Kern River report

[Dryrod]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][#008000][size 3]Well unfortunately I won’t be doing any bragging nor will 2/3rds of our group of 29 fisherpeople. The Kern River above Lake Isabella hasn’t been stocked in over two years. The know it alls are concerned about the safety of some small frog. Duh give me a break – no stocking but catch and kill of the native fish is okay? Those that did catch a fish or two were lucky to find areas in this big river where the natives were hiding out. The fly shop people were touting nymphs, midges and some streamer, but guess what they were having success with dry’s. Parachute Adams was a favorite. Monday morning at day break I gave the river one more go before leaving for home. Air temp was 36º & water temp 42º. A bit cool for the trout to start looking for breakfast. So after a while I packed it in and headed home. About 26 miles down the canyon took an access road to the river to see if anything looked interesting. Found a nice beach area where I could cast without having to put on my waders. I started with a San Juan as I heard that the spinners had good success with blood worms catching some planters. Well I got that one broken off, so I tried a glo ball and had that taken from me. As a made my way around some bushes to fish around some boulders I came across a big boulder jutting out from the shore with a smaller one about four feet up stream from it. That created a nice pool where the water was gently coming back up stream to create a mini eddie. OMG there were two huge trout sitting below the boulder. The one that was facing side ways to me had to be about 18” long. It was hard to estimate the other which was quartering me. I casted to the right and just beyond the big boulder which brought my fly directly over these two guys, but they didn’t even bother to move. Another fly an EHC same results. It should be noted that this was the first time that I had spotted a fish in four days. Previously I didn’t even see a fry which usually can be found hanging close to shore. I even plop down a fly just inches from their noses – zilch, nada. Guess where my first stop will be the next time I go up to the Kern.
[/size][/#008000][/font]
[center][font "Comic Sans MS"][#008000][size 3]A view of the river from the lodge area.
[/size][/#008000][/font][font "Comic Sans MS"][#008000][size 3][inline "Kern River 1.jpg"][/size][/#008000][/font]
[inline "Kern River 2.jpg"]
[signature][/center]