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Its my go to rod when we pack back into the golden trout wilderness as soon as they open the snow gates. Ive used the spinning reel I think perhaps for three days thus far. There are a couple of warm water springs up high that keep some frogs and such alive year round. Around those brief areas is where millions of hatchling trout feed and hang out. As such between the baby trout and frogs etc, its a feeding paradise for the bigger trout. We were up in that area this last weekend. I tried to take some pictures with a new camera my son brought me up but as yet haven't figured out how to download the pictures to my old Tower, Im expecting the laptop back any day, they say they shipped it this morning. As so as I can I will post some first try pictures of the upper kern river and the south entrance to the golden trout wilderness.
Anyway back to the rod, its a great fly rod with a young lightweight pridex, balances perfectly. I also use it with an old fashioned mitchell 400 spinning reel and 4# test. Because of the location, its artificals and flys only, single hook barbless, so I have a couple of plastic frogs and minnows for the spinning rod and some foam frogs that Gilbuster over on the BassPond site made up. Along with some new ones from this springs BassPond flyswap. The frogs really bring the big trout (called California golden rainbow, they are a cross of Golden trout that have slipped down the river over the falls into the main river and bread with the native rainbow trout. California lists them as a sub species. Anyway they get pretty big, several being caught this last saturday in the 15-18inch size.
I might add that unless weither and fire conditions take a change for the worse before spring, the hatch of young fish this year is awsome in the small creek mouths leading into the river I saw litterally millions of tiny trout feeding on the current hatch (termites, two varities of dragon flys, a purple and a gold wing tan.
Phillipson really knew how to make a really good Spin Fly.Next time I contact Mike at McFarland Im gonna see if I can get a 4 piece 7 1/2ft 6wt blank and make my own Spin Fly, built right they really shin.
Richard

small frogs, say about the size of a quarter, yep I suspect those big trout have been eating those same frogs around those springs for a couple of millions years. I dought every trout eats frogs, but those in the area of the three high country hot springs do. There is such a spring near a place called McNalleys Fairfair, up river about 20 miles from Kernville. In winter when the river is maybe 35 degrees and its 20 degrees outside that little patch around the hot spring is still in the 60s or even low 70s and the edges are always full of insects and those small frogs, and those trout hang out and eat everything too. Guess its just keeping your eyes open once you settle down to living in one area and really fishing it almost daily for a few years.
Richard
BTW there is a spot on the NE corner of the lake below my house (Isabella with 54 miles of shoreline) that has such a hot spring near a really marshy and cattail kind of place, its a wildlife refuge just a few feet North for miles and mile. Anyway I think someone released some form of small equadic turtle nearby, so their has been a colony of colorfull lets say up to 1/2in diameter turtles around that hot spring for over 20 years. The hugh bass hang out there and feed on them all winter. Ive been playing with and making some foam turtles about the size of a nickle that are very productive on the local LM Bass. (green shell yellow bottom)
Richard