpacking overnighters for Fly fishing the Upper Kern this season of 2023:

Lewis TH near the town of Ponderosa and the clicks TH. Currently you can’t do it because the roads are destroyed. Nor would you want to do it now because of the snow. But, the roads will most likely be fixed all the way in to this trailhead by summertime. it’s 4wd to the TH.
1. Lewis TH to the Forks TH – 8.5 miles + the 2 miles down to the confluence
1. Lewis TH to Kern Flats – 12.5 miles. 1400 ascent; 4000 decent
1. Lewis TH to Hole in the Ground – 13 miles with 4k of elevation gains and 2k of loss on the hike in.
1. Lewis TH to grasshopper flats – 12.5 miles with 4k of elevation loss and 2k of gain on the hike in.

Freeman Creek Trail to Forks TH – 7 miles to the forks TH + the 2 miles down. Near quaking aspen and just north of Ponderosa. 500 feet of elevation, plus 1800 decent, then the 2k decent to the confluence. Not at elevation.

Blackrock TH to Painters Camp – 9 miles starting at 9000 feet and losing 4,000 feet in the process. This is a brutal hike out where you have to gain back 4k feet and you are already at altitude. So, you do it with a stopover at Jordan hot springs half way. 9 mile creek there fishes well. I did this one last year and the fishing is spectacular. So is the camp. So is the scenery.

Rincon TH to the forks – 12 miles. 9 miles of straight motorcycle trail awful until you descend down to the forks from the other (south) side of the river, bushwhacking a good portion of the way because the trail is rarely used. 2500 of ascent and 2700 of decent.

Johnsondale Bridge Trail – 5.2 miles. Easy access on the highway from Kernville. The trail is much more rugged than the Forks trail and a lot more used and fished. The trail officially ends around 4 miles where the logical continuation is up the old mining trail to the rincon trail. But, you can climb and bushwhack your way another 1.2 miles until the canyon walls are so steep and the water is so deep you can’t go any farther.

Of all these there are 3 that are the most logical for the backpacking fly fisherman:

Easiest – Freeman Creek Trail to Forks TH – 7 miles to the forks TH + the 2 miles down.
Farthest up river – Lewis TH to grasshopper flats – 12.5 miles with 4k of elevation loss and 2k of gain on the hike in.
Blackrock TH to Painters Camp – 9 miles starting at 9000 feet and losing 4,000 feet in the process.

There are other ways to get to the Upper Kern for the adventurous, young and fit and fearless, of course.

The “Other” Issue

The white elephant in the room is, of course, flow. The largest snowpack year in California recorded history is going to start melting in June, if not earlier.

The havoc has yet to even start. When that snow starts melting. Well, it’s going to cause flooding conditions and destroy roads. Hopefully, it won’t take more lives.

According to LADWP, April 1 snow surveys came back with historic results. We surpassed 2017 (the biggest year in the past 50 years), and 1969 (the biggest year on record), and set a new April 1 high snow level with the final snowpack recording 296% of normal April 1. That is just short of 70” of water content that will mostly melt and wreak havoc below. See the details here.

The question I’m asked the most is: “When will the Upper Kern be in shape to fish this year?” I use the gauge above the Fairview dam on the Dreamflows site to track the river flow here. My general rule is that the Upper Kern fishes great when the river gets below 500 CFS. That usually happens at the end of June / Early July. This year that won’t happen until August…if we are lucky. Sure, you can successfully fish stretches of the river when it’s higher flow. But, it’s just harder to wade. It’s harder to get a cast for a legit drift. And it can be dangerous.

News

So, what is the good news? Well, it’s ultimately going to be a better river as a result of this big winter. Also, a legitimate way to fish the Upper Kern this year is to have Golden Trout Pack Station do the heavy lifting.

Over the last 20 years I have run into owner Steve Day and his wranglers, horses, and mules of Golden Trout Pack Station many times on the Upper Kern River and have come to know him as a genuinely great guy. let’s face it… Steve’s business and the services he offers are pretty awesome.

