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Article and Traffic Advisory - 09/06/24 Here's an article on the fish kill in the Kern River in Bakersfield. There was quite a variety of species. You can read here https://sjvwater.org/students-scramble-to-study-the-kern-river-as-bakersfield-cuts-off-flows-leaving-fish-to-die-en-masse/ I-395 will be closed for 15 days above Bridgeport https://dot.ca.gov/caltrans-near-me/district-9/district-9-news/2024_9_3-sonora-junction-shoulders-us-395-closure Fishing Report - 08/27/24 Historically hot temperatures continue to reek havoc on the Upper Kern River in August and + 70 degree water temperatures existed almost daily with air temps well above 100 degrees. The CDFW has suspended stocking rainbows for the last two months and does not expect to resume any time soon. CDFW looks at the weather forecasts as well as monitoring water temperatures. They hope to resume in September at some point but they don’t see a forecast that looks good for the next two weeks. Flows continue to drop and are 280 cfs entering Fairview Dam and just 140 cfs below the dam all the way to the KR3 power house just upstream of Kernville. We have stressed this is too low and good science indicates flows should be at a minimum 200 cfs on this stretch to give the trout fishery a chance at sustainable trout populations. How’s the catching been in these extremely trout stressing conditions? As the summer progressed catch rates dropped quickly after flow rates drifted below 200 cfs on the low flow section. Catching 10 rainbows an hour dropped rapidly to under 2 rainbows an hour in the last two months. That is a drop of 80% in 8 short weeks. To give you some idea how catching has declined, a skilled club member fished below 67 degrees water temperatures and recorded his landings. His landed totals for each weekly trip he could fish starting mid June through last week in order were 29, 23, 19, 10, 6 then 8. In addition he has caught very few small wild fish in that total. As CDFW rainbow stocking was suspended in June adult rainbows were harder to find and land as the summer progressed. Younger wild native trout should be plentiful after two good snow pack years and they survive hot water temperatures better. Sadly the opposite is true. The CDFW only plants sterile trout on the Upper Kern so the habitat is struggling to spawn a healthy sustainable rainbow trout fishery. So we need to do something soon to raise flow levels on the 16 miles of river between Fairview Dam and the KR3 powerhouse. In addition a robust Kern River Rainbow CDFW program to reintroduce fertile native rainbows is key to any sustainable fishery on the Upper Kern during the historical gradual warming of the watershed. The Lower Kern flows at this time are still too swift to consider wading and agricultural irrigation demands continue to keep flows high. Lake Isabella has been good for panfish and bass. If you would like to learn more about our efforts to raise minimum flows on the Upper Kern and help restore our trout fishery there is a great article out this week at San Joaquin Valley Water by Lois Henry. Go to this link and please consider signing the petition. https://sjvwater.org/groups-fighting-for-higher-flows-in-upper-kern-river/
Fishing Report - 07/25/24 Historically hot temperatures are reeking havoc. The Upper Kern River has seen + 70 degree water temperatures almost daily and air temps well above 100 degrees. We had a short time in June where water temperatures were in the 60’s but reduced flows and a long heat wave has created lethal trout waters. The CDFW has suspended stocking rainbows for the last month and does not expect to resume any time soon. CDFW looks at the weather forecasts as well as monitoring water temperatures. The future is not encouraging. Several fires have plagued the Kern River Valley which we have reported on the KRFF website. Road closures are in effect and anyone traveling in the area and the Sequoia National Forest must be aware of the latest conditions. Air quality from wildfire smoke should also be watched. You can view AQI readings here https://www.iqair.com/us/usa/california/kernville/kernville-station Check out this fishing report page to get the latest wildfires update. Hwy 178 is still closed in the canyon at this time for a wildfire that started yesterday. The Lower Kern flows (+2,000 cfs) are too dangerous to consider wading between Lake Isabella and Bakersfield and agricultural irrigation demands will keep flows high likely all summer. Lake Isabella has been decent for pan fish and bass. For the few that have tried to fish the Upper Kern they have started early monitoring water temperatures before they fish and are off the water when temps turn lethal – typically noonish or earlier. The catch rate has slowly tapered off as trout are being harvested and lethal water temps take their toll. Larger adult trout are affected more than juveniles by high water temperatures. Until stocking resumes later this year trout populations will continue to decline. To give these trout a fighting chance minimum flows must be raised below Fairview Dam by SoCal Edison. Please support the efforts many of us have endorsed to protect our namesake fishery. Borel Fire - Hwy 178 closed - 07/24/24 Wednesday afternoon a fire started along Hwy 178 after a vehicle accident. Hwy 178 is currently closed. More information can be found at the following links: CalFire Page - https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2024/7/24/borel-fire Watch Duty Page - https://app.watchduty.org/i/27611 Forest Service Area Closure - 07/15/24 The Sequoia Forest has issued a Closure due to Trout Fire https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/sequoia/notices/?cid=FSEPRD53939https://app.watchduty.org/i/276116&fbclid=IwY2xjawEC2ehleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHUGFFFoFjk296TTgd61bc1op612tqFAJvDoxAuk2MdpRi7XSBEInfYaXrw_aem_94BkrLsaxUS7s0SKqSiM1w
FIRE ALERT - 07/15/24 Additional lightning storms have occured in the Sierras over the last 2 days sparking multiple fires. Yosemite has 9 lightning fires being monitored. Sequoia has additional fires that have been found. More information on the Sequoia Lightning Complex can be found here: https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-information/casqf-sequoia-lightning If you are going up into the mountains please check before hand to make sure there are no road closures or forest closures in the area you are going. FIRE ALERT - 07/13/24 Two fires have started in the Domelands area in Tulare County. Links to some information are listed below. As more information becomes available we will post links here. If you follow the links below, you will find links to cameras looking at the fires. Packsaddle Fire - 3 to 4 miles east of Fairview Campground - as of 3:15PM the fire was listed as 15 acres WatchDuty information - https://app.watchduty.org/#/i/25818 Trout Fire - South of Sherman Pass Rd & NE of Siretta Peak - as of 5:53PM the fire was listed as 300 acres. WatchDuty information - https://app.watchduty.org/#/i/25756
Fishing Report - 07/02/24 Finally flows on section 5 stabilized below 300 cfs for 2 straight days so I made it a priority to fish during the best 3 weeks of the year. The Upper Kern did not disappoint like clockwork once high flows recede each year, but there is concern. More on that later. I left the Bako early in the morning with a record setting heat wave on the way. For the next 10 days +110 degrees are forecast. Kernville will likely be just under that. I was in the water around 8 am and hooked up right away. Not many cars in the pullouts and no one fishing Riverside Park in Kernville. A clear indication likely no stocking had occurred this week yet. I strung up my reliable set up with a #12 Foam Stonefly on top (yellow belly a must), trailed by a #12 BH Arnerd and ten a #16 BHFBPT. The first nice piece of water yielded a spunky rainbow that slammed the stonefly but missed the barb. I recasted and the Arnerd was grabbed quickly. The first rainbow of this special 3 week window was in the net. I gave the slot 4 more casts and no grabs so I moved on. This time of year you often can find rainbows in nearly every piece of slow water that is deeper than your waist if you know where to wade. Many parts of the Upper Kern are hammered as soon as the stocking truck is spotted and soon transferred to a skillet. However, during high flow periods these planters are whisked downstream with the current and over the course of a few months trout find lies all over the river. The ones that make it away from most harvesting fatten up and lengthen for us to enjoy who are willing to do some aggressive wading. Then the magic happens. I spent the next 3 hours covering a 1/2 mile of water landing 29 rainbows with several 16" to 18". 90% on the Arnerd. Then my bliss was abruptly over when a beautiful 18" rainbow went belly up in my net after a quick fight and fast release. I spent time reviving the trophy and it slowly made it back to its favorite rock shelter. I took a water temp. It read 76 degrees. Yikes! At 11 am on the lower half of the 11 mile low flow section below Fairview Dam water temperatures are now lethal for rainbows? I felt bad that I did not take a temperature when I first started at 8 am because reports were that the river was 64 degrees just a few days ago. I stopped fishing and headed up toward Fairview Dam to see how hot the river was up there. When I arrived I was glad to see that the river was 68 degrees up there and started fishing again with great results but knew in just a short time river temperatures were going to go above 70 degrees. So I quickly landed 6 more rainbows for a total 35 in the net and at least 20 LDR's (long distance releases). In four hours of casting I averaged almost 9/hr. This is pretty typical for post melt fly fishing if you work hard. There is a lot of evidence that the near normal snow pack estimates made back in April likely overstated the actual amount of moisture accumulated in the Southern Sierra. Sadly air temperatures are ramping up and Upper Kern flows are continuing to drop and likely will peter out sooner than we anticipated. This means much of the 20 mile section will soon be lethal habitat for trout for the rest of the summer. Make sure you pay attention to your water temperatures when you fish. If water temperatures exceed 70 degrees it is time to go home or find water at much higher elevations in the Kern drainage. As many of you know Hoot Owl restrictions are placed on waters in places like Montana that have done wonders for trophy waters there. Some day that may be a realty for the Upper Kern but for now we can only hope. Here are the CDFW Hoot Owl guidelines you can view https://wildlife.ca.gov/News/Archive/cdfw-recommends-hoot-owl-practices-for-fishing-inland-waters-during-drought I also learned a little more on why Kern River flows between Fairview Dam and KR3 were raised up and down last week. Lois Henry, from SJV Water did some investigation with me and we found out that SoCal Edison must provide supplemental whitewater flow releases when the inflow at Fairview Dam ranges from 700 cfs and 1100 cfs. It would be good for public safety if SoCal Edison would communicate when they decide to provide these supplemental flows and for what duration. At this time inflows are over the 700 cfs low limit but they aren't providing supplemental flows? Wonder why? If not then why not make that public on a website or some other means. SoCal Edison used to have a flow phone number you could call to hear real time flows that number no longer seems to work. Hopefully the new re-licensing agreement will address this.
Summer is here. Triple digit weather is forecast for the next 2 weeks. On the Kern River the runoff is ramping down and peak flows are behind us. We wait until the low flow section drops well below 400 cfs to wet a line and avoid any stretch of the 20 miles of river that exceeds that. We expect flows to reach that level soon on Section 5. July likely will be very good. Typically when the metering stations record 1,000 cfs in Kernville we’ll try section 5 (below Fairveiw Dam to KR3 powerhouse) IF 600 cfs is being diverted for power generation. Then you must be aware if flows are dramatically changed for maintenance or other reasons for reduced power diversions. Always check the flows before you go https://www.sutronwin.com/scedison/tw/jsp/ There have been 335 drownings since 1968 (10 last year) so don’t be tempted to wade the river in unsafe conditions no mater how good the fishing is reported to be. Something unusual is going on at Fairview Dam as flows are ramped up daily according to the flow graphs. Power diversions have been reduced, putting more water onto section 5. Flow on 11 miles of river we normally target as flows become more safe to wade are rising + - 300 cfs every day. See gold lines on the graph below. Until flows stabilize under 400 cfs on the “low flow” stretch (CDFW section 5) we avoid wading the Upper Kern River. We aren’t there yet and it will be important to monitor the flows before you make the trip up to the Upper Kern River. If you happen to be on the west side of the Upper Kern on section 5 you may have a very long walk to safely wade back across to the road side when flows are increased without warning. One of the requirements we would like to see in the future is that SoCal Edison must report flow changes they intend to implement to make the Kern River safer. We are well aware of the hundreds of drowning deaths on our namesake river over the past few decades. Communicating flow changes ahead of time would potentially save lives. If and when Upper Kern flows on section 5 stabilize below 400 cfs we will give it a try and report. Stay tuned..... Still water catching has been good for members at BVS and Lake Isabella. The crappie, bluegill and bass action is on. These species are aggressive with the current water temperatures. Lake Isabella is 67% full and quite a bit lower than nearly all of the other large Sierra reservoirs in CA. This is another indication that our Kern River snow pack was much lower than estimated on April 1st. High altitude tributaries have been good for stealthy anglers willing to drive an hour beyond Kernville. The Kern River above Johnsondale Bridge is still very high to safely wade where most trout are lying. The Lower Kern is very high as water demands in the valley will drive high flows for months.
Fishing Report - 05/31/24 The later part of the spring season is here. On the Kern River the runoff is still ramping up and peak flows are likely still to come. There are some indications that the Southern Sierra snow pack dropped faster than anticipated as it is now 26% of normal for this date. As you recall we were at 97% of normal on April 1st so levels dramatically dropped in what has been a cooler than normal spring. Likely quite a bit of sublimation may have occurred in the Kern River watershed in 2024. Time will tell. For now Upper Kern flows are above 2,000 cfs and not safe to wade. We wait until the low flow section drops well below 400 cfs to wet a line and avoid any stretch of the 20 miles of river that exceeds that. We expect July likely will be good. Typically when the metering stations record 1,000 cfs in Kernville we’ll try section 5 (below Fairveiw Dam to KR3 powerhouse) if 600 cfs is being diverted for power generation. Then you must be aware if flows are dramatically changed for maintenance or other reasons for reduced power diversions. Always check the flows before you go https://www.sutronwin.com/scedison/tw/jsp/ There have been 335 drownings since 1968 (10 last year) so don’t be tempted to wade the river in unsafe conditions no mater how good the fishing is reported to be. Upper elevation tributaries of the Kern are a good place to catch right now. Still water catching has been good for members at BVS and Lake Isabella. The crappie, bluegill and bass action has kicked in. These species are spawning and aggressive with the current water temperatures. Lake Isabella is 70% full and quite a bit lower than all of the other large Sierra reservoirs in CA which are nearly full at this time. It is doubtful that Lake Isabella will get near capacity this year. This is another indication that our Kern River snow pack was much lower than estimated on April 1st. Fishing Report - 04/05/24 Spring conditions are rapidly changing the dynamics of our local waters. Some summer like temperatures recently have triggered the melt cycle for 2024. Catching has been great for KRFF members on the Lower Kings with +5 lb rainbows landed by members and +50 landed per day but flows are now much higher. Runs that were fairly serene are now hard to find. Quiet water and easy wading likely has gone away as water demands rise. At this time the Lower Kings has ramped up close to 1300 cfs and will go much higher. So the great fly fishing there has come to an end until November. Likewise the Upper and Lower Kern River are becoming much more difficult to safely wade. Stocking abruptly was stopped Feb 24 according to the CDFW website. What was the reason? The trout at the San Joaquin hatchery were too undersized to plant which accounts for the lack of catching the last month. The CDFW expects to resume planting some time in April but it seems they will be on the small side of what we normally see. For now the treasured safely wadeable serene pocket water likely won't return until summer. How long with the 2024 runoff off last? More on that later. So what is in store this summer and fall for our namesake river? The benchmark snow pack measurements on April 1st are now in. The Kern River drainage is at 97% of normal. While overall Kern River data shows snow pack just below normal, the measurements above 10,000' are averaging 88% of normal. The high elevation snow packs are crucial for keeping the 20 mile section below 70 degrees in July through August. This should be enough to facilitate healthy trout habitat much of this summer below Johnsondale Bridge, time will tell..... The melt off will ramp up starting next week with a heat wave and we can get a good idea when the run off will taper down bringing the best three weeks of catching for the year. Based on my data collection and regression analysis for over 20 years we should see flows drop below 1,000 cfs on the Upper Kern around July 1st just in time for the 4th of July. Mark your calendars for the month of July for prime time and plan your visits accordingly.
So how do the rest of California river system snow packs stack up for 2024? Well the further north you go the better the snow pack levels. Below is a sampling of favorite trout rivers in the state. KERN 97% STATE OVERALL 106% You can look at all of the data here https://cdec.water.ca.gov/reportapp/javareports?name=COURSES
Fishing Report - 02/29/24 Several club members have continued to visit the Lower Kings the last two weeks with continued success. This has been a great fishery since December. The large brood stock planted by the CDFW have bent 6wt rods to the limit. We are also catching a lot of juvenile rainbows which reinforces how well the Lower Kings is managed below Pine Flat Reservoir. Wild rainbows are thriving in the summer heat of the San Joaquin Valley and apparently procreating with sustained results. One member even landed a healthy brown trout . That is unheard of at low elevations in our region. Water temps remain in the upper 50s and clear keeping trout actively feeding and make members drive the extra miles well worth it. Double digit landings continue to be the norm for members on olive or black buggers, bead heads nymphs like black or red zebras, Arnerds, BHFBPT and snow cones sizes 14 to 18. Wild rainbows 7" to 11" are commonly found on the catch and release section from Altar Weir and down river and frequently stockers 12" to +20" are tugging your line. Catching also is found all the way up to near Pine Flat Reservoir. Flows have been clear even with the rain. Flows on the Lower Kings did jump up for a 24 hour period on Feb 26/27 then fell back down. It is always worth a peak at the flows before you go here https://www.dreamflows.com/graphs/day.101.php Bring a wading staff and cleated felt wading boots.
The San Joaquin Valley has had good rain this year so agricultural demand for water has been light and Pine Flat Reservoir is still in storage mode because the Southern Sierra Snow packs are still below normal (more on that later). For now it seems unlikely that flows will get bumped up even with a storm heading to California the first days of March. The next storm is expected to really dump on the northern and central Sierra Mountains with much smaller accumulations in the Kings and Kern River drainages. So California skiers will be thrilled from Mammoth and north to Shasta. So continue to THINK SNOW. Speaking of snow, we got the first readings of the Kern River snow pack in the last 4 weeks to quantify what shape it is in. Unfortunately, the Kern River snow pack is 24% below normal where it has been measured. In the higher elevations above 10,000' the snow packs are very low (55%-77% of normal levels). These high elevation snow packs are the last to melt in summer and crucial to keeping the 20 mile section of the Kern River below 70 degrees in July through September. So we definitely need more snow up on the high levels near Mt. Whitney. Lower elevation snow looks almost normal at 8,300' but it will be the first to melt to ground level and start the melt which appears to be in progress as the last storms that came through were warm and melted a lot of snow below 7,000'. The Upper Kern flow levels have steadily risen to 750 cfs and likely will continue through June when they will peak. In another month we should be able to predict very accurately when peak flows will return to wadeable levels based on all of the analytical trend data we have collected over the last 20 years.
In the near future Lake Isabella will have its annual fishing derby from March 23-25. See how you can win up to $10,000 for the big prize here at https://www.kernrivervalley.com/isabellalakefishingderby. Now that's the place to fish as flows on the Upper Kern ramp this spring. At this time no CDFW plants have been scheduled at their website after February 24th. Landings have been sparse for club members in Kern County and the 20 mile section of the Upper Kern into Tulare County with higher flows to traverse safely. The Upper Kern is still very cold in the low 40's and trout aren't as active up there. It is good to see that the low flow section 5 is showing higher flows by SoCal Edison at +300 cfs improving trout habitat. That is 5x higher than a short time ago and now tougher to wade. Be careful up there. Above Fairview Dam and below KR3 flows are + 700 cfs which is too high for me and predicted to rise as the spring melt is starting. Fishing Report - 02/12/24 The Lower Kings continues to be the hot spot in our area. Water temps in the upper 50s and hefty brood stock are making the extra drive worth it. Double digit landings continue to be the norm for members on olive or black buggers, bead heads nymphs like black or red zebras, Arnerds, BHFBPT and snow cones sizes 14 to 18. Wild rainbows 7" to 11" are commonly found on the catch and release section from Altar Weir and down river and frequently stockers 12" to +20" are tugging your line. Catching also is found all the way up to near Pine Flat Reservoir. Flows have been clear even with the rain. Rains are coming this Saturday but precipitation totals will be light and temps will be 70 degrees on the San Joaquin Valley floor. Into next week rains will be cooler and predicted accumulations nothing like a couple of weeks ago. The CDFW has planted local Bakersfield lakes and the Lower/Upper Kern. However, plantings appear to be spread over larger areas and lower pounds per location then in the past. So landings have been sparse for club members in Kern County and the 20 mile section of the Upper Kern. The Upper Kern is still very cold in the low 40's and trout aren't as active up there. It is good to see that the low flow section 5 is showing higher flows by SoCal Edison near 150 cfs. That is 3x higher than a short time ago but not the ideal that stretch needs at 200 cfs to sustain a wild trout fishery. The Southern Sierra snow pack has improved quite a bit lately but still 25% below normal for this date and 50% of where it needs to be on April 1st. The first wave of rain Saturday 2/17 will be light/warm and snow levels are predicted to be high. So expect significant melting below 7,000'. At this time the Kern River Drainage Snow Course Surveys have not been updated the last 2 weeks, so the Kern River data still looks dismal. It will be interesting to see how the Kern River is ACTUALLY doing when the latest actual measurements happen later this month. When that data comes in we'll look at the detail to see if the critical high altitude stations show good accumulations which are imperative for cooler water flows in July through September on the 20 mile stretch. Here is the latest data posted for the Kern River on Feb 16.
