Lower Kings River, Fishing 

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Thanks John 🍻

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Got the old channel back, LOL. I'm back over here now at Purple Drake.

Yes--In the area

I am looking forward to fishing it again. You are fortunate to live close to such a great stream 🍻

@@purpledrakefishing when you come this way, hit me up and we will fish it and I will show you some great spots that nobody fishes much

@@markbump9192 Sounds good, thanks for the offer. I plan on fishing that area this coming fall (Upper Kings, Lower, ect) if I get the chance. I will make a note of it in case I forget🍻

@@purpledrakefishing fall is the perfect time to fish the upper. Middle and south fork of the kings. Plus it's gorgeous

3wt Sage Pulse 10' with a Hardy Lite reel.

Thanks Eric! That was a fun fish to catch as I was able to see him chase.

I was fishing in the avocado lake area upstream to the dam. It is a short section where they stock the river in there.

In the section I was fishing, there are special regulations that don't allow bait, but other nearby sections do. Here is a good write up on fishing the lower Kings: keepcalmandflyfish.com/2016/12/visit-to-lower-kings-river_28.html If you are fly fishing, any attractor flies should work well, like prince nymphs and for streamers, wooly buggers. Good luck on your trip! 🍻

Thanks Jon!

Thanks DS!

Thanks Anatoliy! Agree 🍻

The lower Kings in the special regulations section near Avocado Lake is good fising for large stocked trout. It is best during the fall through spring. Here is a good write up on it: keepcalmandflyfish.com/2016/12/visit-to-lower-kings-river_28.html

Yes, I was in the that section. I talked to a local fisherman that day and he said there were problems of poaching there unfortunately. He said they stock it often (weekly?) but you couldn't really tell because the fish populations were low due to the taking of fish.

I have only fished it once, but I have read that there were smallmouth in the river. I didn't catch any or see any that day.

@@purpledrakefishing I'm gonna have to head there and see. Do you use dry flies or wet out there

@@brownbouy3043 Wets; not much in the way of insect hatches on the lower Kings.

3x Rio Fluorocarbon

I have heard the upper is great fishing but I don't know about Big Creek. The parking seemed fairly safe from break-ins when I was there as the park had quite a few people around. There were a few vagrants around however so I can see why break-ins might be an issue.

As long as you don’t leave anything in plain sight that is of value, it’s generally okay. Most parking is pretty visible from multiple angles.

Upper kings always fishes great, Big creek is great also I fish those waters a lot since I live in Clovis

Thanks Timothy! Glad to hear you like the video. The nail knot will give you a smoother connection which will be much less likely to get caught on the top guide of the fly rod. A loop to loop connection will get caught a lot. This is more of an issue when your leader gets longer than your fly rod. With a shorter leader (than the fly rod) you will mainly notice the loop to loop connection getting caught on the top guide when reeling in a fish to the net.

@@purpledrakefishing thank you so much for the reply! That makes a lot of sense. I’m going to hit the Lower O this weekend and Wednesday and cannot wait to put what I’ve learned from your video to use. Thanks again!!!

@@timothyruiz1144 Good luck on the trip! Fishing should be prime on the lower O. The little bwo's should be heavy around midday and the grannoms (caddis) might be out. If it is too crowded along chalk bluff, try around 5 bridges, both above and below.

@@purpledrakefishing thanks for the tip! I really appreciate that! I live up in Mammoth Lakes, so it’s not too much of a hassle to get out there luckily. Only problem ever seems to be the wind lol

Caught all the fish on a #16 Frenchie nymph, except for one with a #8 coffee-black Rubber Legs.

I appreciate the advice 🙏🏼 also if you have a Instagram I’d like to add you troutlaw_angler.

@@justo-josetapia-padron375 Yes, will follow your Instagram too--there is a link to my IG below (purpledrake1)

Caught all the fish on a #16 Frenchie nymph, except for one with a #8 coffee-black Rubber Legs.

@@purpledrakefishing nice. Tight lines 🎣

@@purpledrakefishing what color Frenchie should i tie? What color dubbing. Im tying up a few right now.

@@flyguy4515 My favorite is UV Shrimp Pink Ice Dub, but any orange-ish color is the best imo. Can also use a pink or red shade.

@@purpledrakefishing cool. Thank you !

Yes, I will spend the night on these longer trips from home. Fresno was about a 5hr drive for me from Reno so I stayed the night there at a hotel.

There is definitely some wild trou remaining in the lower river. While yes they do stock fish here on the kings, stocked trout are no more than a couple inches big if that. The large fish he had caught there at the end are not stocked, as they still have their adipose fins.

@@ericmolina3566 are you sure? I’ve fished plenty of waters here in CA that are only inhabited by stocked fish and they don’t have clipped adipose fins? Is every fish in the lower kings clipped? I’m saying this because the fish in the video didn’t seem to fight like a wild trout and more like a stocker or holdover. If they are wild then they must have strong hatchery genes in them. He also stated in the description that they plant trophy trout too.

@@ericmolina3566 Not all stocked trout have their adipose fin clipped as I've caught mangled stocked trout with adipose fin intact and many of these larger fish are also stocked as well, while they may be in the river for a while due to this being a catch and release only section.

Yes, the big fish are stocked through a trophy trout program. A local along the river did say there are wild trout in the lower, but he said they were mainly further downstream of Avocado. The fight with stocked fish is generally less than with a wild fish, but these guys fought well for stockers.

@@MuddyBootsOutdoors yeah that makes sense

Nice eyes--those were suckers that would roll/flash as they feed along the bottom --at first I thought they were large trout and wasted a lot of time on them, LOL.

Thanks for letting me know. It is odd, I got the same message as well when I click on the link in the description, but if I type in purple drake on google search I am able to open the site no problem. I will do some more research though to see what the problem is.

Love to hear that! thanks for the kind words 🍻

@@purpledrakefishingYour welcome sir! Thanks again and looking forward to the next video(: