Online StoreUpper Owens River Fishing Report-8/27/08
This great tributary to the legendary fly fishing Crowley Lake has a ton of fish! Out of the last four consecutive days of guiding I have been visiting the Upper Owens quite a bit. The flows and temperatures remain constant with a little more water flow and a little colour shade given to the river by the Hot Creek confluence. So below that point I would say the fishing is a little less technical than the very clear upper parts.
The somewhat cooler nights and shorter days will continue and the Upper Owens well continue to load up with fish. The caddis fly hatch continues to come off early morning and somewhat perstist in parts of the river throughout the day. The elk hair caddis, and goddard caddis patterns are doing well during the stronger parts of the hatch. Hoppers fished properly as well as popular attractor patterns are getting smacked. Do not let the fish see you when fishing topwater attractor patterns, remember, they utilize a 45 degree conical vision. Stay back and stay accurate.Nymphs are getting great results all day long! A small San Juan worm or large red midle larva above a # 20 pt or dark soft hackle will score fish all day. Others to try are #18-20 robo pt's, hares ears, z-wing and other pupas, and midge emergers to name a few. Pull some streamers off the bank while applying the same rules as the topwater attractor patterns and enjoy success! Here you will see some different fish as we see more browns willing to come up and sample the larger protein snack imitations we throw at them. And dont forget, The Tug is the Drug!
Freestone Streams of the Eastern Sierra-8/27/08
The freestone streams of the area continue to fish excellent! Water flows are staying strong and cold.. Bread out the small rods (ooowt-light 3wt's) and try your luck with large attractor patterns, medium-large numphs, and small streamers. Fish here are still opportunistic and aggressive so remeber that when you approach and cast to each pool. You will often get the best and largest fish within the first few moments the fly hits the water when you make the first cast into a fresh piece of water. Fish any method you like here, but do it well with precision. These places require the most patience and thought out methods and actions. Have you ever spent more time untangling and fishing for leaves than time in the water? Examine each situation, angle your cast, find the casting lane, concentrate... time will pass, .. way too fast...:)Hot Creek Fishing Report-8/27/08
Hot creek flows are staying about the same and not two much has happened different since my last report. Hoppers are still going strong and landing in the water during the windy parts of the afternoon. Who says wind is bad for fly fishing? If you want you can still put a #18-20 dropper underneath that on 6x; small caddis pupas, small flashback pt's, zebra midges, and #20 robo pt's just to name a few to use depending on the time of day. The caddis hatch still comes off from the afternoon on, partridge caddis and hot creek caddis on 6x flouro does the trick as long as you have absolutely no drag that is. In mid-morning a trico hatch comes off..if you think you are doing everything right and not doing well amoung rising fish, try switching to 7x with this hatch. Keep it light and keep it accurate! have fun...Lower Owens Fishing Report-8/27/08
The flows as of today dropped down to 292 cfs, this is getting more fishable each day as the night temperatures cool and the days shorten. A reliable caddis hatch has been coming off in the evening bringing up hungry fish. They are smaller in size, carry along sizes#14-20's to be safe. Small grey bodied elkhairs, partridge caddis, hot creek caddis, and quill winged caddis patterns will take fish. The fish are really stacked in the pockets and small eddies. Like I always say "foam is home" really applies here right now. Tungsten conehead buggers or your favorite big ugly streamer (slump busters, muddler minnows?) fished properly are a good choice at these curent flows as well. Fish can be spotted in the shallow water under cover in the right sunlight. Nymphing deep in the foam lines with the standard nymphs or with various soft hackles flys in shades of green #'s 14-18 will imitate many things in the water, or fish a birds nest in the same sizes in shades of brown and green as well as the ever reliable PT nymph.Hot Creek-8/20/08
Flowing at 22cfs this amazing creek can be a little harder to fish at these flows. The late summer weeds are in full bloom making for some challenging fishing. The weed lanes are tighter and darker right now, making accurate casts to these areas is the first step for success here. The caddis hatch is still sporadic throughout the day making the fish look up for the most part. The strongest part of the hatch seems to be in full swing at around 3:00-4:00 pm. Use a size #20-#22 turkey quill caddis, partridge caddis, or a grey EHC in these sizes. The caddis emergers and small mayfly imitations will get you fish if no surface activity is present. While you are on Hot Creek you will hear loud eruptions on the water as a hopper hits the water then enters a trouts belly. Cast your hoppers with precision and accuracy. These are more or less one chance fish making the first cast the most crucial. Put it in there right on the first try while leaving the fish no time to question what they might have seen on previous casts. Giving you the angler more opportunities to make for a great fishing day.Upper Owens Fishing Report 8/20/2008
