Southern Sierra Grand Slam

[Bob Laskodi]

Just got back from an extended trip to the Kern drainage, where our goal was to catch all four rainbow trout sub-species present in that drainage, the Coastal Rainbow, Little Kern Golden, Kern River Rainbow, and the California Golden. We met out goal! As usual, I do not post on the internet any stream names that I believe to be environmentally sensitive waters that can not handle any increases in fishing pressure, but would be happy to discuss specific streams/locations with any board member via e-mail or IM.

California Coastal Rainbow (CCR)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/laskodi/1f2fda30.jpg
No trip to the Kern drainage would be complete without the common and widely available CCR!

Little Kern Golden (LKG)
These fish were all caught from a tiny creek that is mercifully only a short hike from the trailhead (and this old phart is thankful for that!).
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/laskodi/828ab7d7.jpg
Doesn't look like much when you first hit the headwaters, but ...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/laskodi/aafe0b8e.jpg
... walk a little farther and you get to some nice water to fish ....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/laskodi/9c3c624d.jpg
... and you just might catch one of these LKG....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/laskodi/f7793bf3.jpg
... or one of these LKG....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/laskodi/8494484b.jpg
... or one of these LKG....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/laskodi/fa65f8e4.jpg
... or one of these LKG...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/laskodi/e7291991.jpg
But you better be stealthy like Chris .....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/laskodi/426cd3e0.jpg
and you will catch this LKG on the next cast!

Kern River Rainbow (KRR)
The original plan was to hike down the Forks of the Kern trail. Well, we started down the canyon and made it to the first set of switchbacks where you can finally see the bottom of the canyon, and I almost had a cardiac when I saw how much elevation and distance we still had to go! Needless to say these old phart legs (and lungs!) would have none of that so we went with "Plan B" and picked a less ambitious hike. For general knowledge, any rainbow caught in the Kern drainage above Durrwood Creek is considered by fisheries biologists to be a KRR.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/laskodi/77204866.jpg
Man, these KRR are tiny ....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/laskodi/ab5f8241.jpg
.....and very spooky .....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/laskodi/d558c9f3.jpg
.... finally one that is big enough to stay in my hand!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/laskodi/477e85bd.jpg
and the "trophy" KRR of the trip!

California Golden Trout (GT)
I will name the destination for this one, since it's golden's are not 100% pure strain and are heavily hybridized with CCR. But for you HTC'ers I think these fish still qualify since this is indeed a historic native range. Yep, this is the South Fork Kern at Monache Meadows. First a word about the Monache Jeep Trail.... yes you do need a high clearance 4WD vehicle as there are a few spots where it's needed. The USFS classifies this trail as "excellent for beginners and all 4WD users". And it must be true because this was my first "jeep trail" and I made it with no problems with my new Toyota Tundra Double Cab 4WD (it's maiden voyage!) and only hit the skid plates twice and got two minor scratches (Sierra Racing Stripes!). But the trail is very rough, even in places where 4WD isn't required, and it took me 1 1/2 hours to do the 13 mile trail to my campsite along the river at the northern edge of Monache Meadows. As an aside, there are some beautiful unimproved campsites, and in the three days we were there only saw one other person (local horserider gal and her five dogs!) and had the whole river to ourselves! I'd go soon, because the brown trout are slowly taking over the river from the GT, and we caught about 10 brown trout for every golden. :cry:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/laskodi/7a20b264.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/laskodi/3c5a9b0f.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/laskodi/abd8a75a.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/laskodi/64f61242.jpg
Some CG pulled from the SF Kern
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/laskodi/9e174f90.jpg
The "trophy" of the trip, a CG about 15", the largest CG I've ever seen caught from a stream
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/laskodi/0aa30a93.jpg
Chris being stealthy (actually crawled there!) and got a nice fish from the small pool.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/laskodi/635152d6.jpg
Chris admiring his very first CG!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/laskodi/b61a709a.jpg
View of the SF Kern from our campsite
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/laskodi/85ccf49f.jpg
The Monache fish barrier to keep the browns from moving upstream (much needed, but a little late!)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/laskodi/5aa9fbb1.jpg
We caught far too many of these :(
Hope you enjoyed our little adventure as much as we did!

[rrivera]

Fantastic..!! Thanks for for sharing those great shots..!!

[Adam Grace]

Awsome pictures! Nice trip.

[Flyjunkie]

Sweet Pictures and Great report...

Yeah, One can add a healthy amount to one's "Native Trout Life List" within the Kern Drainage....

One thing that confuses me... How where you able to Catch "Coastal Rainbows" in the Kern River Drainage????
As I've read it, The Kern drainage was cut off from flowing to the Ocean (Via the Delta) by the Build up of Deposits from the Kings River over 15,000 years ago..(there's this almost unnoticeable 15 foot rise, along Hwy 99, between the Kings and the Kern that is the Deposits from the Kings.. this is the Barrier that cut off the Kern's outflow to the Sea..).
This resulted in the Total Isolation of the Kern and it's Trout from outside influences.. thus the development of the Kern River (Redband) Rainbows in the North Fork. The KRR are the Latest arrivals in the Kern Drainage, having arrived Only after the Last major Glacial period began to subside. the Little Kern Goldens, Volcano Creek Goldens and the South Fork Goldens held over during the Glacial Period in "Ice Free" sanctuaries within their respected Drainages.. The Kern river (Redband) rainbows where actually able to access the Little Kern Drainage as they came back into the system and it's believed the Current Little Kern Golden is a Cross-breed of sorts between the "PreGlacial" Golden Population and the "Johnny Come Lately" Redbands...
Since the Kern's Outflow to the Ocean was cut off soo long ago, the Kern lost any ability to have a Coastal Rainbow/Steelhead population within it's drainage..
Curious as to where you learned about a Coastal Rainbow Population in the Kern Drainage....

