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When spring flowers bloom, I come down with a serious case of trout fever. The symptoms are instantly recognizable: a twitchy casting arm and an insatiable craving for sparkling waters and biting fish.
I typically look to the Eastern Sierra for the cure, but with the trout season opener set for Saturday, I know better than to join the crowds that make a beeline each spring for the Owens River Valley and the lakes off U.S. 395. Last year, the crowds at Crowley Lake made the shores look like rush hour on the 405. Fishing should not be a contact sport.
Looking for a change of pace, I packed my fishing pole and turned my wheels toward the Kern River, which is open to fishing year round (with only a few restrictions that are eased during trout season).
Flowing from a series of lakes on the slopes of Mt. Whitney, blitzing through canyons of pine and fir and flowing into Lake Isabella before trickling into the fields and orchards of the San Joaquin Valley, the Kern has more than 80 miles of shoreline, and Lake Isabella has 11,000 acres of water.
In playgrounds like those, trout hunters can find plenty of elbow room. During three days of scouting, I came back with 10 sure-fire destinations for fishing, camping, hiking and sightseeing that will remedy any bout of fever.
FISHING
1. KENNEDY MEADOWS
The murky brown water that rushes past this 6,100-foot elevation campground along the South Fork of the Kern is so cold that ice spears cling to the reeds and branches that reach into the current. I am told the fishing is good here because the California Department of Fish and Game dumps buckets of rainbow and brown trout in these pools from March through November.
All is quiet on an early April afternoon: just the sound of the rushing water and wind through the pines. I amble along the bank, looking for the best fishing spot. The opposite banks are steep, adorned with gray boulders, pine and fir trees. On the campground side, I come across a spot marked "Fire Safe Area No. 2," where the bank is free of thick brush and trees to snag my line. Just a wide stretch of slow-moving water. If I were a 5-year-old again, I'd call dibs on this spot.
From U.S. 395, just north of the Inyo County line, take Ninemile Canyon Road west for about 25 miles and follow the signs to Kennedy Meadows. The campground has 38 sites, bathrooms and running water. Overnight fees: $5. A small general store operates on the road just outside the campground.
2. RIVERKERN BEACH
For more than 20 miles, a two-lane road that starts as Sierra Way then becomes Mountain Route 99 shimmies along the banks of the Kern River from Lake Isabella to Johnsondale Bridge. The road is bordered by dozens of fishing spots that anglers can reach without bushwhacking through shrubs or climbing over boulders. Among the best is Riverkern Beach, a flat, grassy picnic area about three miles north of Kernville. Riverkern Beach made my list of favorite fishing sites because of its deep, languid water and the gnarled oak that shades the eastern bank in the morning. It also helps that it's a stocking spot for the California Department of Fish and Game.
From Kernville, follow Sierra Way about three miles north of Kernville and look for a sign at a clearing by the river.
3. WHITEWATER RIVER HIKE
Park next to Johnsondale Bridge and climb down the yellow staircase that leads to a four-mile trail along the upper Kern where the really serious anglers pursue wild trout. At places, the path narrows, bounds over rocks and climbs over downed trees. On the trail, don't expect bathrooms or running water, but you'll find countless brilliant fishing spots, many in the shade of willows and oaks. About a mile north of the bridge, I found a giant granite outcropping that juts into the river like a stone dagger. I sat on the dagger's point, my feet hanging over the edge and cast baited line into a swirling pool of emerald green. Time stands still in places like this. I might have fished from that stone dagger for an hour or five minutes. I can't recall.
From Lake Isabella, follow Sierra Way until it becomes Mountain Route 99, about 22 miles north to Johnsondale Bridge. There is a bathroom at the parking lot. Cross to the staircase and follow the trail on the east side of the river.
4. PARADISE COVE
The only things moving on the flat, calm waters of Lake Isabella are the red-eyed Western grebes, hunting carp and other small fish off the shores of Paradise Cove. I take this as a sign of bigger fish. It's midmorning, and several other anglers have already staked out the bare, rocky shores of the cove. There are no trees to break up the landscape or provide shade, and anglers can park right up on the shores of the lake. A few yards away, a fisherman sits in the bed of his pickup and stares at his line in the water, as if in a trance. Just beyond him, a second angler sits in the front seat of his pickup, his pole held up by a prop, smoking a cigarette, also contemplating the shimmering surface. What are they thinking about? The fleeting nature of life? Reincarnation? The existence of God? That's when I get a tug on my line, and I think about the best way to grill a trout.
From Lake Isabella's dam, follow California 178 east for two miles and look for the signs to Paradise Cove. Bathrooms and running water are available.
