A Fish Report for 6/12/14
Capt. Tom Loe
June 12, 2014
Eastern Sierras - Freshwater Fishing Report
Fly Fishing for trophy trout in the Sierras near Mammoth and Bishop has been awesome this spring. Guided trips are producing large rainbows, browns, and cutthroat trout consistently for our clients fishing quality waters like Crowley Lake, the Upper Owens River near Mammoth, Hot Creek, & the Middle Owens River near Bishop. Guided drift boat excursions on the Owens produced some of the largest trout we have seen in years. Early season numbers are indicating a banner year for Crowley Lake with late spring storms supplying ample water to provide good access in most locations. Book a fly fishing guide trip with us soon and get your picture on the wall of fame!
Quick look fish report 6/12/14
San Joaquin stupid good using dries, dry/dropper, & undercators with tandem nymph rigs in the deeper pools. Look for some wind & a cooling trend beginning mid-week. Crowley having first significant algae bloom, fishing remains great here-just keep your flies clean. Flows crashed on Upper Owens down to 55cfs. East Walker running 71cfs and fishing better. Middle Owens holding at 225cfs-excellent for this time of year. West Walker high & muddy. Hot Creek leveling off, good conditions.
I try to update the fish report daily, & will advise you on significant changes to all the mentioned fisheries as soon as I get first hand data. Some information may be repeated, so read each paragraph thoroughly as I may only change parts of any section daily.
Crowley Lake 6/12/14
Rut Row!!! Algae is appearing in some spots & the lake is beginning to turn over. It has been steady to good in 14-18 feet most days the wind is not howling. Weeds are out to 14 feet – locating a weed free mud bottom is key to success. Water levels dropping slowly as flows increase on the Middle Owens & decrease on the Upper Owens. This is a good thing for the near future. Remember that the lake level was much, much lower last fall. This essentially wiped out the larva on the dry/frozen lake bed. As the lake fills the fertile bottom remains in deeper water. So…as the lake level drops again, the fertile bottom will begin to be at lower depths. Some nicer fish are showing up more consistently. Sometimes Bay can be a hot spot , no lack of boats here. Six Bays, Hilton, Sandy, Alligator Pt., & Crooked Creek also have fish at times. Depth to target is 14-18 feet. Gillies #18/20, crystal emergers & pupa #18/20. (Broken back tiger & zebra midges) good when you have some texture on the surface. Tiger & zebra midges #14/18 also good choices for the lower or larva imitation.
Upper Owens River 6/12/14
Flows have dumped here and are down to 50 cfs. Short water tactics must now be used to fool fish here. Look for the deeper pools and runs during off hatch periods. Caddis and mayfly adults are good choices for the riffle water. Hi-vis para bwo and caddis # 16-18 will get grabs. Use a Stimulator or larger hi-vis pattern with a bead head nymph as the dropper 2 feet beneath the dry for a deadly tanden rig. Nymphing with SJ worms, crystal egg patterns, flashback PT's, Assassin bird's nest, broken back midges, crystal olive caddis & zebra larva patterns near the bottom. I prefer to use a clear or yellow Under-cator on moving water as they are less conspicuous. The pink & orange work better on the still waters like Crowley and Bridgeport. Streamers like Loebergs, Punk Perch, Crystal Leeches, & Agent Orange will also get takes when used with a light to medium sinking tip line. clean every cast!
Owens River (Bishop area) 6/12/14
Flows are 220cfs and have stabilized. This is a unique opportunity to float the Owens in late spring. Wading & crossing can be tougher at this release, but the catching will make up for it! Look for solid caddis and PMD mayflies. Use birds nest patterns like Assassins, flashback PT's, and hares ears for good profiles of a mayfly nymph. Crystal olive caddis larva & olive zebra midges are also good choices for a lower fly imitation of caddis larvae or midge larva. Have some hi-vis caddis adults & hi-vis para mayfly adults for the late morning hatch. Streamer fishing is good using heavy sinking tip lines and Loebergs, Punk Perch, & Crystal leeches, & Spruce-a-bu's.
