It's 'Upper' Time
Kern River Valley
July 16, 2005
This
article is long over-due. Here we are nearing the end of August and
I'm still talking about July. For that, I apologize. Just have
too many irons in the fire.
I was pleasantly surprised when one of
my brothers (Matt) expressed the desire to finally visit the Kern river
with me... someday. Well, I wasn't going to let that slip by
again. So, I nailed it... and we set a date for the weekend of the
16th.
Leaving around 7pm that Friday, we
didn't get to the Ranch until almost 10pm. Matt was so excited, he
didn't stop talking the entire trip. Which was cool. I really
enjoyed his being so excited and talkative. Being brothers, we've
had our good days and bad., and this had all the signs of a GOOD
trip. We were off to a good start.
Saturday morning, we were up early to
start our 30-40 minute journey through the Kern River Valley. And put us
on the water, between Fairview and Limestone, by 8am.
After stopping to test a well-known
spot, to no avail, I decided we'd get off the beaten path a bit. One
of the things I like about the Kern, is the ability to find spots less
frequented by the multitudes in the campgrounds. So we drove a
little further to locate a neglected area that looked promising.
Within no time at all (perhaps a little)
my fishing partner (Daniel) radioed that he had caught the first fish.
Meanwhile, I re-familiarized Matt with the techniques of fishing the
Kern. We marveled at the fact, that, he hadn't been to the Kern
since he was a kid with Dad. I had a sense that Dad was drawing us
back. And I was overjoyed that one of my brothers would get to
experience what I've been sensing for a couple years now. Glancing over at
him, I could see traces of Dad in his expressions, eyes and in the casual
manner he fished.
I stood there lecturing Matt on the fine
art of fishing the Kern... within 10 minutes he responded with "Got
One!". I got out my hemostats and readied myself for the
assist. Sadly, I didn't get the camera out. It was a beautiful Kern
Rainbow going to 13". I complimented Matt and told him
"its a keeper". He asked if it was average for a Kern
River Trout., I told him they range from 8-14" with 11" being
about average. I'm still hoping for one of those 14s. Ok,
lesson over.
I was trying, unsuccessfully, to nymph
with a sinking line. The flow was too strong and it just wasn't
working out. So much for showing Matt what a great fly fisherman I
am. I swapped over to a spinning setup and sank some eggs. My
first catch of the day was smaller than Matts', but a beautiful Kern trout
all the same.
My hand measures 3-1/2" across.
Feeling
we'd done all we could do here, and wanting to show Matt some more of the
river, I took the group on a tour to the Johnsondale Bridge and a look at
the South Creek Falls.
The South Creek Falls were less
spectacular then they were last May, when the Kern was blowing through the
canyon at 7000-8000cfs.. But there was still a considerable amount
of water coming over the falls.
Next we drove back down to near
Limestone. Daniel took his position on his favorite boulder and was
joined by Matt., and I went directly to a couple of my favorite runs up
river.
The flow was still too high for me to
fish my favorite runs. Just too much water coming down. So I
fished in a little Eddy, hoping a trout might be hiding out there. Yep,
another healthy Kern River specimen.
I returned to the crew and discovered
they had lost more than they landed. But that Matt had managed to
catch and keep one.
They were fishing a massive pool
out-flowing into a wide stretch of slower water. So I figured I'd
wade out to the drop-off and test the drift downstream from Daniel and
Matt..
After a couple casts, I got a massive
strike and he was running. It didn't take long for me to think that
this might be one of those Trophies I've heard so much about. And
then I remembered where my net was... in the truck. I did my best to
tire out the big fella. Then, I reeled him in and got him closer to
Matt for the assist. Four hands in the water and we couldn't get a
hold of him. I could see he was BIG and STRONG, the fish that
is. And then, as I feared, he broke off the tippet and went on his
merry way. In shock, I looked at Matt and said "That was the
biggest fish I've ever caught on the Kern... and he got away".
Matt responded with, "Its Ok, you caught him and I'm your
witness". Well, it's not the same... but ok, it was nice to see
that sucker.
We finished the day, tired and toasted
from the sun, and returned to the Ranch. I really enjoyed this trip.
It was good to finally get Matt out there. Even though we came home
with only two fish each... well, there was more to this trip than catching
fish.
On our return to Whittier, Daniel
realized he had left his wallet at the Ranch. These days, you really
can't go for too long with that (Drivers License, ATM card...). So I said
I'd just have to go back up to the Ranch on Wednesday and get it for
him.
Left for the Ranch at 5am Wednesday.
Funny thing about my truck, after arriving at the Ranch, I can never get
it pointed towards Whittier without first visiting the river. And leaving
Whittier at 5am will put me on the river by 8am.
First things first, I took a picture of
the water to demonstrate the quality of it. Sadly, I didn't get
around to this overdue report till now. The rock in this picture is
over a foot beneath the surface.
Being a brief visit, with plans to
depart for Whittier at noon, I decided to forego setting up the fly rod
and just get out there with the spinning gear. I tip-toed into one
of the campgrounds to test the waters there. As I had planned, the
campers were just coming out of their tents. When I got to the water
I discovered pre-positioned chairs, lounges and canopies along its
banks. These camper people can really be annoying at times. Do
they actually think leaving this stuff here is some kind of reservation
system? This being one of my favorite beaches, I had half a
mind to kickback on one of those lounges beneath a canopy and fish.
I tested the pools and runs around that spot and discovered it had been
swept clean of fish... I should have expected that.
I walked upriver a little and begun
testing some more. Almost as quickly as the eggs touched the water, I had
caught the first trout of the day. No sooner did that happen and a
family of 6 enters the same spot, for a morning swim. They looked at
me as if I had come from a distant planet. How dare I put a hook in
their pool. I'll never understand this category of people. Clearly
they see I'm fishing, and I was there first. So why on earth would
they feel it's right to jump in and put an end to any chance I might have
at catching another fish. The nerve of some people. No, that's
putting it too lightly. Maybe I should have said something... but
unlike these selfish and disrespectful people, I KNOW the river is
full of OTHER spots. So I reeled it in and with my prize dangling at my
side, I hiked upriver some more.
As luck would have it, I came across a
spot that had FISH written all over it. I spied a spot in the middle
of the river where I could test two runs and an eddy downstream, and the
outflow of pool beneath a fall upstream. For starters, I played the
eddy before wading out... FISH ON!
I carefully made my way to the middle...
my, but those rocks are slippery. When I finally got into position,
I just had to marvel at being able to hit four spots without moving an
inch. While deciding which spot to 'toss to' first, I spot a
gorgeous trout swimming around just downstream. So I wrestled to get
my camera out, set the telephoto mode and get a picture of him.
I seldom, if ever, cast to fish I can
see. Just a rule I adopted over my lifetime of Trout Chasing... 'If
you can see them, you can't catch them'. Perhaps because they saw
you too. So I decided to cast to the run on the right... FISH
ON! And then to the run on the left... FISH ON! And then for
the heck of it, I did my comical backward cast into the falls behind me...
FISH ON! Three fish in under 5 minutes. WOW!
The
last three fish came so quickly, that I decided to play with number 5 a
little. And get some pictures of him making his runs.
Unfortunately, this final picture was the best of the bunch... and even
then, it needed some cleaning up.
On exiting the river, I thanked God for
the experience. Walking back to the truck with 5 beauties ... I shot
a wide smile towards the rude family as I passed them. That smile stayed
with me on the drive to the Ranch and the long drive back to Whittier...
We'll be back
...
