Dave Neal
03-22-2009, 04:52 PM
Greetings, there are a lot of great fishing opportunities right now all over the Golden State. It can be hard to figure out where one should go! One thing is for sure... you should get outside and go fishing somewhere!
Currently, here on the Eastside of the Sierra there is a lot going on. The fishing the last few weeks has been outstanding.
The Lower Owens is in great shape. March/April are the best months on this river. Flows around 100 cfs, water temps in the 50's. Daytime temps in Bishop average 70's right now, but it feels a lot warmer in the dry air at the 4,000 ft altitude. Hatches include midges, mayflies, caddis and a few craneflies too. Won't be long before we see the pmd'sh mayflies and Little Yellow Sallies.
This river has a consistent tailwater personality; when you do certain things right, you can get into tons of wild fish...miss a few clues, or fish the wrong time of day and you can really scratch your head and wonder what the fuss is about.
In the upper river (Wild Trout Section) lots of midges active early in the morning, with a bwo mayfly hatch being main event in the afternoon. However, the further downriver you fish, the afternoon caddis hatch might take center stage, especially on the warmer days.
The brachycentrus hatch can be a blizzard of bugs... at times, too many perhaps! We may have already experienced the largest surge of this particular caddis hatch. Some years this hatch goes for weeks, some years I've seen it explode and be mostly done in 3 days.
Good flies for the caddis emergers and adults are the Bob Brook's CDC Hot Creek Caddis, olive Cutter's EC Caddis, and Hemingway Caddis. Dark green bodied diving caddis can be fun fishing, too... soft hackles etc. Like a lot of wild trout steams, keep switching flies till you find a pattern the fish want to eat, TODAY.
Back up stream in the Wild Trout Area, in classic tailwater style, the trout love to feed on the pre-emerging drifting bwo nymphs. If you like high-sticking or slack-line indicator fishing you should have great success getting into fish 1-2 hours prior to seeing any duns on the water. By the time the hatch has progressed and the duns are on top in big #'s, somedays it feels as if the fish have full bellies and stop eating. Every bend of river is different... some places you will find pods of fish rising steadily on the surface then walk around the bend and you will see no working fish on top.
Some days there can be fantastic dry fly fishing, other days you will need to fish under the surface, mostly. Don't overlook the really shallow riffles and runs. These are the places where the trout love to be when consuming the drifting bwo nymphs and emergers.
The East Walker had a flurry of great fishing when the flows were 100-68 cfs for a few weeks. Currently, it's at 58 cfs which may be a little low, especially if it gets crowded. Water temps are slowly rising in the low forties, at least on the CA side... it's cold in the morning! Midges and mayflies are the menu items, along with small fish fry... be an observant angler.
The great news is the Bridgeport Res is getting full quickly. With a decent snowpack up in the hills, the reservoir and river will have some cold clean water pumping through its veins this season. Also, there are a lot of age classes of fish, from 8" dinks, to good numbers of 15"-17" all the way up to the usual EW monsters. Things are looking up for our beloved EW.
Upper Owens has good access. Watch out for the muddy roads, though. A lot of hatchery holdovers in the river, which is great for kids. Caddis hatches are pretty good here, as well, especially the warmer sunny days. Bwo's of course, and the venerable midges are around filling in the gaps. Remember to only fish upstream of Benton Crossing Bridge right now.
Hot Creek has a decent bwo hatch mid day, and midges always. The water level is lowest and the most weed free it will be all year. This stream should get a really good flush this spring during runoff. This is great news for the pmd's and hopefully they should bounce back this summer. I have spent most of my days on the Lower Owens because it has been so good. The Hot Creek fish get enough attention during the summer months, but throwing only dry flies here right now may be a good compromise?
Hope everyone is enjoying their first days of spring. If you make it to the Eastside, and find out you're missing something you forgot to pick up at Kiene's or your local shop... pop into the Troutfitter in Mammoth. They should have some good beta for you. All the small fly shops could use a little bump right now. Cheers.
Currently, here on the Eastside of the Sierra there is a lot going on. The fishing the last few weeks has been outstanding.
The Lower Owens is in great shape. March/April are the best months on this river. Flows around 100 cfs, water temps in the 50's. Daytime temps in Bishop average 70's right now, but it feels a lot warmer in the dry air at the 4,000 ft altitude. Hatches include midges, mayflies, caddis and a few craneflies too. Won't be long before we see the pmd'sh mayflies and Little Yellow Sallies.
This river has a consistent tailwater personality; when you do certain things right, you can get into tons of wild fish...miss a few clues, or fish the wrong time of day and you can really scratch your head and wonder what the fuss is about.
In the upper river (Wild Trout Section) lots of midges active early in the morning, with a bwo mayfly hatch being main event in the afternoon. However, the further downriver you fish, the afternoon caddis hatch might take center stage, especially on the warmer days.
The brachycentrus hatch can be a blizzard of bugs... at times, too many perhaps! We may have already experienced the largest surge of this particular caddis hatch. Some years this hatch goes for weeks, some years I've seen it explode and be mostly done in 3 days.
Good flies for the caddis emergers and adults are the Bob Brook's CDC Hot Creek Caddis, olive Cutter's EC Caddis, and Hemingway Caddis. Dark green bodied diving caddis can be fun fishing, too... soft hackles etc. Like a lot of wild trout steams, keep switching flies till you find a pattern the fish want to eat, TODAY.
Back up stream in the Wild Trout Area, in classic tailwater style, the trout love to feed on the pre-emerging drifting bwo nymphs. If you like high-sticking or slack-line indicator fishing you should have great success getting into fish 1-2 hours prior to seeing any duns on the water. By the time the hatch has progressed and the duns are on top in big #'s, somedays it feels as if the fish have full bellies and stop eating. Every bend of river is different... some places you will find pods of fish rising steadily on the surface then walk around the bend and you will see no working fish on top.
Some days there can be fantastic dry fly fishing, other days you will need to fish under the surface, mostly. Don't overlook the really shallow riffles and runs. These are the places where the trout love to be when consuming the drifting bwo nymphs and emergers.
The East Walker had a flurry of great fishing when the flows were 100-68 cfs for a few weeks. Currently, it's at 58 cfs which may be a little low, especially if it gets crowded. Water temps are slowly rising in the low forties, at least on the CA side... it's cold in the morning! Midges and mayflies are the menu items, along with small fish fry... be an observant angler.
The great news is the Bridgeport Res is getting full quickly. With a decent snowpack up in the hills, the reservoir and river will have some cold clean water pumping through its veins this season. Also, there are a lot of age classes of fish, from 8" dinks, to good numbers of 15"-17" all the way up to the usual EW monsters. Things are looking up for our beloved EW.
Upper Owens has good access. Watch out for the muddy roads, though. A lot of hatchery holdovers in the river, which is great for kids. Caddis hatches are pretty good here, as well, especially the warmer sunny days. Bwo's of course, and the venerable midges are around filling in the gaps. Remember to only fish upstream of Benton Crossing Bridge right now.
Hot Creek has a decent bwo hatch mid day, and midges always. The water level is lowest and the most weed free it will be all year. This stream should get a really good flush this spring during runoff. This is great news for the pmd's and hopefully they should bounce back this summer. I have spent most of my days on the Lower Owens because it has been so good. The Hot Creek fish get enough attention during the summer months, but throwing only dry flies here right now may be a good compromise?
Hope everyone is enjoying their first days of spring. If you make it to the Eastside, and find out you're missing something you forgot to pick up at Kiene's or your local shop... pop into the Troutfitter in Mammoth. They should have some good beta for you. All the small fly shops could use a little bump right now. Cheers.