So, for those of you, like me, that dread a 11 mile hike at altitude with a 4,000 foot gain and 45 lbs on your back… One of the modalities Steve’s business offers is called a “dunnage trip”. That is where mules carry all your stuff and you hike in (separately) empty. But, the mules don’t just carry your backpack… they carry coolers full of ice and fresh food… and beer. And you hike in empty.

This would be a legitimately fun way to fish with or without me. To have the mules carry all your stuff, depending on group size, it’s ~$400 per person, max of 150 lbs per mule …. fresh food, beer, coolers, everything. You hike in empty. In addition to that are guiding fees if you choose to use a guide.

Contact Steve Directly from the Golden Trout Pack Station site. Feel to contact me to discuss details, questions, etc.

Final Notes

Last season I was lucky enough to guide and teach a young film maker, Micah Conrad and his wife Dasha, how to fly fish. Now, there are addicted fly fishers. if interested to see the fun had when I’m guiding check out the two short videos Micah produced on the experiences here:

Fly Fishing a REMOTE River for Wild Trout with a 30 YEAR Fly Fishing VETERAN – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEEm1Ql9RFo&t=165s

EPIC FLY FISHING and Backpacking a JAW DROPPING Remote River! – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDXa_wv1AxE&t=419s

So, there it is. I can / will live without another season of the Forks of the Kern Trailhead….at least by driving there. I sure as heck am going to hike there. I trust you can too. Look forward to seeing you out on the river… no matter how much harder / farther it is going to be to get to it.

The Hybridization of the Kern River Rainbow

This article is about the spread and hybridization of non-native trout species to the upper sections of the Kern River. Let me be clear: this increase and hybridization of nonnative species makes the fly fishing even better. With more species in the river there are more trout to catch. With more little trout being hatched, more bigger trout are eating them and getting huge. The great fly fishing in last few seasons of fly fishing on the Upper Kern certainly prove that. The fly fishing on the Upper Kern River has been nothing short of spectacular. The concern to many is that the Upper Kern River is one of the few places left in the world that only contains wild native trout…. A pureness that has not been “ruined” by the stocking of non-native fish.

Notice the white tipped fins and the faint par marks on the lateral line

The Kern River Rainbow is special. It is classified by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a candidate species for listing under the Endangered Species Act. The upper Kern River is also special. From the Forks of the Kern upstream to Tyndall Creek is a designated Heritage and Wild Trout Water.

At the end October ’22, on the annual “Couples Backpacking Trip to the Forks”, my wife Kelly caught and released a large rainbow on the Upper Kern River just short of Kern Flats. It was a beautifully colored fish. But, other than a glance I barely looked at it. That is typical of me. In my haste to get the hook out of its face and take the trophy shot and get the fish back into the river unharmed and healthy as quickly as possible I failed to notice something interesting. And concerning to many. I didn’t notice that it was most likely a male fish in spawn.

Well, one of the couples on this trip (Micah & Dasha) love to eat the trout when backpacking. So, legally, they harvested two trout. I’m not weird about that. Just like I’m not weird about conventional tackle fishermen like some fly fishers are. I just don’t like the taste of a wild native Kern River rainbow. To me, they taste like bugs…. which, of course, is mostly what they eat. My wife Kelly likes to eat them to as does her buddy Mere. So I do a recipe where I poach the hell out of them wrapped in foil over an open flame in olive oil, white wine, lemon and seasonings that does it’s best to take that gamey taste away… but, it really doesn’t. I have documented it in my stories on this site a few times.

Well, in the process of preparing the fish for the frying pan Micah says to me, “Do you want to eat some of the eggs?” “Eggs?” I thought to myself. “It’s October. Kern River rainbows are springtime spawners. Huh?”. There are plenty of rainbow trout that are fall and winter spawning fish. The Upper Owens River is a testament to that. And those trout in the Upper Owens are all nonnative stocked fish that have turned wild. They come out of Crowley Lake and up the river to spawn. Most of those rainbow species in Crowley (and there are a number of rainbow trout species in that lake) come up the Owens River to spawn in the winter.

