The reason Mtn 99 was closed. Overflow from a small canyon/seasonal creek to the east of the road, and mud from upstream inundated the road. Lots of heavy equipment digging out the silt/mud from behind the Edison pickup dam. The flow is being diverted through the dam, the "lake" behind the dam is completely silted in. It looks like they are going to have to dig out the dam. Kern River is very muddy, we brought some spinning gear, in case the river was merely "off color"- no chance, zero visibility, looked like chocolate milk running downriver. Stopped in a couple of places to survey the water, new mud banks everywhere. Lots of mud/silt covering everthing. The lake is also very brown, and susequently, so is the lower river. The lower river looks just as bad as the upper. Last week, the lower river had some clarity to it, fishing looked possible. Not now.
Headed out Saturday to fish Salmon Creek. Excellent weather, low 90's, clear, not much wind, no clouds to speak of. Water in Salmon Creek is very low, I had expected more from the rain. Brush Creek was very muddy, Kern more so. Crossing Alder and Brush Creek higher up, both were still very muddy. Salmon Creek itself is running very clear. However, there is a coating of fine silt/mud on almost everything. We fished for a couple of hours, not much activity. We did manage to land a couple of spectacular Golden/Rainbow hybrids, no pictures as they all seemed to wiggle free before I could get a picture. All were small, less than 8 inches. Fished a Griffith's Gnat wet, and all of the strikes were sub-surface. Fish were VERY spooky due to the low water level. Looks like we'll have to wait a little longer for some clarity to return. Matt