The Breakwall Angler Kern River 8/18/2010

Photos

I drove up to Kernville Tuesday to fish the upper stretch of the Kern River. North of town 16,000 acres burned last month in the Bull Fire.

I poked around looking for a campsite. The pay areas had big signs posted on their bulletin boards saying, no amplified music, picturing a boom box with a red stripe over it. Hell with that; I drove to the Johnsondale Bridge then turned right on Sherman Pass Road. All you have to do is drive about a mile and you will see many places to pull off to camp where nobody will bug you.

Across the road I noticed a steep, rutted four wheel drive trail, just what I needed to test out my new tires. They have the best tread I have ever seen for on/off road action and as I guided Li’l Miracle up the hill the rubber did not slip where all tires I've owned before would have.

I got all my fishing gear ready then drove back to the river to test everything out so that the whole assembly of rod, reel, backpack and fanny packs will be ready for the major trek upstream in the morning. After all, you don’t want to hike for hours then find you forgot something or a piece of equipment breaks. Whipping a bead head nymph with the number four fly rod this evening produced three six-inch rainbows. All systems are go.

Back at roadside camp, I popped a Blue Oyster Cult tape into my boom box and rocked the dump loudly while barbequing and consuming a porterhouse. By 10 I was passed out in the back of my truck under the camper top.

My plan was to awake at 3:30, drive to the bridge, start walking at 4, go two hours then start working the river back down to the parking lot. I almost stuck to it. I started walking at a quarter to five munching on granola bars and almonds for power.

At 6:30 there was enough light to watch for fish in some of the slower water below rapids. Gazing to a spot with a light sandy bottom I could see trout after trout moving back and forth, and up and downstream. One slow moving rainbow evoked a loud “whoa,” as the guesstimated three pounder disappeared ever so gracefully back over to a dark, rocky background. I took note of the spot and kept hiking upstream.

By 7 I whipped my first casts to a likely spot somewhere around three miles upstream from the bridge. The first two I caught using a gold-ribbed hare’s ear were only four inches. There are plenty of little guys around here.

Now, I don’t consider myself to be that great of a fly fisher but today after an hour of practice I was setting my bug into the water perfectly and on target every time. I even made a precise shot to an eddy all the way on the other side of the river and wham! I got bit by a fighter that took over ten minutes to bring to net. Actually I nursed it as long as I could to get a little retrieve practice in. The rainbow measured in at 13 inches, just below the legal minimum. This one little fish made the whole big trip worth it.

On this stretch of river from the bridge upstream about ten miles the limit is 2 fish over 14 inches, artificial lures with single barbless hooks. You can’t use scents or plastics impregnated with scents. From November 31^st until the last Saturday in April the limit is zero. To make a fly barbless you bend the barb down with your needle nose pliers.

Making my way downstream along the bank was impossible, with deep water lapping the bases of several 30-foot tall shear-faced rocks. Where there were no big rocks, the mule fat was so thick that even if you trudged your way through to the shore, the growth prevented any effective back cast. All you can do is hit a nice pool, hike back up to the trail, head downstream to the next nice pool and hike back down.

The best places to stand are on big rocks in the middle of the river. That way there are no obstructions the screw with your back cast. This trip I lost only 1 fly that broke off on a pine limb. That has to be a record low for me.

Downstream I worked several pools, riffles, rocks etc. using a variety of nymphs, dry mosquitoes, and Joe’s hoppers. The survey completed, I caught everything on the gold ribbed hare’s ear. The ones I was using were rather small 18’s and 16’s. I’m thinking of investing in a bunch of the same pattern only larger 14’s and 12’s. The rest of the seven rainbows I landed were in the four to ten inch range.

Where ever I looked I could see big suckers lurking near the bottom. Most were two pounds, a few were three. And yes this would be the literal big suckers, as in Sacramento sucker fish, which are native to the Kern.

Around two in the afternoon I called it quits so I could make it back to the truck by four. The air temp was getting to be 95 with the occasional life saving cool breeze blowing through the canyon. An hour before the bridge I had drunk the 140 ounces of water I brought with me and didn’t even pee all day. It all came out as sweat. My dam water filter pump is in the back of the truck. I made do by drinking river water, which tastes good but might contain giardia.

Next year I’d like to pack in for two nights. There’s a really shady cool grotto camp three miles in. That way the next day I can go another three miles up to where nobody goes except the fish and maybe find Durrwood Camp. As it was I didn’t see another person all day nor any fresh footprints.

Speaking of fresh ones, I found my first ever bear scat next to the water. I figure it was there only a month because you could see where the river level was up another ten feet about that long ago.

2 OC dudes rescued from Kern River

*****

Palos Verdes 8/11

Picked up Breakwall Dan at 4am in the South Bay. We parked at the lot near the end of Hawthorne Blvd. As we unpacked the truck a rent-a-cop said we can't park here until 6. Well, that just screwed up this spot. The best bite is right at first light, which is way before six.

I've been parking here before five ever since they built this lot over six years ago. Sherriffs would drive by and see me with fish poles and not bother me. Oh well, fun while it lasted.

We went to the Blufftop Trail leading to Long Point. The water was a perfect flat calm but the whole area was so choked with kelp you couldn't cast anywhere. At low tide there was so much of the weeds on the rocks, walking was impossible.

Since So. Cal. native Dan had been living out of state for over twenty years, we drove around so I could show him all the hot spots. As we peered down from numerous vantage points we could see there are basically only two small openings to fish from rocks at the end of Hawthorne. Opaleye Point and Long Point are choked.

This massive growth can be attributed to La Nina's cooler waters in the area. Kelp disappears when the water wamrs, like we had in 1998 during the last big El Nino, when there was hardly any kelp around PV but plenty of fish.

In a couple weeks, if the swell is down, I will try again. I will park up on P.V. Drive at the store then walk down to see how much trouble I can cause myself.

*****

Laguna Beach 7/28

Deciding when to fish the rocks of Laguna Beach I wait for the sand bass numbers from sportfish landings from Oceanside to Newport Beach to reach into the thousands. Four weeks ago the fish showed up, the counts were big. I planned the trip for today.

Problem is by this past Sunday the counts fell to nothing, maybe 20 per landing. From all rocks on both sides of Crescent Bay I tossed jerk shads, wildeye sardines, frozen squid, fresh mussel and pro-cure ocotopus but never had a bite. There weren’t even any little guys around to pick the bait off the hook.

Another strange phenomenon was the lack of birds. There were no gulls, pelicans nor oyster catchers anywhere to be seen.

I heard a sportboat captain on Ronnie Kovach's radio show saying the water temp in Santa Monica Bay went from 68 to 60 in just a cople days. That could have shut down the bite.

Some other fisherdude I spoke with as I was hiking back to the car told me there were over 20 people fishing the previous weekend and that the area is probably fished out now. I doubt that.

*****

I went to White Mountains and took some pics. Gallery.

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Chick falls from cliff at Opaleye Point, dies

Driver dies at turnoff to Opaleye Point

Last public meeting before MLPA is instituted

Big honkin' crash on 395 south of Bishop

Paddleboarder takes video of white shark circling

Kelp growint at Edison Reef

Domoic acid in local waters

Tar balls wash up on North San Diego County beaches

Largest fish ever caught off California coast