It is interesting that SoCal cities have shown well above normal rainfall totals but has not translated to the mountains in the southern half of California yet......... Fishing Report - 01/31/24 Fishing reports have been very good from the Lower Kings the last two months so I finally got to make some time with two other club members to see just how good it was. It is a 2 hour drive from Bako but it turned out to be well worth it. We arrived, then geared up and hit the water before 9:30 am. The river was 56 degrees and there were rising trout. The last two months euro and indicator nymphing has been excellent with files in the #12 to #18. We all got into trout early on with zebra midges, snow cones, BHFBPT's, and Arnerd's. We landed rainbows with regularity along a long stretch of the catch and release section below Pine Flat Reservoir. We hooked bows from 5" to 15". This is a healthy fishery with both stocked and wild trout. Several miles below Pine Flat Reservoir flows are maintained in the heat of summer at this low elevation (500'). Water temps stay below 70 degrees all year. In contrast our favorite Upper Kern often reaches 80 degrees in Kernville at 2,700' and the section of river from Fairview Dam to the KR3 Powerhouse in drought years. We hope to raise awareness to those that care about the health of the Upper Kern River to raise the minimal flows that SoCal Edison operates at. Fairview Dam is up for re-licensing and the way it is operated will be set in stone for the next 25 years soon. So it is imperative that we change the operation to address the repeated droughts on the Upper Kern and give the few wild trout on the 11 mile stretch on section 5 a fighting chance to thrive. If you would like to know more check out the Kern River Boaters website https://www.kernriverboaters.com/ The Kern River Fly Fishers have partnered with them to raise our voices to restore and improve our favorite trout water. If you or your organization would like to joins us in this cause give us a ring at 661-330-6349 or email the Kern River Boaters at kernriverboaters@gmail.com
Back to the great catching on the Lower Kings. After about an hour of good catching the hookups began to drop off a bit. I decided to try throwing a streamer. I immediately hooked into rainbows again from 8" to 15". Then my #12 olive Krystal bugger got crushed and I could not believe the fight that ensued. I definitely needed a bigger net. I was glad I had 8lb Vanish tippet and a 6wt rod with a backbone. After a lot of runs into potential snags I netted the beast. It was +23" long and girth 18". Clearly a spawning male. It made my day and I was a streamer fisherman much of the rest of the day. I managed another 22" big male and 22" big hen in another location we like further up river. It has been 5 years since I got to fish the Lower Owens and I need to get back soon. We fished until 3 pm and landed over 80 rainbows between the three of us in about 5 hours and the catching was still happening when we left. So far flows on the Lower kings have remained around 250 cfs with the latest atmospheric river. Our club will return with an outing in February. Come out at our next meeting February 7 at Coconut Joe's Banquet room at 7pm to learn about how our members are catching and hear a great presentation on Golden Trout Pack Trains on the Kern River. Enjoy the photos.
Fishing Report - 01/30/24 Some folks have been out and about in January wetting lines. The Upper Kern hasn't been very good to the few members who have tried it. The Upper Kern has been cold in the upper 30's and low 40's making trout lethargic. The upper and lower has been stocked but catching has to be made quickly before harvesters take the easy pickings. The low flow section is well below 200 cfs making trout vulnerable to predators and hard to migrate into protective lies. On the other hand the catching has been excellent on the Lower Kings with members well into double digits on the catch and release stretch. Water temps in the 50's. We have an outing scheduled there Feb 17th. The Upper/Lower Owens and Hot Creek was not pressured during the NFL playoffs last weekend and members got into browns and bows. The catching was average and the weather and scenery excellent on the KRFF outing last weekend. The Southern Sierra snow pack is poor to date at just 35% for late January. This could improve with some atmospheric rivers headed our way this weekend. To view the latest show pack graphs check: https://cdec.water.ca.gov/reportapp/javareports?name=PLOT_SWC The Kern drainage is just 17% of the April 1st average bench mark and 28% of late January normal: https://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/snow_ss/COURSES So far 2024 doesn't look like a good year for healthy trout waters this summer in the Southern Sierra unless we get more precipitation soon. Stay tuned!
Proceeds go to a great cause Casting for Recovery www.castingforrecovery.org The event will be at the Maya Cinema 1000 California Avenue in Bakersfield, CA doors open at 1:00 pm. Great thing to do on a rainy day. Tickets online at https://www.flyfilmfest.com/bakersfield-ca/ Watch Preview video here https://vimeo.com/893876264 Here is a list of the seven guide trips (Kern River, Lower Sac, Colorado, Green River,UT) and more up for silent auction at the event Saturday. See you there.
Many thanks to our sponsors Adventist Health Bakersfield and Kern River Fly Fishers Fishing Report - 12/21/23 Catching on the Upper Kern has dropped way off as is typical for the beginning of winter. Rain events are well behind normal for the start of the new snow pack season for the Southern Sierra. That has made for gin clear water but river temps are now in the low 40's on the 20 mile section and lower above Johnsondale Bridge. Trout are barely feeding on tiny midges below size 20 above and below the surface early afternoon. Plantings are happening but catching has been more hit than miss. Some of our best KRFF experts fishers are happy to get a hook up on a trip. This likely will be the case for the next two months. Precipitation is occurring as I type, so flows are about to rise and murky conditions to follow it would seem. Flow diversions at Fairview Dam by SoCal Edison have left section 5 very low under 50 cfs and that will continue to hurt fish populations there where most of us like to fly fish. Above and below section 5 flows have hovered around 400 cfs but will be climbing as the latest storm hits this week. In Bakersfield CDFW trout plants have happened at Riverwalk Lake and Lake Ming once a month which is a far lower frequency than the weekly plants between November and March we used to receive before Covid happened. The Lower Kern is not seeing any plants at all and flows continue to be well above levels of the last few years in December. In contrast the Lower Kings has been planted weekly and members fishing there are finding double digit catching and trout widely disbursed along the catch and release stretch as well as the put and take stretch above Alta Weir up to Pine Flat Dam. Tiny flies are not required and general nymph patterns to size 12 are hooking lots of rainbows. Flows there have been steady around 300 cfs on a very wide stretch of river. 2023 was a historic year for our region. The was an immense snow pack that made river wading dangerous for most of the summer and spring. Major destructive flooding occurred and rivers were reshaped, scoured river bottoms and dumped huge loads of silt into Lake Isabella and the inlet end of the lake that the Kern River feeds. Sadly, at last count over a dozen drownings occurred in 2023. Below are some graphs that show the unprecedented conditions of 2023.
Fishing Report - 11/28/23 The excellent fall fishing has regressed to more winter like catching as water temperatures have dropped on our local waters. The catch rates on the Upper Kern are way lower than two months ago and the river is in the 40's now. The low flow section between Fairview Dam and the KR3 power house (section 5) has been below 50 cfs for weeks. This makes for poor sustainability for trout that are easy prey from natural predators and fishermen alike and migration is severely impaired to allow planted trout to move into deeper pools. Trout planted in the low flow stretch are easy to harvest and depopulates the wild trout as well. We have partnered with the Kern River Boaters to pressure SoCal Edison to increase minimum flows to 200 cfs to sustain this long stretch that has been severely impacted by repeated droughts. Fishing above Fairview Dam and below KR3 to Lake Isabella is more difficult to wade and finding holding water at +400 cfs. Below Lake Isabella flows are still high above 800 cfs and is not being stocked. We did get a plant at Riverwalk but the catching didn't last long. Lake Buena Vista had a trout derby and a large number of big rainbows and lightning trout have been caught out there. The best news is that the bigger trout are back in the Lower Kings River again. It is reported that CDFW plants of super-catchable (+19”) rainbows are making anglers happy. We are planning an outing there soon. Flows are around 300 cfs on this wide river below Pine Flat Reservoir . Precipitation has been well below normal in San Joaquin Valley cities since October and precipitation levels have been almost half of normal for this time of year. There is no rain forecasted in the foreseeable future - something to keep an eye on. Will we really have an El Nino year in 2024? Fishing Report - 11/10/23 Had a great day of fishing on the Upper Kern today, however, the catching was a different matter. So the fishing was great because the river was clear, no wind, leaves are changing and the mountains were clear in the distance. My casting got better but we were both skunked (can't remember being skunked in early November on 20 miles of river). We tried 8 different spots and did not see a rise anywhere and didn't even get a grab on dries, nymphs or streamers. We arrived at 9 am and the water was 50 degrees and air temps hit freezing before sun up. Flows on the stretch between Fairview Dam and the KR3 powerhouse (Section 5) are extremely low at 48 cfs. This makes trout very susceptible to predatory birds and keeps trout from migrating up river to find deeper holes to hide. On sections 6 (above Fairview to Johnsondale Bridge) and section 4 (below KR3) flows are still quite high for wading and holding water was not easy to find. There has been no stocking in October and a call to the CDFW revealed it will be stocked during November. The planting website shows it should have been planted this week. If it was we did not see any evidence the Upper Kern was planted on sections 4,5 or 6. We talked to baiters and fly anglers and also observed others and did not see any one hook up or a stringer with a trout on it. So it appears again that the great catching that joyfully exists the first few weeks after the Upper Kern summer runoff drops below 1,000 cfs is over. Should CDFW trout planting resume soon, things should improve but sadly the first fall rain is just around the corner that will murk things up around Wednesday 11/15. There is good news to report that the San Joaquin Hatchery is planning to restart the trophy trout program on the Lower Kings soon - it was stopped in 2022. Stay away from the Lower Kern as flows are around 2,000 cfs and churning. No work on the Kern River hatchery appears to happening. Riverwalk Park Lake in Bakersfield is scheduled to be planted with trout next week (11/12). Did you know newer iPhones (14 and later) now can be used like an emergency SOS satellite phone in the wilderness? Check it out here https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208076 Will we have a El Nino high snow pack year? They are hard to predict it seems. See here https://weather.com/storms/winter/news/2023-11-03-strong-el-nino-winter-recent-cases Fishing Report - 09/29/23 Been a while since I have been able to personally fish the Upper Kern due to high flows and other activities. Few of our members have been fishing or have been successful in September? It was hard to believe that the catching wasn't good for them given the huge water year. So we headed up to gin clear waters and safer wading on the low flow section. Water temp was 62 degrees at 9:00am. I rigged up a dry dropper set up with #12 foam stone on top, #12 BH Arnerd red hook 2' below and a #16 Bead Head Flash Back Pheasant Tail (BHFBPT) at 3'. Got into bows right away. Both nymphs were taken evenly all day with one big crush by a 14" bow on the yellow bellied foam stone fly. I covered a good half mile of water in the first 3.5 hours with very good success. Tried a couple of other stretches until 3 pm. Must have seen a dozen F-18's thundering over the Kern River. A very good day with slight breeze and temps in the 70's. Wet wading still very comfortable for now. I was hoping to find bows widely distributed in favorite pocket water because the huge flows that lasted months should have pushed a lot of wilder trout from well above the Johnsondale Bridge down on to the 20 mile section. If that happened we didn't find them in all areas we tried. Because the CDFW did not stock weekly during high summer flows this summer it is my opinion that bows aren't widely distributed. They began to stock in August but bi-weekly. Many of trout I landed were in the 13" - 15" range with five measuring 16" - 19" . The biggest was long and slender. I didn't have a stomach pump and wish I had to see what they were feeding on. There were October Caddis and an abundance of Mayflies in the air. It appears that because the CDFW held trout in the races all summer (fattening them up) the average trout being planted is bigger than the normal 10" - 12" trout we normally see. I put 35 bows in my net for 6 hours or about 6/hr. A very good day on the river. It wasn't very crowded for a Friday. I hooked no wild trout under 10" any where. So it appears the previous drought years were not good for wild trout hatched over the 20 mile section. We should see a fish survey again soon done by SoCal Edison to confirm. What does the river look like? The river is very clear (rains are coming though). Most trash has been swept away. There is very little plant life on the low flow section. It is great for wading because there is no moss or slime layer to slip on. That is because sand/gravel scoured the rocks clean for months. Plant life is trying to come back but it will take a while. You'd think that would hurt aquatic insects but the adult versions were definitely flying around in abundance. The river has changed. Some of my favorite holes and pocket water has been filled in with cobbles :-( . However, new holes were scored out :-) . Some areas are harder to reach because the river banks were carved out and it is a steep drop in and out to the river from road access. CDFW has not scheduled plants for October at this time. Hope the newest rains of October don't murk things up again. If so, I hope to be back soon to report again. Fishing Report - 08/16/23 Flows on our favorite namesake river continue to be more elevated than we want to wade. It turns out the flow gauge in Kernville was inaccurate and finally recently calibrated (our friends at the Kern River Boaters noticed this some time ago). The flows reported at Fairveiw Dam has been our best data to decide when we plan to wade the Upper Kern here http://www.sutronwin.com/scedison/tw/jsp/ because it shows flows on the low flow section. Until we see flows below 400 cfs on Section 5 ( currently near 1,000 cfs - gold line) few of us will try wading. Flows are coming down slowly as those historic snow packs above 12,000' are still running off. It may take until September to see flows below 400 cfs on low flow section 5 if power generation occurs. It looks like the model we use to predict when flows drop below 1,000 cfs above Fairview Dam is fairly accurate again. Flows above Fairview Dam are =1,400 cfs. We'll keep monitoring.
The CDFW began planting rainbows the last week of July but does not have any planting scheduled until after 3 weeks. We thought we would see planting resume weekly as in most summers, wonder why not? Reports from local harvesters suggest only smallish plants happened and quite a bit of pressure was applied as many were hungry to fish again in the usual spots. Hopefully more pounds will be added as conditions become safer. We'll be waiting for safer flows and hopefully clear flows for a little while longer. Kern County Health Toxin Map of Lake Isabella updated 8/1/23 https://kernpublichealth.com/cyanobacteria-blooms-blue-green-algae/
He is something interesting, Wolves now in Sequoia National Forest in Tulare County . For those out in the woods. There's a link to report sightings at the end of the article. There has not been more details about their location other than they were sighted in Tulare County
From CDFW website below more info do wolves pose a threat to humans? Do wolves pose a threat to human health or safety? Wolves rarely pose a direct threat to human safety. Wild wolves generally fear and avoid people. It is important to know how to avoid contact with wild animals before entering their habitat. In the past 40 years, 18 reports of wolf aggression toward humans have been reported. Eleven of those reports involved wolves habituated to humans and six involved domestic dogs. In recent years there was one confirmed human mortality in Alaska by wolves. Wolves can become habituated to humans in areas where they regularly encounter humans or human food. To avoid habituation, wolves, like all wildlife, should never be fed or approached. People should never approach, feed, or otherwise interact with a wolf. If you have a close encounter with a wolf or wolves, do not run. Maintain eye contact.
Fishing Report - 07/30/23 The peak of the spring runoff is now well behind us. We were blessed to have cool spring weather most of June and May that allowed the water masters to release water from the newly constructed Lake Isabella Dam before it was filled to capacity. We are now out of the woods and damaging flooding in the Lower Kern drainage is no longer an issue. The Lower Kern in Bakersfield will have water flowing in the riverbed for months to come but at receding levels that should pose no threat to property. It will be a pleasant atmosphere along the parks and bike paths that we haven't enjoyed for a whole season. Historic Snow Pack Plots of 2022-2023 (save for your posterity)
Some folks are trying to fish the Kern River in the Bako with limited success as we wait for wadeable flows on the Upper Kern River that should make for good catching later in the fall. The latest daily peak flows are around 2,000 cfs above Kernville and we haven't had the CDFW stock rainbows since last March in the Kern River or Lake Isabella. Were a lot of wild trout flushed down river to sections 5 and 6? Surely we will see some wild brown trout down low on section 5 like in 2019. When will the CDFW get the OK to plant the river where people aren't tempted to enter the river in unsafe conditions? Last week the San Joaquin Hatchery didn't think stocking would happen until mid -August at the earliest. Sadly, eight people lost their lives on the Kern River so far in 2023. One tragic kayaker was lost last month and his body could not be recovered until last week. Our thoughts go out to their loved one at their loss. Search and rescue heroes put their lives at risk all summer to do the best they could to save lives. These are special and selfless people. Read a story in the Californian documenting how first responders were involved in the latest tragedy. So now it is still a wait and see game to plan a fly fishing trip for the foreseeable future on the Upper Kern. For this year it appears crossing the river on section 6 and above Johnsondale Bridge won't be safe and limit half of the best water on the west side of the Kern. Section 5 will provide the safest places below 400 cfs to fish and one must always be aware that flows on that stretch can abruptly rise if power diversions are halted for unforeseen maintenance issues. So for now rafting companies are the only ones who can safely get near the river. Lake Isabella is now as full as many of us have seen in decades. The lake is 96% full and folks are exploring warming waters still driven by a long hot spell. Bass to 12 foot depths and crappie to 20 foot depths' are showing but fish will be heading deeper the rest of the summer. The north fork of the lake has been reported at 68 degrees and south fork at 75 degrees as extreme heat appears to be around for a while. When lake temperatures increase toxic algae blooms show around Lake Isabella and are a concern. Kern County Health issued a health advisory for Toxic Algae blooms at Lake Isabella. Kern County Health Toxin Map of Lake Isabella https://kernpublichealth.com/cyanobacteria-blooms-blue-green-algae/ High elevation small streams are accessible and are the only flowing waters that are fishable for waders right now for small extremely spooky wild bows, goldens and browns. They will hit anything if you are very stealthy. Try a humpy size 14 on top and size 18 pheasant tail hung 18” below. No need to match the hatch; just fish up stream on one knee to stay low and make no sound or loud foot steps. The first cast likely is the only cast a wild trout will take then you must move up stream to undisturbed water. These narrow streams and meadow waters are getting pressure as they are the only moving waters available to the wading fly fisher. The further you can drive off the beaten path the best chance at success and solitude. Trout Unlimited is working with the Sequoia NF and the Tubatulabal Tribe to restore Troy Meadow July 31st - August 4th. There will be a construction crew hand-building restoration structures in the stream above the fenced area in Troy Meadow. These structures will create more pool habitat for CA Golden Trout, but do not block fish movement. Avoid fishing this upper meadow area those days. There will be no impact to fishing near Troy Meadow Campground during that time. Questions on the restoration work - contact Jessica Strickland, jstrickland@tu.org at Trout Unlimited. Fishing Report - 06/26/23 The summer runoff has been in full force on most California Rivers. The Upper Kern and South Fork Kern River have dumped up to 15,000 cfs into Lake Isabella as it fills. The South Fork seems to be past its peak. However, the North Fork Kern at Kernville could blow up near 10,000 cfs again once +100 degree temperatures arrive very soon. As I type it exceeds 5,000 cfs in the coldest temperatures ever recorded in June. This means very dangerous flows for a while. Lake Isabella has been decent for bass and crappie. The aggressive spring spawn bite in the shallows is tapering off and bass and crappie are found in deeper water now. Toxic algae blooms are showing around Lake Isabella and are a concern, more on that below. High elevation small streams are now accessible and are the only flowing waters that are fishable right now for small extremely spooky wild bows, goldens and browns. They rarely exceed 10" but some are stunningly beautiful. They will hit anything if you are very stealthy. Try a yellow humpy size 14 on top and size 18 pheasant tail hung 18” below. No need to match the hatch just fish up stream on one knee to stay low and make no sound or loud foot steps. The first cast likely is the only cast a wild trout will take then you must move up stream to undisturbed water. These narrow streams and meadow waters are getting pressure as they are the only moving waters available to the wading fly fisher. When will the Kern River be safe to wade? Four years ago flows did not recede below 400 cfs on the low flow section until late July and this year we have 50% more snow pack than 2019 . So It likely won't be wadeable until September. Because of the dangerous conditions the CDFW has ceased stocking on the Kern River since early March. In the past, they would stock the Upper Kern and bank a lot of trout that made for great catching once the Upper Kern dropped below 1,000 cfs. We aren't sure if that will happen this year. There is a free fishing day on July 1 and no license is required. Stay away from the Kern and target other safer waters if you go. Below is the latest Kern River flow and snow pack data available
See news story here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkIKVa4yFjc Kern County Health Toxin Map of Lake Isabella https://kernpublichealth.com/cyanobacteria-blooms-blue-green-algae/
Hwy 178 - Partial Reopening - 06/06/23 Caltrans has reopened Hwy 178 thru the canyon with one-way traffic control 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week. Caltrans advises to expect delays of 10-15 minutes during construction to repair the roadway. Sequoia & Inyo Flood Incident Info - 05/31/23 Sequoia National Forest and Inyo National Forest have each opened an Inciweb page for Flood Event information, maps, pictures, etc. The Inciweb site, while typically used for Fires, is also used for large events such as Flood response. These will be good sites to monitor for all of the Sequoia & Inyo Forest coverage of the Flood Events and recovery efforts. Sequoia - https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident-information/casqf-sequoia-national-forest-emergency-flood-response Inyo - https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident-information/cainf-inyo-national-forestflood-response Hwy 178 closed - 05/27/23 Per Caltrans District 6 Facebook Page, Hwy 178 in the canyon has been closed due to cracks in the road near the waterway at the mouth of the canyon. No ETA for repair has been given yet. Hwy 155 is still closed between the Glennville area and the summit. CHP is advising the best route for people to take is Hwy 178 to Hwy 14 south to Hwy 58 to get back to Bakersfield. Here is the link to Caltrans' Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/caltranscentralvalleydistrict6
River Update - 05/05/23 Effective Thursday, Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux has issued temporary river closures for parts of the Kaweah, Kern, and Tule Rivers. Sections of the Kern River within Tulare County at all points along the Kern River beginning at Dry Meadow Creek, approximately two miles east of the Johnsondale Bridge, down to the Tulare/Kern County Line. The closure order would include all river access locations for recreational use See more details at link below: Apparently there are already closures for parts of the Kings & St. Johns rivers in Tulare County as well. Fishing Report - 04/27/23 It appears certain that the historical snow pack of 2023 will be driving California fishing conditions for all of this summer. Fortunately for Bakersfield residents and other San Joaquin Valley cities temperatures have remained below normal for months holding back the huge run off to come. This has given water managers the time to drain flood control reservoirs before they will fill fast and spill over. Summer temperatures are on the way and the great runoff of 2023 is about to begin. The North Fork of the Kern River is flowing +6,000 cfs and climbing fast as I type. The South Fork is 1,500 cfs. I have collected snow pack data and run off flow data for over 20 years and have been able to predict within one week of when flow conditions become wadeable after the dangerous snow melt flows of summer. When flows drop below 1,000 cfs in Kernville and the 16 mile section between Fairview Dam and the KR3 Powerhouse are diverting 600 cfs for power this low flow section (400 cfs) has the best catching of the year. Why? The river is continuosly stocked by the CDFW for weeks or months and trout are swept down river and disbursed all over the river. They aren’t dumped in just a few well known spots and completely harvested in a weekend like most of the year. The first three weeks after flows drop below 1,000 cfs (measured at Kernville) trout are disbursed throughout the river and pocket water is wadeable making the catching prime. Hooking 10 trout/hr is commonplace for those who can wade aggressively from pocket to pocket covering a mile of river in an afternoon. So when will this happen? With a peak April 1 snow pack of 332 % of normal my regression analysis says we will see 1,000 cfs around September 15. There are few snow packs seen this large so prime time may happen earlier or later, but I am confident wading the Upper Kern won’t be safe until after Labor Day. In the mean time Lake Isabella should be pretty good this year for carp, bass and crappie but lake levels will rise fast over the next few weeks. Fly fishers will probably have to adjust where they go and how deep the pan fish are every week as the lake rises fast and is drained fast to avoid down river flooding in San Joaquin Valley cities. Upper elevation tributaries will thrive but access to them may not be possible until July 4th. The road to Johnsondale is still closed above McNallys. The NFS does not know when it will be repaired.