5. DEMOCRAT PICNIC AREA
I typically look to the Eastern Sierra for the cure, but with the trout season opener set for Saturday, I know better than to join the crowds that make a beeline each spring for the Owens River Valley and the lakes off U.S. 395. Last year, the crowds at Crowley Lake made the shores look like rush hour on the 405. Fishing should not be a contact sport.
Looking for a change of pace, I packed my fishing pole and turned my wheels toward the Kern River, which is open to fishing year round (with only a few restrictions that are eased during trout season).
Flowing from a series of lakes on the slopes of Mt. Whitney, blitzing through canyons of pine and fir and flowing into Lake Isabella before trickling into the fields and orchards of the San Joaquin Valley, the Kern has more than 80 miles of shoreline, and Lake Isabella has 11,000 acres of water.
In playgrounds like those, trout hunters can find plenty of elbow room. During three days of scouting, I came back with 10 sure-fire destinations for fishing, camping, hiking and sightseeing that will remedy any bout of fever.
FISHING
1. KENNEDY MEADOWS
The murky brown water that rushes past this 6,100-foot elevation campground along the South Fork of the Kern is so cold that ice spears cling to the reeds and branches that reach into the current. I am told the fishing is good here because the California Department of Fish and Game dumps buckets of rainbow and brown trout in these pools from March through November.
All is quiet on an early April afternoon: just the sound of the rushing water and wind through the pines. I amble along the bank, looking for the best fishing spot. The opposite banks are steep, adorned with gray boulders, pine and fir trees. On the campground side, I come across a spot marked "Fire Safe Area No. 2," where the bank is free of thick brush and trees to snag my line. Just a wide stretch of slow-moving water. If I were a 5-year-old again, I'd call dibs on this spot.
From U.S. 395, just north of the Inyo County line, take Ninemile Canyon Road west for about 25 miles and follow the signs to Kennedy Meadows. The campground has 38 sites, bathrooms and running water. Overnight fees: $5. A small general store operates on the road just outside the campground.
2. RIVERKERN BEACH
For more than 20 miles, a two-lane road that starts as Sierra Way then becomes Mountain Route 99 shimmies along the banks of the Kern River from Lake Isabella to Johnsondale Bridge. The road is bordered by dozens of fishing spots that anglers can reach without bushwhacking through shrubs or climbing over boulders. Among the best is Riverkern Beach, a flat, grassy picnic area about three miles north of Kernville. Riverkern Beach made my list of favorite fishing sites because of its deep, languid water and the gnarled oak that shades the eastern bank in the morning. It also helps that it's a stocking spot for the California Department of Fish and Game.
From Kernville, follow Sierra Way about three miles north of Kernville and look for a sign at a clearing by the river.
3. WHITEWATER RIVER HIKE
Park next to Johnsondale Bridge and climb down the yellow staircase that leads to a four-mile trail along the upper Kern where the really serious anglers pursue wild trout. At places, the path narrows, bounds over rocks and climbs over downed trees. On the trail, don't expect bathrooms or running water, but you'll find countless brilliant fishing spots, many in the shade of willows and oaks. About a mile north of the bridge, I found a giant granite outcropping that juts into the river like a stone dagger. I sat on the dagger's point, my feet hanging over the edge and cast baited line into a swirling pool of emerald green. Time stands still in places like this. I might have fished from that stone dagger for an hour or five minutes. I can't recall.
From Lake Isabella, follow Sierra Way until it becomes Mountain Route 99, about 22 miles north to Johnsondale Bridge. There is a bathroom at the parking lot. Cross to the staircase and follow the trail on the east side of the river.
4. PARADISE COVE
The only things moving on the flat, calm waters of Lake Isabella are the red-eyed Western grebes, hunting carp and other small fish off the shores of Paradise Cove. I take this as a sign of bigger fish. It's midmorning, and several other anglers have already staked out the bare, rocky shores of the cove. There are no trees to break up the landscape or provide shade, and anglers can park right up on the shores of the lake. A few yards away, a fisherman sits in the bed of his pickup and stares at his line in the water, as if in a trance. Just beyond him, a second angler sits in the front seat of his pickup, his pole held up by a prop, smoking a cigarette, also contemplating the shimmering surface. What are they thinking about? The fleeting nature of life? Reincarnation? The existence of God? That's when I get a tug on my line, and I think about the best way to grill a trout.
From Lake Isabella's dam, follow California 178 east for two miles and look for the signs to Paradise Cove. Bathrooms and running water are available.
5. DEMOCRAT PICNIC AREA
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