The area took a pretty good beating by the 2014 King Fire. We found burned-out trees for miles around, but the ground foliage is definitely making a comeback and once in the river it’s hard to tell that a fire of that magnitude swept through less than two years ago. The silver lining was that the poison oak was far more dispersed than I imagine it once was, and with the type of access we found to the river this was a bright silver lining. Second silver lining is that we saw no rattlesnakes which I assume can also be attributed to the fire.
With not much info to be found, we had mixed expectations but were pleasantly surprised with a great little campsite as well as some very fun fishing for feisty, small, native rainbows. Access to the river was very challenging, requiring us to crawl some 800' down steep, slippery canyon walls. Once down in the the crystal clear river the wading was very technical and as we learned by the end of our days also very tiring. On Saturday we had tons of small, eager fish slam caddis dries. On Sunday the fishing was a little slower, we couldn't seem to get the fish to come up to the surface, but managed to get decent numbers sub-surface.
Our whole weekend down there we saw maybe a handful of people, only two of them anglers. It’s a quiet little spot – beautiful water and a little gem nestled in the foothills. It always amazes me to find new, special places so close to home, especially having lived in CA for so long. A place worth a repeat – but shhhh, lets keep it a secret.
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| A blossoming birder early on our Saturday |
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| Maher wader'd up, happy to get some dirt on the new rig |
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| About 3/4 of the way down the canyon to the river |
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| Make a wrong move and wind up tumbling into some P.O. |
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| On the river and ready to find some fish |
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| A nice little guy who happily ate from the surface |
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| Weller picking his poison |
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| Good slot for a few fishys |
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| Maher makes his way through the still water |
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| The purple haze was his lucky fly |
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| Me late in the day trying to work a long line |
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| Maher in his final hole working some pretty water |
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| Solid man camp in the burned out woods |
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| Big moon rising |
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| Day 2 we found a slightly more civilized approach |
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| Maher enjoying the wonders of a nymph rig |
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| Weller just before lunch |
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| Me working my way up a narrow slot, approaching the goods |
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| A healthy, feisty native rainbow |
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| Me spotting fish from well above the river |
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| New friends share some water |
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| Weller milking the most out of his drift |
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| Maher with a tight line |
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| Smelly & happy as we wind down our day |
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| No luck in the final hole, but we had a good one |
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| Yeah, Weller – we'll do it again |