Post 45,000 cfs on the Upper Kern River - 03/29/23 I had a chance to examine some of the carnage after the historic flooding today after I did a Trout in the Classroom presentation with a Kern River Valley school today. The wild flowers are really looking good :-) Here are some photos I took. Very odd seeing no boats on Lake Isabella because boating is not allowed (county decision) Paradise Cove
Whiskey Flat opposite the Rodeo Grounds
Inlet pipe to the Kern River Hatchery now severed and severe erosion under it. The hatchery seemed to not have any damage as far as I could see. Whew!
Headquarters Campground stripped of many trees (west river bank) sediment piled up in camp sites.
Thunderbird Closed to vehicles because of deep gullies Spring Hill Campground Closed to vehicles and day use because of deep gullies
Kernville upstream of Kernville Bridge many trailers have been moved
Fishing Report - 03/27/23 Wow, the Southern Sierra snow pack continues to build. At this time it is at 283% of what is expected on April 1st with another big rain/snow storm on the way. It appears we will have the highest snow pack on record in the Southern Sierra after the NOAA predicted a dry winter.... This is great for the fishery, however, this will mean very treacherous wading conditions for a lot of the spring and summer. It is a good thing that Lake Isabella construction will be completed just in time for the huge water year to capture the huge flows to come soon. Kern River flows though Bakersfield will be vigorous through the fall for sure. The water master will be challenged to divert water away from all low lying areas in the San Joaquin Valley.
The massive flows that were seen on nation TV in Kernville washed out stretches of Mountain 99 and the road is closed above Fairview (county trying to restore). Also there is no boating allowed on Lake Isabella until debris is not a concern on the lake. You may want to call the NFS before you head up to the Kern River Valley at 1-760-376-3781. The Lake Isabella Trout Derby has been pushed back to May 20th and will end much earlier this year on June 4th. Of course things could change so check their website for the latest https://www.kernrivervalley.com/isabellalakefishingderby We stay away from any flows over 400 cfs on the Upper Kern. (Note: when there are 600 cfs power diversions on the 16 miles below Fairview Dam to the KR3 powerhouse it can have flows under 400 cfs even though the gauge in Kernville reads 1,000 cfs). Sadly, when snow packs exceed 170% drownings also increase as well with over a dozen lost lives on the Kern River during the high flows that resulted from a big snow year (much smaller than this year) in 2019. So please encourage friends and family to stay out of the Kern River unless they are with a professional rafting company that has good water safety practices. Also stay away from eroding river banks that will slough off into the river as bank erosion will occur during high runoff flows. Up to now the trout catching on the Upper Kern and local Bakersfield lakes has been directly related to when they are stocked this year as most wild trout populations were devastated by the multi-year drought on the 20 mile section. Catching is very slow when route 178 to Kernville is closed with rock slides and the CDFW stocking truck can't make it up the canyon. As I type, flows have receded from the historic +45,000 cfs in Kernville to 1,500 cfs below Fairview Dam and the Kernville gauge is showing some odd numbers that may not be accurate? The gauge at Hart Park is now above 4,000 cfs in order to flush water out of Lake Isabella before the huge snow pack above 7,500' begins to melt. So we have stayed away from the Kern River for weeks and don't plan to return likely for months to wade safely. Local lakes got some plants last week and appear to be harvested effectively soon after. Lake Buena Vista got 3,000 pounds of trout recently and it may take a while for the catching to cool off out there. Brite Lake was scheduled for a trout plant last week but no reports have come in yet. It is still pretty cold up there. The safest and best catching this summer will be at high elevation lakes and streams above 7,000'; however, road access likely won't happen before the 4th of July. Pan fish and bass catching should start to improve locally soon if we ever get up to seasonal temperatures.
Fishing Report - 03/07/23 Wow, the Southern Sierra snow pack continues to build. At this time it is at 216% of what is expected on April 1st with several rain/snow season weeks to go. It appears we will have the highest snow pack on record in the Southern Sierra after the NOAA predicted a dry winter.... This is great for the fishery, however, this will mean very treacherous wading conditions for a lot of the spring and summer. It is a good thing that Lake Isabella construction will be completed just in time for the huge water year to capture the huge flows to come soon. How soon you ask? This weekend it appears. We are forecasted to get a warm pineapple express storm this Friday with rain expected as high as 7,000' in the Kern River Valley. This will melt the huge snow pack below 7,000' and cause very high flows. We stay away from any flows over 400 cfs on the Upper Kern. (Note: when there are 600 cfs power diversions on the 16 miles below Fairview Dam to the KR3 powerhouse it can have flows under 400 cfs even though the gage in Kernville reads 1,000 cfs). It appears the start of a huge spring runoff will start this weekend and likely continue for months. Sadly, when snow packs exceed 170% drownings also increase as well with over a dozen lost lives on the Kern River during the high flows that resulted from a big snow year. So please encourage friends and family to stay out of the Kern River unless they are with a professional rafting company that has good water safety practices. Also stay away from eroding river banks that will slough off into the river as bank erosion will occur during high runoff flows.
The catching after the Riverwalk Lake trout derby was slow and it appears the large number of derby fishers harvested most of the lake. Riverwalk Lake is scheduled for a plant next week. Flows on the Lower Kings have been too high to consider so we canceled our Feb outing. Flows now are ramping up to +3,800 cfs to make room for the huge volume of water to come down that drainge as well. See the latest river flow graph here https://www.dreamflows.com/graphs/day.101.php I got to spend some time talking with a CDFW biologist that oversees our area. He said that the Kern River Rainbow genetic sampling last year should give us a good location to find Kern River Rainbow brood stock. However, there is no funding source to do the actual genetic testing of those samples at this time. He also said the Kern River Hatchery inlet siphon replacement is now being handled by the state engineering organization and funding was approved. It won't happen any time soon though. The safest and best catching this summer will be at high elevation lakes and streams above 7,000', however, road access likely won't happen before the 4th of July. Lake Isabella will start rising fast and the crappie bite and bass bite has been slow but should improve in the next month as we finally return to seasonal temperatures. We have been well below normal temperature wise since November. The Lake Isabella Fishing Derby is scheduled from April 1st thru June 4th, 2023. Daylight savings time starts Sunday.
Fishing Report - 11/21/22 Trout fishers in Kern County continue to have a hard time finding trout over 10 inches to play with. It appears there won't be much catching for Turkey Day week 2022. There are several reasons. The extreme drought and the high water temperatures do more damage to larger trout than juveniles, no stocking for months, only sterile trout stocked by the CDFW for over a decade and nearly complete harvesting of any trout that can make a meal. River conditions on the Upper Kern (20 mile section and wild trout section) are in the low 40's and even some 30's are being recorded by club members. The river is finally clear again but should we see rain expect murky conditions to exist much longer than normal. The few smaller trout that managed to survive the summer by finding a cool spring within the Kern River are now becoming lethargic. Getting any trout to the net is an accomplishment. You can have the river practically all to yourself and angling pressure has been almost non-existent because of the lack of catching. That may change as the first stocking in months is scheduled to occur in December according to my sources at CDFW. Trout will come from the San Joaquin hatchery as there is no reopen date yet for the Kern River hatchery and no project start date to repair the large/long infeed pipe. Given the progress to date it is hard to imagine the Kern River Hatchery being operational within the next 2 years. Another genetic survey to identify where the purest strain of Kern River Rainbows (KRR) exist was undertaken recently. There have been several genetic studies over the last + 20 years and we are still waiting for the experts and CDFW to determine where to retrieve KRR brood-stock. Once they are sourced they can be bred to produce the first hatchery grown KRR which will take two years to reach foot-long status. In the past CDFW people have said the first crop of hatchery KRR will be sent to isolated high elevation locations to provide a supply of brood stock should the CDFW loose the brood stock to hatchery unforeseen failures or extreme drought. With no reopening of the Kern River Hatchery for the foreseeable future the first stocking of locally produced catchable KRR on the 20 mile section of the Kern River is years away. Sadly this has been the case since I first reported on this project nearly 20 years ago. The steps at Johnsondale Bridge have been removed and no date has been finalized yet for reopening, potentially they could reopen by summer of 2023........ The precipitation forecast for Southern California is not encouraging as another dry winter is predicted at NOAA.
The Kings River will not be stocked with large CDFW brood stock as in years past. This was a great fishery for decades in winter when huge rainbows 3 -8 pounds were stocked weekly to provide some of the best trout fishing south of Alaska. Sadly it appears last year was the final year for that great experience. KRFF members were glad to have helped stock and catch those legendary rainbows. This fall the Kings has received a steady supply of foot longs and will continue to have smaller trout added weekly. The catching is reported to be very good on these smaller trout but you can get lucky and tag a rare +20" holdover from last year's brood stock plantings. For California it has been a tough year for trout stalkers with one very notable exception - the Lower Sacramento River. This Lake Shasta tailwater has maintained perfect rainbow/salmon temperatures all year long and the catching has been very good even in a drought years. Many KRFF club members fished the egg drop recently with big wild rainbows in everyone's net. Every one landed 20" bows up to 27" and +20 to the net each day per boat. Guides there reported they had more days guiding than any year to date as it was by far the best river in CA this drought year and 3,800 cfs can hold a lot of trout. This is a prolific trout fishery and has not been stocked in decades. One wonders why the success there with wild trout can't be duplicated elsewhere in CA. Enjoy our members best of many catches.
Fishing Report - 10/04/22 Fishing on the Upper Kern has continued to be very challenging for fly fishers. Summer thunderstorms have murked up the upper river for weeks. Big downpours on the heavily burned areas of the last two years brought a lot of sediment and soot into the Upper Kern. Even with the recent lack of precipitation the murkiness continues to exists (hopefully this is not a repeat of the post McNally Fire issues we experienced for months almost two decades ago). No stocking has occurred since July and none is scheduled at this time. Cooler river temperatures (low 60's) are welcome but the pervasive low visibility for fly anglers on the Upper Kern (under 100 cfs at Kernville) makes catching very tough. Bait anglers managed to harvest most of the summer and are able to catch some small trout that survived the hot summer. For fly anglers bright flashy flies might work but I had no luck recently. At the recent Fly Gals weekend it was reported that only two small squaw fish were caught among all of the fly gals. The 20 mile section (hit 80 degrees daily) and 4 mile trout section got very hot this summer, only trout that moved way up river or found a spring survived. CDFW Hoot Owl conditions are defined as waters having sustained afternoon temperatures over 67 degrees. While this has been true for the Upper Kern for months now, it was never been designated as a Hoot Owl water? This is hard to believe when the Kern River Rainbow is seen as a threatened species.
Lower Owens River (Pleasant Valley Dam downstream to Five Bridges) in Mono County Hot Creek in Mono County Mill Creek (Walker Basin) in Mono County Lower Rush Creek (Grant Lake to Mono Lake) in Mono County Bridgeport Reservoir in Mono County Deep Creek (San Bernardino County) Crowley Lake (Mono County) Truckee River (Lake Tahoe to the Nevada state line) in Nevada, Placer and Sierra counties Upper Truckee River (El Dorado County) Although these are not legal angling closures, CDFW strongly recommends adhering to the recommendations for the specific waters listed until removed when conditions for those waters improve. Note: The list is not static and will be updated as conditions change with waters being added and removed. To view the CDFW list of waters recommended not to fish after noon see the webpage here: https://wildlife.ca.gov/Fishing/Inland/Hoot-Owl The stairs at Johnsondale Bridge to access the trail that traverses the 4 mile wild trout section are closed for repairs through at least this fall. Fines to $10,000 and imprisonment can be issued for using them. See Forest Order here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd1031853.pdf Largemouth bass are being found in good quantity in the Lower Kern (most under 1.5 lbs) from Democrat down to Hart Park. Water is skinny concentrating fish. Be careful wading in the canyon as it has steep gradient compared to above Lake Isabella. Below the mouth of the canyon is much safer and floatable with some portage required. White, black and flashy streamers have worked well. Top water patterns in the evenings are best. FIRE ALERT - Wishon Fire 08/15/22 A Fire has broken out in the Tule River drainage above Springville, California. The fire was first reported around 2:40PM this afternoon and as of 4:20PM the fire had rapidly grown to 200 Acres. Highway 190 is close East of the White Barn. There are no evacuations yet for Doyle Springs, Camp Nelson, Pierpoint and Ponderosa. Please see the links below for updated information and a view from a webcam pointed to the fire. National Incident Information System - Wishon Fire - https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/8336/ Alert Wildfire Blue Ridge Webcam - https://www.alertwildfire.org/region/sierra/?camera=Axis-BlueRidge1 Porterville Recorder News - https://www.recorderonline.com/news/wishon-fire-burning-on-sequoia-national-forest/article_6f8889b4-1cf5-11ed-a121-07d12427f753.html Aerial IR video from FIRIS https://twitter.com/i/status/1559337035353112577
Fishing Report - 06/03/22 The peak of the spring run off has happened just as predicted with the peak never reaching 1,000 cfs on the North Fork Kern River. There was a hefty planting last week for the Memorial Day weekend and plantings scheduled for all of the 20 mile section (CDFW sections 4,5,6) this week . The last members to fish the Upper Kern were two weeks ago and water was murky, flows over 700 cfs and the catching was tough. Today the river was 430 cfs above Fairview Dam and 110 cfs below in the 16 mile stretch on CDFW section 5. I knew there would be a narrow window of opportunity before the summer heat began roasting the 20 mile section and above. I also wanted to scout the Upper Kern before our club mentorship outing for beginners occurred tomorrow to help people prepare. I arrived at the park in Kernville and no one was fishing? Uh oh, that likely means no stocking has happened this week. Did river temps rise to levels the CDFW won't stock at? So I went about checking things out. I tried a favorite run on the lower end of section 5. At 8:30 am water temp was 65 degrees, visibility around 3 feet. I know that typically the river gains one degree per hour in summer so I got to work. I was relieved to get 3 bows to the net in the first 40 minutes using flashy flies in the murky water. The #12 red hooked Arnerd and Kern Murky were getting the grabs. Nothing on small (#18-#20) flashy nymphs that were tried. No surface takes on the foam golden stone. I moved up river where it should be cooler. I covered another long run and managed eight more to the net and several LDR's. Six of them were 15"-19". I made sure I covered the the best water at least 10 times. It is harder to see flies in the murkier water like today so you really have to place the fly right in front of their noses. Target deeper pockets and pools over 3' deep. The knee deep water with a good gravel beds I tried used to hold juvenile wild rainbows, today had none but significant numbers of squaw-fish. I landed over a dozensquaw-fish but they were all under 10 inches. To me, this indicates that the drought and low flows below Fairview Dam are changing the river and reducing wild trout reproduction as well.
I found better fishing just downstream of well aerated water and far away from stocking locations. I rarely nymph with an indicator on the Upper Kern but felt that I should give it a try in one large deep pool. I rigged up a hot pink squirmy worm and my flashy Kern Murky.
I made some long casts by a large boulder and mended like crazy and stuck a good sized bow. But the fight was short lived as these warming conditions fatigue big trout quickly. It was a pristine female that likely was a long term holdover that was far from any stocking point. I normally pump a stomach on a fish like this to see what they are eating but my stream thermometer said 68 degrees at 11 am. So I kept her submerged and let her go with no ill effects. I was done for the day as river temps were only going to go higher. I did want to check out river temps further up river and chat with other fishers. There were few people fishing on a Friday? I think we are seeing the effects of $6 gas. As I moved up river to Johnsondale Bridge few folks had landed trout and were observing warm temperatures. Not much pressure was observed but the JDB parking lot was full and I watched a foursome of fly fishers blanking and they likely weren't going to score as the were fishing nymphs and walking downstream on a run as they fished it spooking any potential rainbows. Water at JDB was 70 degrees at 1 pm.
Back to the fishing summary, I landed 11 good rainbows in about 3 hours so that's about 4/hr and better than I expected. Typically after weeks of runoff I land +10/hr the first week I can wade after high flows. High flows and fast current spread trout all over the river before they are harvested. This year's runoff was just several days long and not very promising, so I was pleased with today's numbers and quality. Flashy larger (#12)nymphs flies are important. Not much surface activity. None of my trout jumped and none would grab a streamer. Trout are definitely becoming more lethargic and triple digit temperatures will be here next week. If you go up make sure you have a full tank of gas in case of fire (it is extremely dry) and you have to travel north to get home. Bring your stream thermometer and observe Hoot Owl conditions (stop fishing above 67 degrees) even if the CDFW won't place Hoot Owl restrictions on the 20 mile section. Expect to stop fishing before noon the next week and then earlier after that. Use heavy tippet (I like inexpensive fluorocarbon 6 lb Vanish) and get fish to the net quickly and release without taking trout out of the water. Take your time reviving them, especially the trout over 15" that are much more susceptible to lethal heat stress. I won't be back up on the Kern likely until October when trout healthy temperatures return to the 20 mile and 4 mile wild section. Sadly we can expect 80 degree river temperatures at Riverside Park in Kernville soon after the 4th of July. Fishing Report - 04/11/22 The final snow pack measurements are in. The Kern River benchmark for April 1st is a paltry 26% which is even lower than last year. So extreme conditions will exist on the 20 mile section as well as the 4 mile wild trout section above Johnsondale Bridge for most of the summer. Hoot owl conditions (afternoon water temperatures above 67 degree) will be pervasive. The question is will the CDFW place hoot owl restrictions on the fragile Upper Kern River to protect the fishery?
The Lake Isabella Trout derby got underway on 4/9/22 (best tagged trout wins $5,000 if you entered) and runs through 7/4/22. See more info here https://www.kernrivervalley.com/fishingderby The crappie bite is beginning to pick up in 10'- 15' of water. No shallow bass bite yet and Lake Isabella at 11% of capacity. Construction on Lake Isabella Dam will be complete at summer's end.
River % of Normal Owens 35% Kings 41% Truckee 63% San Joaquin 44% Feather 31% Yuba 49% Sacramento 12% Trinity 7% McCloud 9% Pit 36% Statewide Average 35% Fishing Report - 04/01/22 Had a chance to spend some time with +80 KRV fourth graders at their Trout in the Classroom trout fry release at Riverside Park. They added about 200 more tiny rainbows to the Kern River there. They learned about trout biology and behavior, taking care of our wild places, fly casting and more. It is always great to be a part of getting kids outside. After working with the students I had some time to fish the Upper Kern. During my talks I saw 4 pairs of fly fishers try to catch rainbows at Riverside Park. None were successful and there were no bait or spin fishermen there and I'm sure they were aware the stockers from earlier in the week had been fished out. I headed up to Section 5 where flows are around 100 cfs and much easier to wade than the water above Fairview Dam and below KR3 Powerhouse (around 500 cfs).
