My buddy and I are headed up there next month and we're usually Eastern Sierra fishermen, so this was a huge help. I've looked at various spots along the river (Google Maps) and read some things, but this was one of the most useful videos I've seen yet. Thank you.
Glad to hear! Next month is usually a great time to fish. The Browns are usually pretty active as they begin to spawn and you can catch some really nice Natives up above Johnsondale. If that's too far, then I recommend the spots a little harder to get to along the side of the road. There's plenty and they don't get fished that much. Good luck!
Wow! I sooo appreciate you doing this very helpful video. From a life long Californian whose trying to decide if taking the kiddos along for the trip to Kern would be worth it or not, especially with the extreme drought appearing to be drying up most of California's water real fast.
Love this video. I have been to Kern river once and i had no sucess at catching fish. I didnt see any fish. Can you let me know where can I go to have campground next to river and a good place to catch trout ? I just need to know where can reserve the camp ground. thanks
Hospital Flat is a good campground to start and can be reserved on recreation.gov. Most of the campgrounds are first come first serve and a lot of those are closed due to the runoff. My favorite places are up a little higher. Limestone Campground is good and well shaded in the afternoon and right on the river. Fairview is right next to McNally's which is walking distance to a great burger or cold beer. Fishing is a lot better up higher, too. You can check the forest service website for updates with this crazy amount of runoff we're having, and the ranger station in Kernville is usually pretty good about answering their phone.
@@RoadandReel thank you for this info. Im looking to reserve my spot on june 3 and 4. Alos on the website its say no camp fire but there are fire pits. I guess i need to ask the ranger if no fire allowed even in fire pit. Alos which way do these fish swim toward Isabella lake ? Or up the river? I just want to make sure there will be fish in the river after limestone campground. Thank you
@@031TP the fish will be moving up stream in June. Usually fires aren't allowed May-December due to fire risk, but propane stoves are good. Are you fishing for keeps or catch and release? If you are fishing for keeps, I recommend dead drifting salmon eggs and if you are fly fishing, heavy stone flies or hellgrammites are usually good during June. Good luck!
Nice video, my friend! Great camp! Enjoyed watching, your bushcraft skills are good! And the surrounding nature is cool and amazing. Cheers from Russia, JP, and welcome to my channel about special Russian bushcraft tips and hacks! Kind regards, Yuriy!
What the hay ? McNallys is still a nice little resort. It didn’t burn in the So called “ McNally fire.” Someone named it the McNally fire because McNallys was the only thing with a name anywhere near.
Thank you for the nice video. I want to take some friends camping there and we stay up late drinking and talking, where do you recommend to camp so we dont bother other campers ?
Camp 3 has some spaced out spots that are pretty secluded. If you want to go higher due to weather, Fairview has a pretty secluded loop and there's Brush Creek as well with that parking area that is separate from the actual campground.
You mentioned bluegills and catfish... which section of the kern is that? Is that below Lake Isabella or above Isabella on way to Kernville... or is it above Kernville? Some recommended spots to try would be great. thanks
It's below Isabella. Lower to Upper Richbar area. Democrat is usually pretty good for catfish along with Hobo campground or Miracle hot springs. Blue Gill are usually where the water is coming out through Keyesville. I've never caught them in the middle of the canyon, but it doesn't mean they're not their. Also Small mouth bass should be good in all those locations I mentioned. Trout plants are also happening in those locations this week.
It's actually one of my favorite rods besides my Redington Classic Trout 3WT. It has excellent feel and is surprisingly accurate out to 30-40 ft. I am using a Redington Zero 2.3 with Cortland Ultralight WF2. I also have the same setup in Rio WF2. I can cast the Rio a little farther, but it hits the water a little harder. The rod loads very well and makes those roll casts no problem, as well.
@@RoadandReel I put on the Orvis Battenkill classic click pawl fly reel with Scientific Angler WF2 line. Planning on using it on small creeks in Souther California. I will be taking the clinic series this weekend with the Kern River Fly shop hoping to learn the techniques. Subribed to your channel you have a lot of great content. Thanks for educating folks and sharing.
