Headwaters

I woke up semi charged from the brutal lake Perris beat down.  My breakfast consisted of two advil chased with a cup of black coffee.  Without hesitation, I pulled the creekin' gear out of storage and drove off into the morning mist.

It just happens that exactly one year ago I backpacked into this fishery with Erika and Charles.  It was a much different fishery back then and I knew that the future of this fishery depended on it's headwaters.  Many pools that held many 14"+ trout had receded deep into underground aqua firs. I hiked on determined to find water and wild trout.

1yr ago this pool filled halfway up the boulder.

 Mariposa Lilies were showing their blooms, however the population seemed smaller this year.  I believe the species in sequence is C. plummerae and C. invenustus. 

The big-cone Douglas-fir were fruiting along the trail.. One of my favorite local conifers as it is endemic to the transverse range mountains. 

I finally find what I am looking for...

and plenty of these...

I also noticed a species of Mimulus that I do not remember seeing in the past.  At first glance I thought it was the common monkey flower M. guttatus.  Although, the flowers looked larger, the stems were shorter, leaves were smaller and overall plant was more compact. 

The remaining pools at the headwaters were loaded with a healthy population of rainbow trout.  If these pools remain through summer we should have a healthy supply of trout ready for downstream migration.  Let's just hope we get a wet winter.

Alone at Prado

Since I got off work at 8:00am, I returned to Prado Lake to scratch away the topwater itch.  The lake was calm and glassy.  Clouds were just beginning to burn off and the topwater bite only lasted about an hour before I had to fish subsurface.  Considering that the lake was all to myself, I had expected the bass action to be more intense.  Large clumps of algae floated on the lake's surface and the water had a unusual tint to it.  Not thinking much of it at the time, I later asked a work buddy that used to control algae on lakes.  He confirmed that my description sounded like a copper sulfate treatment. 

The fishing was slow all morning and I called it quits around 1pm.  Water temps in the upper water column was 75degrees according to the finder.  It may be awhile before I return to this lake.

Topwater

Off guard and struggling with limited resources, our unexpected journey to Lake Perris was a hard battle.  The fishing partner showed up around 5:45 thinking that Prado Lake opened around 6:00am.  Tough times for us continues and I wasn't going to sit around until Prado opened their gates at 8:00pm.  We returned to my place to collect extra needed gear and made a mad dash to Perris.

Thinking that we were going to be fishing Prado, I did not bother charging my trolling motor battery or fish finder for that matter.  Nothing went as planned and we sailed off with a 50% charged battery and dead finder.  We were to fall back on good old instincts.  Luckily the sky was cloudy however wind made the topwater bite difficult that day.  I managed three topwater bass all on the frog gurgler fly.  I did get to fish with my new Winston BIIMX saltwater 6wt fly rod that I got for a steal on eBay.  It can really throw large flies with authority all while busting through wind.  It's my new versatile streamer stick that has accompanying me to the bay, bass lakes and eventually large trout water.

The new streamer rod.

Life support.  We limped into the boat ramp with 5% battery power.

Leviathan

Several tough outings have been endured since my last report from Newport Bay.  Saltwater and freshwater Bass have been a love hate relationship for me the past few weeks.  With the exception of Prado Lake giving me a semi great day with about seven LMB in the boat within a few hours.  A juggernaut Prado largemouth muscled my 6wt into a maze of criss crossing braches where I lost it.  This trout fisherman has strayed too far from the creeks and rivers where he belongs...

The original plan was to fly fish for LMB at Irvine Lake.  I was looking forward to topwater explosions with my 8wt early in the AM.  Since most of my local  bass fisheries have just gone into post spawn, the bass have been tight lipped and wary.  Usually I am gung ho when fishing is involved, however this time I felt skeptical since my success rate has been devastatingly low this season.  With great reports coming out of San Diego and tide showing a good swing, the decision was made.

We met up with Tuck and Joseph on Coronado Island around 7:30am.  It was lowtide but the tide movement was decent.  Charles and I were in the Pram while Tuck and Joseph fished out of a tandem Kayak.  Erika contributed a birthday gift for the Pram.  A humminbird Piranhamax 175PT.  Depth finding is no longer a mystery and bottom structure can now be easily identified.  This old pram is slowly but surely getting it's upgrades.