On section 5 I was surprised to see that the water was very murky and 58 degrees at noon almost 10 degrees more than the previous week. This day air temps reached the upper 70's. I could not see down 2.5 feet and wading was difficult because you could no see bottom even in just 100 cfs. I tried my conventional flies with no luck and tied on my flashy Kern Murky. I did hook 3 rainbows to 15" on one of 3 wild stretches I fished but none touched my net. So I have been technically skunked for the first time in several years with back to back trips. Some members did decent 2 weeks ago when the water was off color and they are very good fly fishers and willing to bush whack a lot. So the catching remains challenging and will get harder as the melt continues with a heat wave on the way. Air temps will likely exceed 90 degrees up in Kernville this week. What is the benchmark snow pack for the Kern River? Much worse than I projected. Just 34% of normal following a 29% last year. The recent SJ Valley rains did not translate to much snow in the mountains and a lot of sublimation must have occurred over the last month. The San Joaquin River is at just 46% and that feeds the San Joaquin Hatchery which may put that hatchery in jeopardy as well. It had to be shut down a few years ago for high water temperatures. That hatchery supplies all of the Tulare and Kern County trout plants and could alter stocking for another year if it has to be evacuated again. Here's the statewide snow pack measurements http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/snow_ss/COURSES This will mean Hoot Owl conditions (afternoon water temps exceeding 67 degrees) will arrive just after memorial Day on the 20 mile section through September. You can expect the 4 mile wild trout section to be in the same situation before July 1st. Not a good scenario. Also of great concern is that the Sacramento drainage snow pack is only 14% of normal. Extreme wild fire potential will exists again this summer. As you can see we are in dire straights and extreme measures need to be taken by all this year to make sure our water resources are not wasted and that cold water species like our favorite quarries can survive. On a more positive note our club had an outstanding outing to Pyramid Lake , NV last week. On one day we all netted double digits each of these magnificent Lahaton Cutthroats to over 15 lbs. Some of our members have fished this "bucket list lake" for decades and they shared their huge knowledge base with us to have great success. Check out the smiles.
Fishing Report - 03/11/22 Conditions on the Upper Kern have not changed much since the start of 2022. Water levels remain low and stockings are almost weekly but at reduced poundage from years past. They appear to be stocked heavily at Riverside Park and don't have much time to migrate beyond their stocking point. Water temps in 40's. Water flow below Fairview Dam is now 70 cfs and far too low to keep trout healthy and able to move easily about to find cover from predatory birds and heavy fishing pressure. Lately catching for members has been slow both nymphing, euro nymphing and streamers. This likely will continue until the spring melt provides healthy flows that distribute trout throughout the 20 mile section. Severe drought pervades the Southern Sierra for the second straight year and little snow forecast for March. We are running out of time for our snow pack to be anywhere close to normal. At this time the latest measurements show the Kern River drainage at just 61% of normal. April 1st is the benchmark date for the peak snow pack and is approaching fast. It appears it will peak around 50% following a 29% level in 2021. See the latest snow course measurements here http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/snow_ss/COURSES Statewide the snow pack is dire at just 60% Therefore, water temps on the Upper Kern will exceed 67 degrees most days after Memorial Day through October. It will be interesting to see if the CDFW will designate Hoot Owl recommendations for the Kern in 2022 just as other trout waters were protected in 2021. We will likely not see peak runoff flows on the Upper Kern exceed 1,000 cfs for very long or if at all based on the studies I have done over the last 2 decades. Just not a good scenario for sustaining a wild trout population that experiences heavy harvesting pressure.
The Lower Kings is producing very well and continues to be planted heavily. Pressure is firm as well as these trout are 14" -20" and rod benders. Speaking of rod benders our club recently made trip outings s to the Redding Area and did exceptionally well on the Lower Sac and private lakes. Check the smiles out.
Fire Alert - Airport Fire (Bishop) - 02/18/22 A fire started Wednesday afternoon (2/16/22) near Bishop, Ca. The fire quickly jumped to a couple thousand acres in size by early evening. As of Noon Friday, the fire was at 4,136 acres and 30% contained. For more information, please check the links below: CALFire - Airport Fire Incident - https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2022/2/16/airport-fire/ MyMotherLode report - https://www.mymotherlode.com/news/local/2349593/eastern-sierra-nevada-fire-explodes-to-2800-acres.html LA Times report - https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-02-17/wildfire-burning-east-of-bishop-in-owens-valley-grows-to-2-800-acres
Fishing Report - 02/04/22 Not much catching to report as few of our members have been on the Upper Kern. Water is very cold and trout have been lethargic upstream of Fairview Dam and the 4 mile wild trout section. Flows are still extremely low (just 47 cfs) on section 5 which encompasses 16 miles of river on the 20 mile section. An exhaustive study that shows the impact of these low flows has recently come to light - more on that later. These very low flows dramatically impede planted trout from migrating after planting so fish remain where planted where they can be easily seen in shallow water and harvested efficiently by both human and aviary predators. Numerous social media posts help to identify planted areas with real time photos and videos of where the trout have been placed. A large portion of the plants are going by the bridge in Kernville - see video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqQRR_zyO78 These trout come from the San Joaquin Hatchery (3.5 hr drive each way) so there isn't a lot of time available to to place trout in lots of different locations like when the Kern River Hatchery was functioning. At this time there is no timeline to restart the Kern River Hatchery. So until we get a spring melt off to increase flows and distribute trout, this situation appears to be in place for the coming weeks. So what will the runoff look like? Not encouraging. The snow pack measurements for California waters have been updated and you can check out your favorite river drainage's here http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/snow_ss/COURSES . Statewide the huge and wonderful rains/snows of December have led to a historically dry January and predicted super dry February. The Kern River snow pack stands at 104% of normal down from +170% just 6 weeks ago. If the trend continues the snow pack would be well below average (right now 63% of what we usually have by Apr1 st). Who knows, maybe a big storm will hit in March or April? The NOAA still predicts a very dry period for SoCal.
Back to the Upper Kern River health and what we and others are doing to improve it. The Kern River Fly Fishers have created a non-profit to improve, or some would say save, the degrading of our name sake river. The Kern River Fly Fishers Council and the Kern River Boaters are working together to get these crippling low flows increased. Together we petitioned the CDFW to release the 35 CFS they require to be diverted by SoCal Edison to operate the closed Kern River Hatchery, as it is no longer needed. The CDFW complied with our request and authorized SoCal Edison to no longer divert 35 cfs water at Fairview Dam for the hatchery. We were all happy with this news, but SoCal Edison is not adding this 35 cfs to 16 miles of section 5 which is still at a paltry 47 cfs. Apparently, the CDFW can't or won't require SoCal Edison to put the 35 cfs the CDFW no longer needs back into the Kern River below Fairview Dam and the KR3 Powerhouse. This is very disappointing and harmful to the trout habitat that makes up most of the 20 mile section most of us fly fish. 35 cfs would increase flows between Fairview Dam and KR3 by 74% from where they have been every winter for decades! This could have a profound beneficial impact on wild trout populations that have been decimated by extended droughts on this "low flow" section. How much devastation has been wrought? We are beginning to find out with a study done by Liz Duxbury of the Kern River Boaters. If you care about the Upper Kern River you need to read the study. Its methodology is exquisite, leaning on the newest science related to proper water flows to provide sustainable healthy fisheries. What Liz (a Masters degree in civil engineering) concluded is that the minimum flows that SoCal Edison is operating under results in "severe degradation" from November through March and "poor or minimum habitat" from April to September. Minimum flows in those periods should be increased 126 cfs in winter and 61 cfs in summer. We as fly fishers always observed there was something wrong with water flows on section 5 most of the year, now there is good science to confirm our observations. READ THE STUDY HERE https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5463d57ae4b0926760596243/t/61e97478f5417d348fd5079b/1642689656917/Environmental_Flows_NF_Kern-1997-2020.pdf The Kern River Fly Fishers Council and the Kern River Boaters are working to change how SoCal Edison manages water flows on our federally designated Wild and Scenic River. We will make our concerns know as SoCal Edison applies for a 25 year renewed license to operate Fairview Dam and the KR3 Powerhouse. We believe the status quo cannot continue. We will need your help to address the relicensing of this project and will provide opportunities for you to voice your concerns as well. Additionally, the CDFW has not had a sense of urgency placed on the plight of the Upper Kern River Rainbow and the trout habitat on the Upper Kern. The CDFW made a commitment to reintroduce the Kern River Rainbow back into its native waters on the 20 mile section over 20 years ago and it has spent over $1,000,000 with no wild fertile Kern River Rainbows planted in the Kern River in over 15 years even though CDFW has displayed on its website that it has been rearing Kern River Rainbows at the Kern River Hatchery for over ten years. In addition the Kern River has never been recommended for Hoot Owl restrictions, even though the Upper Kern River sees temperatures well above 70 degrees most summers. The CDFW places Hoot Owl restrictions on trout rivers when temperatures exceeding 67 degrees but not on the Upper Kern? Members of our Kern River Fly Fishers Council have petitioned the California Fish and Game Commission to place the Kern River on its agenda for future meetings with the public to comment on these and other issues we have regarding the health and the management of the Upper Kern River. We will pass along these opportunities to make our voices heard. We believe the Upper Kern can be restored to its former self and there will be a lot of inertia to shift to make this happen. We are partnering with the Kern River Boaters to make this happen and you can be part of it as well. Thanks for your help and concerns in advance.
Fishing Report - 01/06/22 Hoping you all have a good start to '22. I got a trip in yesterday to evaluate the increasing flows, water temps, water clarity. Most importantly to see how several weeks of weekly CDFW stocking the Upper Kern had distributed rainbows along the 20 mile section. More on my findings later. The recent near record rain and snow of December has many of us cheering. Snow pack for the Southern Sierra reached over 170%. Then yesterday state water regulators imposed stricter was use measures for residential users. What's up with that? So I did some investigating. Today the Southern Sierra snow pack is 147%, so in just a few days has dropped over 23%. The NOAA is still predicting below normal precipitation for the Southwest US (NorCal normal). Actually, right now the Southern Sierra snow pack is just 55% of the average season total and if we get no snow the rest of this season we will have a poor snow pack year following a dreadful snow pack last year. That's why water officials have imposed stricter guidelines and fines for watering lawns and washing cars. Seems extreme but we clearly are not out of the woods yet. No rain in the next 2 weeks forecasted and Lake Isabella is at just 9% of capacity which is half of where it was a year ago. Yikes!
https://www.ferc.gov/how-efile-office-public-participation-comments
In summary for the day it was gorgeous, water cold/clear in the 40's, trout aren't distributed very well along the 20 mile section. To catch trout you need to be near a planted area soon after the planting takes place. Videos on line suggest that a large proportion of planted trout are being dumped at one location. No trout plants scheduled beyond this week for Kern County at this time and none for local lakes since mid December. Until recently, the only planting for Kern County in winter was in local lakes and the Upper Kern was not planted. For some reason it changed. Not sure why. Need a new fishing license for 2022? Buy online here https://wildlife.ca.gov/Licensing/Fishing . Steelhead report cards are due here https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Inland-Fisheries/Steelhead-Report-Card The Windy Fire Closure Area has been modified and extended to June 15, 2022. It appears The Forks of the Kern trailhead will not be accessible for some time. See Forest Closure Order here https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd974438.pdf and map closure area here https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd974439.pdf The Kings River continues to get much larger weekly plantings. Three quarters of the pounds planted are going in the catch and keep section above the weir to below Pine Flat Dam. Members recently had +20/fish days with many 15" rainbows landed. Small nymphs and streamers are working. Some were skunked and there are some larger hold over trout hooked and broken off. Larger +4 lb brood stock rainbows are not reported to be planted yet. Fishing Report - 12/2/21 I needed to do a trip to the Kern River Valley (KRV) for a Trout in the Classroom errand and I’m tired of the cold overcast weather of the last month in the Bako. So I headed up with my fly fishing gear to fish for about 3 hours in the warm weather the KRV has been experiencing the last few weeks. I wasn’t disappointed. For the last several weeks reports from club members and other anglers I keep in touch with found a one trout day or skunk to be typical, but they had the river to themselves. If they hooked a trout it was on section 6 or high up on section 5 where summer water temps did not reach 80 degrees. In addition there was a rumor floating around our club meeting last night that the 20 mile section was to be stocked by the CDFW weekly the next 3 weeks. So finally for the first time since June significant numbers of trout over 10” might be in play. I arrived on section 6 at 11:30 am and found the water temp to be just 44 degrees and air temp 55 degrees. I saw no vehicles in the pull outs until I was above Fairview Dam and there were just a handful all the way up to the JDB. So it appeared stocking had not taken place yet. I was greeted with two F-18’s thundering through the canyon as I slipped on my waders. I covered a long run that usually has wilds and did not get a take on large or tiny nymphs. I saw very little insect activity. I moved on down the road and dropped in a nice tail run and could see from the bank several trout grouped together, clearly stocked this week and had not scattered much yet. I ran my nymphs over them without a grab. When water is this cold Upper Kern trout usually aren’t feeding much but will strike a streamer that gets waved in front of their face. I rigged up a streamer rod with a fast sink tip and reliable 8lb Vanish for tippet. A #10 olive bugger with some flash was tied on the end and I went 40’ upstream to cast down to them and strip up. I make sure to keep my rod tip in the water and prepared to strip set with a slow intermittent retrieve. I managed to land 2 in about 10 minutes but had no other grabs. Typically, if I don’t get a grab every 10 casts I move on. However, I knew there were several trout there so I hung around for 30 minutes without another take. So I headed downstream. A half mile later I stopped by 3 baiters clustered together to see how things were going for them. They were casting right over a pod of trout with eggs and worms and had no luck for about an hour. They were frustrated and suspected the cold water had something to do with it. I moved on further downstream to find some solitary water. I stopped at several spots on section 6 and 5 without any grabs until 2pm when I found another spot where I could see trout. Again nymphing didn’t get a grab but the streamer worked very well. I tagged at least 10 more hard grabs and landed 5 bows with two that taped out at 16”. All of my trout were 13” – 16”, so bigger than the usual CDFW planters. I think that the lack of stocking the last 3 months in both Kern and Tulare Counties by the San Joaquin Hatchery allowed the average stockers to get bigger.
A real a surprise was that the water temperature at T-bird was 60 degrees at 2:30 pm. That means trout are going to be more active down there and that the extremely low flows (just 46 cfs now)for power diversion have raised water temperatures on section 5 much higher than I have ever observed. Sixteen degrees higher in just 3 hours. Most of the water on section 5 is barely moving and there are long stretches where water depths are just knee deep. That makes it easy for predatory birds to harvest what trout are there and likely why there are almost no wild trout caught by anyone along section 5. Our club non-profit and others want to do something about this and get minimum flows increased . Most importantly, to make the minimum flows adjust for extreme trout lethal water temperatures we see practically every summer. More on that in later reports. So a great day to be on the river. Nice trout caught and released. Very little pressure…….. for now. I did later learn from the CDFW that 500 lbs of trout (about 1,000 bows total) were allocated for the Upper Kern 20 mile stretch this week. Also that will be similar the next two weeks. So about 50 trout per mile over the 20 mile stretch each week. The Lower Kings is doing much better and that is predictable. There are around 1,000 lbs (2,000 bows) per week going in a 4 mile stretch of both catch/release and catch and keep river. That is about 500 trout per mile. Members up there today netted well into double digits and all trout above 14” topping out at 19”. Both the CDFW and a private hatchery are stocking weekly and have for some time. Small nymphing like #20 zebras and similar are working well. Going forward the NOAA precipitation models for the next 3 months are bleak for CA and the Southern Sierra. If so, extreme conditions will again pervade most of next summer on our favorite local rivers. Our club is petitioning the CDFW to prepare and to protect our Wild and Scenic Kern River. Plans for higher minimum flows, hoot owl restrictions and other measures need to be seriously considered if this fishery has any chance of becoming a sustainable trout fishery we can all enjoy and pass on to our kids and grandkids. We reach a milestone this week and will surpass 100,000 views on our fishing reports. Thanks for your viewership and we plan to continue to bring you the best information available with free detailed reports that include the latest information (numbers and data driven)and actions we can take as a fly fishing community to both recreate and help sustain our Kern River in very challenging conditions.
Fishing Report - 11/12/21 Local catching continues to be a struggle for most. Nymphing small #16-#20 bead heads with some flash on the Upper Kern below Johnsondale Bridge has helped people land small wild trout under 10” . What is driving the smallish catching? The extremely low and lethally warm water of the past summer impacts larger trout much more than smaller trout. Some of these smaller trout have managed to find some of the few fresh water springs that exist in the Upper Kern River and survive. However, trout on the Upper Kern experience heavy pressure and trout big enough to eat are effectively harvested. There is no CDFW planting for Kern County planned for November with the exception of Lake Isabella for Thanksgiving week - not sure why planting is dramatically curtailed compared to last year. The National Forest Service Windy Fire forest closure is in effect through the end of the year which includes many areas we like to fly fish and visit the trail of 100 Giants. Forest closure order here https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd961358.pdf A violation of these prohibitions is punishable by a fine of not more than $5,000 for an individual or $10,000 for an organization, or imprisonment for not more than six months, or both. See map here https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd961360.jpg and the Kern River trail above Johnsondale Bridge that gives access to the wild trout section is also closed https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/sequoia/recarea/?recid=79731 I called the NFS Kern Ranger District to confirm this morning. The number is 760-376-3781 for the latest campground and recreation information. Additionally, river flow below Fairview Dam is just 46 cfs, these flows are far too low to give the few remaining trout enough deep water to thrive and escape raptor predation. Our new club non-profit and others are working to increase these minimum flows for the relicensing of the KR3 Power generation facility to help try and make this stretch a self sustaining fishery-more to come on this in later reports. The best catching for a day trip locally is the Lower Kings River. The CDFW continues to plant the river below Pine Flat Dam and it will be supplemented with stocking ordered by the Kings River Fisheries Management Program and the Kings River Conservation District. A total of 1,500-2,500 trout ( averaging over 15”) from the private Calaveras Hatchery are going to be planted next week. Later in December the CDFW will be planting thousands of +3 lb rainbows and will provide trophy catching for many fly fishers on the catch and release section . Typically streamers work well soon after planting then later tail water tiny nymphs are the ticket like #20 zebra midges and micro mayflies. Flows are around 100 cfs and wading is easy. A march is planned tomorrow Nov 13th in the Kern River bed to promote Bring Back the Kern that strives to bring water back to the Kern River in Bakersfield. See here https://www.bringbackthekern.org/upcoming-events See also article https://www.bakersfield.com/columnists/lois-henry/march-to-bring-awareness-to-kern-river/article_44e8d644-40d9-11ec-a12a-e73c1f7db0de.html Fishing Report - 10/22/21 Our local waters have not been replenished by CDFW plants in months. Statewide stocking has been reduced heavily for October. The San Joaquin Hatchery is focused on spawning trout for next year’s crop of planters as are most of the hatcheries statewide. Many lakes state wide are extremely low and it doesn’t make sense to stock them as well. Our Riverwalk Lake is just a mud puddle at this time. However, Lakes Ming and Hart Park water levels are doing well and the Upper Kern is cool but low. Unfortunately, no plants will happen any time soon but likely will happen just before Turkey Day. The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood watch for the Kern River Valley as a big rain is expected and the potential for landslides from the recent fires are a concern. So where should you go in California for some great wild trout action? The Lower Sacramento River below Lake Shasta is fishing great. The salmon are moving up to Keswick Dam and the rainbows and steelhead are close behind feeding on salmon eggs. Salmon typically go out to the ocean and return two to three years later to spawn. We had a great snow pack three years ago and those salmon are returning to the Lower Sacramento River that is very low. This concentrates both trout and salmon and made for some great catching for ten of our members last week on egg patterns in the morning and caddis imitations in the afternoon. Everyone got into quality trout over 20” and the biggest taped out at 27”! These are all wild, strong and gorgeous trout (the Lower Sac has not been stocked in decades) and the CDFW considers all trout over 16” in the Lower Sac are steelhead for reporting on your steelhead card. If that is true over half the trout we landed were Lower Sac CDFW steelhead (not my definition). Enjoy the smiles.