Flows seem to have not dropped to any more noticable level then they were a couple of weeks ago allowing the Upper Owens to continue fishing great. Water clarity remains very clear confining the fly angler to the stealth approach methods ensuring the fish are in the spot to be casted to. Winds appear to have been subdued more in the last couple of days. Winds are an asset to the Hopper fisherman though as it aids in dumping many hoppers on the move into the waters of the Upper O. The morning caddis hatch continues to come off getting some mixed attention from the resident trout. Strikes are sporadic, yet anglers can hook into fish on dries if desired. All day long these opportunistic fish are still taking larger red midge patters, #20 PT's, WD-40's and various other darker and small mayfly imitations. Streamers are producing fish as usual, giving you the shot at filtering out the larger fish the Upper O hosts. The Upper Owens is still the hot place to go to learn a bit more about fly fishing technique or to just catch a lot of trout!Upper Owens-8/10/08
The Upper Owens continues to pump out nice fish! I was on the water up there the last two days and the fishing is great and very consistent ! With the flows slowly going down lower and lower the approach and stealth is the most important thing anglers can do to have a successful and satisfying day. When one looks down into the river from a high undercut bank with the current water levels you can see lot of trout scurrying to conceal themselves under the bank.The caddis hatch has been coming off late morning from about 9am to 11am with fish hitting the surface here and there. Not all the fish come up though as it seems to be limited to the smaller ones eating the surface caddis... Put on a sparkle pupa or small green soft hackle in sized #16-#18 while the hatch is underway and the trout can not say NO! In some holes the fishing is so good I see fish landed every third cast. As the day rolls on and the winds pick up long strategic casts with a medium sized hopper yields agressive strikes, put on a dropper such as the above mentioned caddis imitations or a large red midge larva in sizes #16-#18 to pick up all the willing fish. Other patterns to try are robo pheasant tails, red lightning bugs, Green Butt Soft Hackle Hares Ear, flashback pheastant tails, and green hares ears. Streamers continue to induce rapid strikes... as I always say "the tug is the drug." Streamers fishing will also induce some of the larger fish to eat as well as the ever carnivorous brown trout.East Walker-8/3/2008
Personally one of my favorite streams, the East Walker, is experiencing some warmer water temps right now. Flowing at 91 cfs if you hit it in the early morning and late evening the probability of finding rising fish is more likely. Caddis of all sorts, midges, and parachute adams in sizes #16-22 are doing the trick as far as dries go. Some Tricos hatching has also been noted. Small elk hair and E.C. caddis drifted properly to rising fish will get eaten. Caddis worms, midge larva, and very small mayfly nymphs drifted down in front of fish will conjure up strikes all day. Zebra midges and WD-40's in black and red sizes #18-22 and robo pheasant tails in the same sizes do the trick. Sparkle pupa and caddis emergers are also necessary to have in the box.Lets get serious now! We all know that the EW is famous for its very large Brown trout. Streamers are my favorite on this water, grabbing attention from some very large territorial browns. Buggers, zonkers and articulated leaches in any size you want to fish them (BIG) in colours of blacks, browns, olives and rusty oranges and reds are the best choices. Watch the water temps during the hot part of the day as not to harm too many fish.
Lower Owens-8/1/2008
I have not been on the Lower Owens much recently. The water flows have been at a steady 370-380 cfs, which is just a little high for prime fishing. Temperatures in the lower valley here around Bishop have been hitting 100 degrees almost every day. So the higher elevation streams, lakes and rivers around Mammoth at 7000 ft+ are receiving ten to fifteen degree lower temps makin them more of a destination at the moment. Stay tuned..Hot Creek-8/1/08
Technique, approach and presentation.... This amazing stream continues to pump out some great fish every time I come near it! Water is low and clear with weeds becoming thick making this one of the most technical creeks to fish that we have around. With the current DFG estimate of 11,000 to 12,00 fish per mile expect a fish from under every weed shadow, any weed slot, behind every rock, and stacked nose to tail in every seam.Recommended flies for this time of year are some very small Tricos usually appearing early to mid morning is sizes #20-24, Caddis are coming off in the middle to late afternoon in sizes #18-20, use the standard Hot Creek Caddis, the E.C. caddis, or a low profile sparsly tied elk hair caddis. Fish have also been taking very small midges (as usual) best imitated by a very very small griffith knat. For the angler that likes to slap down hoppers here and there and then move on if no opportunistic trout are on the feed, try a tan or gray body hopper in sizes #10-12, if you want put a small WD-40 or zebra midge dropper off of it, although I prefer to just use the hopper if you are a hopper fisherman. I prefer the stallcups #12 tan hopper.
For nymphs lots of zebras and WD-40's have been taking fish all day in sizes #18-22, black has been the colour of late, an olive scud in about a size #16 is also a Hot Creek standby. Caddis are moving in the water before the actual hatch comes off, so a sparkle pupa, caddis emergers and larva in sizes #18 dark cream to tan in colour can take fish.
Streamer fishing, ah streamer fishing. Controversial to some on this water, streamers fished properly can yield some of the largest fish with ferocious strikes, but it takes an excellent streamer fisherman to present properly with the amount of weeds the creek produces this time of year. Water is low and fishing is technical, watch your approach angle, don't overcast and keep the fly out of the weeds. The fish are used to seeing people but they do not like any disturbance in the water. This creek has something to teach every fly angler.