West Fork 6/24 - More Tenkara Trout Action

[Kobinator18]

Got up to the Cogswell Dam Road around 7:30 with a newly acquired, 12ft Iwana and some traditional flies. I stopped at 4 places within a mile of the bridge and caught something at each place. Most fish were 4-5", and the largest catch was 7". I also came across a 4-5' rattlesnake along one of the small trails to the river. It slowly took cover under a rock pile, and I decided to move along. I took pics of the snake and half of the fish, after which I promptly dropped my cell phone in the drink :Embarrassed:. Hopefully it will work after a drying out and then I can post the pics...

Definitely going to get the shorter handle for the Iwana, haha.

-Bryan

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Snaaaake:
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This is where the phone jettisoned into the river:
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Pulled several out of this pool and a few more upstream. All in all, I hooked up on a dozen or so, lost 4-5 others...not too bad for barbless. Lots of top strikes, of course.
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[white belt]

Thanks for the report Bryan, hope your phone dries out! I dropped mine in SFD fully submerged and its back to 100% after it dries. Put it next to a fan over night and it will dry.

[sandtrout]

Yeah, I'd like to see those rattlesnakes...they haven't been out of hibernation too long the their venom sacks are at their MOST POTENT.

[LuckyCraft420]

Submerge the phone into a sealed container of white rice. I don't know the scientific reason, but it sucks all the moisture out of your phone.

[VIVID_FLY]

Nice report and did you cycle up to the dam . AMAGO user here.

[carpanglerdude]

Submerge the phone into a sealed container of white rice. I don't know the scientific reason, but it sucks all the moisture out of your phone.

Something about the moisture absorbent properties of rice. I've heard this trick too.

Nice catch and report!

[Kobinator18]

Nice report and did you cycle up to the dam . AMAGO user here.

I have kept to hiking so far, and I've only reached the point where West Fork becomes C&R only (I still release all my catch since the catch is small sized, and I've been told by many locals that this is one of a handful of sustainable trout streams). I have a mind to pack the mountain bike and get up to the dam. The only thing that keeps me from doing that is all the good days I've had after getting just past the swimmers and whatnot.

Does anyone know if the fish or pools get bigger on the way up? I've also wanted to hike the side streams, like Bear Creek, but I've stuck to West Fork so far. Any other inside info would be appreciated (although I've met many on the river, and understand all, who want to keep the location of their favorite honey holes a secret, haha).

-Bryan

[Viejo]

Best deal is to go and explore it yourself.....and then you decide whether you want to post what you find on the internet. The drainage you are talking about is the most heavily impacted water in Southern California and probably doesn't need any more exposure. Sadly, not everyone feels the same way about the little wild fish that populate the river.

[Kobinator18]

As you can see, my phone survived after a few hours in the sun and overnight in a jar of rice!

I agree with your sentiment, Viejo. There are many streams in the UP of Michigan that I would hate to see debased like the area of the West Fork around CA-39. So much litter!

[vortec_cruiser]

Nice job on those trout with barbless hooks. I remember back in the 1960's, when I was a teenager, I hiked up Bear Creek. Besides the fishing, the thing I remember the most was the wild burros I saw up there.

[DarkShadow]

Gah! Rattlesnakes scare the living crap out of me.

I've reverted back to fishing for bass off a boat because of those pesky things. :-\

I encountered a nice 6 foot model during a long hike into a nice trout stream in April and have been terrified since. That was the 3rd one of the day, and the 3rd one was the charm, and we got the hell out of Dodge.

Glad to see the West Fork is still kicking. It's taken quite a while to recover from the silt release from Cogswell years ago.

[Kobinator18]

Gah! Rattlesnakes scare the living crap out of me.

Yeah, this was my first "close" encounter with a rattler in CA (saw them plenty of times in TX when I was younger). It hid away as soon as it saw me, but it still made me especially cautious for the rest of the day.

[DarkShadow]

Yeah, this was my first "close" encounter with a rattler in CA (saw them plenty of times in TX when I was younger). It hid away as soon as it saw me, but it still made me especially cautious for the rest of the day.

Yeah, I've met up with 'shy' rattlers. Those are ok.

The last one I met up with, we dubbed "Surly."

It was 5 - 6 feet, and even though I spotted him about 40 feet away, it still managed to reverse its course, and actually lunge towards us, striking, hissing, rattling, the whole 9 yards. As we got closer, it kept charging forward, and finally decided to retreat. Because we were in the middle of no where thanks to the hike in, we decided it'd be a better idea to get out of the Sespe Wilderness, and get a bite to eat at Mike's Diner in Castaic instead.

The shy rattlers I don't mind. The 6 footers that look like they're ready to go 12 Rounds are the ones that I try to steer clear from.

Time to keep fishing for largemouth until there's snow on the ground again!


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