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.