Spring Approaches
Upper Kern River
Feb, 2005
Now that I've acquired a little Ranch in
Caliente near Havilah, I'm visiting the Kern even more. Usually
managing only a few hours on the river during each trip., so I'll combine
my February visits into this article.
With each visit to the Valleys
(Caliente, Walker-Basin, Havilah & Kern) signs of Spring are growing
more and more present. Now's the time to enjoy the scenery, as much
as, the fishing.
I generally leave Los Angeles with a
'nose to the grindstone' attitude., consumed with the headaches,
frustrations and anxieties of the day to day madness commonly referred to
as 'Life' by city folks. Man, do they have it all wrong. And
frankly, I'll venture a guess that most of them are totally clueless about
what 'Living' is really like. We anglers know something about the
Good Life God has given man. I believe it's part of the equation
that draws us to chasing trout. It does a soul good to be surrounded
by that which wasn't created by man.
As I approach Mojave, my heart begins to
soar. I start feeling better, with a sense of 'Free
Spiritedness'. Even in the rain, I'm filled with nothing but
excitement, anticipation and a positive outlook. I've nearly
forgotten the city. In fact, I think I dropped that baggage
somewhere near Palmdale.
Because of the little Ranch's location,
I was given cause to try a new route to the Kern River Valley... and
I just feel in love with it. I doubt the route will attract too many
of the 'always in a hurry (rush rush)' city folks., who think the
countryside was intended to be a blur and one big dumping ground.
And so, I'll dare to tell of it here.
(see big Map)
At Mojave (Map Point 1), jump on Hwy
58 towards Bakersfield. You'll pass the mountain of windmills on your
left, as you go through the Tehachapi Pass on Hwy 58.
At
point 2, you'll pass the city of
Tehachapi itself.
Near Keene, before point 3,
you'll climb a grade through the mountain pass. Be careful on the
downgrade as you crest the grade, stay in the right lane going slower as
the grade bottoms out., you'll need to make a SHARP right onto Bealville
Road from Hwy 58. You'll see a sign 'Caliente/Lake Isabella next
exit...', make sure you're going slow (like 40mph) to make the turn off,
as the road actually intersects with the Hwy. Follow Bealville Road
into the town of Caliente and hang a right onto Bodfish/Caliente
road. Then just follow the road towards Lake Isabella.
At the Y, near point 4,
bear left continuing on Bodfish/Caliente road., instead of going right,
down Caliente Creek road. At this point you'll start the 9 miles of
winding road through, up and over Oiler Canyon... and coming out at Rankin
Ranch on the southern end of the Walker-Basin.
I've clocked the route from Mojave to
Havilah at 1hr. Another 15mins from Havilah to Downtown Lake
Isabella. I drive conservatively. Top off the gas tank at
Mojave and you'll arrive at Lake Isabella with around 1/2 - 3/4 of a tank
to spare. Enjoy the scenery !
Traveling
this route in spring, you'll see what I mean the moment you get to the
town of Caliente. The Green Hills and surrounding valley makes the
scenery seem surreal.
Driving through Caliente valley, I saw
Wild Flowers on the verge of blooming. This could be a spectacular
drive in March ! Don't miss it. The wife will love you for
it., and the kids will get a kick out of the many horses and cattle.
Not to mention the trains along the way.
Needless to say, I stopped to take a lot
of pictures. You'll have to make the trip yourself if you want more
:) .
With Marty Robbins in the CD player
(yes, I said Marty Robbins), you'll be wondering how you could have
forgotten your cowboy hat. All the same, you can't help but feel
you've been transplanted back in time. A time before 'Terrorist
Alerts' and all of the trappings of modern day life.
All of this scenery and the beauty of
the winding mountain road through endless cattle ranches, left me longing
for retirement like a 6yr old waiting for Santa.
Now for the fishing part of the story...
One weekend I was able to test the lower Kern and hook up with a healthy
hold-over. But, nothing more. We fished along the section of
river that passes by Hobo Campground. While there, we visited the
Hot Springs. I was surprised to see that the FS had placed a trash
can near the Springs, good idea. Now if they can just assign someone
to empty it. Equally surprising was the sight of some recent
plumbing and fixing of the pools by visitors to springs.
Later that day and the following day, we
spent some time on the upper Kern ( at and around Hospital Flats).
In case you missed my forum post, I'll paste it here.
Saturday, Dan insisted we test the upper
Kern. We drove up and started working our way back down from Goldledge.
The obvious and easily reached spots were devoid of fish., or so it
seemed. I decided to test 'less obvious' pools using an egg pattern. BINGO
! Took some fancy rock hopping, but it paid off. I netted another >
13" trout from a whitewater backwash pool. A section of water I
normally would'nt have bothered with. That got me to testing some crazy
places, as we made our way down river. But it seemed to work. The trout
were holding in small runs and pools of whitewater you might disregard.
Whereas the bigger pools and longer runs were bare.
It took a lot of rock hopping and hunting, but I managed to catch 7 fat
trout 12-14" between Goldledge and Hospital Flats.
After hopping rocks to the middle of the river at Hospital Flats, tired of
hopping and hunting, I wished I could get an angle on a run at the other
side to my rear. The sun was starting to sink and the wind was in my
favor, so I figured what the heck ... and performed a rather goofy
backward cast. At first, I had no idea where my fly was thosed ... then I
saw the line drifting through the run, at a brisk pace before being struck
and going sideways. I just had to laugh... my half-hearted and foolish
cast actually caught a fish. I found it funny that I often work so hard to
find the perfect spot and then cast a precision cast... just so... and
then I catch a 12-13" trout with an 'I could a careless toss to who
knows where'. With luck like that, maybe I should have gone to Las Vegas.
On
a return visit on 2/20, I was able to get in a couple hours of fishing
near Hospital Flats again. Using the need to go into town for
hardware as an excuse... it's funny how the vehicle just seemed to be
pulled to the upper Kern. Passing the 'Whiskey Flat Days' crowds in
Kernville, as I drove slowly past. The crowd was actually down this
year due to the stormy weekend.
At the tail-end of the storm, the water
clarity was off and the flows were up., so I didn't expect too much.
I was able to somehow get lucky and actually catch a 11-12" trout,
albeit rather skinny. And I actually managed to get a picture of
this one. He was caught on a bead headed green and black woolly
bugger with strips of silver/green Mylar tied into the pattern.
I tried the waters relentlessly for a
couple of hours., and decided to call it quits and head back to
Havilah. I'm always happy to catch (at least) one fish.
Here's a picture of the water to give
you some idea of the clarity, at the time. Not that it was anything
unexpected, given the recent rains. What is of interest here, is the
absence of the flowing river of mud we've experienced since the McNally
fire. I'd have to say that the river has recovered from that tragic
event. And that the worse of the fire related runoff has past.
Heading
back to the dreaded city, from Havilah through my three valley route, the
rains returned. How fitting was that?
Looking over my shoulder, as I passed
through Walker-Basin, my spirits were cheered by the sight of this
rainbow. And with a smile on my face, I started the 9 miles of
winding road back toward Caliente.
God's creations calm a man's soul like
nothing else I know...
We'll be back
... again and again!