I tied on a size 6 ghost shrimp pattern and stripped about 30' of fly line out until I noticed knots and tangles within the spool.  The fly line was beginning to look like a giant rubber band ball and I stubbornly tried fixing it without having to cut the fly off and strip all the line back in.  Instead, I cast the fly out and let it sink while I untangled the mess.  Within five minutes the fly was hit and I hand lined the bay bass in with half a reel and a pile of tangled fly line at my feet.

After getting the line straightened out and back on the spool the tide movement slowed and the bite was off for the next few hours.  We moved location and followed the depth finder to appropriate holding grounds.  Charles managed a few spotties and I had nothing until the big pull.

 The fishing was incredibly slow in the AM and Tuck and Joseph paddled over to our boat to get an update.  I was stripping my ghost shrimp pattern with short controlled strips.  The line went tight, I set the hook and it felt like a pit bull was thrashing on the other end.  I hand lined it thinking it was a large saltwater bass species.  It wasn't long until the leviathan ripped line out of my hand, off the reel and into the backing.  My Sage One 590-4 and Lamson LS-2 engaged in a David vs. Goliath duel with this creature from the salt.  A fine tuned trout rod at heart,  It was lacking muscle that my Sage XP 890 would have had.  It was up to me to orchestrate a precision fight with the overpowered fish.


The drag was set loose since I wasn't expected a fight on my reel.  I waited for an opportunity for the fish to stop so I could adjust my drag.  Every pull on the rod translated to vicious head shakes  and another long hard run.  The lactic acid was beginning to put the burn in my forearm and this rod has no fighting butt.  I impatiently switched hands to tune the drag.  It gave a sudden hard run and the line went limp.  Devastating.

I sat quiet for the next thirty minutes in contemplation.  Next time I'm letting it run and I will pursue with my trolling motor.  Lesson's learned...

The rest of the day was lukewarm fishing.  Several bay bass came to hand and a rather heavy one was lost.  We all rallied at some local mexican food joint and I left San Diego with both heart break and heart burn.  I can only speculate what I lost.  Some exotics such as the cortez bonefish have been known to come up from the Baja Peninsula.  A large croaker species, and white sea bass are other guesses.  I'll never know.

 

Chasing Ghosts

It's been a tough bass season due to weekly pressure changes.  It feels like summer one day and   winter the next.  While I have been able to catch a few fine bass specimens in the past few weeks, the onslaught of abuse has caught up to me.  I set the 6wt down in exchange for short 3wt and chest pack.  It's time to return to the mountains.

Tucked away in a small tributary in my local mountain range lies a small gem.  This tributary used to hold brown trout that would rival many specimens caught in the lower Owens river.  It wasn't unusual to catch brown's pushing 14-16" on a dry fly.  Those days were years ago and drought with added fishing pressure hasn't help this fishery.  Most of the pools seemed vacant, while the smartest and largest trout were holding under boulders in shallow riffle water.

Presentation and stealth had to be on par.  I've never had to change my fly more than once, whereas today I must have changed it out on every other cast.  These fish were like chasing ghosts.  Shadows would move and undulate playing tricks on my mind.  I managed to get the river king to rise in a log jammed run.  It's head was large and body looked heavy, my guess is that it was in the 15" range.  I returned to it after a 30minute cool down and would rise only to reject me again.

Hours of crouch casting went by and only the dinks would fall for our efforts.  They were all small and beautiful, and hopefully more water will fill the creeks before summer arrives.  Even the deepest pools were shallow enough to see the bottom.  It's going to be a rough year.

Stubborn as a Bass

Largemouth Bass have been pretty stubborn to me lately.  Being stubborn myself, I set out on another bass hunt with Charles after work.  This time I decided to fish a lake that is just down the road from my house.  Launching the pram here is a breeze.  We were on the water in record time and the wind was surprisingly calm despite the ominous clouds above us. 

I decided to fish my Sage Flight 6wt with rio grand floating line.  The lake is relatively shallow and I felt that sinking line was unnecessary as I was hoping to fish a popper as well.  We made several drifts in a cove with only a mere short strike.  I changed the color of my fly from black - rust - finally olive and black.  The fly is a woolly bugger mutation that I tied specifically for swampy looking water.  It did the trick.. I was on a solid 2lb LMB and possibly among the strongest bass I've fought on a fly rod. 