Fishing Report - 10/08/21 Good news on the Windy Fire as it is raining today. The Forest Service has opened the Upper Kern from Riverkern to Johnsondale Bridge. There appears to be significant rain happening on the Windy Fire as I type. How much soot and ash with hit the Upper Kern is unknown but if the Windy Fire is extinguished that will be great. So far no increase in river flows have been recorded. Some folks have fished section 4 between KR3 and Lake Isabella the last few months with little success. The river has been over 70 degrees on that stretch for months and now has been cooled down to trout friendly temperatures. I made a call to the San Joaquin Hatchery to get some idea when we will see trout plants in Bakersfield Lakes and the Upper and Lower Kern River. The manager there said trout plants could return to those areas as early as November. The Upper Kern has not seen plants in nearly 3 months and trout there were extremely stressed. No restrictions were placed on trout fishing during the extremely high water temperatures so the catching likely will not be good until planting resumes. Some trout may have found cool springs to escape to and they will be critical to reestablish wild rainbows for future years. So please release any trout you land as planted trout by the CDFW are sterile and cannot repopulate the Kern River. Flows for now are very low at 100 cfs. The 4 mile wild trout section above Johnsondale Bridge and other tributaries are closed and forest service patrols are stationed at Johnsondale Bridge to prevent non-residents from accessing areas above that point. All campgrounds are closed except Headquarters Campground. You can access the day use areas to fish and picnic. McNally's Motel is open, the restaurant will open next weekend and the burger stand is open for business. Five years ago the San Joaquin Hatchery had to be closed and evacuated due to extreme drought. This year they were able to maintain cool temperatures from Millerton Reservior and the trout are doing well. Kings River trophy trout will not be as large as previous years but they plan to beef them up for December through February and some should reach three pounds. They are stocking the Kings River below Pine Flat Dam at this time. There is no planned date this year to collect Kern River Rainbow brood stock. There is no planned reopening of the Kern River Hatchery, which has been closed almost a year, any time soon. WINDY FIRE - 9/21/21 The WINDY Fire started on September 9th due to lighting. The fire is currently at 27,183 acres. There are currently evacuation orders for Johnsondale, CampWhitsett, Ponderosa and Quaking Aspen along with an Evacuation Warning for Camp Nelson. As of earlier today, Johnsondale is still safe with fire crews using the site for one of their main staging points as well as using the lake for the helicopters to dip water out of. There are a number of road closures in the area. Please see the below links for updated information: National Incident Information - Windy Fire - https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7841/ Kernvill Air Quality (zoom out on the map to see other air monitoring stations) - https://www.iqair.com/us/air-quality-map?lat=35.755&lng=-118.4175&placeId=ntihoPt2H4dtuxYz4 Sequoia National Forest Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/SequoiaNF
PACIFIC SOUTHWEST REGION FOREST CLOSURE - 8/30/21 All Pacific Southwest Region Forest Lands have been closed until at least Sept 17th, 11:59pm. For further details, please see the below link to the official closure notice. https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd949149.pdf
FRENCH FIRE INFORMATION AS OF 08/26/21 7:30PM As of Thursday morning (8/26), the French Fire was at 22,030 acres and 19% contained. Evacuation warning and alerts have been updated today. Please see the Kern County ARCGIS Map link below or go to https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/ae9708aeeeec4268a3813ea2be191db4/page/page_1/?draft=true Sequoia National Forest has posted the following on their Facebook page this evening (Aug 26th): Upper Kern River Area and Trails Closure Order issued due to the French Fire https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd947897.pdf https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd947898.pdf For other Sequoia Forest Alerts and Closures visit this page: https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/sequoia/alerts-notices WILDFIRE INFORMATION AS OF 08/20/21 8:30AM FRENCH FIRE The French Fire started on Wednesday, Aug. 18th about 4:30pm near Sawmill Rd and Wagy Flat, near Woffard Heights, west of Lake Isabella. As of 8:30AM today (Aug 20th), the fire was 4,272 acres in size and 5% contained. Several evacuation orders and alerts are in place. Please see the links below for more information: National Incident Information System - French Fire - https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7813/ Kern County ARCGIS Map of fire and evacuation boundaries - https://kcfd.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/interactivelegend/index.html?appid=cd18207578044581a9a9a1255fc88417 NBC Los Angeles Article - https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/california-wildfires/evacuations-kern-county-french-fire-california-wildfires-lake-isabella/2675213/ Bakersfield Californian Article - https://www.bakersfield.com/news/updated-day-2-french-fire-continues-burning-5-percent-containment/article_363eeb70-0113-11ec-a014-6705d9962af0.html Kern Valley Sun Article - https://kernvalleysun.com/stories/606758023-update-evacuation-order-issued-for-keyesville-south Alert Wildfire Webcams - Shirley Peak 1 - http://www.alertwildfire.org/sierra/index.html?camera=Axis-ShirleyPeak1&v=fd40729 Alert Wildfire Webcams - Shirley Peak 2 - http://www.alertwildfire.org/sierra/index.html?camera=Axis-ShirleyPeak2&v=fd40729 Alert Wildfire Webcams - Rocky Point 1 - http://www.alertwildfire.org/sierra/index.html?camera=Axis-RockyPoint1&v=fd40729 Alert Wildfire Webcams - Rocky Point 2 - http://www.alertwildfire.org/sierra/index.html?camera=Axis-RockyPoint2&v=fd40729
WALKERS FIRE The Walkers Fire started Sunday, Aug. 15th about 11:30AM. As of 10:45AM on Aug 19th, the fire was at 1,890 acres with 10% containment. More information can be found at the links below: National Incident Information Systems - Walkers Fire - https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7807/ Visalia Times Delta Article - https://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/story/news/2021/08/18/sequoia-national-forests-walkers-fire-continues-grow/8180007002/ Porterville Recorder Article - https://www.recorderonline.com/news/walkers-fire-up-to-nearly-2-000-acres/article_c2f5ddd0-0087-11ec-bc66-97a3d42d8995.html Alert Wildfire Webcams - Tobis Peak 2 - http://www.alertwildfire.org/sierra/index.html?camera=Axis-TobiasPeak1&v=fd40729 Alert Wildfire Webcams - Blue Ridge 1 - http://www.alertwildfire.org/sierra/index.html?camera=Axis-BlueRidge1&v=fd40729
Fishing Report - 7/23/21 Conditions on the Upper Kern River will be bleak for the foreseeable future. Extreme drought continues to make flows on the Upper Kern very low and lethally warm for trout. No stocking has occurred for some time and based on the past, we likely won't see any until late September. The recent Monsoonal storms have pushed soot and sediment into the Upper Kern murking things up. Flows are trending back to 120 cfs after having bumped to around 170 cfs. Just a 50 cfs surge made a big change. More T-storms are in the forecast for our local mountain areas. Some white water companies have stopped guided raft trips until flows return (probably next year). Wisely KRFF members have not fished the Upper Kern as the few remaining wild trout are under extreme environmental and constant angling pressure. Fishing regulations and Hoot Owl CDFW restrictions still are NOT in place on the Upper Kern. Several trout waters in the Eastern Sierra have been designated for "Hoot Owl" restrictions to protect trout populations . If the CDFW designates a water as under " Hoot Owl" restrictions it is recommended that the water is not fished after noon. "When these select fisheries begin to achieve sustained afternoon water temperatures exceeding 67° Fahrenheit, CDFW will add the water(s) to a “Hoot Owl” watchlist below and will work with local stakeholders and CDFW staff to help with outreach to inform anglers. The waters listed for protection at this date are : The Lower Owens River (Pleasant Valley Dam downstream to Five Bridges) You can learn more at the CDFW web page https://wildlife.ca.gov/Fishing/Inland/Hoot-Owl Unfortunately, the Upper Kern River has been managed poorly again during extreme drought and the degradation of this once great Kern River Rainbow water continues its further decline. During frequent extreme droughts, it is hard to comprehend why the 24 miles above Lake Isabella and a designated wild and scenic river with three threatened unique native species just doesn't seem to garner any common sense measures to improve and protect it by the CDFW and USFS. Hoot Owl restrictions are rather new to CA waters but have been in place in many other western states like Montana and Oregon to name a couple. Hoot Owl restrictions in those state are ENFORCED not simply recommended. In some cases trout waters are closed to fishing any time of day. As a result thriving wild trout populations do much better in those states than California. The CDFW is way behind the curve on Hoot Owl restrictions in a state that has been impacted by extreme droughts for decades. According to Caltrout's latest study 45% of our state's native salmonids (like trout and salmon) will be gone in 50 years and 78% in the next 100. Check out the 2017 study here https://caltrout.org/sos Upper elevation tributaries are very low and warming also. Please consider fishing only warm water species locally. Insure you take a water temperature before you toss a fly any where you are stalking trout. If over 65 degrees play fish quickly with heavier tippet (I like inexpensive 6 lb fluorocarbon Vanish), keep them in the water when releasing. If river/stream waters exceed 70 degrees leave them alone. Lake Isabella bass and crappie are still providing good catching. Not much being posted about carp catching and the Lower Kern Canyon Bass. Some locals have landed some bass on the Kern River near town and local lakes are producing early and late in the day. Fishing Report - 6/10/21 The summer furnace turned on last week with triple digits. Upper Kern River temperatures were 75 degrees at HQ campground and pushing 70 on the upper half of section 5 just after Memorial Day as predicted. However, we got a great stretch of cool weather that put the Bako and Kernville in the 70's in the afternoon with lows in the 50's. So we headed up to take advantage of trout safe water conditions before the furnace kicks back on this weekend. We made our way to the Johnsondale Bridge and noticed very few cars in the pull outs and campgrounds along the 20 mile section even after school is out for the summer? No one was fishing at Riverside Park in Kernville so the Memorial Day stocking likely has been harvested or many trout went belly up? So the catching on the 20 mile section is noticeably down and so is the pressure. We decided to get a weekday on the special regulations section before weekenders crowd in. We had good luck with the typical stuff. Stimulators, #12 foam golden stone, #12 red hooked Arnerd's (very few grabs on the steel hooks), and BHFBPT size 16. It requires a lot of work to get where fish are accessible and to catch to them. Above the JD bridge the river gradient is steeper and so are the canyon walls making entry to the river and wading a much more physical challenge compared to below Fairview Dam. Definitely a young man's (or someone who thinks they still are) stretch of river to fish. Water clarity was a bit off, not gin clear, as we expected at 250 cfs. Water temp at 10:30 am was 57 degrees and a bit chilly to wet wade in the morning. We fished until 3:00 pm. I was able to land 19 with five 14"-15". The three man team landed 30 total in about 4.5 hours. All trout are super clean and much stronger than stockers of the same size that pervade the 20 mile stretch. We were pretty worn out by the time we made it back to the car and several more vehicles were parked than when we arrived earlier this morning. A really special day and conditions like this won't exist until October and hopefully the trout can survive until then. We got a great airshow too with F-16's, F-18's , F-22 Raptors and one huge C-17 booming just above us into a bright blue sky. Predictions of temperatures exceeding 110 are forecasted next week in the Bako and 107 in Kernville. Water temps will again be lethal on much of the 20 mile section. It is imperative that catch and release anglers know what water temps are and please consider leaving the river alone above 70 degrees. Also, land and release trout quickly above 65 degrees (no photos please). The CDFW has taken sections 4 and 5 of of its stocking plan for June. Section 6 likely will be unstocked soon as well. The stocking truck has to travel from north of Fresno over 3 hours to reach the Kern through extreme heat and trout have a hard time making that trip and then being dumped in a river nearing 70 degrees. We feel every measure should be taken to ensure the survival of trout remaining in the Upper Kern. One easy way is to put the 35 cfs that is currently dedicated for power generation and the Kern River Hatchery (closed) back into section 5 below Fairview Dam where water temperatures have already exceeded 75 degrees. We encourage all concerned anglers to email the CDFW Region 4 Director Julie Vance at JVANCE@dfg.ca.gov and or reg4sec@wildlife.ca.gov to implore her to release these 35 cfs that are not needed for the Kern River Hatchery that will be closed the next 2 years (at a minimum) and put this 35 cfs back into an extremely impacted 16 mile stretch of the Kern River between Fairview Dam and the KR3 Powerhouse. Seems like a no brainer huh? Fishing Report - 5/12/21 The catching has been good for most while flows have remained very low for May. The usual go to patterns are working well. A salmon fly hatch was on for a short time but soon golden stones and hoppers will predominate. Any dry fly with a yellow belly will work. #12 - #18 bead head pheasant tails, copper johns, BH princes and BH hares ears set 30" below the dry will get grabs. Upper Kern River temperatures have remained healthy for trout along the 20 mile section and it appears we have already reached peak flows last week at 800 cfs. So likely there will be just a few weeks of good trout temperatures on the most pressured stretches of the Upper Kern River. The low flow section below Fairveiw Dam has been near 100 cfs with easier wading. Just remember that those flows could ramp up over 500 cfs if SoCal Edison has a mechanical issue with power generation. If you notice that the river is rising and getting dirty you must cross to the east side of the river within a minute or you risk being stranded on the west side. It can be a long walk to a crossable stretch. Summer is approaching fast and there are some things to be aware of. First there have already been two fires flare up in the past week along the Kern River drainage. The tinder is dry and if a strong wind is present, making a quick exit is imperative. I always have a full tank of gas in case I have to drive north to escape a fire south of me. Second, the 20 mile stretch and 4 mile wild trout section above Johnsondale will be severely stressed this summer. The Kern River drainage has received one of the lowest snow packs on record at just 29% following a 50% year. Kern River temperatures will exceed 70 degrees starting soon in June on the most popular sections 24 miles above Lake Isabella. It addition much of the Golden Trout Wilderness and the Sequoia National Forest were ravaged by the huge 174,000 acre Castle Fire last year and many of those areas are CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC for all of 2021 including the Forks of the Kern. These areas are wisely being allowed to rest while the long natural rehabilitation of those devastated areas slowly begins. The extreme drought has prevented the huge soot and ash loads to remain on the slopes of the national forest but a huge monsoonal summer thunderstorm could change all of that. I encourage any one considering fishing the Kern River this summer to bring a stream thermometer with them and avoid catch and release fishing when temperatures exceed 70 degrees and never allow a trout to be lifted out of the water above 65 degrees. These are special trout in special places. The wild trout on the heavily pressured stretches above Kernville are at risk. Fish surveys conducted over the last 23 years on the 20 mile and wild trout sections above Lake Isabella show that very few wild trout over 9 inches (229 mm) exist. Most are under 6 inches (152 mm). The surveys are conducted in early Fall. In all of the surveys almost no stocked trout are found via elctro-shocking and snorkeling. It confirms what many of us already know, that in the 24 miles upstream of Lake Isabella Dam any trout big enough to fry is harvested quickly. Especially when the amount of CDFW stocking has been dramatically reduced over the last 15 years. Suckers and Pike minnows are thriving - approximately +30 of those combined species for every single trout found. You can view the raw survey data and studies at the SoCal Edison KR3 Powerhouse Relicensing website https://www.sce.com/regulatory/hydro-licensing/kr3 . A chart below shows one of the best surveys (2011)during a good water year (195% of normal).
The CDFW Kern River Rainbow project that has been over twenty years in the making and over $1,000,000 spent has been delayed another two years with the closing of the Kern River Hatchery to replace a mechanical failure of the inlet siphon. While many of us applaud the CDFW's intentions to reintroduce pure strain Kern River Rainbows into the highly hybridized trout located in the 24 miles above Lake Isabella, we must take care to protect this heavily pressured fishery under great stress this year. Last summer the Kern River saw over an estimated 20,000 visitors each weekend. Not all were kind to the forest and some areas were devastated and had to be closed for rehabilitation like Chico Flat-it will reopen soon. In addition, glass containers are now prohibited from being in your possession on much of the 20 mile section and Lake Isabella with fines up to $5,000. It is time to get serious about the trashing of our wild places and I am glad to see the Forest Service taking actions. See https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd902967.pdf I encourage all campers, hikers and anglers who intend to target Golden Trout and Kern River Rainbows to visit the Sequoia National Forest website to see all of the 2021 closure information before you enter for the latest conditions and to view the closure areas as a result of the FOREST ORDER NO. 0513-21-08 https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd886774.pdf The Lake Isabella Trout Derby has had less than 100 0f the 500 tagged trout caught . Total prize money awarded so far is just over $10,000 with over $25,000 of tagged prized trout still swimming around the lake. The grand prize $5,000 has been caught. You have to pay a fee to enter. Lots of pressure will be on the lake for trout this summer it appears. Crappie and bass are moving into the shallows and the bite is good there.
Fishing Report - 4/9/21 Spring is upon us and we have the April 1st bench mark snow packs recorded for all of the California drainages. It ain't pretty. The further south in the Sierra the bleaker it looks. The April 1st measurement for the Kern was 29% of normal which follows a 50% 2020. What does this mean for trout fishing on the Upper Kern. Flows will not reach 1,000 cfs unless there is a huge thunderstorm before May 15th (that would be a very rare event). Expect no banking of disbursed stocked rainbows over the runoff period for 2021. The run off will peak well before Memorial Day and the peak in the flow curve will definitely be flattened this year. Upper Kern River temps will exceed 70 degrees in early June or even before Memorial Day on sections 4 and 5 to be sure. About 2-3 weeks later they will exceed 70 degrees on section 6 and the wild trout special regulations section. All of these predictions can be made with the data I have collected for over 20 years that are available from various government agencies.
It will be a very stressful summer and well into fall for trout on the 20 mile stretch. Please consider using a stream thermometer and avoid fishing on the 20 mile stretch when river temperatures rise above 70 degrees. The fertile trout population is already in jeopardy with no fertile trout plants of significance in well over a decade on the Upper Kern. The CDFW already has indicated that because of the mass trout kill at SoCal hatcheries last year plantings will be down 50% from normal numbers in 2021. There is every indication that wild places will be heavily visited again this year based on all of the travel surveys which also means there is and will be heavy fishing pressure on all waters in California. For now the Kern River is rising daily during this unseasonably warming trend that is predicted for most of April. Water is slightly off color. Flashier flies are working better like brassies and copper johns of different bright colors. Water temps are perfect for now. Catching numbers are about half of what they were recorded last year, inline with the reduced SoCal CDFW stocking mentioned above. In addition all stocking is now done by the San Joaquin Hatchery which requires a 7 hour round trip drive so there isn't a lot of time to make broad distributions of planted trout. So the best catching is concentrated in those spots. See a recent video of how plants are made https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNeBxiAEl9s please avoid hot spotting on social media to give these planters a chance to disburse. Until the Kern River Hatchery is restarted more than 2 years from now, this likely will be the modus operandi for planting the Upper Kern. The Lake Isabella crappie bite has come up nicely in 5' to 15' of water. The Lake Isabella spring fishing derby has been changed from prior years. It will not be just for a weekend but will extend from April 24 to September 6 and 500 tagged rainbow trout will have prizes ranging from $20 to $5,000 for those that pay the entry fee. This will ensure there will be additional pressure on the lake for months and likely means fewer solid sized rainbows will migrate up river this year. I have spoken with volunteers that are feeding the trout being raised for the tournament and they are getting near 3 pounds. More info here https://www.kernrivervalley.com/copy-of-isabella-lake-fishing-derby-1 Stay safe and wear your mask when you camp or fish closely around others. How does the snow pack look for the rest of California? The northern most waters are in decent shape compared to the Kern River. Most NorCal watersheds are near 70 percent. State wide the average is 62%. See database here http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/snow_ss/COURSES Below is a table showing some of our favorite watersheds
TULE 30% KINGS 44% OWENS 47% WALKER 78% TRUCKEE 66% FEATHER 72% TRINITY 69% SACRAMENTO 69%
Fishing Report - 2/26/21 I finished my taxes and recent stocking on the Upper Kern plus the beautiful weather begged me to get up on my favorite water. Usually, I don't consider going up there when morning air temperatures are consistently in the 30's as that means water temps are in the low forties and a sluggish bite. I arrived around 10 am and the air was crisp but water temperature on section 4 was 45 degrees. So I had good hope for later temperatures in the upper forties at least. There were several folks hooking up near the bridge in Kernville so that always confirms very recent stocking and I was told by the happy anglers the trout were planted yesterday 2/25. There were over a dozen bait/fly anglers there so I moved on as I prefer my solitude. I spent the next four hours covering the most water I have ever fished in one trip on section 4 without one bump, no insect life buzzing around at all. I spoke to 6 other fly fishers on section 4 and no one had a take either. I hit some areas that were planted a couple of weeks ago on section 5 and got nary a bump as well. I fished dries, nymphs big and small, ever tugging streamers. I got a good airshow from screaming fighter jets in a cobalt blue sky. No snow remains on any of the peaks that I could observe from the 20 mile section. Speaking of snow the pack year to date in the Kern drainage is not encouraging. The Kern River snow pack is poor at 42% of normal as of today. We had one of the driest February's ever recorded, so March has to be big to have any chance of a decent April 1st benchmark. We still have not had a big enough rain event to erode the huge soot and ash areas in the Kern River drainage that had over 170,000 acres burned last fall. The river is running clear and cold around 200 cfs and no diversion at Fairview Dam for the last several days. Snow packs in the Northern Sierra are better - running just under 70% of normal for this time of year and just 60% of the April 1st peak benchmark. Unfortunately, the 3 month forecast shows another year of drought will affect many of our state waters again. The CDFW provided an update for plans at the Kern River Hatchery last week. They reported, “The Kern River Hatchery will remain closed until the siphon in feed pipeline replacement work is complete and the improvements can provide a reliable water supply. This will involve major construction that is anticipated to take a minimum of two years to complete. The timeline could be longer and will be determined once initial planning for construction is complete. State funding has been allocated for pipeline replacement. Additional improvements are proposed for completion while the facility is closed. Funding for additional improvements has yet to be identified”. “Recent studies carried out by CDFW show that there are unique strains of Kern River rainbow trout present in the Kern River watershed that can assist with development of a native fishery. This is an exciting opportunity that will rely upon modern fish hatchery techniques which is a major factor in closing the hatchery to ensure the facility can satisfy this need. CDFW will be developing a broodstock program to reintroduce Kern River rainbow trout into the Kern River watershed in conjunction with reopening of the Kern River Hatchery. All fish production will cease until the facility becomes operational. The facility will continue to be closed to the public.” Sadly it appears that the Kern River Rainbow Project (KRRP) will be deferred until the Kern River Hatchery reopens. We were told last year that the San Joaquin Hatchery would get the first brood stock while the Kern facility was closed so that the KRRP program could get initiated. Unfortunately, it indicates that we are years away from catchable native KRRT being planted in the Kern River. The statement above says there, “are unique strains of Kern River Rainbow Trout (KRRT) present in the Kern River watershed”. However, they are located above 8,000 foot elevations. CDFW biologists do not believe there are many or pure KRRT on the 20 mile section or the 4 mile special regulations above Johnsondale Bridge. Why? Because decades of CDFW planting fertile Eagle Lake and McCloud rainbows on the 20 mile stretch moved up river and hybridized with the native KRRT. That is why the CDFW started planting only sterile trout the last 10 years to reduce further hybridization. To give you some idea of how much planting was going on the Kern River Hatchery was planting over 180,000 pounds of fertile rainbows every year +15 years ago (even higher pounds are reported in the 1970's). Recently, sometime years they annually planted under 50,000 pounds of sterile (triploid) rainbows before the hatchery closure. That is why the CDFW uses the term “reintroduce” Kern River rainbow trout as pure KRRT essentially don’t actually exist in the stretches most anglers target on the 4 mile wild trout (trout born in the river) stretch and the 20 mile stocked stretch below Johnsondale Bridge to Lake Isabella according to their biologists. That is why the brood stock have to be collected above 8,000' nearer the headwaters of the Kern River to initiate the KRRP and reintroduce pure strain native KRRT into their historical watersheds at lower elevations above Lake Isabella. Covid-19 infections in Kern County are still very real with over 25 deaths reported in Kern County just yesterday 2/25/21, it is imperative to prevent further spread in the vulnerable Kern River Valley and here in Bakersfield. Many of us are on the cusp of being fully vaccinated, but I continue to protect the community up there by wearing a mask and having all the food, water, fuel, and flies I need packed before I leave home, making sure I have no reason to closely interact with anyone or contact public surfaces while fly fishing. Hope you all stay healthy and safe.”
