2008 Christmas Fish'n Conditions
Capt. Tom Loe
December 12, 2008
Eastern Sierras - Freshwater Fishing Report
Howdy friends and Sierra Drifters, best fishes to all. Here are the 2008 X-mas Fish'N Conditions for the Eastern High Sierra. I had the honor of guiding Santa and his favorite elf Christa on a drift boat trip recently. Apparently Claus needed to get away from his heavy work load and take a drift on one of our guided "drift sleds"! Click on www.sierradrifters.com/fish.htm to view the picture.
To sum up in one word how the fishing has been since our prior report. SAAAWEEET! Great weather, well above average fishing most days in all the year around waters, and noticeably uncrowded. It has been one of the most pleasant falls I can remember. The dry fly opportunities on the Upper and Lower Owens Rivers have been incredible and superior to any fall season in recent memory. The long range forecast is calling for some colder more seasonable conditions to arrive with the full moon; however significant snowfall is not forecasted with this initial set of storms.
Road Trips!!!
Sierra Drifters founder Tom Loe will be doing Power Point assisted seminars on fly fishing and the techniques used to ply the waters of the Sierra this winter. He will be speaking for the Diablo Valley Fly Fishers on 1-13-09, and then the San Jose Fly Fishers on 1-14-09. Tom will head down to So-Cal and greet the Deep Creek Fly Fishers on 1-28-09, and then again for the Fly Fishers of Orange County on the evening of 1-29-09. These seminars are loaded with seldom published information, Tom's special guide tips, combined with plenty of instruction and are formatted as "off the water" guide trips. If you fish the Sierra you will find these seminars very rewarding. Tom has been professionally guiding for over a decade and has logged over 2700 guide trips to date. The public is welcome to attend. Please contact the clubs for information, start times, and directions.
Diablo Valley - www.diablovalleyflyfish.org
San Jose – www.flycasters.org
Orange County – www.ffcoc.org
Deep Creek - www.deepcreekflyfishers.org
Sierra Drifters Guide Service implemented a "Fishing Relief Stimulus" program effective October 31st. If you have had it with politics and market watching and wish to get away and debate with a huge brown or watch a BWO mayfly drift into a brightly colored rainbows mouth we have several guided fishing programs to campaign about. For a limited time we have rolled back our guide rates to 2005 prices! When is the last time you saw a guide service lower prices? Gas prices are coming down and the fishing is great.
We can customize gift certs for that special fly fisher for the holidays at the special price also. Go to www.sierradrifters.com and click the rates button for prices and booking information & then call or email to order please. Sierra Drifters hats and shirts are also available click here www.sierradrifters.com/resources.htm
DFG:
We have dodged a major bullet here in the Eastern Sierra due to a recent court ordered decision to prohibit the stocking of trout in areas where they may potentially threaten, or compete with endangered species. The DFG has negotiated a temporary deal with the court and the two environmental groups that are responsible for the action to keep the majority of the previously planted waters stocked until January 1st 2010, or until a formal EIR has been presented to the groups and the court illustrating that the stocking of non-native trout will not negatively impact the waters in which they are being planted. The financial repercussions of this decision will be of major significance to many locations, as well as the embattled DFG. Sotcher Lake in the San Joaquin basin will no longer be planted, as well as Pine Creek drainage near Bishop for the local drive to waters in the Eastern Sierra.
We have provided a link to the DFG so you may examine the multitude of fisheries that are going to be impacted by this new law, as well as the groups and people responsible for the suit. http://www.dfg.ca.gov/
Lower Owens River:
We are enjoying mild Indian summer type days down in the Owens Valley. Lots of sunshine, warm temps and hungry trout! Flows are hanging around the 100-125 cfs range at the PV outflow. With the current conditions you will need it all. Streamers and nymphs in the mornings, dry flies after lunch.
The bite has been on most mornings then escalates during the baetis hatch after 1 pm. The fish are also working the midges over daily especially during periods of high pressure. Stick with flashback PT's #16-18, bead head birds nest #18, crystal tiger and olive zebra midges #16-20. Parachute BWO's #18-20, Griffiths Knat #20, Para Adams #18 are good choices for the dry fly enthusiast. 5X has been no problem with a 9 foot leader.
The streamer bite from our guided drift boats has been awesome most days with my Spruce-A-Bu #8 (the Kelley Bundy) blonde version being the fly de'jour most days. We have also seen some good snaps on the Blood Sucking Vanderleech #10-12 on the darker days or lower light periods. This is what I call an "insurance pattern"… Literally. It was named after my guide insurance broker! Merry X-mas Stanley. Our guides are also happy to accommodate spin anglers on our drift boats (clients to provide their own spinning rods/lures).
We have a bunch of great pictures to show you of recent trips on the Lower Owens and other areas. Click on www.sierradrifters.com/fish.htm to view them please.
