Golden Trout Wilderness

[Fochetti]

I am heading into the Golden Trout wilderness for a week long 65+ mile backpacking trip July 8-15. Starting at Cottonwood Pass trailhead and then going down to Golden Trout Creek, Volcano Creek, South Fork of the Kern, and the Kern River. Anybody fished any of these, or have any good info on anything about this area. Flies, techniques, camp spots, other areas to fish: lakes, streams. Any info will be appreciated. I will definitely post a report with way too many pictures when I get back. I can't wait to get out there, however the altitude may slow me down a bit 11,000 plus feet at one point.

Thanks

John

[PaulC]

Been quite a while since I have been out there. Mosquito patterns can of course be a good choice. Did well with still water caddis patterns as well on the lakes.
General attractors and nymphs on the rivers.
Great thing is a lot of the backcountry fish are not picky if the presentation is correct.
A good forum for that area is the kern river fly fishing forum associated with their shop out there.
Odds are folks there will point you in the right direction.
Hope that helps,
Paul

[Jerry Fujii]

You can start fishing in Horseshoe Meadow which is surprisingly good even
though it is "roadside". Once over Cottonwood Pass, Stokes Stringer has fish
below the trail crossing (as you near the meadow). These fish are hybridized.
The fish are closer to pure golden in Big Whitney Meadow. The fish get bigger
(~12") from Tunnel guard station to Little Whitney Meadow. You can catch
some of the few existing "pure" goldens in Volcano Creek, but, in the interest of conservation, should severely limit your catch since even catch and release
stresses the fish. Once you get down to the Kern River, you will get rainbows
and hybrids. The fishing in the river is quite good and you can expect fish to
18" and occasionally larger. These are all "wilderness innocents" and will eat
just about any fly. My staples are Elk Hair Caddis and Beadhead PT. To catch some of the bigger fish in the river try squirrel hair leeches. Good
campsites are plentiful once you get to Big Whitney Meadow. A favorite
campsite is on lower Groundhog Creek. None of the lakes in this area have fish as the DFG removed hybrids to protect the remaining "goldens". At some point the lakes will be restocked if a genetically appropriate source can be
found. Have fun!

[Jerry Fujii]

John,

I will be in the area starting the evening of the 5th. Will be sleeping in the
back of my truck at Horseshoe Meadow that night. Will be doing work for the DFG from the 6th through the 13th in the Mulkey Meadow/ Templeton Meadow areas after that.

Jerry

[Fochetti]

Well I will be with one other guy and will have rods on our packs. Maybe we will run into you out there and can meet up. Hope to see you out there. Thanks for the awesome info Jerry, I will definitely use it.

John

[Scott V]

Have fun John, that is a trip I plan on doing next year.

[Fochetti]

Well then you will be getting a lot of good info in a couple weeks to add to the database. Hopefully some useful stuff, and I am sure some mistakes that will help you as well.

John

[Ned Morris]

The first part of the hike out of Horseshoe Meadows is neat. Creek has tiny Goldens. The climb up to Cottonwood Pass is hot and dry but not that steep as this is where the Sierras begin to flatten out. Chicken Spring lake is fishless but cool place to camp and swim. Stokes Stringer of Golden Trout Creek is loaded with small Native Goldens. Big Whitney Meadow has larger fish up to 10-11 inches but common catches are more 7-8 inches. Lots of fish you will see in the creeks. I used nothing but Caddis patterns size 16 and it did the trick. Have fun! I am jealous

[Fochetti]

Any last minute info from anyone? Tips, flies, areas not mentioned, warnings, thoughts... I am almost ready, leave in two days, can't wait to get on the road.

[Notch]

I fished that area last summer. Lots of eager goldens on Siberian and Golden Trout Creeks, although most of them are small (4-8"). To get the bigger trout, I used a streamer and focused on the undercuts beneath the large boulders on Golden Trout Creek.

If you're up for an adventure, take a side trip down the SF Kern at Templeton Meadow and fish below the barrier dam. The dam was installed to keep brown and rainbow trout from interbreeding/feeding on the golden trout. There is fishable water for about 100 yds below the barrier before the river goes into a steep canyon. Throw streamers just below the barrier and be ready for some major grabs as there are some big dog brown trout in there. Good Luck.

[Fochetti]

Thanks for the info, and I am already planning on heading down to templeton meadow to fish for some of those Browns. I have heard they are pretty big.

[DaveB]

I wrote about here:

http://dragfree.blogspot.com/2005/08/rarest-trout-in-world-and-golden-trout.html

Generally, there are plenty of good campsites along all the streams you mentioned. Flies won't matter much. Small streamers will pick up bigger fish. Golden Trout Creek in Big Whitney Meadow is about as picturesque as they come. The section of trail from the tail of the meadow to the tunnel has some great pocket water and the bigger holes had bigger Goldens when I was there. That section is quite beautiful too. Also worth checking out is the Groundhog Cinder Cone if you head to Volcano Creek.

Have a great trip.

Dave B

[Fochetti]

Dave,

I checked out your blog right when I was planning my trip and actually posted a message on there. My message is the last one on the page right now. It really is a small world. By the way, I loved that post and it got me really motivated to actually take this trip. So, thanks for the inspiration. Where exactly is the Little Kern located in relation to where I am going to be?

John

[DaveB]

If you wanted to get the tri-fecta in one trip, I think the thing to be would be:

Horseshoe Meadows->Big Whitney Meadows->Volcano Creek->Down to the Kern River and all the way out to the forks.

At the forks you can go upstream to find LK Goldens past the barrier falls about a mile below Trout Meadows Creek. Alternatively, instead of following the Kern all the way to the forks, you can cut across to the Little Kern a bit higher up and then follow the LK down to the forks and out. This trip would require a shuttle from Horseshoe Meadows to the forks though. But, the fishing for Kern River Rainbows up near Kern Lakes would be well worth the hassle.

Dave

[Fochetti]

Bummer I was thinking about the trifecta for sure, three heritage trout in one trip. That would have been pretty awesome, but it is going to be amazing anyways.

Last post before the trip, I am heading out at like 2:00 am. Got the pack all ready, it's about 45 pounds. Not looking forward to that part of it, but I am looking forward to everything else.

Thanks for all the info guys it is very appreciated.

Post to follow when I return...