Kern River and Lake Isabella

[Fishin Magician]

After peaking last week at almost 9,000 cfs, the cooler temps have brought the flow back down to a manageable 3,000 cfs. Water clarity has improved greatly. Trout fishing has picked up considerably with most bait fishermen scoring easy limits. Power Bait, salmon eggs and night crawlers are the standards. With the higher flows and poor clarity, the spinner bite has been poor but should be getting better as the water clears.
Lake Isabella is rising a foot every two days now and conditions are changing daily. I have not fished it in over a week (just too busy), but second hand reports are crappie in the brush near camp 9 and Wofford Heights park also off rocky point.
Catfish are all you want in the same areas and near the mouth of the river.
There is now a defined channel at the mouth of the river. With the high flows, expect to see the trout start to congregate in this cold water plume. These are the same conditions where we were catching monsters a few years ago. Throwing 2lb'ers back like 8 inch stockers and scoring at least 1 over 5lbs every day for two weeks including one at 8lbs.
ABA is hosting a bass tournament today on Isabella. I will post the results when available. There have been a lot of second hand reports of 10-14lb bass being caught regularly. Most of the bass guys are pretty tight lipped about offering up info, especially with the tournament today.

[madwire3]

good stuff thanks for the update

[Pinekap]

Thanks for the report. I will be up in two weeks!!