Tule River
In central California, nestled up against the Sierra's is a little town called
Porterville. Through the edge of town runs a river called the Tule River. If
you get in your truck and head out Hwy. 190 east, you slowly wind your way up
through Springville. As you continue on your truck engine begins to strain as you
go higher. You can see the river along the road as your driving, but the farther you go,
the higher up the side of the mountain you drive the farther down the river seems to be.
Finally you see Coffee Camp on your right. You are about 1,500 feet up in the mountain now,
and the river runs right next to the camp. Don't stop here, unless it is just to take in the
wonderful view of the river. Driving on you begin climbing more, soon passing Upper Coffee Camp.
This is an ok place to camp if you don't mind walking forever to get down to the river. We are
getting close now. Drive about another 3 very windy miles. There is a little widening of the
road here and you can pull off to the side and park, and you are about 3,000 feet up in the wonderful
Sierra's. Don't panic when you see the trail that
heads down and how steep it looks. Move on down the trail till you reach the point where it
splits. If you take the left fork you can be down to the river in about 15 minutes and some
wonderful mountain fishing for native german brown trout. I am going
to tell you what happened when i took the right fork on my last trip...........
I am sure most of you have heard and probably blamed everything that went wrong on the famous
El Nino of 1998. It did bring an awful lot of rain that year, and if it hadn't i am sure that
there wouldn't have been so much moss on all the rocks. Well...... i headed to the right and
walked for about 15 minutes and still couldn't get down to the river. I went over to a sloping
rock and tried to look down to see how far below the river was. BIG Mistake !! I lost my footing
on a patch of very wet moss on the rock and started to slide down. I fast like sat down on my fanny
to try and slow down. Well i did slow and eventually stop, but after having gone almost down and off
the rock. I could see the river down below and a very long drop. As i sat there trying to figure
how i could inch my way back up the rock, I cussed El Nino big time as started slipping again....
You guessed it..... slip-sliding and clawing to hold on ........
I slid right to the edge of the rock and off.
Your mind does funny things when you are in a predicament that i suddenly found myself in.
As I went over the edge and looked down ........
seeing the river and the bank some 20 feet below....
I through my rod to the left so i wouldn't impale myself on it (great thinking huh) then noticed
how beautiful the river was as i dropped down toward it .......
My mind then pictured me not keeping my legs stiff as i hit but to staying loose and trying to roll when
i hit ......
Just then i heard this loud yell..........
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Shittttttttttttttttttttttttttt
I was suddenly laughing as i fell the last few feet ... thinking to myself....
You always hear people say that is what they would yell if they were falling from somewhere.
Well folks it is true you unconsciously do yell it.
I did finally hit the ground.
So much for the hit and roll technique i had thought of on the way down.
I laid there for some time before i tried to move. When i did try to move, i had the most pain i
have ever felt in my life, a kinda explosion from my lower back up my back and down my legs.
I just laid there then not moving knowing that this was NOT going to be a great fishing outing.
Very slowly moving only my arms, i pulled my creel up and reached in and pulled out the Pepsi I had
stuffed in it. Things always look better after a semi-warm Pepsi. As i drank it and looked around,
i saw my fishing pole within reaching distance. As i drank more of my warm Pepsi, I thanked who
ever was watching over me for putting a nice bank of sand just where i dropped and not all the rocks
that seemed to be everywhere else on the bank. I finished my Pepsi and told myself ....
Boy you came to go fishing and you are at least going to get your line wet ! I reached over and
dragged my pole over to me ..... dug in my creel till i found the black mepps i wanted and put it
on the line. As i cast the little mepps spinner out into the river i had a monster pain shoot up my
back and down my legs again. I told myself that this was NUTS and began reeling the spinner in so
i could figure out how to get myself out of here and Home.
You guessed it ! I got a hit and hooked a fish. I finally got that fish up on the bank and in my
creel. How ? I am not really sure as i was in so much pain. Guess the kid in me and the excitement
helped me do it, i'm not sure. It took me over an hour and a half to crawl out of there back up to
my truck. I made an ice pack out of plastic bag and the ice in the cooler and drove back to Porterville.
Hospital Emergency Report: 3 Fractured vertebra in lower back, torn ligements in left foot, and
removal of one Tick !
Well folks .... that is the right fork of the trail. Take the LEFT FORK !!
Below is a picture of that fish from this El Nino Fishing Trip.
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