Charles contributed a fly patch for the pram

It was another rough day despite catching and releasing a nice local bass.  Hopefully with more stable weather this bass fishery will be more consistent.  The wind really began to pick up as we were getting ready to leave.  Dark clouds were moving in and socking in around our local mountain range.  Hopefully those dark clouds bring more water to our watershed.  The trout really need it for a good spawn this year.

6,759'

I was anticipating a epic day of fly fishing after talking with local guide Mike Tuttle.  The trout were staging up in the coves getting ready for the spawn up the creeks. However, the water clarity was only visible to about 1' deep.  The recent rain and wind must have stirred up the water since I had last spoke with Mike.  Without sight casting  or using a depth finder, I was reduced to making blind shots into the dark. 

Erika and I explored and fished most of the cove without a single take.   Trout were only sighted in the creek where we had launched my pram.  The creek was extremely low and spawning habitat for the trout is going to be really limited this year.  Signs are posted to protect the spawning trout and Wardens were out enforcing the regulations.

The bare soil is typically underwater by this time of year.

 
Hopefully the water clarity has improved when I return when the smallmouth bass season begins.  This day trip was actually a scout mission to figure out launch sites and smallmouth habitat for my next trip up.  While I love fly fishing for trout, I prefer their river and creek environment versus stillwater. Since most rivers and creeks in my area are running high and dark, my target has shifted towards bass during the downtime.

The highlight of our day was sighting a mating pair of Bald Eagles.  We actually saw them mate.  It was incredible...

My first sighting of Bald Eagles in southern California.

A New World

My first Yellowfin Croaker on a fly

My last attempt to fly fish the salt was a fail.  The tide was all wrong and nothing seemed to be in my favor.  Now that I have my own boat and a fishing buddy that knows the bays, a new world has now been opened up.  While nothing will ever replace the soft spot I have for trout streams, the bay is a cheap alternative for some hard fighting fish.  My first salt water fish on a fly rod was caught on a size 6 orange clouser minnow.  The rod of choice was the Sage One 590-4 with a rio 30' 200gr sink tip line. 

The wind was howling all afternoon and pushed the boat around like a rag doll.  Charles caught a mackeral and a fish that we were unfamiliar with.  It was another tough day... which seems to be the theme lately.  I can't wait to get back on a trout stream.

Dropped Shot

I took my long time friend Brett out to LMV with Charles.  Jesse gave me some of his drop shot bait and tackle to experiment with and I taught Brett some of the fundamentals of drop shot fishing.  I spent most of the afternoon guiding him in the most productive cove in the lake.  While many donkey's were sighted, it was a different story trying to get the drift and cast just right. 

Charles quickly tied into some juvenile sized bass and upon his release one of the lake giant's pursued the dink bass and quickly inhaled it.  It was an intense sight and I wish Charles had recorded it on his contour camera.  I didn't get to fish much myself but sometimes it is more fun when you see friends catch and have fun, even if they are just dinks.

Against All Odds

Friday's are always the hardest day of the week for me.  I am the most sleep deprived and beat from five days of a third shift work week.  Charles wanted to check out Long Beach Bay, however I knew I just didn't have it in me to battle through the LA traffic.  Instead, I asked him to come over to fish my local bass lakes in my pram.  I knocked back a red bull and loaded the boat with my 6wt and the boat bag, and we were off. 

We headed over to Puddingstone Reservoir not knowing what the expect.  It is a large lake for the pram and we wanted to find a launch point closest to one of the prime bass spots.  It was a nightmare getting my boat on the water to say the least.  A younger version of Lieutenant Ramathorn from Super Troopers

Let me see your boat registration sir. 

  Nearly a hour later we finally got on the water.  But I could sense Ramathorn glassing me from the other side of the lake since I launched my boat from the non-motorized lagoon.  My casting was compromised for at least a few hours due to the stress and tension. 

I fished my size 4 olive mutated olive bugger most of the afternoon.  Several hard takes were on this fly as I was either fixing a knot in my fly line or re-poisoning the boat due to wind gusts. Since the bass were taking this particular fly, I felt no need to change it until sun down. 

The little pram steadily fought clear across the opposite side of the lake, despite the wind chop and wakes caused by speed boaters.  This lagoon was clearly more shallow with much more bass structure.  I lost another bass strike in this lagoon and decided to switch out my spool for floating line.  From the corner of my eye I saw a big splash from either a bass or carp.  It was a big fish and it is common for carp to jump for no apparent reason.  However, a part of me wants to believe it was a large bass inhaling one of the young coots fleeing toward the brushy bank. 