Hot Creek 6/12/14
Highest flows of the year running currently and are stable. Decent caddis & mayfly activity occurring daily during warm spells. The small spring caddis are like candy to these wild fish and you will enjoy the best snap during this hatch. #18/20 hi-vis elk hair imitations will suffice, try some crystal olive caddis larva patterns for nymphs. San Juan Worms and egg patterns are good choices for spring conditions on the crick. Dry dropper rigs using para midge or hi-vis para BWO or blue wing olive adult patterns #14-18 as an upper, while dropping a broken back zebra or tiger midge, assassin bird's nest, or crystal olive caddis/zebra larva pattern will get you into fish in the slots between the weeds. Lengthen your leaders to ten feet here, 5X is a good tippet size. The deeper pools can be fished with weighted attractors like SJ worms and egg patterns hung beneath an Under-cator. A hot rig is an olive or light Punk Perch as your upper fly with an assassin or PT as a dropper. You may also "swing cast" a Punk perch or crystal leech across the deeper slots and pools for a shot at one of the bigs that hunker along the weed lines or in the gut of the larger holes. Use the yellow, or clear for short water nymphing. Midge cluster, or para midge adults in the #20-24 range are hot flies for surface action. BWO adults fished high in the suds #16/18 also good calls afternoon when the baetis/PMD's start to emerge.
*Tom Loe is under permit from the Inyo National Forest Service to guide Hot Creek.
San Joaquin River 6/12/14
Run-off is not bad and the river is flowing clear and very fishable. Fishing has been superb! Attractor dry patterns like Stimulators, hi-vis para bwo's & caddis are good choices that are easier to see in the plentiful pocket water that defines the SJR. Use a bead head flashback PT or assassin birds nest as a dropper in the deeper pools and runs.
East Walker River 6/12/14
Flows up to 71 cfs. Had some very good reports while the flows had come up to 95cfs. Healthy fish & good numbers for this group. Flows below 75cfs are very low and the fish will migrate to the deepest pools only limiting fishable water. Midges, PMD's, & caddis are all present now.
Bridgeport Reservoir 6/12/14
Conventional anglers are doing great here. Jeffery has his rental boats ready to go, and reports consistent fishing now that water conditions have improved. Some very nice holdover fish showing here. Fly fishers should check out the dam area early on for browns slurping chironomids. Use a heavy sink tip or moderate full sink with Loebergs, Punk Perch, & Agent orange while tugging streamers.
West Walker River 6/12/14
High and off colored. Poor conditions.
Alpine Lakes 6/12/14
Streamers like Spruce-A-Bu's, Agent Orange, Loebergs, & Crystal Leeches used with a heavy sinking tip, or full sinking line will get you into them. Fish deeper than normal 15-20 feet, and work the steep ledges or deeper sections near the inlets. Watch the T-storms next few days.
Pleasant Valley Reservoir/Gorge 6/12/14
Levels are fluctuating a bunch. If your timing is right during non-hydro power generation, you can clock them in the small river section above the lake. With flows dropping the high water cycles will have less duration and one can get into some great dry fly or dry dropper bead head fishing in the river section. Tubing the inlet can be productive using streamers like Loebergs, Agent Orange, crystal leeches, & Spruce-A-Bu's with a heavy sinking tip, or full sinking type 4 line. The Gorge can be very good this time of year if they lower flows back to 32 cfs. Dry/dropper bead head nymph combos with hi-vis para mayflies and hi-vis caddis dries as the upper; assassin birds nest or flashback PT's #18-20 as the nymphs. Caddis/mayfly adult patterns are the correct selections while working in the channel casting upstream.
Best wishes to Drifters stand out guide "Two Bug" Doug Dolan who incurred a serious injury recently, and will be out of action for a while. Two Bug made it out of extensive surgery and is receiving PT in Loma Linda University Hospital. He is doing well and asking us how the fishing has been! Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. We gave him a pet fish to hold while he recovers!
Two Bug has helped out many people including Wounded Warriors, Handicapped Anglers, & special youth groups. He needs some financial help to get him through this tough period.
If you would like to make a check donation that goes DIRECTLY INTO DOUG'S ACCOUNT ONLY – make payable to:
FBO Doug Dolan (FBO stands for "For Benefit Of")
And mail it to:
Eastern Sierra Community Bank
PO Box 5069
Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546
I am happy to announce that the we will have a fully stocked fly box and Under-cators in Reagan's Sporting Goods in Bishop! The Drifters fly box will carry all the guide tested patterns you see on the fish report including patterns for Pyramid Lake, Eagle Lake, Lake Almanor, & other great trout fisheries in the west. This is a great shop with knowledgeable and super friendly people that is open daily 7-5 during the winter. They are located on Main St. with easy access and parking. This store has everything you need for fishing, hunting, camping. They sell licenses too!
I have added a picture gallery to the website this year. You can click on it at the top of any page of this website. My apologies to any of our wonderful clients who have been with Sierra Drifters for the last seventeen seasons and do not have a picture posted. I just can't post the 30,000 pics we have taken! I will make an effort over time to post what I have. Click on the "gallery" button and do a search for your name, or scroll through the pages. You can double click on the picture to enlarge it once it is located.
Thanks for reading my report.
Be the fly…Tom Loe
Sierra Drifters Guide Service
www.sierradrifters.com
760-935-4250
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