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Eastern Sierras
Capt. Tom Loe
January 12, 2004
Eastern Sierras - Freshwater Fishing Report
Early January 2004 Fish Report
January 12, 2004
Howdy friends and Sierra Drifters. Best fishes to all for this early January fly-fishing update from the Eastern Sierra.
The severe winter weather, which deposited record amounts of snowfall on Mammoth Mountain for December (154”) has abated this region since last week and the forecast is calling for no major weather disturbances for the next several days. A warming trend will continue in the Owens Valley. It has been t-shirt conditions the last couple of days on the Lower Owens River after late morning. Morning lows will be in the 20’s until the sun brings it on for a couple of hours.
We will be presenting a slide show and seminar at the Downey Fly Fishers meeting this Tuesday evening at 7:30 p.m., January 13th. The show will primarily illustrate our “dip and strip” method of fishing the waters of the Eastern Sierra with emphasis on access by drift boat. We will also present a seminar/slide show on stillwater nymphing techniques from a boat with information regarding entomology, rig set-up, location and fly selection with Crowley Lake as the premier fishery.
The public is invited to attend, please contact Zino Nakasuji at [email protected]
Lower Owens River: Fair-good
Wading the river will be cold on the tootsies as water temperatures remain in the upper 30’s. Flows have dropped to 100 cfs. at the Pleasant Valley dam outlet. This release is pretty much as low as they get. Expect the fish to be stacked in the larger, deeper pools with very little surface activity and few trout to be found in the riffle water. The overall bite in the wild trout section has slowed down due to the cold 36-degree water. Redundant presentations will get you best results and fishing will be best during mid-day and late afternoon here.
Concentrate on nymphing with small midge or larva patterns in olive or black. Tandem rigs are best with enough weight to get the bugs right on the bottom. The baetis hatch is small right now but the early generation of adults are large with #16 and 18 bwo’s being the right choice if you see a few heads popping in the eddies. Flashback hares ear nymphs #18 are a good call around one in the afternoon as a few emerging mayflies show in the film and upper levels of the water column. Fish these under a high visibility/high riding dry as an indicator.
Numbers continue to be better than usual for this time of year in the lower or drift boat sections of the river. Streamers like our Spruce-a-bu pattern continue to be the fly de’jour while used with a moderate sinking tip line like Scientific Anglers 150 grain Wet Tip Express. Even with the low water releases it is still necessary to get the streamer down by using the “dip and strip” method while pulling upstream adjacent to the transition areas of the current channels.
David Clemson from Yorba Linda, David Chow of Anaheim Hills and San Pedro local Scott Linkletter are veteran Sierra Drifters and always seem to get those “big uns” to come out and take their presentations. Check out the trio of big rainbows (6 other fish over 20-inches got fooled by these guys on the same cold day in December recently) David Clemson displays with 30 other rascals having nice paint jobs being caught and released on Spruce-a-bu’s. We are not worthy Clemson! Jeeesh, what a day!
Scott Linkletter banged off several 20-inch bows in one drift that also fell to well placed casts, solid strip sets and the mighty Spruce-a-bu. Fellow San Pedran, Kevin Williams assisted with the netting and releases. See ya soon Scott!
Check out their pictures at www.sierradrifters.com
Late fall through early spring are the optimum times to fish the Lower Owens River while being guided from our drift boats. The weather is generally good in the Owens Valley with comfortable afternoons. If you are getting cabin fever and have not checked out fly-fishing from our heated drift boats that access the difficult to reach and secluded sections of this beautiful river, give us a call and we will book a float trip for you and your friends.
Pleasant Valley Reservoir: Good
Power generation has been minimal and the reservoir level is recently stable. Fishing remains good thanks to recent plantings of the “soon to be extinct” Hot Creek Hatchery’s brood stock and the generosity of the Bishop Chamber of Commerce’s winter Alper’s stocking program here and on the Lower Owens River.
The inlet section downstream from the powerhouse has a good concentration of trout that are being fooled by dry/bead head tiger or zebra midge dropper combo’s with most fish being taken on the nymph #16-18. The deeper water closer to the reservoir proper is best fished with a light to moderate sinking tip lines while doing some “chuck and duck” casting with streamer patterns.
Those armor plated nuclear reactor heated beings who choose to “freeze tube” the reservoir this time of year are finding fish at the 10-15 foot depth near the launch ramp and dam sections of the lake. Use a full sinking type 3 or 4 line and streamer patterns with red, orange and some flash #6-12.
The Gorge: Fair
This area has slowed down with the cooler water also, but will still provide you with a good chance of a double digit day on the smaller wild browns if you nymph the deeper pools with small #18-22 larva imitations under a larger dry as an indicator.
No significant snow down here as of yet, but look out for ice along the banks.
As is usual, the hike down here can be a chore and requires a good amount of effort. The reward is solitude if you can hike 45 minutes to an hour.
We are selling our guide flies mentioned above at the following fine fly shops:
Malibu Fish’n Tackle in Thousand Oaks, Stroud’s Tackle in San Diego and The Troutfitter in Mammoth Lakes. There are links to all shops at www.sierradrifters.com
Be the fly…Tom Loe
Sierra Drifters Guide Service
Email [email protected]
www.sierradrifters.com
Phone 760-935-4250
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