Well, I wrote up the story of that trip here. And on the very top of that story is that now fairly infamous picture of my wife Kelly with that fish. Here it is:

Notice the lack of spots below the lateral line and none on the face

Steve Schalla, my friend, authority of fly fishing in the sierra, and owner of https://www.flyfishingthesierra.com/ – the ultimate resource for the fly fisher who wants to learn how to fish the sierra, saw that picture and said to me, paraphrasing, “Tim, look closely at that trout. It’s a hybridized fish. It barely has any Kern River Rainbow in it. Notice the lack of spots below the lateral line. Also notice the lack of spots on the face. Also notice the sparse, large spots on that fish. A Kern River Rainbow has small, peppery spots which are profuse over most of the body and on the fins.”

I pulled this straight from Steve’s site, and you can find it directly on the “interweb” at Steve’s site here:

Distinguishing Characteristics
The Kern River Rainbow can be distinguished by irregularly shaped spots that are both above and below the lateral line. The spots decrease as the extend towards the belly. Coloration is similar to the Coastal Rainbow trout, however the Kern River Rainbow has a distinct red stripe with faint parr marks along the lateral line. The dorsal, pelvic, and anal fins have a white tip. You will also find orange tints along the belly.

The Kern River Rainbow (Oncorhynchus mykiss gilberti) is a subspecies of the Kern River Golden Trout. The Golden Trout are thought to be derived from the rainbows that were isolated about 70,000 years ago by both glacial and tectonic activity. It is suspected that 10,000 years ago, Redband Rainbows or Coastal Rainbows migrated from the Northern Sacramento Basin to the Kern River System by way of the San Joaquin drainage into Lake Tulare. This was a period of very wet climate conditions. The Redbands hydridized with the Kern River Goldens to produce an unique subspecies, the Kern River Rainbow. This fish had a distinctive “rainbow trout” appearance with the coloration and spotting pattern but retained the “Golden Trout” aspect with the distinctive, yet fading, Parr Marks and Red Stripe along it’s lateral line.
Much of the integrity of this subspecies has been lost within the Kern River system due to stocking of hatchery-bred rainbow trout throughout the 1900’s. Only since 1990, has non-native trout stocking been discontinued. Recent genetic testing indicates that the purest strains of Kern River Rainbows occurs in the Kern River from the confluence of Durrwood Creek (5 miles below the confluence of the Little Kern River) to the headwaters in Sequoia National Park. These Kern River Rainbows are genetically distinct from the other rainbows found further downstream. Genetic sampling found that the rianbows below Johnsondale Bridge have hybridized with stocked rainbows to such an extent that they could no longer be considered “Kern River Rainbows”.
Pure strains of Kern River Rainbows are being reared at the Kern River Hatchery in Kernville. A program is in place to re-introduce these pure strains into its historical range and keep non-native trout out of the upper river.

Trends

I’m not a scientist; I’m not a fish biologist. What am I is someone who is fascinated by the biology of the Kern River and its surrounding ecosystem. So, I read and study and listen to experts as much as I can about it. I am also someone that has fished the Upper Kern River for ~25 years. And because of that I notice trends.

It appears to me that this hybridization of the pure strained Kern River rainbow with stocked fish is a trend that seems to be spreading farther and farther up river each year.

Another trend I have noticed is the lack of fight in some of the fish I catch and release. I cannot tell you how many times I have said out loud and on this site, “Nothing Fights like a Kern River Rainbow.” The Kern River Rainbow does numerous aerial acrobatic jumps and they just don’t give up. But over last season I really did notice fish with the lack of vigor typical of a nonnative stocked fish.

Additionally, one of the trends I have noticed over time is the amount of brown trout in the Upper Kern River. Brown Trout are not native to the Kern River. They are not even native to the United States. When I first started fishing the Upper Kern it was unheard of to catch a brown trout in the Upper Kern. 15 years ago I’d catch maybe 1 brown out of every 250 trout I’d catch. 10 years ago that ratio was down to 100-1. I swear for the last couple seasons it’s more like 50-1. Shoot, I even caught a large brown right in front of the huck site.

How did stocked nonnative trout get in the Upper Kern River?