Kernville Fish Hatchery Temporary Closure Q&A - 2/18/21 The California Fish & Wildlife department has released a two page Question and Answer PDF on the Temporary Closure of the Kernville Fish Hatchery. Below is a link to the document for your review: Kernville Fish Hatchery Temporary Closure Q&A
Fishing Report - 2/12/21 Catching will and has been driven by weather and primarily stocking. The CDFW has made a dramatic shift from its stocking policies of the past with few Bakersfield lakes and Lower Kern River plants but far more plants occurring on the Upper Kern. Not sure why the dramatic change from years past but local lake plants draw a lot of people that often aren’t masking and socially distancing, that may be the reason? Upper Kern River temps have been in the upper 30’s and low 40’s so the bite has been slower (except on pressured stocked runs) and flows are running clear around 250 cfs. A weak and warmer storm is approaching this weekend so runoff could be significant and worth watching. Cope's Tackle & Rod Shop paid to have a private hatchery stuff Riverwalk Lake with lightning and rainbow trout up to 10 pounds on Tuesday. There are a lot of social media post with PB's and happy smiles. Prizes are being offered by Cope's as well. These are big trout but are sterile and will die off when lake temperatures exceed 70 degrees in April. The best fly fishers have landed dozens a day using small midges patterns like #18-20 zebras hung 2' below a "press on" indicator in water less than 4' deep. Set on any twitch! There is a lot of pressure so these trophies likely will not survive the holiday weekend. The Lower Kings will continue to get trophies planted through next week. Catching has been good on small nymphs as well. Flows have been clear and low (just 150 cfs) concentrating foot long and big rainbows alike. The Kern River snow pack is poor at 39% of normal as of Feb 12 and a weak storm is coming soon. Bakersfield will get a projected .07" of rain and Kernville 0.25". Snow levels will likely stay well above 4,000’. We still have not had a big enough rain event to erode the huge soot and ash areas in the Kern River drainage that had over 170,000 acres burned last fall.
Snow packs in the Northern Sierra are better running about 70% of normal for this year and 67% state wide. Unfortunately the 3 month forecast is not encouraging and a second year of drought will affect many of our state waters again.
You can see all California snow pack surveys here http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/snow_ss/COURSES and graphs here http://cdec.water.ca.gov/reportapp/javareports?name=PLOT_SWC The Lake Isabella spring fishing derby has been changed from prior years. It will not be just for a weekend but will extend from April 24 to September 6 and 500 tagged rainbow trout will have prizes ranging from $20 to $5,000 for those that pay the entry fee. This will ensure there will be additional pressure on the lake and likely means fewer solid sized rainbows will migrate up river this year. Whiskey Flats Days has been cancelled because of the huge numbers of Covid-19 cases in Kern County and full ICU’s in our local hospitals. Stay safe and wear your mask when you camp or fish. The Sequoia NF is seeking public comment on the proposed Castle Fire Ecological Restoration Project impacted by the huge 2020 fire. See more information here https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/sequoia/home/?cid=fseprd879990 Fishing Report - 12/22/20 Winter is pretty much here. The Upper Kern is running pretty cold in the 30's on the 20 mile section. It is clear and just 170 cfs in Kernville and just 60 cfs below Fairview Dam. It is still getting stocked but the cooler temperatures are slowing the catching way down. Pounds to be stocked are much lower than last year throughout Kern County and SoCal because of the huge bacterial trout kill this past summer. Also the Kern River hatchery appears to be down indefinitely as the large siphon line that feed river water into it needs replacing at very high cost and planning it seems. You can read an article recently published in the Californian here https://www.bakersfield.com/news/hatchery-closes-down-again-following-three-years-of-renovations/article_c24d71b4-2dd7-11eb-a774-276cf8699ec7.html . It is too bad because if it were open more local control over where trout are stocked would be in play, it is a tourist destination for many, and the highlight of the Trout in the Classroom field trips each year. One wonders if the facility will operate in the next couple of years or ever at all. The Kern River Rainbow project still has not been implemented and likely won't be any time soon. It has been well over a decade since any Kern River Rainbows were reared at the Kern River Planting Base. KRR brood stock are scheduled to be obtained next year (fingers crossed). Trout are being planted in Bakersfield Lakes but in fewer spots because of the huge loss of hatchery trout this summer in SoCal. Lake Ming and Riverwalk are getting trout (Truxton Lake and Hart Park will not recieve any), catching had been slow and the cormarants are doing better than many anglers. No stocking is scheduled for the Lower Kern it appears this winter. Lake Bueana Vista has some huge trout missing a lot of their tails being caught up to 10 pounds for their annual derby. The Lower Kings trophy trout program started two weeks ago. It has been a bright spot. It also is having both CDFW and private hatchery plants made to bring stocked levels to more normal levels. Some members have tied into several big bows to 24" and hefty. Black zebra midges are the ticket sizes 18 and 20. These + 3 pounders will be stocked weekly through mid - February. In the past our club has helped with the stocking but because of Covid infections volunteers are not being utilized. One of many nice KINGS RIVER trophies taken this past weekend
Covid infections in Kern County are at extremely serious levels. Practically all ICU beds are filled. At this time 1 in 36 residents in Kern County have an active Covid -19 infection isolating at home according to our Kern County heath department. If you are going to fly fish make sure you are isolated from others and you wear a mask. As always it is imperative to prevent further spread in the vulnerable Kern River Valley and here in Bakersfield. I continue to protect the community up there by having all the food, water, fuel, and flies I need packed before I leave home, making sure I have no reason to closely interact with anyone or contact public surfaces while fly fishing. I wear a mask. Hope you all stay safe.
Fire Alert - Canyon Fire - 12/06/20 The Canyon Fire started on the Upper Kern River on Saturday, Dec 5th around 1:00 PM. Mountian 99 north of Kernville is currently closed. The fire is currently 70% contained but high winds are expected over the next couple of days. You can monitor the fire at the below link: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7276/ Additionally the Forest Service has extended their forest closures through 12/31/20 due to the SQF fire complex. Full details can be found at the below link: https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd859775.pdf
Fishing Report - 11/19/20 I haven't had a chance to get away for a couple of weeks and wanted to get above the fog in the Bako today. Recent reports from members suggested that skunkings were more common on the 20 mile section recently as water temperatures declined and more weekend harvesting occurred. The good news was that the Upper Kern was running clear even right after the rain we got two weeks ago. Apparently there was not a lot of precipitation at higher elevation (we got almost half an inch in BFL) as the SQF fire was not quenched and is still burning. Hard to believe huh? See here https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7048/ At this time the Sequoia National Forest area, including trails, is still closed north of the Johnsondale Bridge because of the SQF fire. See here https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/sequoia/alerts-notices The 20 mile section is open to fishing, however, Chico Flats disbursed campground is closed for rehabilitation because people completely trashed the area. See story here https://kernvalleysun.com/chico-flat-campground-shuts-down-for-season/
Back to the fishing. I decided to start at a wild stretch that I covered two weeks ago and got a dozen grabs and landed a nice wild 16" bow to see how it was doing. On my way there I saw no people fishing Riverside Park and only 2 cars in the turnouts on the drive up. I was glad to know I would have solitude but it also means........... The river was 46 degrees at 10 am and no insect activity. The sun was bright and it was warm enough to wear waist waders and a fishing shirt without a jacket. I only got one small grab in an hour over a stretch that held at least 12 feeding wild trout last week. In addition I could see many footprints where there were none last trip. It became obvious to me, given the reports of skunkings, that I would have to search for trout if I wasn't going to be skunked myself. I made the decision to drive a lot and go right to my favorite wild spots and try some often stocked spots. I managed 4 rainbows (largest 16" and 3 clearly wild) in 4 hours. I stopped at 9 different spots on sections 4,5 and 6 and fished at the best water I know and did not find any trout grouped together. It was obvious that there was no stocking this week or they were already harvested (I doubt that because very few were fishing). I only saw 3 vehicles on the 20 mile stretch but there were 10 vehicles at the Johnsondale Bridge Parking lot. I'm guessing those people don't realize they could be in for a big fine if they are on the trail above the bridge (fire zone closed area)when it is being patrolled. Water temps were between 43 degrees and 47 degrees and when below 45 degrees those waters should not be stocked by the CDFW. That also may be why there wasn't evidence of recent stocking. The only bugs I saw were midges in the # 20 to #26 size. I did try hanging some midge larvae patterns sizes #20 and #22 without any grabs. The red hooked Arnerd and #18 BHFBPT landed trout. I have been tugging streamers as well but have not had any luck with them in over a month. Cooler water makes trout less active and likely to chase a streamer. I think I will leave my streamer rod at home next time. I can say the river is beautiful with golden trees lining its banks. There was a deep blue sky and not even a hint of forest fire smoke in the air. With the clean atmosphere the fighter jets are back and I had five F-22 raptors and three F-18's thunder over my head well under 1,000' during the day. Awesome! As colder temperatures return we will see more planting in our local BFL lakes. The Kern River Hatchery is still dry and no reopen date has been communicated. Riverwalk and Ming Lakes will see trout right before Turkey Day from the San Joaquin Hatchery. In the past we saw them show on Tuesday. Have a safe holiday!
Fishing Report - 11/5/20 To be honest I really didn’t think I would return to the Upper Kern for a while but a few new developments this week urged me to take a trip today. First, stocking was to resume this week directly from the San Joaquin Hatchery. Second, warmer weather could mean warmer river temperatures. Third, a dramatic drop in flows (just 44 cfs) on section 5 would mean trout concentrated into less water and water would warm up during the day at slower flow speeds over section 5. Fourth, and most importantly, cold/rain/snow is coming this weekend to the Southern Sierras. This likely means the huge 170,000 acre SQF fire will finally be quenched after 2 months of devastation, but soot and ash will soon murk up the pristine gin clear 20 mile section for some time to come. So I headed up the canyon this morning likely to partake in the last good fly fishing of the year. Fishing Report - 10/29/20 More seasonal temperatures have finally returned to our area. I checked to see the progress of the SQF fire before I left the house. Even with recent high winds the SQF fire has not grown much. We dodged a bullet! The air quality showed that it would be in the moderate range. I was hoping to get another week like last week, however, reports from the weekend indicated things were changing. As I drove north of Kernville it was obvious there were far fewer vehicles in the turnouts and that no one was fishing at Riverside Park at Kernville. This meant I would have no trouble finding solitude and/or the catching has gone south. I hit the river just before 10 am. Water temp was 46 degrees. Uh oh. I was wet wading just two weeks ago when it was 55 degrees and much warmer. My expectations were lowered quickly. I did cover the same water as last week plus another stretch with a lot less success. Landed just 3 rainbows in 4 hours, far lower than 21 last week. Just two rises seen in 4 hours. A dramatic drop in catching and bug life is less numerous. Is it river temp or harvesting that ended the good catching for this year it seems? My guess is both. Here’s my rationale.
With Covid-19 infections finally low enough to make Kern a “red county”, it is imperative to prevent further spread in the vulnerable Kern River Valley and here in Bakersfield. I continue to protect the community up there by having all the food, water, fuel, and flies I need packed before I leave home, making sure I have no reason to closely interact with anyone or contact public surfaces while fly fishing. Hope you all stay safe. Fishing Report - 10/23/20 Perhaps fall is finally here? The last two months have been extremely warm and I was able to wet wade last week as the Sequoia National Forest was opened up to the Johnsondale Bridge and the 20 mile stretch was made accessible. Today I arrived on the river around 9:30 am and it registered 52 degrees. It was smokier than Bakersfield but tolerable. As I drove up river from Kernville it appears that dispersed camping areas are accessible but there were few campers. Headquarters Campground was open and I think so was Fairview. The others fee areas were locked shut. I saw far more vehicles in the turnouts this week than last week. Fishers were disbursed all along sections 5 and 6. Most of the anglers I observed were fly fishers. No bait fishers were at Riverside Park and few up river. The lack of stocking for many weeks likely has kept the harvesting pressure off on weekdays I’d guess, the weekends may be another thing? I do have some information on future stocking, more on that later.
Fishing Report - 10/15/20 News that the 20 mile section was now open all the way to Johnsonville Bridge was great to hear yesterday. I wasn’t sure what to expect because I hadn’t been up in two months because of the national forest closure and the high level of smoke between Kerrville and Johnsondale. The forecast was to hit the mid-90’s in Kernville today and I thought the water temperatures would likely be in the low 60’s given the very warm weather the last two months. Flows at Kernville are around 140 cfs and 95 cfs on the low flow section. Good for wading most anywhere on the 20 mile section.
I drove past River Kern and noticed a lot of orange cones inside every large pull off parking area that I like to fish was closed.??? There was very little fishing going on. There was no one fishing at Riverside Park in Kernville. The area has not been stocked in a couple of months. Typically any trout over 11 inches that fits in a frying pan are harvested within about three weeks once stocking stops. The lower part of the 20 mile section waters had reached +70° for most of the summer. So I just avoided those areas and reports over the last few weeks suggested the fishing was tough on section 4. I really didn’t find a spot that wasn’t closed until I got above Fairview Dam. Then I began seeing a lot of cars, unfortunately they were all within a mile of each other because it was the only stretch where there were not orange cones and signs marking off parking lots, dispersed camping areas and turnouts. Also none of the fee campgrounds are open, they’re all locked shut. So the first couple of hours of fishing it was hard to find a run to myself. But when I did, hook ups came right away. Water temperature was 55° and remained there most of the day. A lot of October caddis are in the air, however, my #12 Arnerd nymph and a beat head flashback pheasant tail #18 got a lot of grabs all day. In the first two hours though, I only hooked four fish (two landed) none over 12 inches. I got a sense by 11 o’clock most people gave up due to crowding as most vehicles were gone. I found a stretch that I don’t think anyone had fished and had to walk quite a bit to get to - keeping my fingers crossed I wouldn’t get a citation. A fisher I bumped into said that a county sheriff tried to cite him. He told him that the SNF was opened yesterday. After some spirited discussion he got a warning. I did see on the national forest website before I drove up that the area between River Kern and Johnsonville Bridge was supposed to be a wide-open for fishing. I found a lot of nice fish mostly under 12 inches as well. But was blessed to land a 15 and a 16 inch holdover - both taking the Arnerd #12. I thought about bringing my 4wt rod today because most people who had fished before the closure said they were finding wild trout on the upper part of the 20 mile section and few were over a foot long. I’m glad I brought my 5 wt because I tagged a beautiful 17 inch wild buck trout with a deep red band. The fish was strong and ran down stream at least 30 yards. It was a bit difficult because I had to boulder hop down stream because a #18 BH pheasant tail likely is going to get ripped through a strong trout’s mouth. After a good fight I finally found a way to get him to come to the net. It was a clean male and my guess in spawning colors. Rainbows typically don’t spawn in fall but I’ve heard it does happen. Total today were 18 to the net and I had on at least 30 trout in four hours. I even managed to catch a nice brownie. It was pretty obvious that these bows were not fished to in the last two months and have moved up river quite a ways from anywhere I have been fishing this summer. My foam stonefly got a lot of grabs after noon so fish are still thinking about chomping on hoppers although I did not see any flying around.There were swarms of October caddis and small midgets. A fair amount of bigger critter scat along the river and camping areas as the lack of people has not scared them off. I headed home around 1 o’clock very tired from all the bushwhacking. I also wet waited and at 55° I don’t advise it. My feet were very cold and I did not spend much time wading in water above my knees. I did have to ford some water that was waste deep. I couldn’t stand in water above the belt for more than two minutes at a time. It was just too cold even when air temperatures hit 90 degrees. I advise anyone coming up, especially as temperatures drop next week, to bring your waders. When I drove home most of the orange cones and closed area signs were removed but not all. So you may want to contact the Forest Service office to see if your favorite spots are open to use again. Their number is 760-376-3781. Check the air quality forecast here https://wildlandfiresmoke.net/outlooks/SouthernSierra-Sequoia It is getting better but that could change. There still is no rain likely in October and the potential for more fires is very real. I have not seen fighter jets in a while. My guess is the visibility and ash plugging jet turbines are keeping those cool flybys from happening for a while.
This is really good fishing and the water is gin clear for now...... It hasn’t been hit much in the last two months. I believe that’s about to change. When we get our first rain the 170,000 acre SQF fire is going to make things pretty bad for a while. Soot and ash will foul the waters. So we have a nice window for the foreseeable future as there is no rain in the forecast. The fire continues to burn and there was a fair amount of smoke, but it got better as the day grew on. I am concerned about what is going to happen at the Kern River Hatchery. The major biological issue at three Southern California hatcheries has resulted in a loss of over 3 million trout system wide. A lot of things are changing to provide trout to the areas where there was devastation. Many waters are not going to be stocked at all and some at very reduced levels. The Kern River Hatchery is dry and closed, the hatchery manager has been permanently transferred to another facility. At this time there is no indication from my sources that the hatchery will be operational anytime soon. So don’t expect the numbers to be great for very long and I was always practice catch and release. Most of the trout in the river now I believe to be 8” – 11”wild and fertile. I sure would hate to see these last fertile trout that managed to survive a very hot and dry summer get consumed.
Fishing Report - 09/24/20 Fishing on the 20 mile section continues to be a struggle where it is allowed. Much of the stretch is closed due to extreme fire potential. The Castle (or SQF) Fire has grown to over 144,000 acres and is only 33% contained. The hatchery has shut down planting until the Sequoia National Forest is reopened. They are considering stocking Bakersfield Lakes as conditions permit. Typically the first BFL stockings occur in mid October. If we return to typical temperatures as expected, that likely will occur. Forest Service Temporary Closures and Restrictions - 09/07/20 On Monday, Sept 7th, the US Forest Service issued temporary closures on many National Forests in California and added restrictions on the National Forests remaining open. The National Forests closed include: Stanislaus National Forest, Sierra National Forest, Sequoia National Forest, Inyo National Forest, Los Padres National Forest, Angeles National Forest, San Bernardino National Forest, and Cleveland National Forest. Please see the link below for the official closure and restrictions information. https://www.fs.usda.gov/
Fishing Report - 09/03/20 The SQF fire (originally the Castle Fire) originating near the Forks of the Kern on 8/19 has dominated the environmental conditions on our favorite river. The fire now has spread to +46,000 acres (72 square miles) and shows no signs of slowing. It has been consuming more than six square miles each day. It is only 1% contained and very dry/hot conditions coupled with steep terrain is making control of this fire very difficult. It is now expected to be contained by 9/30, however, that seems very optimistic. The road is closed beyond Johnsondale and Sherman Pass Road is also closed. Extreme heat is coming this weekend. The 7th heat wave of the summer will hit +104 degrees in Kernville starting Friday and last beyond the Labor Day weekend. San Joaquin Valley temperature will hit 110 degrees. Air quality has been “very unhealthy” in Kernville and progressively worse as you travel north toward Johnsondale Bridge. In Kernville the AQI has easily exceeded 250 (peaks near 500) the last few days and likely with get worse as this fire expands. At these hazardous levels you can see in the chart below “Everyone should avoid any outdoor activity”. This chart comes from the US Interagency Wildland Fire Air Quality Response Program and you can see more location data and forecasts here https://wildlandfiresmoke.net/outlooks/SouthernSierra-Sequoia Fire Alert UPDATE 7:30AM - Castle Fire - 08/30/20 The Sequoia Fire Complex, as of 7:30AM this morning, was listed at 34,283 acres. Current estimated containment is Saturday Sept 12th. The air quality is very bad in the mornings in the Upper Kern, Johnsondale & Kernville areas. Here is a link to air quality forcasts for those areas: https://wildlandfiresmoke.net/outlooks/SouthernSierra-Sequoia Taken at Fairview Dam on Wednesday. Less than 1/4 mile visibility.
