Hiking the Kern River for Kern River Rainbow Trout in the beautiful California Mountains! My limited experience with recreational regulations in California have been -CONFUSION-!
that is crazy?!?1 I learned how to swim right where you were in the beginning of the video! the rock behind you my friends and I would jump off of into the river, was my dads secret spot! been going there for years! caught a lot of rainbow trout there, learned how to fish there, my favorite fish to eat! good times, thanks for capturing the memories I cherish as my dad is no longer with me, God Bless! my dad is looking down and smiling at this thank you!
@@nnnjh8372@nnnjh8372 clearly, you don't fish. There's always one useless comment. It's a massive piece of water with many spots to try. If you know one place is a honey hole, it becomes your secret go-to spot. Don't try to sound intelligent, keep with your day job.
Im 44 n born n raised n California, its so Crazy how California has gone from 1st to worst. My beautiful California has gone downhill polluted with Crime,drugs and idiots! Thank you 4 demonstrating a lil positivity in this crazy world n times. My wife n i love Camping 🏕 and fishing 🎣. Cool video thanks
There are never ending situations like this in California. Old signs, poorly written regulations, closed areas that are not well specified or described, etc etc etc. Often you'll find Fish and Game officers that cannot even explain where a closed zone begins and ends, often you will get different information from the various officers you come across. It's a frustrating situation.
That's why all fishermen in California are double majors. You have to have a Law and Biology degree if you want any chance of fishing it legally. 😂 I will say that the regulations are a lot easier to use as a pdf on your device. So easy to search your destination so that you can prepare before you go. I do appreciate the area specific regulations that are based on science, but they really need to be posted and accurate.
Same shit in Oregon.I call it entrapment.They will change the regulations suddenly and post a sticky note on a pole somewhere.We are surrounded cartels and crime organizations but if you use the wrong type of ink pen of your fishing tag there will be 5 different agencies and 15 different types of retarded cops in your face.
I think you were smart to let the trout go based on the contradicting information you found.Better safe than sorry if you can't get a specific answer, but great video!
@atatterson6992 california has some amazing fishing. Delta alone is worth it. So much waterways to explore in delta and chances of 10lb bass. Only place I ever caught more than one 10lb bass in one day. That and hike in lakes to the Sierra with some giant Golden trout is a great experience.
You're smart to not keep those fish. Lots of misinformation and disinformation. I wouldn't be surprised if you had gotten a ticket if you had a fish. If a fly shop owner can't help you with regs, there's definitely some shenigans going on. In my neck of the woods, DNR will coax you into breaking the law also.
I hope you're teaching people fishing, because your awesome attitude and enthusiasm could make anyone put in the work to catch their own fish. And the way you handled those fish was exemplary! I have never seen a RU-vidr handle fish the way I do. I often kayak fish and I usually don't even bring them all the way out of the water for release. Excellence is earned, and you have earned it, friend. May good things come.
I have to really thank you! Growing up our family would visit the Kern River and lake Isabela frequently. Any enjoyable times, very fond memories! Thank again!
Wow I just happened to click on this video, never seen you before, and you are fishing in my old stomping grounds. I lived in Wofford Heights area known as Isabella Highlands. Built my first home there in 1978. Worked on a couple of movies also filmed in that area. Thank you for bringing us your fishing experience. Oh and those jets are from China Lakes Navel Weapons Center near Ridgecrest. Boy's are out flying and having fun.
Fished this stretch of the Kern many times before. So many memories! So glad you got hooked up. There’s stoneflies in this river so the fly you chose was key
Its great to see the river healthy again! It really went through some rough times in the two decade "hot period". Historic floods of 2023 and normal weather and snowpack in 2024 seem to have given it a shot in the arm that it desperately needed. BTW- I think the sign was crafted by a volunteer trail crew years go, not by CDFW. The regulations were updated long after it went up.
