I've never fished in So Cal however I did see the Kern once when I was visiting friends in Bakersfield. The Kern looked like a real nice place to fish.

Based on the earlier posts, it sounds like those other areas would not be a lot of fun to fish. For me, trying to fish and enjoy the outdoors would be ruined by worrying about my car. Also seeing a lot of garbage in areas that we fish is very disturbing.