Before I attempt to explain this little “chestnut” let me talk about the sections of the river relevant:

Section #4 is from Riverside Park in Kernville up to Hydroelectric Powerhouse #3 run by Southern California Edison (SCE)
Section #5 is from Powerhouse #3 to the Fairview Dam
Section #6 is from Fairview Dam to Brush Creek which is .6 miles short of the Johnsondale Bridge.
It is generally accepted that the Upper Kern section starts at the Johnsondale bridge and goes for over 60 miles to the river’s headwaters at Lake South America (which helps to drain Mount Whitney).

It’s well known and publicly published on the California Fish and Game site here that that the lower, downstream sections of the river (4&5) get stocked with nonnative trout. That huge amount of fish planting supports a number of businesses in Kernville and the surrounding areas. It written that CDFW tries to plant only triploid trout within these sections. A triploid is a fish that has been genetically engineered not to spawn. So, all the energy that is used for spawning goes into making them get big quickly. It’s great for the catch and keep traditional gear fishers and the sporting industry. But, as a fly fisherman if you have ever caught a 8 lb triploid, you know it’s like pulling dead weight. Hatchery fish, so crowded, eroding their fins on narrow cement lined pens has not been a recipe for success…. Especially in California. That is well documented. Interestingly enough, The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has the only captive California Golden Trout brood stock program in the world….Wyoming! How embarrassing for us Californians. It’s also interesting that most folks in the science and fly fishing communities of the rockies believe that there is no such thing as a pure strained Yellowstone Cutthroat anymore. It has succumbed to hybridization.

A few years back there was an attempt to rear pure strained brood stock Kern River Rainbows at the Kern River Hatchery. But, those fish succumbed to disease and had to be destroyed. Disease is a common story for hatchery fish.

So, with a man-made impediment in the Fairview dam preventing the hatchery stocked nonnative trout in sections 4 & 5 from moving up to the Upper Kern River. And plenty of natural impediments in terms of waterfalls and class 5 & 6 rapids between the Johnsondale bridge and the confluence of the Little Kern River and the Main Fork (north) of the Kern River (commonly called “the forks”) in the way. Then how the hell are nonnative, planted trout appearing 40 miles upriver?

Well, the short answer is that the experts assume nonnative trout were occasionally planted above the Fairview dam at the Johnsondale bridge at some point in the last 125 years. But, there is no evidence nor documentation that I can find to that fact. There, is, however plenty of documentation of nonnative trout being planted in the many tributaries of the Upper Kern River from the Western side of the Sierra. In fact, there is documentation of once instance where a dozen or so women rode horse back to Upper Peppermint creek (~10 miles from the trailhead of the Forks of the Kern) and planted brown trout fingerlings around 100 years ago. That would explain how brown trout are appearing and getting more prolific through time. That is what brown trout do. Just look at how they have taken over the Lower Owens River. So seeing more and more brown trout in the upper Kern River is concerning to me.

“Honey, I’m going hunting. Do you mind grabbing your girlfriends and a bunch of the horses and carrying these little fish in buckets for 40 or so miles and pour them into peppermint creek so I can fish for them next summer?”

But get this: Many scientists believe hybridization could have occurred naturally: through a natural invasion of coastal rainbow trout. And consequently, hybridization could simply be a natural process. There are plenty of examples in nature of cross breeding.

In recent years, the California Dept of Fish & Wildlife (CDFW) conducted surveys in search of pure strained Kern River rainbow trout. Genetic studies found a population in a headwater lake to Big Arroyo which is on the High Sierra trail at an altitude above 10 thousand feet. Those pure strained Kern River Rainbows we the ones attempted at the Kern River Hatchery. Unfortunately, it was unsuccessful. An Upper Kern Basin Fishery Management Plan was written by CDFW to restore, protect, and enhance the native Kern River rainbow trout populations and prevent them from becoming an endangered species. The execution of that plan has yet to be realized.

Call to Action

Let’s be clear: Hybridization is not something that is fixable in a legitimate, let alone humane way. You can only slow it down. And one may not even want to fix it. Plenty of states including my own have done the “kill everything, then plant hatchery born pure strains.” But, you can imagine the complications and risk for failure in that tactic. Nature has a way. Even if it’s not natural.