Against all odds, I decided to tie on a frog gurgler popper.  We drifted along the side of a submerged tree.  I cast my popper and let it sit for a moment... gave it a few pops and let it sit... a swell of water formed around the frog and like a giant straw.  I set the hook and the bass wrestled my 6wt and I all the way to the boat. She was a beauty, possibly the best looking bass I've caught.  

My first bass on topwater!

We made multiple drifts around this lagoon but it seemed the bass got tight lipped.  Charles lost a few bass on his topwater baitfish pattern and had to face the skunk...  We initially swore we were never retuning to this lake, however we may just give it another chance.

Getting Back Up

MVL crushed me like the T-101 at the end of Terminator 2.  It simply destroyed me.. The lake seemed to tease me as wind followed me into every cove.  The wind forced me to make blind casts since the water was too choppy for sight casting.  I lost a chunky bass as it followed my fly right out of the water while I was foolishly repositioning my line.  Meanwhile Charles became the MVL trout slayer of the day. 

Today after work, I tied up some size 4 dumbbell eyed woolly bugger variants for Prado Lake tomorrow afternoon.  A few of these have rubber leg skirts and some don't.  I will try shad patterns as well, Since they are abundant in this lake.  With little energy left from a rough week, I have just enough left in me to tie a handful of flies to get back up for another fight.

Charles at MVL.  This is a pretty good beer btw.

 

A Champion Awaits

Someone turn the water back on!

The lack of substantial snow pack in our mountains has created some of the lowest water years that I have witnessed in my local creeks.  While sections of the lower stretch of this creek had sufficient pools for trout survival, the upper section is less than ideal.  Increased angling pressure and lack of special regulations don't benefit the drought seasons we've had either.  Another reason to enforce C&R in a wild trout fishery so close to a high human population density.

A few hundred casts were made before my hypnotic trance was broken by a eager dink.  Regardless of it's size, this barrel chested dink fought like a battle ready dwarf.  This was my one and only rise and release of the day. 

A big beard and battle axe and this trout is ready to rumble.

Hope lies in a champion sized trout that I sighted eagerly feeding just under the surface film. This trout would be a fine catch even on the Kern River. As much as I would have liked to cast a fly at it, the surrounding landscape did a fine job protecting this fine fish from fly lines.  Hopefully it's offspring will restore some hope to this seemingly dead fishery.

Bracken ferns (Pteridium aquilinum) and Tortula californica growing on a rocky seep.

Dinks

It seems like my local fisheries are in trouble.  Particularly those within a skipping stone away from the high density cities along the foothills.  In merely a year, this rather well kept riparian habitat was somewhat pristine compared to what it has become.  Graffiti and broken beer bottles now litter the creekside more than ever.

The rises were scattered and sparse despite a heavy bluewing olive and caddis hatch.   This is the first caddis hatch I have seen this season.  The caddis were roughly a size 18 with a tan body.  I was fishing with a size 14 Skwala stonefly pattern that I have been tying for a upcoming trip.  While there were no Skwala stones present, I did manage to catch a dink with my pattern.

I will be returning to scout the upper section of this creek tomorrow.  Hopefully some of the champion sized trout have survived.

20 Miles of the Kern Day 1

Cold and crisp air.  Upper Kern River.

Day 1
Roadside fly fishing.  While it's not my favorite way to fish the Kern, it was the best we could do for early season trout fishing.  The whole group got together on this one.  If only Bill were there, I would have been in the company of all my fly fishing buddies.  Five angler's and 20 miles of the upper Kern River.

The weather had been unstable the week leading up to our proposed fishing weekend.  Snow storm's hit hard along our transverse mountain range and most of the Sierra.  The grapevine was momentarily closed due to iced roads and the trip was constantly in question.  And our main concern was how the storm affected the river.  It would have been devastating to discover milk chocolate flowing through the Kern Valley.  Fortunately, the river looked healthy and flows were low.

First wild trout of the year.  A wild Kern River Rainbow.

We spent what seemed like hours just scouting and looking for a good stretch of water to fish.  We drove up and down town like a gang of gypsies in a crazy caravan.  Let down by the fly shop's advice, we followed the river upstream to look for some better structure.  Tuck led the way in his jeep, and I in my truck. 