Fire Alert UPDATE 8PM - Castle Fire - 08/24/20 The Castle Fire jumped from 5000 acres earlier today to 12,000 acres as of the 7:30PM report on the Inciweb website (see below). All trails into the Golden Trout Wilderness have been closed. Also, the communities of Ponderosa and Camp Nelson have been put on voluntary evacuation status. More information and maps are available at the Inciweb site link below. Fire Alert - Castle Fire - 08/23/20 The Castle Fire started on the 19th of August and is burning in the north fork of the Kern, in the Golden Trout wilderness, east of the Giant Sequoia National Monument, in Tulare County. Crews are working today to protect the Forks of the Kern Trailhead, Jerkey Meadow Trail, and the facilities in the Lloyd Meadow. This fire is on USFS land and is managed by a Federal Incident Command Team. Here is a website for people to check on the fire from day to day. https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7048
Fishing Report - 08/20/20 The extreme heat and smoke of the Bako the last week is really becoming annoying so I thought I would head up to the Upper Kern to find better conditions wading in the river. I knew that Kernville has also registered triple digit heat the last week so I wasn’t even sure I could find trout friendly water temperatures on the 20 miles section. Flows had dropped to 150 cfs above Fairview Dam and had risen to 200 cfs the last few days because of thunderstorms way up river. So I was concerned water clarity could be an issue. The water clarity turned out to be fine today, however, the air quality wasn’t much better than the Bako which exceeds 150 and is unhealthful due to fires all around us. I am personally still concerned about the huge amount of people coming up to camp on the 20 mile section. At this time several of our Bako hospital ICU’s are very full and hopefully may have peaked. There seems to be a slow decrease in hospitalizations so we must take care not to reverse this. Currently, over 16,000 people in Kern County are at home recovering from Covid-19 in quarantine. This is up from two weeks ago and may have finally started to decline for the first time since this pandemic hit us. Back in April the number was less than 200 county wide. So we need to keep up the concern. Kern County infections/deaths numbers can be found here https://kernpublichealth.com/covid-19_dashboard/ Check the case status button to see the trend graph. With Covid-19 infections remaining at these very high levels, it is imperative to prevent further spread in the vulnerable Kern River Valley and here in Bakersfield. I continue to protect the community up there by having all the food, water, fuel, and flies I need packed before I leave home, making sure I have no reason to closely interact with anyone or contact public surfaces while fly fishing. Stay Safe. Fishing Report - 08/06/20 The recent heat wave abated for a few days, so I was chomping at the bit to wet my fly line on the Upper Kern for the first time in two weeks. I wasn’t sure what to expect given that the 20 mile section has seen +70 degree water temps for days. I was glad to hear that the CDFW has not reduced stocking yet after the Kern River Planting Base (KRPB) had to be shut down for high river temps two weeks ago. They have been driving to the San Joaquin Hatchery and back in one day and stocking twice a week. The stocking web site was not updated to reflect any stocking on the 20 mile section for August when I last checked. It now shows only stocking for this week. I sampled seven stocked sites today but never hooked a trout on any of them? I did get into some nice trout though, when I did a lot of aggressive wading. Fishing Report - 07/24/20 With a brief respite from the high heat wave of mid-July I hoped to make a trek up on the Upper Kern and fish some water that was more favorable for trout survival. I landed on section 4 early and found the water to be 67 degrees and air temp in the 70’s . That was encouraging given others have seen mid 70’s on this stretch last week in the afternoon. The catching was slow and fishing pressure increasing, so I headed up river where trout should have been less stressed over the last two weeks. Up on section 5 and 6 I found some unpressured water and covered quite a bit of ground. Catching again was hit and miss along three long stretches. I did see a lot of stonefly shucks at water level. My #12 foam stone with a yellow belly got a lot of hits, especially after 10 am. During the course of my day, ending at 2 pm, I landed 3 on it. Total to the net were 12 in about 6 hours. It was better than 2 weeks ago. I landed 8 wild trout and 4 foot long recent stockers. I never found more than two trout in a run. The air temp was in the low 90’s when I quit and the tubers were making catching difficult. Water temp 69 in the middle of section 5. This was on a relatively cool day. A new heat wave is on the way. So the weather and very low flows are going to make trout survival tough. Flows at Fairview Dam are 200 cfs and drop to 160 cfs in Kernville. That means 20% of the water evaporates or sinks into the aquifers on the 20 mile stretch. Fishing Report - 07/10/20 The Upper Kern has dropped another 100 cfs since last week to just 270 cfs. I was looking forward to accessing more water above Fairview Dam and sampling the waters on sections 4 and 5 which were heavily stocked for the July 4th weekend. Unfortunately, I was unable to locate any of the bigger trout that were planted last week. Nor was I able to reverse the downward trends in the catching the last few weeks as the river continues to recede. I tried a favorite half mile stretch on section 5 first. Water temp was 65 degrees at 8 am. I landed two footlongs in the first 10 minutes but didn’t get a grab the next two hours of wading upstream. I headed further up river checking out three other stretches on the low flow section with two more netted. One of the trout was a long and lean 15” bow that I thought looked like a Leopard Bow. I’ve never seen so many spots all over a rainbow. I believe this may be a new strain of CDFW planters as I’ve seen more of these on social media posts.
Fishing Report - 07/02/20 Made a trip up before the 4th weekend today. Friends have reported that river temps have dropped since the heat wave last week. I arrived on Section 5 before 8 am and the river was 64 degrees and much healthier than the previous week. Typically the 20 mile section gets planted heavily for the July 4th weekend. This year is no exception. The hatchery has been able to continue operations with the increasing river temperatures. They are planting 2,000 lbs of rainbows ranging from 1 to 3 pounds. I never found a planter today? I spent the first 2.5 hours on a longer 3/4 mile run on section 5. Not one trout bit but I did land three small squaw fish. Landed 20 on this stretch less than a month ago. So the temperature spike last week and the huge fishing pressure last weekend did deplete this long stretch. I moved much further up river and decided to give section 6 a try. It has dropped to 350 cfs and will drop another 100 cfs by next week based on the trends. Fishing Report - 06/25/20 It has really been hot in the San Joaquin Valley and up in the Kern River Valley. The first extended heat wave of the summer is ongoing. I left the Bako just after 6 am to get on the Upper Kern as early as possible. I wasn’t sure how bad things had gotten, because there has been an uptick in flows. Probably the last remnants of snow pack well above 12,000’. I decided to take a river temp on the lower end of the low flow section 5 and it was 70 degrees at 7:30 am. So I moved further up river. I found river temps at 67 degrees on the upper half of section 5 (low flow) well before noon. I covered water that I had luck (landed 12)with last week with only one hookup. It was a good sized fish but never tried to run. It just hunkered down. It was exciting for about five seconds until I realized what I had hooked on my Arnerd nymph. I put some pressure on it and netted a 22” squaw fish. Didn’t fight half as much as rainbow would. This species will thrive this summer on the 20 mile section.
Fishing Report - 06/18/20 Made my 3rd trip post runoff today. Usually the best catching of the year occurs for three weeks post runoff (total flows below 1,000 cfs) as harvesters and birds remove a lot of the disbursed trout. After this point the catching is directly related to how much stocking occurs in concentrated areas. I had success again today with over 40 rainbows hooked. However, there was a big difference in how that was achieved this week. I spent the morning covering two separate half mile beats that I hit last week. The first beat got me 6 landed (half of the week before) and the second, Old Friend, just 2. With total hook ups on the first two runs about 30% of the previous week. I did land a 17” long term holdover and pumped a stomach. Definitely not a recent stocker with white tipped fins and pointy nose. A lot of small nymphs size 18 to 20. I was doing fine with a size #18 BHFBPT. The Arnerd got a few too. River temp was 62 degrees at 9 am.
FIRE ALERT - Ant Fire - 06/14/20 A wildfire started last night on the 20 mile section of the Kern River. The fire is designated the Ant Canyon Fire. The fire was on both sides of Mountain 99 and both sides of the river. As of late this morning the fire was at 10 acres. Status updates can be found at the below link: Ant Canyon Fire just north of Goldledge Campground web page https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6771/ Please use caution if traveling through the area. Fishing Report - 06/12/20 We have had some very unusually cool weather lately with record lows recorded for Bakersfield. The origin of the Kern River is Mount Whitney about 60 miles north of Kernville, so it typically take about 36 to 48 hours for flows to change in Kernville as a result in temperatures or precipitation. Flows on section 5 is 120 CFS and much lower than just a week ago when it was pushing 200 CFS. That means trout are concentrated in 40% less water volume and I expected to improve my catching today. On the down side, lower flows on a hot day could spike river temperatures. So I made sure I brought my stream thermometer and headed up making sure to have all I needed with me (lots of water, fuel, food, flies and etc. to protect our mountain community). I arrived on section 5 around 8:30 am. Water temperature at 60°. On the first cast I hooked a 16 inch pristine rainbow and it really was the beginning of a very good day. Fishing Report - 06/03/20 It appears that the snow pack is close to gone as flows dropped dramatically as predicted below 400 cfs on section 5 the first week of June. There has been some Fairview Dam diversion flow surges on this section with a dramatic increase on Sunday which took flows from 400 cfs to 700 cfs between 7 am to 7 pm. To avoid being caught on the west side of the river in high flows, I always call the flow phone at 877-537-6356 before I leave the house and when I arrive in River Kern where there is cell reception. Being able to cover a lot of river is the key to double digits on the Kern River between Johnsondale Bridge and Kernville. About half of the NFS campgrounds are open and there are a lot of portable toilets along section 5 for those that are interested. Personally, I still bring all I need with me and fill up the tank before I head up to potentially avoid transporting Covid-19. We all need to stay safe and healthy and we need to do our part to keep our mountain & river communities safe & healthy. Progress on the Lake Isabella Dam is impressive and two years away from completion. One of the most visible aspects of the project happening now is the construction of a much larger emergency spillway. Workers will remove 2.8 million cubic yards of material to make room for the spillway. That's nearly as much material as it took to build the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. Whoa! See story here https://www.bakersfield.com/news/project-manager-on-isabella-dam-provides-update-on-progress/article_686f2cf8-aff9-11e9-a36e-37d34aad1e76.html
I arrived at the river at 8:30 am and rigged up. My first five casts were rewarded with two spunky rainbows. Then moved around with little success the rest of the first hour. The second hour I pushed through more pocket water and began finding rainbows disbursed in pockets at + - 50 yard intervals. Water temp was 60 degrees at the start and air temp 72 but climbed fast. I had trouble landing trout as the #16 BHFBPT just kept pulling through lips in heavier current. Had 12 grabs in the first 2 hours with 5 to the net. If trout took the #12 Arnerd I got them landed. Most trout I hooked the first 2 hours likely were planted for the Memorial Day weekend as they were 10”-12”. One was a pristine 15”buck with spawning color (seems late in the season for that). I had quite a few grabs on my #12 foam golden stonefly but none got the hook. Often a recast to the same spot where the dry was munched resulted in a hook up on the dropper nymphs. Had a bunch of takes on the pick up too. Fish are aggressive. I moved onto another stretch that I had to myself. Lots of bush whacking and the brush on the river is getting pretty thick, so I came home with some scrapes but it was worth it. I got into chunkier rainbows, ironically the 17th rainbow I landed was 17” and the 18th was 18”.
I found that the predictable post runoff catching to meet my expectations. I was buzzed by a pair of F-35 raptors and a pair of F-18’s. A real air show my grandsons would love. I landed 20 by noon but it was getting pretty hot. Wet wading is the way to go now. I tried another spot where I could run a #10 olive krystal flash wooly bugger deep and pulled 3 footlongs out of a long run. No really big rainbows on streamers today like earlier this year. I really like using a fast sink (12 ips) to get my streamers down fast in the Upper Kern. For the day I landed 26 rainbows in about 5 hours. Probably lost 15 others. There was all kinds of insect activity from tiny midges to large crane flies. I pumped a 16” bow’s belly and found both tiny nymphs and larger dries. I think nearly any pattern will work just present the fly in front of the trout and the next three weeks should be excellent before river temps become lethal. Fishing Report - 05/21/20 Normalcy is beginning to return to our favorites streams, rivers, and lakes. Fishers are encouraged to continue to social distance while enjoying their favorite pursuit. Conditions for wading fly fishers on the Upper Kern are still not recommended because of high flows over much of the 20 mile section. The north fork at Kernville is still in runoff mode and today is at 1,200 cfs after some very cool temperatures. However, we a ramping up to the century mark in the Bako on Memorial Day and 90’s in Kernville. 05/18/20 The Kern River Fly Fishers encourage everyone to follow the current orders of the State and County Health Officers. We all need to stay safe and healthy and we need to do our part to keep our mountain & river communities safe & healthy. Fishing News - 04/24/20 The CDFW acted on its proposal to delay the trout opener in Alpine, Mono, and Inyo counties after the public meeting April 15. Now Sierra County is included. Today the CDFW issued this additional announcement below: As much as it pains us, CDFW has delayed the start of the trout opener in Alpine, Inyo and Mono counties and on the Downie River in Sierra County as requested by county officials due to the public health concerns of COVID-19 and limited heath care facilities in these counties. In addition, CDFW has temporarily postponed fishing on the North Fork Yuba River in Sierra County. The trout season was scheduled to open in these counties tomorrow, Saturday, April 25. The delay to the opener extends through May 31, 2020. Specifically, this means all waters in Alpine, Inyo and Mono counties not currently open to fishing will remain closed to fishing through May 31. CDFW is also making minor adjustments to bag and possession limits in waters that are currently open for fishing to protect and conserve the existing fisheries that may be affected by increased angling pressure or harvest. Additionally, fishing is now temporarily suspended on the North Fork Yuba River from Yuba Pass downstream to the confluence with Goodyears Creek and the trout opener on the mainstem of the Downie River is delayed, both through May 31, 2020. These decisions do not affect the trout season in any other county. The adjustments to bag and possession limits for the four counties in question can be found here: https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=178544&inline The CDFW is no longer posting the stocking schedule online. Why? Over the years fishers have congregated on stocking spots and using social media have pulled in lots of fishers (mostly catch and keepers) right after stockings occur. This is not good for social distancing, so the policy has changed. Hopefully the practice will be considered permanently and would greatly improve the distribution of planted trout on all of our waters. This should give trout a better chance to survive and disperse while escaping the onslaught of Facebook hot spotting harvesters and posters that have become common now on the Kern River and Bakersfield Lakes. See CDFW statement here https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FishPlants/Default.aspx The snow pack totals are in and there does not appear to be any more snow in the forecast. Our first heat wave of the year is here and the runoff has started. The Kern River drainage snowpack is 50% of normal. The total state snow pack is at the same level of 50% of normal. That means many rivers will be lethal to trout that are in the Southern Sierra by summer’s start soon after the peak runoff. Here is a graph of the Kern Snow Pack for the last two decades
If we look at the runoff trends it shows that there will be a very short window of about 5 weeks where trout will be planted in the Kern River and the fast current will sweep them down stream to be disbursed. Last year the CDFW planted for over four months in high flows that gave us great disbursed catching for quite a while after the Kern River runoff ended. Peak flow this year will likely be well below 4,000 cfs. If we get a heat wave pushing 100 degrees for a few days in May 4,000 cfs might be reached for just a day. Based on previous years we will see 70 degree river temps at the hatchery shortly after Memorial Day. So not a great trout season for trout survival expected this summer on the 20 mile section. As we have seen in the past, the hatchery likely will not be operational most of the summer, as the five wells on site can only supply 1 cfs total. Time will tell. The Upper Kern should be at flows under 500 cfs by July 4th. That should keep a lot of rafters and fishers away from Kernville and Riverkern that could bring Covid-19 with them should the Govenor’s stay at home order remain in place into the summer. Here is how some of our favorite rivers ended up for April 1, 2020. Truckee River seems to be the best for now.
Database can be viewed here http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/snow_ss/COURSES
Fishing Report - Rich Arner - 04/15/20 Summary Fish and Game Commission Emergency Fishing Closure Webinar April 15, 2020 Today the CFGC held and emergency webinar to discuss Emergency regulation concerning suspending, delaying or restricting sport and recreational fishing. There were a huge number of people who participated. During the call, over 460 people were connected to the webinar and most remained on the To start out the webinar, the CFGC spent a lot of time asking people to be professional and considerate of all points of view and the seriousness of the current health situation. It is their proposal to surgically close three counties Alpine, Mono, and Inyo Counties to sport fishing. These are areas that receive large numbers of anglers beginning the day of the trout opener and weeks thereafter. These anglers would require lodging, food, tackle and other services and could bring the Covid-19 virus into these areas with limited health services. The commissioner provided several comments before public input was allowed that are noteworthy. No hunting closure/restrictions are being considered. This proposal would limit the CFGC’s ability to restrict or suspend fishing until May 31, 2020 in three counties. There is no statewide closure being considered. There has only been one closure in history that the CFGC implemented, which was on the Merced River in 2015 related to salmon during the extreme drought. The first people to comment on the proposed change were only public officials after 20 minutes of technical issues. They emphasized that just these three counties be closed to all outdoor activities not just fishing for the beginning of trout season. A Sheriff from Inyo County said they did not have the manpower to handle and monitor the large crowds of fisherman and others that will congregated at harbors, boat ramps, lakes and river banks. The FFF of Northern California supported the protection of these There were several public officials to comment in most of the first two hours. Here are some of them. A Siskiyou County official wants the CFGC to be aware that these actions would push more anglers into his region, especially the Upper Sacramento River. Other counties wanted to make sure their areas would not have any restrictions placed on them and that normal fishing would continue to occur. They want their own residents to have the ability to fish. A Plumas County official thanked the CFGC for not placing a After almost 2 hours the public was allowed to comment and 394 callers were still on the webinar. They were only allowed to comment for one minute each. The first caller from the public was concerned that San Diego has closed all fishing from harbors and she was not allowed to go out in the ocean in her own self contained vessel to feed her family. Other public commenter’s believe that closing one area to fishing will crowd people into other areas. Others thanked the CFGC for not closing fishing state wide and romoting that people can fish while practicing social distancing. Several people need to get meat by fishing because they can’t get meat in their local grocery stores. Many were upset that locals could be allowed to fish and are petitioning that they should be the only ones allowed to fish their waters. They were emphatic that if waters are restricted by the CFGC to fishing the water should be closed to everyone. Several said they think that the California Constitution states we can fish and that any restrictions on fishing should be up the each individual county or municipality not the CFGC. No one commented on Kern River or any Kern County waters. The CFGC wrapped up with comments well after three hours with over 250 callers still connected. They emphasized that if your local harbor is closed to salt water fishing, that it is not in the CFGC’s jurisdiction, that is a municipality issue. The CFGC is working to open up ocean fishing particularly for salmon. The new proposed restrictions language would be in effect until May 31, 2020 and would expire after that time. A legitimate request (made by Bart Hall of the Fred Hall shows) to extend the fishing season, because of this short term ban on the front end of the season, should be considered. The CFGC is not practicing martial law or violating our state laws. The CFGC was pleased with the technical challenge to It would appear that the proposal to invoke Emergency regulation concerning suspending, delaying or restricting sport and recreational fishing for Alpine, Inyo, and Mono Counties through May 31st will go forward. Stay tuned for the latest. Fishing Report - Rich Arner - 04/14/20 The California Fish and Game Commission has announced today that the potential Emergency regulations to suspend or close areas to fishing will be discussed starting at 10 am (not 9 am) April 15. The revised agenda is now available on the Commission's website at http://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=177983&inline. This meeting will be held by teleconference only. Please refer to the agenda for important meeting information, including registering for the teleconference. As always, a live stream of the meeting will be available at www.fgc.ca.gov on the day of the meeting. Sincerely,
Fishing Report - Rich Arner - 04/12/20 There is a lot to report while we are off of our favorite waters and I hope to keep you up to date on some big issues that are driving our fly fishing for 2020. The most urgent topic regards the California Fish and Game Commission Emergency Meeting that was cancelled last week. Many of you tried to participate. Because of huge participation it had to be rescheduled. The CFGC oversees the CDFW. On April 9th the CFGC wanted to discuss whether or not to temporarily grant authority to CDFW to decide whether to delay, restrict, or suspend sport or recreational fishing in order to prevent and mitigate public health risks that may arise when people travel for fishing trips or congregate while participating in available fishing opportunities. At this time the CFGC shows a meeting for April 15 beginning at 9 am on their web page, but there is no time allocated to address this critical topic? So I made inquiries and got an email this morning that reads below. April 9 Emergency Meeting If you are contacting the Commission regarding the April 9, 2020 emergency meeting, please note that due to the high public interest in the meeting, we exceeded the capacity of our teleconference technology and postponed the meeting. The Commission is rescheduling the agenda item to April 15 at 10:00 a.m. Please check our meetings webpage for updates or visit our homepage at www.fgc.ca.gov to join our electronic mailing list (select Agendas: Business Meetings).