Super rad. The first rainbow was a wild rainbow, not a stocker. There is occassional stocker swam up from downstream. You caught a elusive wild brown at Kern. I have fly fished that section since late 2018, caught many wild rainbows and wild Kern River Rainbows, but haven't caught a brown at that section yet. They changed regulations a year or 2 back, but the sign was never updated which somehow also helps conservation. 😊 Keep up a good work. If you plan to travel north on Western Sierras, don't miss to fish Upper Kings. Tight lines.
@12:10 Nice little flyover courtesy of NAS Lemoore! Probably F-18s out for a little rip in the Sierras, worked on those for years and yeah, they're real loud. 😂
i fish that river a couple times a year and the jets always scare the shizzz out of me every time but are so awesome to watch flying so low.never have i caught a browny out of the kern. great job bud. keep them lines tite.
Early on the drag was way too loose especially with a small barbless hook, making it easy for the trout to throw the hook. You got to keep the fish under tension to keep the hook in place. Finally buttoned the drag down properly for the brown. I'm glad you released that one but had you known the holdover stocker would have been tasty.
When I was a kid in the late 50s and early 60s, we river fished with 9 ft. fly rods and Shakespere casting reels. The reel was essentially a casting rod but had a cone shaped cover that went over the spool. The line outlet came out of the center of the cone through a small hole allowing it to be used on a fly rod. We fished rivers with a lot of brush on the bank and the rod and reel combo allowed to get in tight areas and with the rod extending out past the brush.
Fished it when no other fisherman was present back in about 1992 and smashed them. Caught some nice trout, no giants but observed a huge brown slipping out of a hiding spot o. I’ve away from me and he looked like a 20+ inch pig. Love that area. The mountains in that area are as beautiful as Yosemite.
Agree! I whitewater kayak up on the Kern... Dry Meadow Creek(Tea Cups) and Brush Creek are two of my favorites! Epic and world class whitewater on the Kern and I grew up in Idaho! But those Jets that pop out of nowhere and fly those canyons low!!! Never gets old... the Kern River is a special place we have been given to enjoy on this earth!
I live in socal and you can't get away from it, so not-so-cool. mortars and bombs going off and shaking the ground all weekend sometimes, you go to the desert to get away, and those navy guys are like flying thru the canyons. oh well
Thanks for sharing your fishing adventure. Very fun video. Congrats on the brown trout. They're not easy to catch. I love that section of the Kern above Isabella. Very accessible and lots of different spots to try along the road. Plus I like the little town of Kernville.
I flyfish but also fish with float/ jig or bait. You get great drag free drifts. I’ve caught a lot of steelhead that way. Some places are really hard to fly cast. Brown trout was a wild fish. I fish northern Rockies mostly.
So glad your back! Fishmas for a majority of california and Nevada rivers is the last Saturday in April. Some places are open all year around. This is from the 2024 regulation manual. (69) Kern River (Kern and Tulare cos.). (A) From Lake Isabella upstream to the Johnsondale bridge. All year. 5 trout (B) From Johnsondale bridge upstream to the Sequoia National Park boundary near the Kern Canyon Ranger Station. All year. Only artificial lures may be used. 2 trout. BTW, Im sorry but I had Steak and Rainbows tonight. Great vid as always.
The largest rainbow I "almost" ever caught was upper Kern River, just outside of Isabella back in 1969/70. It was about 15' from shore when it jumped out of the water and spat out the lure (gold Super Duper with a salmon egg)., and all these years later, I' continue to swear that it was over 5 pounds. And in my dreams, I sometimes see it still waiting there for me. 😎😎
Hello TUSOA! Thanks for sharing your awesome visit with us! Have you had a chance to see either Marlette or Spooner Lake in Northern Nevada/Tahoe? Safe travels my friend!
I have a video posted “Mountain Trout Fishing near Lake Tahoe” that is taken at Spooner lake! I believe Marlette was closed when I was there for some reason
Back in 1970 I went back packing with a friend 24 miles out of Mineral King (west side of Mt Witney). Brutal hike up to over 9000 ft onto the high Kern Plateau. Skitters were horrible, lots of bears about...did I mention the 18" to 24" Golden trout that we feasted on for 10 days! Golden trout are wild. If your shadow comes into the river, you will see fish all day, but they won't bite.