Every year for the last 10 or so I have fished the Upper Kern at the end of the season. I have documented it well on this site. The fishing season closes on November 15^th. But, the weather makes it miserable for the backpacker. This trip is not for the faint of heart because even if it’s not snowing or raining, the nighttime temps can dip into the teens. The fishing, however, is always spectacular. Now I know one of the reasons why. Much of the great fishing has to do with the spawn of the non-natives. Male trout get really stupid during a spawn.

So, after that October 2022 couples trip I was motivated and inspired to pay special attention to catching nonnatives during the November end of season backpacking / fly fishing trip. By this time, that picture of Kelly and my stories and discussion had spread to CA DFG, CalTrout, Trout Unlimited and numerous people from the relevant forest districts. I had email threads going a mile long with the good folks interested in the state of hybridization.

The ask was simple. Me and some of my expert level fly fishing buddies were to pay special attention to and document what we caught and released. Documentation was defined as the picture of the trout, where it was caught, and the date and time it was caught. Today’s smartphones stamp each picture with a lat/long in addition to the date/time so the “where and when” would be easy. Our lack of photography skills would be the issue, but seemingly not too difficult to overcome.

Armed with an excel spreadsheet provided by the Forest District we would also have a column where we would estimate the mostly hybridized and/or nonnatives, barely hybridized or pure strained and document that. Not a scientific process at all. Just a gut feel from some fly fisherman. But, this would be valuable research (and generally interesting) before a massive genetic testing effort occurs… which I imagine is in the works soon. For me, the most exciting, interesting part of this trip was that we were going to fish and document above the giant waterfall that is around a mile upstream from Painters Camp. It’s 200, maybe 300 feet tall. Getting around it requires a death defying climb up the west side, which of course, I have been stupid enough to do. Or following a trail that goes over 2 miles and almost a mile away from the river on the east side. If you stare at that waterfall you would say, “There is no way in hell a trout can make it up that thing.” But, mother nature has a way.

So what did amateur field biology project to see the effects of trout hybridization in the Upper Kern River yeild? Nothing. The snowstorms of mid November 2022 prevented us from even getting to the Forks trailhead. I was fine with driving my tundra in 4WD in 2-3 feet of snow on roads not plowed. We got within 4.5 miles of the trailhead. there were some awesome huge boulders on the road we had to navigate around. Ultimately, we were forced to stop in front of a giant tree, felled on the road by the storm. We didn’t even attempt to budge it. The tree lying on the ground was taller than me. We couldn’t push or pull it with the trucks because it landed perpendicular on the road. Darn.

You can see the felled tree in the way off in the distance.

So the mission is planned for spring / early summer. And since it seems like we are going to have the biggest winter in California snowpack history it may be end of July before we can get in there to do the amateur field biology project to see the effects of trout hybridization in the Upper Kern River. If you are interested in participating in the project, either as part of my group or on your own then email me from the contact page on this site.

Sources:

Sections of the Kern River, July 31, 2022 by Arnold Lynn

https://www.dependablepickup.com/what-are-the-sections-of-the-kern-river/

California Department of Fish and Wildlife: Kern River Rainbow

https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Fishes/Kern-River-Rainbow-Trout

https://wildlife.ca.gov/Fishing/Inland/Kern-River-Rainbow-Trout

Steve Schalla’s Fly Fishing the Sierra

https://flyfishingthesierra.com/upperkern_lk.html

https://www.flyfishingthesierra.com/kernrain.html

Wyoming Game and Fish

Wyoming Game and Fish Department – Wyoming Wildlife Magazine

California Fish and Game Fish Planting Schedule of the Kern River

https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FishPlants/Default.aspx?county=Kern

THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EDISON COMPANY KERN RIVER 3 HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT REVISED SEDIMENT MANAGEMENT PRACTICES https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/water_quality_cert/docs/kern3_ferc2290/kern3_wqcert.pdf

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

Forks of the Kern Trail – Upper Kern River – October 8th, 2018

The Kern River Rainbow

I am really getting to love these October trips to the Forks. I think I’ll do it for the rest of my life. The fishing is always good. Not great…good. And if you catch it right in October, not only can you catch some amazing night time hatches, but, with the nights getting colder those big rainbows know they have to feed before “going down” for the winter so they tend to wander out of deep water where you can get a shot at them on top. The days are always warm; not wet wading warm, but all day in the sun sunburn warm. The nights and mornings are cold, though…very cold. And the best part for me…mostly because I’m left handed, is that the flows are so low in October there are many places you can cross the river. So, not only do I get to fish the “left handed side”, but I’m throwing flies to water that has seen very few artificials over the season.