It is unclear to me if there is a separate meeting to discuss CDFW fishing closures at 10 am or is a part of the 9am meeting/webinar? Given the EXTREMELY high interest you would think this topic would dictate its own meeting. To insure that you get a link to the meeting/webinar sign up for an email notice soon, before the system is overloaded again. To do this, go to this web page and check the first box that says AGENDAS: Business Meeting at this webpage:
Then check your email or junk folder for the invite email from the CDFG. Hopefully that will allow you to listen or participate. There will be lots to report on going forward and I look forward to keeping you updated. Here is just a list of topics to be covered: the outcome of the webinar, proposed NEW Fishing Regulations for the Kern, Golden Trout Wilderness and other top waters, KRFF recommendations for those new regulations, the COVID-19 delayed snow pack surveys state wide, predicted peak flows for the Kern, when trout lethal temps will pervade (sadly) the Upper Kern in 2020, potential start of the Kern River Rainbow project in 2020, updates for the Kern River Hatchery, best fly fishing videos, great Kern fly ties and lots more….. At this time we’d like to give a big thank you to all of the heroes out there that are taking on a lot during these challenging times: especially medical workers, first responders, grocery employees, truck drivers, utility workers, farmers/laborers, medical supply providers and so many more.... Stay safe and informed. 04/09/20 The Kern River Fly Fishers encourage everyone to follow the Governor's "Stay at Home order". We all need to stay safe and healthy and we need to do our part to keep our mountain & river communities safe & healthy.
Fishing Report - Rich Arner - 03/28/20 I think that you will all agree that we are living in most interesting times. Most of us are hunkered down at home tying flies because of the COVID-19 virus induced social distancing. However, things have improved somewhat for our local fisheries over the last month. We were far behind in rainfall and snow pack, but March will have higher than normal rainfall in Bakersfield by the time it concludes. N.O.A.A. had forecasted a much drier than normal March through May. It could still play out that way or perhaps not? Short range geographic climate prediction continues to be a very inexact science. There has been a slight bump in the Southern Sierra river drainages snow pack (see bottom plot above) which ticked up a bit to 43% of normal. The Kern River drainage has had just two physical snow pack measurements the last month; rather estimates from satellite imaging are interpolated for the plots below. Typically there are physical measurements taken near April 1st, as that is the historical benchmark for peak snow pack. You can view the measurements of all of the rivers in California here http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/snow_ss/COURSES . Even with the good March rainfall total, it appears that the snow pack level will fall below 50% in 2020. What does that mean? After a very good 2019 there was a lot of good trout catching and vegetation grown in the Southern Sierra, now it appears it will be very dry and extreme fire potential will concern residents, campers and fishers all summer. Once we have the April 1st snow pack, stayed tuned for a prediction of peak flows and when the Upper Kern drops to 1,000 cfs (400 cfs low flow section) post run off.
According to the CDFW Region 4 office hatcheries, where our Kern River hatchery trout come from, are now closed to the public and many CDFW employees are working from home. However, trout plants are still going forward. The Kern River Hatchery siphon is repaired and trout should be back in the races in April. They expect to hold trout again and stock in April, most of the schedule is not posted online yet. Direct stocking from the San Joaquin Hatchery was lower pounds than usual during March. Water is off color and river temps in the upper forties. Our Governor has locked most of us in place, but has encouraged us to continue outdoor activities, especially those that involve exercising, while social distancing. So if you plan to go fishing with a friend, make sure you don’t ride share, unless you are going with a member of your household. In the past few months the stocking strategy drew pods of bait and fly fishers and it was hard to get multiple catches unless you were around a lot of other fishers. That might improve, if they start stocking in more stretches outside of Kernville. They stocked sections 4 and 5 two weeks ago and section 4 should get some trout next week. The hatchery manager has said fishing pressure has been light and that may be because of the lighter poundage? A few members have made the trek up to the Kern the last 3 weeks and those that did had few landed. More rain is on the way and that may cloud things up? Section 5 is very low at 77 cfs. Check out the 19” buck that a KRFF friend landed about a month ago on the Lower Kern. We just hit over 70,000 visitors to our fishing reports. Thanks for your interest!
Fishing Report - Rich Arner - 02/22/20 Lots of news to discuss in addition to catching conditions. There were some nice plants just before Whiskey Flat Days in Kernville (the plant was not on the planting website schedule). Hatchery manager Tony says the average trout size in the latest lot is the biggest he’s seen since he arrived at the Kern River Hatchery. He said that there were a lot of fishers concentrated where he planted around Kernville. Some were up to 16 inches. How many lasted the three day weekend? Who is to say. Next plant not on the schedule yet. The Kern flows are still low and Section 5 is still almost a trickle at 45 cfs. The snow indicates that we will have a drought year unless some big storms arrive soon. We will have one of the driest Februarys recorded. The NOAA forecast is for warmer than normal temperatures and lower than normal precipitation through May and that means low snowpack and faster snow pack melt. Current snow pack measurements for the Southern Sierra is just 46% of where it should be now and just 52% for the whole state. The graph trend is distressing. What does this mean? Based on past years I’ve tracked, expect trout lethal water temps on the Upper Kern 20 mile section before the 4th of July and flows will be wadable on the low flow section about June 10th. That gives you just a 3 week window to wade safely and not lethally exhaust rainbows if the current bleak precipitation trend holds.
How’s the Lower Kings River doing? The CDFW still has not fattened up their super catchables (3 lbs) to size yet. Cold river temps (48 degrees) at the San Joaquin Hatchery have slowed the weight gaining process as cold trout don’t eat as much as trout in warmer water. They do hope to plant super catchables by mid-March. They have planted the Lower Kings weekly with +footlongs and few lucky fishers have tagged some sizeable holdovers from last year. Flows have been staying below 300 cfs, which is a bit high, but fishable and the catching has been good with the weekly plantings for months. Remember that the Lower Kings below Alta Weir is barbless, artificial, catch and release with heavy fines for those that don’t comply.
Finally the Kern River Fly Fishers are sponsoring the INTERNATIONAL FLY FISHING TOUR FILM FESTIVAL in Bakersfield March 21st at 2:00 pm at the Maya Cinemas. This is the first time it will be held in Bakersfield. If you haven’t been to one of these events you are in for a real treat. The festival consists of several short high quality films about fly fishing all over the world. We will have great prizes that you can win. All proceeds to benefit Casting for Recovery. For more information see the links below. The event should no last more than a couple of hours Fishing Report - Rich Arner - 01/18/20 Welcome to the first fly fishing report of the decade. This is the best time of year to tie flies, clean one’s fly fishing gear and plan future fishing trips. Very cold nights and below normal day time temperatures have kept the river and lakes pretty chilly. There was recent stocking at Bakersfield lakes a few days ago. Section 4 got some trout around Kernville. Bait fisherman are doing well the first day of plants, but by the second day not a lot of trout making it to the net. Lethargic trout chilled by the cold river temperatures mean they stay in place and social media blasts assure harvesting them is quickly accomplished. Water temperature at the hatchery is just 37 degrees. It doesn’t have a lot of trout in the races and is still closed to the public and hoping to reopen by April. It will stock our county locations periodically but much lower pounds than later this spring. The Kings River will not get large brood stock this winter as in years past, but should get hefty 3 pounders in late February. For now it is getting stocked weekly with lots of foot longs and the catching has been good but flows below Pine Flat reservoir are high for wading fly fishers at 500 cfs, however, flows have dropped to 350 cfs as I type - still very high for fly fishing. Most waders prefer flows below 200 cfs. Lake Buena Vista has had many lunkers landed to 7 pounds but we are unaware of any fly fishers doing well there. Rainfall has been pretty low for January and snow packs are lower than normal. The low flow section on the Upper Kern is down to just 46 cfs. Above Fairview Dam on section 6 flows are 270 cfs and fairly clear but crossing the river is not recommended. If you fall in make sure you can get to warm clothes fast. The snow pack for the Kern River drainage won’t be sampled until early February and preliminary estimates have it around 82% of normal for this time of year. There is little precipitation in the forecast for the remainder of January. The NOAA forecast for the next 3 months is not encouraging for California. These are the most important precipitation months of the year. Hopefully there will be a change, but healthy Kern River conditions from July to September are not likely with the current trend in place. The best places to plan for great fly fishing look to be Montana, Colorado and Northern Idaho this year.
A KRFF member came across an interesting article online from TFO that shows many manufacturers are purposely overweighting fly lines. Give it a read here: https://tforods.com/the-predicament-of-buying-the-right-fly-lin/ Conditions are very good on the Lower Owens. Pleasant temperatures and great flows around 150 cfs look to be good for the club outing later this month. Remember to get your 2020 fishing license https://wildlife.ca.gov/Licensing/Online-Sales Report steelhead Harvest by 1/31 https://www.ca.wildlifelicense.com/InternetSales/CustomerSearch/Begin Fishing Report - Rich Arner - 12/03/19 It is great to see all of the moisture dropped on the Southern Sierra. We were far behind in rainfall and snowfall totals but now are in very good shape with another dumping on the way. While the precipitation is great, the colder weather has dropped water temperatures dramatically. In Kernville the Upper Kern is in the upper 30’s. The Upper Kern town locations got stocked before Turkey Day and the catching heated up but effective harvesting has put the bite down. Colder river temps are making trout lethargic. With temps well below 45 degrees stocking on the Upper Kern is likely over for a while. See CDFW stocking water temperature protocol here https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Fishing/Hatcheries/Criteria From the CDFW website, “This dynamic Fish Planting Schedule is updated in real time, directly by CDFW Hatchery staff. Although it contains current information, all fish plants are subject to change depending on road, water, weather and operational conditions”. Fishing Report - Rich Arner - 11/20/19 Rain finally got here and is much welcomed. This is one of the latest starts (3rd latest on record) to the rainy season ever in Kern County. That has kept the Upper Kern clear but will it mean a drought year for 2020? Good news on the potential wild fire front for sure. We have seen much more planting in our Bako local lakes than previous years, however, the catching has been slower than usual for fly club members as well as bait anglers. Warmer lake temperatures are suspected. The Lower Kern has also been stocked, the water is cloudier than the upper, and wading more difficult in the higher river gradient. There are a few stocking locations that have some short runs that are wadeable but usually are heavily pressured. Easily finding a quite spot with numbers has always been difficult on the lower. The catching on the Upper Kern has been much better in some areas. Section 4 has been stocked regularly, especially between KR3 and Riverside Park in Kernville. Social media quickly announces when the stocking occurs and catching commences. While double digit numbers can be easily had by anglers timing their fishing within 48 hours of the stock. The caveat is you won’t be alone. The web connected quickly mass for the free food so the catching is great with a few super catchables reported to be sprinkled in with the foot longs. Get there early and camp on your spot strategically if this is your cup of tea. Flows (50 cfs) are very low on section 5 below Fairview and there is lots of wadeable water there, however, the extremely low flows have given natural predators a distinct advantage over unwary rainbows. Not much stocking lately or scheduled the rest of 2019 for the stretch below Fairview Dam. So a lot of walking and boulder hopping are required to find some long term holdovers still surviving there. At this time water clarity on the Upper Kern has held up but the next 24 hours will tell. Snow levels down to 6,000’ and we need to start building the snow pack as we are well behind the normal trend. Section 6 above Fairview Dam has blanked most members for several weeks. It hasn’t been stocked much and flows still too high to traverse a lot of water. Water temps will drop substantially and that will put down the wild and long term holdovers, however, the recent planters on section 4 should still be eating as they are used to getting fed daily and will take a while to naturalize there feeding behavior. So expect more catching in and near Kernville to keep the locals happy for Turkey Day. If water clarity stays favorable, fly fishers could do well also near town. The trophies are coming to the Lower Kings soon, details to be provided soon so stay tuned. Releases from Pine Flat Dam have dropped dramatically to under 400 cfs from 1,350 cfs just a while ago. Some of the trophies planted last winter are being caught and more to come soon. It is also getting typical planters weekly for quite some time. There is a long section below Alta Weir that is barbless, catch and release only and is often patrolled by stealthy CDFW wardens with binoculars to delay harvesting. Before you go any time soon check the flows on Mill Creek. Although a small creek, it can bring a lot of muddy water into the Lower Kings should this latest storm drive flows up over 50 cfs. See here https://www.dreamflows.com/graphs/mon.480.php You can order your 2020 fishing license now online here https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Licensing/Online-Sales Fishing Report - Rich Arner - 11/07/19 We are having an unusually warm and dry fall this year. It makes for great fishing, however, we really need rain. The threat of wild fires is still extreme as almost no precipitation has fallen in SoCal in months. Air quality in the SJV is very poor and people with allergies are wheezing and sneezing a lot. Not a problem up on the UK today! Fishing Report - Rich Arner - 10/25/19 Colder Upper Kern River water temperatures have been recorded in the 40’s on the 20 mile section last week. However, we got a few days of hot windy weather that threatens to shut off power to the Kern River Valley and spark wild fires (as I’m typing the I-5 in Castaic is shut down in both directions for a brush fire there). While our sympathies and concerns are extended to the unfortunate circumstances for many in SoCal, it does mean that there is a potential for more active trout and less fishing pressure on the Upper Kern. Yesterday the lakes in the Bako were stocked and social media quickly broadcast the news. So with the prospect of more angling people staying in the Bako and the warmer water up river , I thought it would be a good time to take advantage of the last best days of the year for catching on the Upper Kern.
Fishing Report - Rich Arner - 10/22/19 Ahhhhh the pleasantries of Fall are upon us. Much cooler temperatures in the Bako have arrived . The Kern River has not yet received any rainfall and hopefully it will sooner than later. A far lower snow pack is predicted this season than last year. We will update you as we get more definitive forecast data. Trout can still be had for those willing to work. A lot of CDFW stocking has moved down stream below Kernville and Lake Isabella- even to Bakersfield lakes. They are hoping to get more trout into the higher flows of the Lower Kern as they can get more spread out and remain uncaught for longer periods of time. This gives more anglers a chance to catch before the stocking truck followers efficiently harvest. There is very good news for our local lakes. The first lake plants nearby are happening in October this year. On Thursday last week Lake Ming got the first load. For the first time in years we will see trout out at Riverwalk before Halloween this week. Local lakes will see a lot more plants and will resemble what we were used to seeing before extreme drought and the Moccasin Hatchery (All of CDFW Region 4 still being adversely affected)was severely flood damaged in 2018 . Power outages for wildfire season have not yet affected the hatchery but they have been on alert several times and there may be an outage later this week according to SoCal Edison. The hatchery is still closed to tours for the near term. Fishing Report - Rich Arner - 10/03/19 The big drop in SoCal temperatures made us curious as to what the catching was like. Often big temperature drops can lock up the trout for days. Today was not the case. This week sections 2,3 and 4 were to be stocked. We love section 5 to wade but flows have dropped down to just 86 cfs, above Fairview on section 6 flows are holding steady at 350 cfs. Still too high to cross. It is called Albolene Moisturizing Cleanser. The fly fishing guides we used on the McKenzie River in Oregon swear by this product for their fly floatant. They have used for years. We used all day long for the best dry fly fishing I’ve experienced. I applied to my foam stone and it held up great and kept my fly buoyant. I would not use on tiny dries (under size 18) as I use silicone shakes for that. You can get a 3 ounce tube of Albolene for $6 here https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QF1YORS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 You can buy a big 12 oz jar that will last a drift boat guide for years at CVS for $14, but I like the tube because I can easily squirt the floatant easily into an empty Gink bottle for on the river. It cost about one tenth the price of gink and should last the average fly fisher for years.
Fishing Report - Rich Arner - 09/26/19 Finally had a chance to get up on the Upper Kern since the big stock last week. We targeted areas that were stocked last week to see if any of the super catchables under 3 pounds were still around to play. We checked out 9 different spots on Sections 4,5, and 6. We started around 8:30 am and noticed a hint of smoke in the air. Water temp 60 degrees on section 4 and air temp 72 degrees. We decided to wet wade, as temps into the lower 90’s were forecasted. We searched and searched but did not locate pods of newly planted trout. We did hook and land 18 trout over the course of the day. Trout were found but not concentrated. Few appeared to be recent stockers. It appears most of the big boys have already been harvested? We saw many more fishers on the river mid week than previous weeks. No catching by others observed, both fly fishers and bait/spin fishers. (webmasters note: There is a large (1000 acres or so) controlled burn in Tulare County being handled by CalFire. This is to burn off excessive and non-native grasses and brush. The weather pattern is pushing the smoke up into the Lake Isabella area. Rich was advised late last night.) Hatchery Report - Rich Arner - 09/24/19 The catching up on the Kern River really has been a roller coaster. Back in mid-August is was prime time on the Upper Kern as the river was stocked for months while flows were too high for effective harvesting. Trout were swept downstream from stocking sites before they could be harvested. Then flows on Section 5 became crossable and holding water was abundant. For those who can wade aggressively, the catching was the best of the year. Catching five trout/hr was the norm for three weeks. Flows on Section 6 and 4 remained uncrossable through September, however, the cemetery stretch had a few super catchables (under 3 lb) survive a few weeks from the July hatchery evacuation. The hatchery remained dry because power could be cut by the utilities at any time to avoid potential wild fire issues. As I am typing, utilities across the state are issuing warnings to many residents in fire prone areas that may experience power outages for days until the fire risks dissipate. So it would seem the Kern River hatchery will remain dry a while longer until wild fire hazards subside? Hope to verify soon. Just about Labor Day the catching dropped off dramatically as a result of harvesting and the very hot weather that raised water temps into the 70’s, particularly on section 5. That makes the bigger trout lethargic and increases all sorts of physiological issues for trout. For those that are catch and release fly fishers, we avoid fishing water as it nears 70 degrees to avoid lethally stressing rainbow trout. In some waters in Montana officials close the rivers to all fishing once temps routinely hit 65 degrees. On the McKenzie River in Oregon, where we just fished, guides don’t take clients on that river when temps hit 65 degrees as well. A self preservation philosophy that sustains a healthy wild trout population that we enjoyed thoroughly last week. Back to the Kern River. Just as many of us thought the Kern River had moved way past its peak, we got a wonderful gift. The San Joaquin Hatchery provided dozens of super catchable trout and lots of other smaller trout last week. Just in time for the big tournament in Kernville 9/21. It sounds like everyone caught trout and many super catchables up to 25.5”. The total count for about 75 fly fishers was 421 trout caught. Trout of any size counted to help people score, because the catching dropped off after sterile trout and extended drought became the norm years ago. If you do the math the average fisher caught about 6 trout in +6 hours or so. That’s one trout per hour. Not bad, as 15 years ago that was the typical catch rate for most when over 360,000 trout were planted each year out of the Kern River Hatchery. This past year the total trout planted was around 25% of that (the Moccasin hatchery flood damage last year is still negatively affecting planting for our CFDW Region 4). No word yet if more super catchables will make it to the Kern River from the San Joaquin Hatchery. We should have an update on our website later this week. A word of caution. While the most wadeable water, section 5, has been stable at about 115 cfs, it has bumped up dramatically without warning recently (see 9/13/19 report). It could more than double if water is not diverted for power. If you notice a flow surge or the water becoming stained, get back to the road side fast. It could be quite an adventure to get back to your vehicle as flows reach +350 cfs. Hatchery Report - Rich Arner - 09/17/19 Good news, there appears to be planting scheduled for September. There is a planting scheduled for this week on sections 3,4,6. Temps are cooler so river temps should be fine this week. The usual patterns are productive. Flash back pheasant tails, copper johns, hares ears, princes.... all bead heads set at least 36” below a hopper our stimulator with yellow bellies. Nymphs sizes 12 to 18 and dries 12 to 16. Correct presentation is key, matching the hatch not as important. Remember to move your planted catches to holding water in concealed spots if possible or just toss them across the river to give them a chance to last a couple of weekends. Be prepared to cover a lot of water to find where the trout are. Fishing Report - Rich Arner - 09/13/19 |