Upper Owens River:
The party is still raging here but my guess it will slow substantially after the associated cold core lows that are forecast to chill the Long Valley region down into single digits by X-mas. There are huge numbers of fish holding in the river this year, with every large pool having the possibility of a twenty incher!
I had a thirty fish morning today (12-9), all on parachute midge patterns #20. My time on the water was 3 hours. I got into a magnificent 22 inch brown to top it off. Dry dropper rigs are an excellent choice here, hang your nymph three feet below the dry. No mayfly activity the last week here, it is all midges, but most small parachute patterns will suffice.
Nymphing with PT's #18-20 and crystal tiger midges #18-20 in the deepest pools are also good choices. Long upstream casts are the best way to fool the larger, wearier trout. If the wind is hooked up from the west in the morning, pack your bags and head south, it will be a long day. You will find that if the fish are aggressively, or pattern feeding, it will be easier to get closer to them if you keep a low profile.
GUIDE TIP:
Making presentations on spring creeks to rising fish upstream can pose some special challenges. It is essential that you read the velocities, pulses, and bulges of the water in all the areas your fly line may drift. For example: you have a soft (slow) piece of water twenty five feet upstream of you that is showing several feeding fish. The water directly in front of you is moving very quickly for about a rods length upstream. This is a common scenario on the Upper Owens, especially on the larger oxbow type bends. A common mistake is to cast right on the rise forms dropping the rod tip to begin stripping line as it accelerates downstream. This presentation will generally not work because your imitation will be moving faster than the water the naturals are drifting in. This is due to the fact that the line near your rod tip is pulling the fly faster than the water the fish are keying on. In addition, fish look well upstream for their next meal; they prefer to inspect a morsel prior to sipping it down. Leading the rise form will give the fish a chance to look at the imitation. The proper presentation is to lead the rising fish at least 5 feet or half your leader's length upstream of the showing fish, and immediately reach and elevate the rod upstream with the rod tip gently lifting the line off the faster water in front of you to get a true drift for your imitation. Do not overcast and "line" your fish with fly line. Keep the leader only over their rise forms. Practice keeping the fly line out of the fly's direct line of drift. A small reach mend to either side of your imitations drift will pay big dividends on any given stretch of water.
Hot Creek:
The flows have really dropped since it has become colder and the fishing reflects the change. Even the upper section near the hatchery is slower due to the ice and slow water on the confluence of Mammoth Creek. Midges are the rule, late mornings after the frost melts for timing. Use a dry/dry combo rig with a parachute BWO #18 as the upper and a #20 midge adult as the point fly three feet in separation. Check out the brown that got fooled by this rig on our website. Dry dropper nymph rigs are also working well some days, use a small disco midge, WD-40, or olive zebra as the dropper. Road conditions are still good and the crowds have thinned out after the end of Nov.
Pleasant Valley Reservoir:
Freeze tubing has been great. Tugging streamers with a full or heavy sinking tip line is getting those hard core individuals into plenty of fish near the inlet and launch ramp section. The LADWP is not allowing "pontoon" type flotation devices on PVR, with or without oars. You may want to check with the powerhouse lords before you lug your tube down the road and launch. Them water folks, I believe are overly concerned about the evil Quagga Mussel getting into their pipes. If you have had your tube in any water that has been known to have the mussel, please do NOT jeopardize the closing of this area to tubes by using it here.
Loebergs, Spruce-A-Bu's, Agent Oranges #8-12 will all get grabs. Stillwater nymphing along the drop-offs on the west side will also be productive using gillies and tiger midges #16-18. 8-12 feet is best. The river section is also fishing well using dry dropper nymph rigs. Hard to beat a copper or black tiger #16-18 as a nymph here, but you will also see a good number of fish sipping midges in the "suds" during the late mornings.
The Gorge:
Still pretty good down here. Lots of surface action on midges and small mayfly patterns #18. Dry dropper nymph rigs will also get grabs in the deeper pools. The creek is more accessible this time of year as the foliage has thinned out. No snow or ice yet so the hike in, and the trek along the bank is just plain ole rock hopping instead of a glacial assault.
East Walker River:
Flows are really low and we are not fishing the Cal section at this time.
Sierra Drifters Flies are available at the following great fly shops and stores: Crowley Lake General Store in Crowley, Kittredge Sports in Mammoth Lakes, Malibu Fish'n Tackle in Thousand Oaks, Stroud's Tackle in San Diego, The San Diego Fly Shop in San Diego, The Fishermen's Spot in Van Nuys, Bob Marriott's in Fullerton, Buz's Fly Shop Too in Bakersfield, & Crosby Lodge at Pyramid Lake, Nevada. There are links to these locations at www.sierradrifters.com/resources.htm. We pride our Guide Service & Products on Innovation not Imitation!
Be the fly friends…
Tom Loe
Sierra Drifters Guide Service
760-935-4250
[email protected]
and Michele Loe [email protected]
Eastern Sierra Real Estate…. http://www.mammothlakes.com/mlRE/Agent_Michele.html
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