The Mighty Kern River?

On a whim, I decided to head to the Kern River.  Left at 3:00am and drove on a lonely highway for three hours until the morning light began to break over the ridge of the southern Sierra.  I wanted to beat the afternoon inner tube and kayak hatch and my plan was to arrive at first light. 

I was on the Kern slightly after 6:00am and only a few bait fisherman were camped along the banks.  No other fly fisherman was within my sight and the water was boiling with trout feeding on the emerging midge hatch.  I tied some size 18 RS2 PMD emergers the night before, however the trout were selective and rejected the pattern.  I had a few size 22 RS2 emergers in my box that began getting takes from the picky trout. 

Between 7-8:00am I began to notice a caddis hatch and the trout began jumping.  I tied on a size 12 Stimulator with a size 22 emerger as the dropper.  I was quickly getting into some feisty trout and even some small Chinook salmon!  The salmon were small but fought like gladiators.  It seemed that I was fighting at least a 14" trout and I was shocked to see a 8-9" salmon fighting with all its heart. 

Juvenile Chinook Salmon

Average Kern River Rainbow

I had several cookie cutter Kern river rainbow's take both fly patterns and they all fought much harder than I would have expected.  I lost two trout that seemed to be within the 16-18" class however it was a reward just to have my moment with them.  Erika diligently fought what seemed like a good sized trout, however it came unglued when she described that it was head shaking like a bull dog. 

By 9:30am the sun was baking the river and the fish became tight lipped and probably moved into deeper runs.  I didn't feel like nymping so we decided to get early lunch and hit the lower Kern for small-mouth bass.  I fished with a size 10 mercer's crayfish on the lower with no results... Kayak's were beginning to launch nearby and it was my que to hit the road.

Overall, the upper Kern was running low and warm.  The dry fly hatch seemed to be prime between 6:30am-7:30am.  A fly angler has to really work hard to catch fish on this river right now.  I probably wont be back anytime soon...