First time visiting your channel and I just subscribed. You’re enthusiasm and the way you articulate how you feel about fishing extremely motivating. Not sure if you follow NW Fishing Secrets but if you two ever collaborated, it would be the best fishing video ever!! You two share a passion and excitement that viewers like me would absolutely love to watch! Thank you thank you thank you for creating this content!! Safe travels!
I love sequoia! But I am afraid of the kern River ... every year someone dies in the river ... I know the chances are low, but my kids are little , and sometimes that river flows fast ... so we tend to camp in our trailer at the lake . It's fun, but that wind can be annoying !!! Havent fresh water fished at all . We used to go down to the beach a lot to fish . But we moved to the inland empire and haven't been able to go camping . Most of our savings went towards the purchase of our home . But we are finally going to try this year . Love your videos i subbed 👍..
328 lives taken at the Kern River as of July 2023. Wait for Summer 2024 for the numbers to go up again like clockwork. People don't realize you can't fight the undercurrents from the boulders in the water that suck you down. Then they find the bodies lodged in the boulders weeks or months later after the river water level drops. I knew someone that almost drowned at the Kern and the good samaritan that tried to help ended up drowning!
Is this spot around Limestone campground? This bridge crosses the Kern on the way to Johnsondale and Peppermint Creek. I don’t remember that parking lot off the bridge area.
Excellent video! I subbed. The water looked great! Was this current? Like April '24?? I fish the same way b/c I'm just not down with the whole fly rod thing (yet) I do tie some flies for use with my spinning gear and I tie nymphs like yours but maybe a little heavier so I don't have to use a float as often. There is a fly called a "squirmy worm" that is a rubber worm that is a good alternative to the nymph. I just carry nymphs like yours in brown and black and squirmy in brown and pink. If I get a hit in a spot but miss the set, sometimes I can get another hit with a color change or by trying the squirmy.
12:08 I can hear the first jet getting closer. I love watching those things fly by, and I bet it was way louder being between 2 mountains the echo is crazy loud.
You would think they the fish and game service would post a time specific sign for these special circumstances. Any confusion on our part usually results in a special specific piece of paper telling us how much we need to pay for our errors.
Many people don't know how many hundreds of people have died in the Kern River. There is a sign on road 178 that leads into Lake Isabella / Kern River that shows the updated number that keeps rising especially during Summer. It is currently 328 lives since 1968 and as of July 2023. I remember that number when it was half that amount when I first went to the Kern in the 80s as a kid. Its the undercurrent from the huge boulders in the river that sucks you down. It is also common to find drowned bodies weeks or even months later when the water level drops in the river. Anyways, I've fished the Kern River many times and caught Rainbow Trout almost every time. I haven't fished the north part of the Kern, but I have heard it has native Golden Trout.
I've been going into the Kern Canyon since the mid 70's and remember that drowning sign at just over 100 people. I've always thought most of the deaths were due to alcohol and stupidity on an actual "real" river. A lot of city folks go up there to camp and end up drinking too much because of the heat.
I camped and fished this stretch of the Kern River for a weekend a while ago. It was a tough AM, no bites, until a truck belonging to CA fish and game came by and one of the officers dumped a bucket full of trout into the river, then bite galore. 5 minutes later... all gone.
I'm going to Yosemite in a couple of weeks I was wondering what pound test you were using and what fly and what kind of bobber rig I haven't done much freshwater unfortunately, I mostly do offshore tuna fishing
Great video - really enjoy your enthusiasm and content. I was up on the 20 mile section a couple months ago fly fishing when a couple F-15's flew over. They were so low ( . . . how low were they?), so low I just about jumped out of my waders!!! LOL. On another outing there some years ago a B-52 bomber did a low level flight right over me. It was so cool. Thank you for sharing.
Those damn jets are always flying through the kern canyon. I go there to listen to nature, not super loud man made flying machines. I'll admit I would have liked to see that big b52 bomber though. lol
California Fish and Game website has an interactive map where you tap on the stream/river/lake/shoreline and it will tell you what specific regulations apply to that water
I used to fish the nearby south fork of the Kaweah river and know all about those annoying bugs that get in your face. I've used a head net and that helps. You should have picked up a couple of dry flies at the shop for where the fish were hitting the surface. That water looked deep enough that 2' of line from the bobber to the fly might not have been enough. Something like a jig streamer might have worked well too. I used to fish high country lakes on the east side with an ultralight spinning rod, one of those clear plastic bobbers that you can partially fill with water, and a dry fly. I'd rig the fly about 6 feet below the bobber. It was a killer for brook trout.
Man that brown trout reminds me of when i was a little kid just messing around down at keyesville, i was using a golden spoon tipped with salmon eggs and pulled up about a 5 pound brown trout. didnt even realize how cool of a catch it was because i was like 6 or 7😂
Throw a line in Lake Isabella and let it marinate with a hot dog slice and you might end up with a nice catfish for dinner😁 Too late now obviously, but they are right there off the shoreline. I caught a 5-6 pound bullhead that way one afternoon.
I appreciate it! All of my spinning reels are Pfluegers. I like the Trion and President. They are $40-$70. Rods I don’t have a specific brand, but I rarely spend over $100 because I break so many from being hard on them. My most recent favorite is the 6.5 foot, medium light. The brand is called Favorite. It was a white rod. I broke it and haven’t come across another one yet 😅
I was wondering ....How do you fish everywhere you go ? like you said ....! what kind of fishing license you use ? every state require fishing license...! do you buy fishing license for every state you go?
I buy a year long fishing license in every state I visit. Some states aren’t too bad. They range from $60-160 from my experience. Texas has been the cheapest, California the most expensive!
That was nice brown.. Cali is strange… but rule of thumb… the signs are only updated periodically, so when in question, call dept of fish and wildlife for most current rules. That WAS a nice brown though.
Was that first spot you didn't fish on the way to Kernville? Did you try catching any of those huge crappie at Isabella?.. And Kern River brewing has amazing IPa's bro... Love that place.
Welcome to my neighborhood and yes...Commiefornia is full of confusing rules and laws... Best thing about fishing up there are the occasional flyovers!!!!
I fished that area before and yes, you will soil yourself when one of those jets flies down the canyon. I caught one of those Kern River Rainbows on a fly'n' bubble set up and was farther down stream from where you were. I thought it was some kinda hermorphedite brown trout hybrid. When I got to that bridge you were on I saw the signs about this species and still feel bad about keeping one. There's some other fish there too like a Sacramento Delta Scum Sucker... colloquially known as a Pelosi. There are game wardens in the state who don't fish freshwater cause the rules are a clusterF.
That was 100% a native Kern River Rainbow and a gorgeous one at that. They don't stock above the bridge or anywhere above the damn where they can breed with the native fish. I've caught native KRRs dozens of miles above the bridge that were almost entirely silver and speckled with no red at all, ones with beautiful red bands spanning from their tail to their cheeks. They do vary. Below damn has stocked fish, and while you can catch a rare native fish, most of them will be stockers. Catching a brown isn't too common, the trophy was that KRR.
At 15:38 when all of you are walking up to the sign there's what appears to be a sign that was in place but had fallen off. Curious as to why DFW didn't at least pick it up and look at it... Nice Brown trout!
Awesome channel man. Instant Sub. Come flyfish in Utah, I grew up trout fishing in northern California and now live in southern Utah. Lots of excellent water out here.✌️🇺🇲
Native "KRR's" seldom work their way that far downriver. You have to push quite a bit farther upstream from the highway bridge to start connecting with them regularly, and like any native trout, they are much more picky and spooky than your typical planter...
Good video. Haven’t wet a line yet this year but tomorrow I’m trying Bon Tempe in Fairfax. Hopefully there are some trout left. Find it hard to believe that somebody in California would post false fishing information. Could it be that there are people out there that don’t want us to fish at all. Oh wait.
California Fish & Game needs help. I had the same kind of problem with them on the upper Sacramento River. The game wardens we’re very confused as to the regulations.
