November 6, 2006
Howdy friends and Sierra Drifters. Best fishes to
all for this Eastern Sierra trout season finale 2006. The last day you
may fish in Mono County is November 15th. The Lower Owens
River in Inyo County remains open year round. The Sierra Drifters Guides
are dusting off our drift boats, pitting on the sinking tip lines and
making sure we have some Advil handy for those first few row-a-thons!
Road trip! Sierra Drifters guide Tom Loe will be
heading down to So-Cal on Saturday December 9th to visit his
pals at the Fisherman’s Spot in Van Nuys.
http://www.fsflyfishing.com. Tom will do a presentation on fishing the
Eastern Sierra around noon and hang around most of the afternoon to talk
fly fishing (off the record stuff!) and discuss gear. Well known and
respected Sage rep John Sherman will also be in attendance. This will be
a hoot and we are looking forward to seeing all our friends in the area.
There will be a raffle and some great gifts given out.
Homecoming! December 10th will have
Tom Loe showing up at his home town fly shop Malibu Fish’n Tackle in
Thousand Oaks through late afternoon.
www.malibufishntackle.com. Several of the CVFF gang have assured us
they will be there to keep Tom honest as he does a presentation on fly
fishing tactics for trout from a boat. Lots of laughs, some inside scoop
on Tom’s favorite waters and door prizes for all in attendance.
Let’s retro back this season and reflect on some
great memories. The unprecedented winter snowfalls of aught six gave us
huge run-offs that flushed out creek and river channels well into the
mid-summer months. Alpine lake and reservoir levels remained well above
average into the Labor Day weekend. The spring and fall trout spawns
benefited greatly from all the extra water. Fly fishing trout enthusiasts
had a mixed bag of excellent conditions and at times horrid situations to
deal with. Yipes! High water years are not always the best for fishing,
but overall they attribute to the foundations that set the stage for
excellent conditions in the normal seasons.
The East Walker River and
Bridgeport Reservoir are arguable the candidates for the most
improved fisheries in this area. Combined with plentiful water and a
successful, aggressive trout enhancement program initiated by local
businessman and concerned fisherman these fisheries took center stage for
the first time in many years. The EW is back baby! Flows have dropped to
winter releases (28cfs) and a trip into the Nevada section may likely be
better at this time. Check out the awesome rainbow caught by Denny Kamens
from Minden, NV whilst tubing on the “Bridge” using a Loeberg streamer
pattern.
Denny Kamens
Crowley Lake played a
Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde drama all season long. The high water levels
provided more “epic” cycles than I have ever seen on the lake especially
in McGee Bay. They also gave us some of the densest and prolonged algae
blooms that adversely affected all fishermen for extended periods of
time. The tributaries of Crowley experienced above normal fishing in both
spring and fall with a strong showing of big browns on the Upper Owens
River this fall. The mild fall season thus far has also attributed to
some stellar baetis mayfly and caddis hatches giving “rise” to some
spectacular surface action recently. Crowley continues to fish well for
both streamer and still water nymph fisherman and although the boats are
long gone with the closing of the Fish Camp, tubers are enjoying open
water and excellent late morning and afternoon bites. Check out the pics
below for highlights of this last season’s memorable trout caught and
released on Crowley.
Tom Loe &
Jefferson Blumenthal...Huge Cutt...July 2006
Richard
Rathcke...Awesome Brown...July 2006
Tom Loe & Carolyn
Steinbacher...Custom Rainbow...Oct. 2006
And more recently in October Sierra Drifters guide
“Fill” Therrien guided some members of the Deep Creek Flyfishers on
Crowley…here are their reports…
www.deepcreekflyfishers.org/crowley_06.htm
Hot Creek made a
comeback of sorts this season also. It continues to fish very well and
the water levels remain very good for this late in the year. The
highlights by far and away were the enormous brown C+R’d by the “trout
ninja” Cary Kutzke this May (photo above) and its’ counter part rainbow
bested by David Kendrick in the same week. Overall less people here than
in years past and a few more fish per day if you made the right call on
the bug and had a decent drift.
David Kendrick
The Lower Owens was
washed out all last spring and summer and continues to be high for wade
fishers in the wild trout section. Do not expect this release to change
substantially in the near future as we are told to expect high water well
into winter. Bummer indeed!
The gorge is a year
round fishery and will be a great alternative for those wishing to hike
and wade this region with light gear in the immediate future. The browns
are on the chew down here and most #16-18 caddis or mayfly imitations will
get you looks on top.
The really good news is the
drift boat sections are fishing well at this time and we are not as
affected by the high water this time of year (as opposed to high cold
spring water). We historically enjoy great success in the fall despite
high flows and if you want to fish the Lower Owens a guided drift boat
trip is the way to rock the trout’s world and visit the river like few can
see. Check out what you can expect this year by looking back at a few of
the highlights of last seasons drifts!
Austin & Rocky
Taylor...Drift...Feb. 2006
Dave Hale & Tom
Loe...Drift...March 2006
Marty
Little...Drift...March 2006
The San Joaquin
fished great during the late summer and well into fall. The road closed
down to Reds Meadow on 10-31. Look for a tremendous jag of wild fish for
next season.
The West Walker
continues to be on the mend and in wonderful shape currently after a
series of setbacks over the last several years including a 500 year flood,
massive wild fire and prolonged drought. The canyon sections are
providing dependable dry fly hatches this fall. Aggressive stocking from
the DFG around the bridges and campgrounds are giving fly fisher’s ample
opportunities if an extended hike into the more fertile wild trout
sections is not in the game plan.
The “drive to” Alpine lakes
in the Eastern Sierra have fished great most of the year and have
benefited immensely from the “rebirth” of the Cal DFG and a bunch of money
being put in the kitty by local businesses and chambers of commerce for
the planting of the much in demand Alpers rainbow trout. After a slow
start due to the immense snow pack at the upper elevations the alpine
lakes enjoyed a long and extended summer and fall season. Lower Twin Lake
in Bridgeport continues to be the best and only spot recently for double
digit lake browns in this area.
The entire staff at Sierra Drifters would like to
thank all of you who booked trips last season and spent some quality time
on the water with us. We truly appreciate your business and friendships.
We look forward to future trips with you making the wonderful memories
they provide us all.
You can pick up our Authentic & Improved Sierra
Drifters Guide Flies, Sungicators & Killer Kits only at the
following stand out locations (don’t be fooled by any of the imitations
out there!): Crowley Lake General Store/Deli in Crowley, Kittredge
Sports in Mammoth Lakes, Bridgeport Reservoir Marina in Bridgeport, Malibu
Fish’n Tackle in Thousand Oaks, The San Diego Fly Shop and Stroud’s Tackle
in San Diego, The Fishermen’s Spot in Van Nuys, Bob Marriott’s in
Fullerton, Buz's Fly Shop Too in Bakersfield and online at
www.bigfishhappen.com. There are links to these locations on the
resources tab above. We pride our Guide Service & Products on
Innovation not Imitation!