Once we found the promised land, we all dispersed like we were on some easter egg hunt.  Erika and I stayed together and headed downstream.  Most of the roadside section of the upper Kern is pocket water.  I love pocket water and my favorite technique to fish pocket water is high stick nymphing.  I feel that it is my deadliest arrow in my quiver when used during the right conditions.  For me, the strike detection is more responsive and the drift has less drag through short rapids and runs.    It wasn't long before I got into my first fish of the trip.  While not a trophy by any means, it was wild and colored beautifully.  Upstream, Erika was adamantly working the water. Of all the beautiful trout I have caught over the years, I have to say she is still my finest catch.

We re-grouped and without much success upstream, we moved on to a different stretch several miles upstream.  This was a wise choice as it led us to the discovery of a honey hole.  It is unbelievable how many quality fish we pulled out of that one hole.  Simply unbelievable.

Getting bigger

By 1:00pm a blue wing olive hatch began. The mayflies ranged from a size 16 down to 20ish.  They were bigger than I thought and while the hatch was prolific, the strong gusts of wind blew the bugs off the water.  Determined to get one on a dry, I rigged my Sage Vantage 7' 3wt with a size 18 parachute bwo.  Tuck and Joseph headed down to the river while Charles and I rigged a second rod with a dry fly.  Erika proceeded with my dry fly rod and I continued nymphing with my Sage One 5wt.

Erika and I hiked through a thicket of willow until we stumbled upon a great looking run.  It was deep with a pile of structure.  I just knew we were in for a treat.  I began nymphing the deep run and immediately I felt a hard take and the feisty trout was on.  It was full finned and beautiful rainbow with a fat belly.  After a few more drifts I connected with a straight up brute that broke off my 6x tippet in a matter of moments.  Next time I better be paying attention.  Erika was having no success on the dry fly and we traded rigs.  I told her to take my run and I headed downstream with the dry.

Caught on 3wt on a dry

 After a few casts along a seam a silver flash materialized.  I wasn't ready for the take, but the trout took it hard and I set the hook and held on.  The trout took me for a ride and bent my 3wt down to the cork.  I tried my best to manage the trout away from the rock ledges that it was trying to escape under.  Surprisingly my 3wt vantage has some fish lifting guts and I was able to pry it away from a complex labyrinth of rocks.  3wt fishing at it's finest! Man I love that rod!


 The sun was setting quick and temp's were dropping just as fast.  Erika was fish-less and I felt pretty bad.  I was determined to get her into some quality fish the next day.  The rest of the evening was spent eating burritos the size of footballs at El Jacalito and beer drinking and pool at the Pine Cone Inn.  It was a strange and random night to say the least. 

Winter Solstice

 

It's been a busy month.  I don't even know where the days went... the year is nearly over and I had to get on a creek to do what I do best.  If the end of days were coming, at least I'd go down with fly rod in hand.  The mountains were cold and icy.  A storm had just passed and left pillows of snow nestled between the stones.  Erika said were fishing for troutsicles.  We managed to get a few and end the day warming next to a fire and pint of ESB. 

The water wasn't as low as expected for this time of year. 

The brown trout were being especially selective.  No dry flies today.

3wt's and flicking flies on creeks has not lost it's charm.

The perfect end.  .

 

Tying Like a Machine

 It's been too long since updating some fishing reports. Since my last outing to the upper Kern river, I have fished several rivers in central Oregon, a local stream and the lower and upper Owens river. Those reports will come out soon...

I've been tying flies like a machine over the past few weeks. Primarily bass flies since trout stocking has commenced in my local lakes. I had finally got around to filling my Cliff bugger Beast fly box with articulated rainbow trout flies, shad, blue gill and a variety of bugger and clousers. And guess what? They are all gone.

Tuck and I finally got out to fly fish. We decided to meet at MVL since it was convenient and I've managed to get some strong stockers to take streamers. I brought my 8wt and all my bass flies to offer the large mouth pigs that inhabit the lake.

A few LMB took our wooly buggers with Tuck getting a nice one that muscled itself into the weeds. After a few hours the rain began to really come down and my urge to use the restroom became unbearable. My mind turned off and left my fly box on top of the restroom trash can. Some lucky guy or gal now has a nice fly box full of bass flies. Good luck.

The past few days I've been tying like a mad man. I literally lost every bass fly I owned. At least now I have a starting point.