When hiking in it’s easy to forget you are in Mountain Lion Territory

The absolute best part of this October, 2018 trip to the Upper Kern River by way of the Forks of the Kern Trailhead was the group. We planned this trip a year in advance because one of the guys joining me was Rudi Van der Welt; an old friend that actually took me to the Forks for the first time many years ago and taught me the backpacking thing and many skills to survive in the wilderness. The reason for a year in advance? Well, Rudi now lives in Sydney, Australia. He flew all the way to LAX (18 hours) to backpack into the wilderness.

Joined by Rudi was the guy that actually taught me how to fly fish over 20 years ago, Tim “Big Daddy” Hoffmann. Big Daddy (nick-named by me because he has 5 boys, all huge and all geniuses and athletes) and I have been friends for 50 years. That is not a typo. Yep, we went to school together starting in 1^st grade…where even then he was a full head taller than me. Both Big Daddy and Rudi are outstanding fly fishermen, experts, guide-level fly fishermen.

Left to Right: me, Jeff Kimura, Rudi Van der Welt, Tim Hoffmann

So, it makes sense that rounding out the 4 of us was a new friend from the neighborhood, Jeff Kimura. Jeff is…well now was a completely green fly fisherman. He really lucked out having the 3 of us teaching him. But, we really lucked out because of all the high quality fresh food he hiked into the canyon. Jeff is super fit, recently qualifying for the Boston Marathon and frankly if you are not hiking in 2-3 pounds of booze you might as well hike in fresh food.

The first rub was that Rudi showed up wearing a boot: “I recently tore my Achilles tendon. I’ll be fine.” In Sydney, he went to the local fly shop with his boot and had them install a sole with spikes in it so he could wade in it safely. Classic. The very first time I went backpacking…to the forks…with Rudi….he almost killed me. I swear we would have hiked in 10+ miles if I had not thrown in the towel at 6. He’s a total stud and even though he had to walk funny with one leg pointed side-ways he still hiked all the way in, fished all day for 3 days and hiked all the way out – total stud.

Who is crazy enough not only to hike the Forks of the Kern Trail in a boot cast, but to have wading spikes installed into the sole? Rudi is…

This was a quick 2-nighter, Monday to Wednesday so I didn’t expect to see many people and that was certainly the case. We did see people hiking out on our way in. And it just so happened that one of the groups told us there did stay in the “huckaby site” and left us a bunch of firewood…. Nice. However everyone we talked to hiking out said they didn’t do too well fishing. Hmmmm…..

Upon getting to the site we unpacked and set up quickly so we could fish the balance of the day. I hooked up quickly and the rest of the day went pretty well in terms of rainbows hooked and landed. “Fishing seems pretty good to me.”, I said to myself.

In terms of flies, well, I just have so much confidence in a handful of flies that I have developed slowly over the years fishing the upper kern. They just work no matter what the conditions. I tie most of the nymphs crippled because over the years I have found that wing shucks and fluorescent wings just seem to work better there. The

is still my “go-to” nymph for the Kern. In that crystal clear water the fluorescent and U/V materials I use just do such a good job attracting. It imitates a number of water born insects that are native to the Kern: The spotted sedge, the green rockworm, Chironomids, etc. Hung 3 feet below a Huck Hopper is a deadly combination. Rounding out the group of go-to flies for the Kern are the Midge Cripple and the Huck-bow Warrior. I also have been experimenting with my crippled version of Cal Bird’s famous Bird’s Nest fly. But, I have not perfected it yet in terms of size and proportions so I’m not going to sell it on the site yet. On this trip all the flies I just mentioned above caught fish.