@@flyfishhn7214 no problem, thanks for the sub! They are really good there at the fly shop. You can learn a lot on those smaller creeks just watching how the fish behave with different presentations. Then, you just mimick those presentations on a larger scale for the big rivers. The only wrong way is to not do it at all. Stick with it and take good notes. Hit me up if you have any more questions and congratulations on your new setup!
Thanks for the input. If I do another one in the future, that's what I'll do. I was mainly doing this as a way for someone to click on the section they want to hear about. The water is going down so rapidly that it would be different next week. I can do a series in the future where I show all the major turnouts along the way with views of the river and water line. Thanks again!
@@RoadandReel I plan to camp and fish the river from Isabella up to the Johnsondale Bridge within the next few weeks so your commentary is timely. This will be my first time dry camping there. Where would you suggest we set up our home base? Thanks!
@@steves9293 I suggest Fairview or limestone. The brush creek parking area is also really nice with bathrooms and trash. It's going to get warmer, so the higher the better and the fishing will still be really good. You can always travel around back down the river or hit up the wild section as well, just follow the regulations. And McNally's isn't far for a good lunch or dinner!
This is awesome, good to have someone familiar do a series on these. thank you!
thank you.
You're welcome!
Just took a Ride
Thank you for providing us with this video! I learned so many new things about the Kern river in these 24 minutes. I appreciate it a lot.
No problem. You can check out my other videos for some fishing tips and current fishing reports. Have a good one!
My buddy and I are headed up there next month and we're usually Eastern Sierra fishermen, so this was a huge help. I've looked at various spots along the river (Google Maps) and read some things, but this was one of the most useful videos I've seen yet. Thank you.
Glad to hear! Next month is usually a great time to fish. The Browns are usually pretty active as they begin to spawn and you can catch some really nice Natives up above Johnsondale. If that's too far, then I recommend the spots a little harder to get to along the side of the road. There's plenty and they don't get fished that much. Good luck!
Wow! I sooo appreciate you doing this very helpful video. From a life long Californian whose trying to decide if taking the kiddos along for the trip to Kern would be worth it or not, especially with the extreme drought appearing to be drying up most of California's water real fast.
I'm glad you found it useful!
Love this video. I have been to Kern river once and i had no sucess at catching fish. I didnt see any fish. Can you let me know where can I go to have campground next to river and a good place to catch trout ? I just need to know where can reserve the camp ground. thanks
Hospital Flat is a good campground to start and can be reserved on recreation.gov. Most of the campgrounds are first come first serve and a lot of those are closed due to the runoff. My favorite places are up a little higher. Limestone Campground is good and well shaded in the afternoon and right on the river. Fairview is right next to McNally's which is walking distance to a great burger or cold beer. Fishing is a lot better up higher, too. You can check the forest service website for updates with this crazy amount of runoff we're having, and the ranger station in Kernville is usually pretty good about answering their phone.
@@RoadandReel thank you for this info. Im looking to reserve my spot on june 3 and 4. Alos on the website its say no camp fire but there are fire pits. I guess i need to ask the ranger if no fire allowed even in fire pit. Alos which way do these fish swim toward Isabella lake ? Or up the river? I just want to make sure there will be fish in the river after limestone campground. Thank you
@@031TP the fish will be moving up stream in June. Usually fires aren't allowed May-December due to fire risk, but propane stoves are good. Are you fishing for keeps or catch and release? If you are fishing for keeps, I recommend dead drifting salmon eggs and if you are fly fishing, heavy stone flies or hellgrammites are usually good during June. Good luck!
@@RoadandReel thanks alot for all these info. 👍
Nice video, my friend! Great camp! Enjoyed watching, your bushcraft skills are good! And the surrounding nature is cool and amazing. Cheers from Russia, JP, and welcome to my channel about special Russian bushcraft tips and hacks! Kind regards, Yuriy!
