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Kings River - Rookie

MonkeyButt70

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I will be heading to Lindys Landing @ Kings River mid August to take out my recent Kindsvater Flatbottom build and I have never been there. So any advice would be appreciated, for example... what areas in the water to avoid (are there water maps), cool destinations, do they have race fuel there, if I tow my boat with the RV is there a dunk service etc..... any insight would be helpful so that Im somewhat prepared for what Im in for.
 

4Waters

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Pics of boat so we can better answer your questions. 😀
 

Meaney77

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Curious, how long is the kings river and is it only deep enough for jets? I pass over it when we head up to Shaver lake. I see people camping and boating but have never been.
 

Mr. C

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Curious, how long is the kings river and is it only deep enough for jets? I pass over it when we head up to Shaver lake. I see people camping and boating but have never been.

When the water is flowing yes it should be for jets and v-drives Used to go to royal oak. My son is there now and said the farmers will be needing less water soon which means the river will drop in the next few weeks. . I’ll try and get more specifics when I talk to him.

There was a video posted on RDP Facebook page 2 days ago of an early morning run at Kings. I’ll see if I can copy and paste it here.



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sintax

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yea, the water typically starts dropping early - mid aug depending on demand, and supply up river. I've never boated on it, but i've floated it a lot. I'd love to boat, or at least jetski it up some someday.
 

grumpy88

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The only boating I have done there was on a raft . Fun " white water " rafting there .
 

bowtiejunkie

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It’s been 10 years since I boated Kings, but when the water is up we’d have no problem boating with a 2005 Sanger V210, including waterskiing. The river bottom then was nearly all sand. In a flatly, it’s one of the coolest places to boat.

Most (maybe all) land bordering that section of Kings River is private property, except Reedley Beach (this is north of Lindy’s. So, be mindful if you stop at Royal Oak or Riverland or King’s River Gun Club Range, you won’t be welcome. Lol. North of that Reedley beach/park is No Wake Zone to Manning Ave bridge. Then, no boating at all north of that - I believe. Down river from Lindy’s the boating ends just south/west of Highway 99 bridge and Riverland. There’s a weir preventing further travel. A few decent sandy beaches right there. Don’t know the boating distance between Reedley Beach and the Weir, but it’s several miles for sure.

The Sheriff would patrol the river pretty well on summer weekends. Keep an eye out, speed limit is generally 35, if memory is correct. Pick and choose where you drag race wisely.

Nothing quite like Kings River. I miss it. The water is cold and refreshing, people are great, and it doesn’t get any better than waterskiing behind a flatbottom. Have fun!
 

Tpltrbl303

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533132323539453.jpg

Pic was at the lagoon at Lindys. 20ft Sanger had no issues. 22 shockwave with out drive had to pay attention in some place. Flatty should be fine. Launch ramp can be exciting with an rv. Good ramp just tight and shallow.


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rightytighty

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Prolly not good news for you, but I just heard they are cutting the flow next Friday/Saturday, August 1.

A little early this year. There’s little water left at Pine Flat which feeds the Kings.
 

Shrub Lurker

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Prolly not good news for you, but I just heard they are cutting the flow next Friday/Saturday, August 1.

A little early this year. There’s little water left at Pine Flat which feeds the Kings.

This is correct.
 

Shrub Lurker

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If you like crazy places, this place is for you. Your prop will be polished within moments. Everyone should go once. Like Parker strip but lots more wrong way lake roaches coming out of the bushes.
 

Mr. C

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Water came up today( this morning) but is expected to go down again. My son leaves from there in the morning but is going back up early next week. And will give updates.


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boatsntoys

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We used to love kings river. Haven’t been there in 30 years. Brings back great memories. However, August water is gonna be low. Usually very low. I remember waterskiing there late in the season. When you went down, you were barely tits deep at best.
 

Kylemenz1

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Love Kings River. Old girlfriends family had a membership in Royal Oak back in the day. I spent a lot of summers there in my late teens.

I was skiing once making the turnaround at Riverland. I looked down and thought “man the weeds sure do stick up night out of the water here!” At that moment my ski stopped and I ejected! It was good to be 17 and have the body of Gumby. Haha. I ran back to where my ski was, picked it up, trotted off to deeper water and the boat picked me up. Good times!!


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74 spectra20 v-drive

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We just got back week before last, you may not have any water brother! I ran both the Spectra and the Sanger and we had no issue but end of week 7-16 I pulled the Spectra because we had dropped 8" plus from the 13th. Everything is regulated by the water level at Pine flats flow starts getting shut down at around 50% capacity (i believe) we were at 54% when we got there. I am checking with some friends that spend every other week at Lindy's all summer, I think they are there this week, i have a text into them to check on water levels.

