Bishop Fly Fishing Update: Lower Owens 1/24/2010
These photos all taken a couple of hours ago 1/24/2010
The Lower Owens has been fishing great all through the storm and today it was on fire! I made it out of the shop to the river without clients this morning to some unbelievable dry fly action on the river! Around 10am a good cloud of midges come off to bring the trout to the surface for a few hours.. A #20-24 Hi Vis midge is one pattern that was working great! After the hatch died down the fish kept on eating below the surface with baetis imitations and emerging midge patters getting hammered! #18-20 PT's or WD-40 getting eaten.. T-midges (emerging midge patterns)in light colours #18-22 for the dropper worked like a charm...
Bishop Fly Fishing: Lower Owens River- 1/20/2010
The Lower Owens is flowing a very low and fishable 82 cfs according to the flow chart at the top of this page. This low flow tends to really hold the fish up in larger areas of water on the river.. And the Lower O is full of places like that! Dry fly activity becomes more prevelant as you get closer up to the PV Dam and the more stable water temps exiting there. Nymphing has been good to great for most fisherman depending on the day and fisherman. Flies that will extract wild brown trout from the Lower O are: #16-20 Miracle Nymphs, Tiger and Zebra Midges of various colours, #18-20 Robo PT's & BH P-Tails of various sorts and Coppers Johns in Reds and greens, Have a #14-16 Cased or Crawling caddis imitation as one of the flies on your Czech Nymph(I now have a great selection of Bottom Roller Czech nymphs in the Shop! Get your flies down!) or indicator setup. For Dries the fish are taking BWO's and Midges. Baetis Comparaduns, CDC patterns, Para BWO, and good old adams #18-22 for the BWO's and #20-24 for the midges...
Mammoth Fly Fishing: Hot Creek – 1/19/2010
Hot Creek is a gem of a stream and only gets better in the Winter with limited access leaving the creek to those who have no fear of uphill snow hikes. A 4x4 vehicle will be needed to make it up to the locked gate which is about 3/4 mile from where the plow stops. This puts you at the top of the canyon section at the FS locked gate. You can also walk this 3/4 mile section of unplowed road. From the locked gate it is about 1/4 mile of snowy downhill to fly fishing utopia. Dry fly eating activity can be found with midges in the morning and BWO action happening later morning in certain pools and runs of the creek. Hi-Vis Midge patterns and Griffiths Gnats cover it in sizes #20-24.. For the Baetis(BWO's) try a #20-22 Para Adams, CDC and comparadun patters or just a Para BWO pattern. I have been fishing these off the RIO suppleflex 6x (nonflouro)with great results. As far as nymphs go it is small as usual. Thin bodied #18-22 Zebra and Tiger patterns get eaten with proper presentations frequently on Hot Creek this time of year. Try small PT's and Baetis patterns in the same sizes as the midges. Some egg patters are still getting eaten by trout not willing to let anothers genes live on. Fish it light with little or no weight shorter than usual. A dry dropper setup is also a great method for extracting trout on Hot Creek right now.