You certainly had a Most wonderful time..... :wink:


DEAN ~ 8) 8)

[Chris V]

Great photos and great looking fish Bob. Thanks for the report!

[sacreno]

Bob

Great Report!!! Awesome Pic's....Looks like you had lots of fun. I hope to make a trip for those beauties.

Flyjunkie

I found this nice story of the origination and history of golden trout.

http://www.flyline.com/tips_trivia/golden_trout_1/

I don't know much about the subject but it makes an interesting read.

I think we have a few Fish Biologists on the forum. I would like their opinion.

Steve

[Bob Laskodi]

According to Dr Peter Moyle, any rainbow trout caught in the Kern drainage below Durrwood Creek is generally considered to be a California Coastal Rainbow. Any rainbow caught above Durrwood Creek is generally considered to be a Kern River Rainbow. All fish in the Kern drainage are descendants of coastal rainbow trout, including all forms of goldens. The Kern River was indeed connected to the Pacific Ocean. The goldens evolved due to their isolation in headwater areas above natural fish barriers that were not glaciated in the last ice age about 20,000 years ago (which wiped out all other rainbows in other areas). I suggest reading Dr Moyle's fantastic book, Inland Fishes of California, University of California Press, Revised 2002.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Some of those little wild trout look like jewelery or ceramics.

Very special little animals.

[Hairstacker]

Wow, what a fantastic report and pictures!! Just gorgeous fish. . . .

[gryhackl]

Bob
Many thanx for sharing the wonderful photos. Member of this board soon may never have the opportunity to see these native fish again.

[FishFiend]

You can catch coastals there for the same reason you can catch Browns there. Hatcheries.

[Flyjunkie]

According to Dr Peter Moyle, any rainbow trout caught in the Kern drainage below Durrwood Creek is generally considered to be a California Coastal Rainbow. Any rainbow caught above Durrwood Creek is generally considered to be a Kern River Rainbow. All fish in the Kern drainage are descendants of coastal rainbow trout, including all forms of goldens. The Kern River was indeed connected to the Pacific Ocean. The goldens evolved due to their isolation in headwater areas above natural fish barriers that were not glaciated in the last ice age about 20,000 years ago (which wiped out all other rainbows in other areas). I suggest reading Dr Moyle's fantastic book, Inland Fishes of California, University of California Press, Revised 2002.

BOB,

Thanks for the reply.. I gotta get Dr. Moyle's Book and add it to my rather sizable collection of "Native trout Tomes"...
Interesting about the statement that from Durrwood creek downstream it's all Coastal rainbows, but upstream it's all Kern river (Redband) rainbows... as far as I'm aware of there's no extreme barrier to upstream or down stream Migration in that area...

it's good to learn something new about such subjects as often as possible... :wink:


Thank You!!!

DEAN ~ 8) 8)

[DocEsox]

Sorry about such a late post on this entry....but I just found and joined the forum. Your trip is one I need to take and your pictures are excellent . About the taxonomy of the trout......I am a devotee of Robert Behnke's work on trout....especially his last book, "Trout and Salmon of North America", 2002. As far as coastal rainbow trout (onchorhynchus mykiss irideus) they wouldn't exist in the Kern River as a pure, native fish but rather an introduced hatchery fish. The Kern has been stocked for over a 100 years with hatchery trout which gain most of their genetics from coastal rainbows.....although there is some McCloud River redband trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss stonei) genetics from the early decades of the hatchery programs. Also there has been little to no attempt to preserve the Kern River rainbow trout in its pure form, genetically. Dr. Behnke feels there is probably few, if any, genetically pure Kern River rainbows left....although the higher you go up the river and tributaries the lesser the hybridization is with stocked rainbows.

As far as the goldens they are considered a relict population from the earliest trout invasion of the Kern River drainage and genetically are most closely related to Redband trout of the Northern Sacramento River Basin (again O. mykiss stonei). Whereas these fish have a common ancestor with coastal rainbows (O. mykiss irideus) this fish was not evolved into what is known as the coastal rainbow at the time. Coastal rainbows are the most recently evolved of the O. mykiss subspecies. Although they probably invaded the Kern at some time in the past and influenced the Kern River rainbow.

If you want to read something really sad about native California Golden Trout look in the 2006 printing of the "Transactions of the American Fisheries Society" a study just completed at UC Davis, titled, "Identifying Introgression Hybridization in Native Populations of California Golden Trout Based on Molecular Markers". Although somewhat tedious if you aren't into molecular genetics the article basically states that samples were collected from ALL supposedly pure genetic sources for California Golden Trout and they were very extensively tested for hybridization with rainbow trout alleles. The sad conclusion is that there is hybridization from rainbows existant in ALL populations of CGT except one...and that one is Volcano Creek. One little creek of pure fish is all that is left...hard to believe.

Way too much fun.....would love to read Moyle's book...at least the section on inland trout in California.

Brian

[Bob Laskodi]

Hi Brian: Welcome aboard! You brought up several good items about wild trout populations here in CA, none of which are very good news! Virtually every native trout (called Heritage Trout in CA) has been influenced by hatchery genes, no matter how remote or limited and is not limited to only Golden Trout. Sad indeed.