It’s been a while since I’ve done any good fishing and the last time I made a big trip was in the fall up to the Eastern Sierras. Unfortunately that trip was a was a bit of a bust and the window before the winter storms came sooner than expected. Mother nature did her job this winter with all the snowpack so it looks like we’re in for another high-water year.
The flows on both my home waters, the Yuba River and Feather River, have been high since the end of December along with many other tailwaters in Northern California so it doesn’t seem like I’ve been missing out on much. Blowouts and high flows tend to kill the Yuba’s good late winter and early spring hatches of skwala and march brown. Dry fly fishing is either extremely tough or non-existent making nymphing the name of the game. The new road closures on Hammonton-Smartsville and most recently Parks Bar Road is another reason the Yuba River isn’t worth trekking out to fish anymore. The fish there are still as feisty and beautiful as ever but you have to do a lot more work to find them.
Public access to the Yuba River is now limited to walk-ins below HWY 20 bridge and Hammon Grove. I’ve been anticipating public access closures on rivers and streams for several years now (because when does public land ever become more accessible?) and bought an Alpacka Raft that I could easily pack and carry. I feel like a raft or kayak is now essential for covering water on the Yuba unless you’re game for the hike. A mountain bike could work too but the large cobblestone rocks are a pain and potentially dangerous to bike on. At 6,000 CFS the Yuba River isn’t very accessible however I did find it somewhat fishable.
I fished around HYW 20 bridge as it was the easiest to access. The higher flows created a lot of good structure with different types of water to fish. The fish I found were closer to the banks of waist deep runs below the riffles. All of my fish came off of the rubberlegs stones which made perfect sense as I observed a lot of stonefly shucks in the water and adult golden stoneflies along the bank. I fished about three hours and went 2/3 which was pretty good considering the high flows. Flows on the Yuba will probably stay high until the fall so I won’t be returning anytime soon.
My time is now very limited. It definitely feels like my previous chapter of being a child-free trout bum has come to an end but with that comes a new chapter of father who takes his kids fishing. I’m still figure it all out and hopefully all the kinks will be worked out this year so me and the kiddos can start catching some fish.
Kirman Lake is a 45-acre high elevation lake in the Eastern Sierra sitting at 7,200ft. It is famously known as a trophy brook trout fishery where DFW planted brook trout grow to exceptionally sizes due to the abundance of food found in the lake. Although brook trout can be found throughout California it is rare to find specimen that are over +12″ making Kirman Lake one of a kind. Kirman Lake has been on my bucket list for many years now and I finally found the opportunity this fall to make the trek and fish it.
According to online documents Kirman Lake was last planted in the fall of 2022 with 3,500 brook trout. This was exciting news since the lake was pretty much dead as it hadn’t been planted since 2018. Excitement quickly turned to concern as the winter of 2023 had one of the largest snowpacks seen since 1952 and reportedly killed off the majority of the brook trout that were planted. Since the die-off, fishing reports have shared anglers having little to no luck connecting with these fish this year.
Bad reports made me question whether or not it would be a good idea to try and fish Kirman Lake. Having already enjoyed a successful trip to the Eastern Sierra earlier this year, I was hesitant to return for a second visit fearing the conditions might not live up to my previous experience. I jumped back and forth on ideas of where to go this fall, float tubing Kirman Lake in the Eastern Sierra, surf fishing along HWY 1, stream hopping the Burney area, or chasing steelhead on the North Coast. I ultimately settled for Kirman Lake as it was the only place I had yet to explore.
My trip to Kirman Lake was planned as an overnight bike camping trip. A lot of information I had read about Kirman Lake involved taking a bike to get to the lake so naturally I thought it was the way to go. I had about 30 pounds of gear in my pack with an additional 10 pounds strapped to my bike. I had never done an overnight with a bike so it was going to be an interesting experiment on gear management.
I arrived at the trailhead at about 4:30pm. The trail to Kirman Lake is about 3 miles and rated as a moderate hike. I thought I would be able to effortlessly ride my bike all the way to the lake but I was very wrong. The trail to Kirman Lake is about 80% uphill. I tried to bike up the inclines but the weight of all my gear made it too difficult and strenuous. At the halfway point I gave up on pedaling, threw my pack onto the handlebars and seat, and walked the uphill sections. I finally made it to the lake at about 5:45pm. I was pissed off and exhausted. I quickly set up camp before sunset and called it a day until tomorrow where I would finally be able to wet my line. My word of advice is that it is definitely more of an e-bike destination unless you are packing light for a day trip.
The following day I was on the water by 8am. As I kicked around the lake I observed American coots enjoying the morning and found healthy weed beds that were receded for the season. The water was nice and clear and I kept my eye out for any signs of life under the water. I covered water around the lake for 2-3 hours and didn’t see a single fish. The only fish activity I saw were 3 rises. My fish finder indicated that the lake’s average depth was approximately 13-14 feet and I managed to detect 3-4 fish hovering about 12″ above the bottom. Overall the scarcity of fish was disappointing. I tried both an intermediate and type-3 sinking line with buggers and didn’t get a single grab. At around 10am people started arriving to fish the lake and out of the three anglers that were there I only saw one hook up.
The good thing about a destination being uphill is that when you’re leaving it’s all downhill. I flew down the trail from Kirman Lake and made it back to the car within 30-40 minutes. As I was leaving I met a wildlife group that were doing construction on the trail. The group was adding new gates to the fence so that people using the trail with bikes wouldn’t have to throw their bikes either over or under the fencing. Now if only they could add a few more fish to the lake…
Overall my experience on Kirman Lake was underwhelming. I’ve been keeping up with the lake since 2020 and all the reports I’ve read have never been very good. The dream of catching huge trout both Lahontan cutthroat and brook trout on Kirman Lake were real over a decade ago but nowadays it’s a crapshoot. On my way back I spoke to an angler who discussed the potential future of stocking native Lahontan cutthroat trout in place of brook trout at Kirman Lake. The lake is so rich in food sources that I believe anything thrown in there would grow to something amazing it just needs to be stocked more regularly. It seems that currently there is no definitive information about what Kirman Lake’s future holds.
I was bummed. All that effort to get to Kirman Lake and the fishing wasn’t good. Sometimes I wish I could erase my memory of all the streams and rivers in the Eastern Sierra I’ve fished so I wouldn’t compare when the fishing isn’t good. There’s no reason to settle for fishing somewhere that’s bad up there because there are so many good options. On the way home I drove through Yosemite on Tioga Road to enjoy the majestic views. I stopped and fished the Tuolumne River near Tuolumne Meadows. It was tough fishing but I managed to get a few.
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