Fishing report June 26th - 30th

[THansen]

Despite the high flows we were committed to our annual Kern vacation. We skipped our trip last year and regretted that decision. Our daughter has all star tournaments every weekend, so getting to the Kern is/was a challenge.
We made it up in Sunday June 26th. Got setup at Limestone and was allowed to sneak off for a few casts. I worked the tree section in the middle of the campground. Pulled a few smaller fish ( 6-8") from this 100 yard section. I have always considered these to be wild trout. They are too small to be planters??
Decided to spend the remainder of the day around Limestone. Spent a little time at alligator rock. Pulled in a couple small planters and use another word. The water level is about 4-5' higher than what I consider good fishing water.
Monday: Worked below Limestone campground and was awarded with several nice fish ( 2 lb range) I was shocked at the quality. Usually with these high flows, I end up catching numerous small fish.
Fishing was cut short because I needed to head to Isabella to find a dentist. Dentist was out until Tuesday, so we hung out around Isabella. Water was much warmer and safer.
Tuesday: Started above Brush Creek and worked my way back to Limestone. Again, landed several nice fish with a few smaller models
Wednesday: Decided to stay around limestone and see what I could manage. Worked the slower sections above alligator rock. Got into a really steady bite. Added a couple more healthy fish to the score card.
Had to run to Isabella for my 11 am Dentist appointment. Had an infection, Antibiotics and painpills will be enough the get me home.
Spent the remainder of the day at Isabella. weather was much cooler and windy than the day before .
Did make a quick stop in Kernville. managed a couple fish in the park. Cookie cutter stockers
For the evening my daughter and I headed to Roads End. First cast, she hooks up. LDR. This session was much slower, but I had to keep us away from any fast water. This restricted where we could fish
She was content with perfecting her rock skipping skill. She used to fish with me all the time, Now she is 11 and I rarely get the time. If she wants to skip rocks. I dont care. This is time well spent

Thursday. tried alligator rock again. Bite was much slower than the previous day. The water had dropped at least 6" from the previous day. Only a limited window to fish. Had to packup camp and head home for another softball tournament

Overall the fishing was good. Quality of fish was excellent. I caught more large fish this trip than I have in the past 10 years combined
Water level is too high to consider wading. I would suggest waiting if your plans are flexible.

We are planning on coming back in late July and late august.

[Gary C.]

Sounds like a great trip. I have been waiting for the flows to come down so I have not been up yet this year. I heard some other reports of nice fish like yours. It sounds like hey are stocking some quality fish. I can completely understand not worrying about the fish so much when you are getting to spend a day on the river with your daughter. It makes for a very nice day fish or no fish. Thanks for the report.

[THansen]

Gary
I was able to put my daughter onto a reallly nice fish earlier in the day. My wife was shocked at the size of the fish. With the high water flow and healthy fish, it was a fun battle to watch. Wish I had a dig camera to record the whole thing. Hopefully, we will have other fish battles in the future.

The water flow is stupid. One nice thing is that the commercial rafters dont come up that far. If you know how to read the water, you can find some nice spots to fish. The trick is not losing your tackle on every cast. I donated a fair amount of tackle this year. I considered heading to lower peppermint or Big meadow, but the girls just didnt want to spend that much time on the car. There was a road closure sign on Sherman Pass. Not sure if you can get into Big Meadow/ Horseshoe Meadow?

[Gary C.]

Tom, the road to Big Meadow is open. Weekend before last a group of friends and I were up there to backpack to Manter Meadow. We drove around to the east side of BM and parked to hike over the hill to Manter. Didn't actually make it to Manter Meadow because I had brought my little grandson and he was at his limit by the time we got to the bottom on the other side of the mountain. We just camped there less than a half mile from our destination and then hiked out the next day. Even though the trip out was harder than going in he did great. In any case, we spent the weekend up there and never even wet a line. We didn't fish BM because it looked very flooded (swampy) and I didn't want to push the little guy any further and ruin it for him. We all still had a great time just being outdoors together.

[Brian R]

Gary you went in to Manter? Did you see any deer in that way? I hunt that ridge a lot at the top on the way in. Was curious as to what it looked like this year. I haven't had a chance to get up there yet. I already got both of my tags but haven't scouted. I will be up that way in a couple of weeks. I am going to fish there and Taylor.

[Gary C.]

Brian, it was my first time into the area so my orientation and descriptions are probably a little vague. We didn't see any deer and the only place that I saw any sign was at the the top of the ridge where deer had crossed the trail in a couple different places. We did see two rattle snakes though, one on the drive in and a baby one crossing the trail on the backside. There has not been any trail maintenance yet this year and from what I heard there probably won't be because of funding cutbacks unless one of the volunteer groups step up. There were a few trees across the trail on both sides of the mountain but not a big deal to go around. Once you get to the bottom on the backside is where it got kind of bad and part of the reason I decided not to push my grandson any further. We camped just a little southwest of the cabin after you cross the creek. We came to a big tree that was down and the trail was looking very overgrown with brush, looks like wild roses to me but I'm not sure just what kind of plants they were. A buddy scouted ahead and said that the trees and brush just got worse so we backed up until we found a suitable camp for the night.

[Brian R]

Snakes, I figured you see some and not a good sign seeing baby rattlers. This is a very bad year for that. Keep note of that. I just took my dog through snake aversion training to get him ready for the up and coming season. The trails are another thing. No funds. At least it was open. There is a very popular Jeep trail, I know you know which one that is still not open because of funding. What a shame. Well that is where we typically see them is at the ridge top. They use that to go between BM and Manter. We usually see quite a few later in the season. Cool thanks for the info.