Hey, thanks for dropping in from Russia! I'll check out your videos and thanks for watching!
What the hay ? McNallys is still a nice little resort. It didn’t burn in the So called “ McNally fire.” Someone named it the McNally fire because McNallys was the only thing with a name anywhere near.
You are right, it was the Roads End Resort that burned. Thanks for the clarification.
Nice place, thank you. What road is that? Any information I will appreciate
This is HWY 178 up through Kernville and then Mountain 99 up to Johnsondale Bridge.
@@RoadandReel thank you
Thank you for the nice video.
I want to take some friends camping there and we stay up late drinking and talking, where do you recommend to camp so we dont bother other campers ?
Camp 3 has some spaced out spots that are pretty secluded. If you want to go higher due to weather, Fairview has a pretty secluded loop and there's Brush Creek as well with that parking area that is separate from the actual campground.
Would you suggest Fairview or Limestone for for a couple nights of camping and fishing?
I like Limestone just because it gets less people going in and out. Fishing is about the same in both, but Fairview is more likely to be stocked.
@@RoadandReel Thanks for the feedback. We stayed at Limestone and got a prime camping spot. Able to catch some fish and had a good time.
@@r3sid3ntttv9 That's great to hear!
You mentioned bluegills and catfish... which section of the kern is that? Is that below Lake Isabella or above Isabella on way to Kernville... or is it above Kernville? Some recommended spots to try would be great. thanks
It's below Isabella. Lower to Upper Richbar area. Democrat is usually pretty good for catfish along with Hobo campground or Miracle hot springs. Blue Gill are usually where the water is coming out through Keyesville. I've never caught them in the middle of the canyon, but it doesn't mean they're not their. Also Small mouth bass should be good in all those locations I mentioned. Trout plants are also happening in those locations this week.
How is your 2 wt rod working? what is your set-up? I just got an Eco Carbon XL 2 wt rod
It's actually one of my favorite rods besides my Redington Classic Trout 3WT. It has excellent feel and is surprisingly accurate out to 30-40 ft. I am using a Redington Zero 2.3 with Cortland Ultralight WF2. I also have the same setup in Rio WF2. I can cast the Rio a little farther, but it hits the water a little harder. The rod loads very well and makes those roll casts no problem, as well.
@@RoadandReel I put on the Orvis Battenkill classic click pawl fly reel with Scientific Angler WF2 line. Planning on using it on small creeks in Souther California. I will be taking the clinic series this weekend with the Kern River Fly shop hoping to learn the techniques. Subribed to your channel you have a lot of great content. Thanks for educating folks and sharing.
@@flyfishhn7214 no problem, thanks for the sub! They are really good there at the fly shop. You can learn a lot on those smaller creeks just watching how the fish behave with different presentations. Then, you just mimick those presentations on a larger scale for the big rivers. The only wrong way is to not do it at all. Stick with it and take good notes. Hit me up if you have any more questions and congratulations on your new setup!
The narrative was great but you should have panned the river so we could see it also....
Thanks for the input. If I do another one in the future, that's what I'll do. I was mainly doing this as a way for someone to click on the section they want to hear about. The water is going down so rapidly that it would be different next week. I can do a series in the future where I show all the major turnouts along the way with views of the river and water line. Thanks again!
@@RoadandReel I plan to camp and fish the river from Isabella up to the Johnsondale Bridge within the next few weeks so your commentary is timely. This will be my first time dry camping there. Where would you suggest we set up our home base? Thanks!
@@steves9293 I suggest Fairview or limestone. The brush creek parking area is also really nice with bathrooms and trash. It's going to get warmer, so the higher the better and the fishing will still be really good. You can always travel around back down the river or hit up the wild section as well, just follow the regulations. And McNally's isn't far for a good lunch or dinner!
Are you a married man, cause them donuts were processed & shipped😄
Life's too short and crumb donuts are delicious!
yo
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