Another big Kern River Rainbow with a size 4 Huck-Hopper hanging out of his face

I worked variations of another new fly all year and it’s close to being ready to sell on my site. it’s a stonefly nymph imitation. And it’s black. There are no black stoneflies that hatch on the kern (browns and goldens only). But, big black stonefly nymph imitations have always worked there. It really seems like there are always stonefly shucks on the rocks in the river….almost like they hatch all season long from April to October. I know that can’t be true. The skwallas and goldens hatch during the spring. The little brown stoneflies hatch in the summer. It’s kind of a pain in the ass to tie, but, this fly kills. It imitates a number of the nymph forms of the naturals in the river like skwallas, stoneflies, salmonflies, and damselflies. I tie it huge…like in 6-8 and 10 so it’s easily seen and the perfect first fly of the dropper from the huck hopper. So what is the problem? it’s too heavy. Have you ever heard of a nymph being too heavy? Well, in this latest set of variations I tied them with 2 tungsten coneheads. My intention was to get that 3 feet of tippet under the huck hopper down as quickly as possible. The result was it dragging a size 4 (which is huge and very buoyant) huck hopper down with it. So, I did very well with it, but the constant mend of the huck hopper to get it floating is not practical for the average angler. I’ll swap out that middle tungsten cone with a smaller bead and it should be good to go.

A Kern river rainbow with a new fly i have been working on in his face; a huge and heavy stonefly nymph imitation

So, I plan to get those flies on the site by next spring. I’ll battle test them winter fishing in a variety of places that are not the Upper Kern by way of the Forks because it will be closed. But the section above the Johnsondale bridge stays open all winter long (although it does not winter fish that well) so I’m sure I’ll get some time in there along with many other rivers and creeks in the eastern sierras.

BTW, based on a great suggestion from a reader, I have added a bunch of Kern River fishing guidance to the “Guidance and Directions to the Forks of the Kern” document you can download off my site. I charge $5 for it, but I donate 100% of that to CalTrout at the end of the year.

The cache I have hidden near the “huckaby site” has grown pretty large and quite impressive. Along with my friends so many readers like you have added quality items to the cache. The saw and nippers are still the most valuable tools. But, there is a growing group of kitchen items, extra fuel, a tent, wading sandals and wading boots. On this trip I buttoned the cache down for the winter and this year it should do just fine because there is no longer any food in the cache. Even with a smell-proof bear bag, the bears still got to it last Spring. I don’t expect any issues when I retrieve the cache next Spring. If you are reading this and want to use the cache just send me an email. I’ll take care of you. you can

Whether hiking in or hiking out this is one of the best views of the Upper Kern from the Forks of the Kern Trail

My most remembered moment was a fish lost. Why do I always remember the fish lost and not the ones landed? On this trip I caught enough 16 to 18”s to call it good fishing. It was late into Tuesday the only real full day of fishing and I hadn’t hooked, let alone landed, any of those monster 20”+ Kern River Rainbows that are so famous up there. So way up stream I fished on the “left handed side” of the river (often called “river left” by spey casters) where it is not possible to wade. So, I was up about 20 feet in the air on a little cliff like shelf. I casted into a riffle that really didn’t look fishy after hitting some pocket water unsuccessfully below it. Sure enough a monster shot out from nowhere. I set hard. It jumped and I could see it was over 20. But, it shot down river quickly and I should have stopped it by horsing it at the risk of losing it there. I didn’t. And that was my fatal mistake. It went around a large boulder on the opposite site of the river and downstream. I failed to flip the line over the boulder as it swam like a torpedo downstream and the line tightened. I couldn’t get in the water and navigate across (too dangerous and I didn’t feel like doing a brad pitt and jumping into 45 degree water) so I lost the fish there…telling myself over and over how badly I screwed that up.

On the 3^rd day we broke camp with the intention of getting a head start on our assault of Lake Crowley in float tubes so short of 10 or 20 casts there was not a lot of fly fishing the Kern on the last day. All in all it was a great trip. And like every trip to the Upper Kern just too short. I’m now in fantasizing mode where I will watch the upper kern flows every day for 5 months wishing I could be at the forks all the way until next April. That is a long 5 months. Don’t feel sorry for me, though. I’ll be chasing the not so rare Andes trout at 14K feet in Ecuador in a couple weeks.