My family has been on this river since 70' or 71' and we have always had flat bottoms and spent most of our time at Lindy's. Its a very low key river so if you are new up there don't go Colorado rivering our Kings river man :) really there is some easy navigation but if you want just give me a call and I can walk you thru some stuff, there are definitely some spots you can get in trouble... good thing its all sand no rocks. Also the new owners at lindys have just put in a new launch ramp and approach area, super nice no issues dropping the day cruiser at all, i have a licence plate bracket across the prop opening on the trailer and we cleared it no problem n and off.

No fuel on the river anymore, I run 91 so not sure about race fuel in town. They don't have a lunch program but Beer or food buys a lot of favors.

Just got a return text and the water level is good this week, we use the peer as our water marker, you can expand this picture, at this level i ran both boats all over the place.

Cliff 562-879-9508
SANGER SPECTRA.png
 
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74 spectra20 v-drive

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Here is a good resource for you. go to "pine flats reservoir release" https://cdec.water.ca.gov/river/res_PNF.html look at the top right grid (outflow in CFS) full river will be at 7k, we had 5500 when I was there if you drop below 4500 it gets real shallow. Also just heard from my friends up there that they are shutting water down Aug 3. Check this site and get a couple options ready. We used to go every August and stopped the August trips about 10 years ago because we were tired of the water game.
 

MonkeyButt70

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Prolly not good news for you, but I just heard they are cutting the flow next Friday/Saturday, August 1.

A little early this year. There’s little water left at Pine Flat which feeds the Kings.
Thanks for the info, I just talked with a friend that is at Lindys now and they confirmed the water will be shutoff Saturday at 2am, looks like I will be going next year...
 

MonkeyButt70

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We just got back week before last, you may not have any water brother! I ran both the Spectra and the Sanger and we had no issue but end of week 7-16 I pulled the Spectra because we had dropped 8" plus from the 13th. Everything is regulated by the water level at Pine flats flow starts getting shut down at around 50% capacity (i believe) we were at 54% when we got there. I am checking with some friends that spend every other week at Lindy's all summer, I think they are there this week, i have a text into them to check on water levels.

My family has been on this river since 70' or 71' and we have always had flat bottoms and spent most of our time at Lindy's. Its a very low key river so if you are new up there don't go Colorado rivering our Kings river man :) really there is some easy navigation but if you want just give me a call and I can walk you thru some stuff, there are definitely some spots you can get in trouble... good thing its all sand no rocks. Also the new owners at lindys have just put in a new launch ramp and approach area, super nice no issues dropping the day cruiser at all, i have a licence plate bracket across the prop opening on the trailer and we cleared it no problem n and off.

No fuel on the river anymore, I run 91 so not sure about race fuel in town. They don't have a lunch program but Beer or food buys a lot of favors.

Just got a return text and the water level is good this week, we use the peer as our water marker, you can expand this picture, at this level i ran both boats all over the place.

Cliff 562-879-9508 View attachment 903348
Pic looks great,I really appreciate the information and will definitely not Colorado it up! Looks like I will be going next year since the water is going to be to low. I will reach out to you then. Cheers...Craig
 

brianwhiteboy

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Been going to Lindy’s almost every summer of my life. Jet boat and flat bottom country all day long. As the crow flies, there’s not a ton of river to boat on compared to the Colorado, but it’s some of the most beautiful scenery you’ll ever see. Just mind the speed limits and watch out for Johnny Law.

Another solid resource for info. is the Tulare County Sheriff. Ask for the boating division....Officer Brown is who I’ve talked with this summer. They will tell you the approx. flow and general condition of the river. Once the flow falls below a certain rate, the entire river goes to 5 mph. Even the jet ski Joeys can’t run over 5 mph, although the level may be high enough for them.

To add to the confusion, the river slightly north of Lindy’s turns into Fresno county territory, but also a higher speed limit. On weekends, you will see both Fresno and Tulare County Sheriffs on the water. Biggest thing to observe is the no wake buoys. That seems like their biggest pet peeve.

As was mentioned, Lindy’s has newer owners and they’ve dumped a lot of $$ into the place. It looks better now than ever before.

But to anyone new asking....King’s is CLOSED lol :cool:
 

parker guy

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We used to go for years, we were camping back mid 80’s and a treat Royal Oak broke in the middle of the night and landed on a beautiful flat bottom boat....great place and used to be lots of boat racing at Kings River back in the day
 
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