September 9, 2007

Howdy friends and Sierra Drifters.  Best fishes to all for this Double Haul in the Fall fish report from the Eastern High Sierra.

The upper elevations and high valleys received some significant rain last week and this precipitation immensely helped out the freestone creeks flows in most areas.  The weather has once again turned very warm (the current heat wave is not breaking news to those of you living in So-Cal) and the creeks are getting back to very low flows for this time of year.   

Fishing remains very good in most areas with some locations suffering from the low water levels and hot conditions.  Please evaluate the conditions of the water you are fishing taking into account that by fighting these fish you may be giving them a death sentence even by practicing good catch and release.  The Alpine Lakes remain good and this Labor Day weekend an above average amount of planted trout were distributed in numerous locations due to a local trout derby called the “million dollar trout stock”  You can’t win a million bucks now but you can cash in on the fish that have not been caught. 

Still Water Classic Update:

Initially 2600 (individual) browns will be planted in Crowley Lake from the IAG/Conway Ranch facility when conditions get ideal at Crowley for the rookies to move into their new home.  These fish are the direct result of the proceeds from the First Annual Still Water Classic.  I was accompanied by Drifters guides Two Bug Doug Dolan and Doug Rodricks a short while back and we checked out this impressive facility and the awesome potential it has to grow fish for this area.  These browns will be in the 12-14 inch range next season.  The first annual participants and sponsors of this event can rejoice for your efforts, you done real good gang!  Check out the pics I took of future “brownzillas” being fed in their raceway, and the “herd” swimming in the natural bottom penstock.  These fish are gorgeous and have full fins and excellent color.  We are looking forward to seeing these fish for the next several seasons.  Please tell a friend to practice catch and release!

Speaking of fisheries enhancement programs…The Bridgeport Trout Tournament is going to be held on October 7^th.  The event has two divisions, one on the East Walker River’s miracle mile; the other is a float tube category on Bridgeport Reservoir.  They have great prizes and a fantastic awards ceremony planned complete with a steak dinner!  It is being sponsored by the Bridgeport Chamber of Commerce Fisheries Enhancement Committee.  The hosts of this event are some mighty fine people who have donated a whole bunch of time and money growing browns for the area to insure a quality fishing experience on these great fisheries.  The BTT is a good time event for a very worthy cause and it takes place during the best part of the season for both fisheries.  Information is available online at: www.bridgeportcalifornia.com or www.bigmeadowlodge.com.  You may also call Ray Robles at 760-932-7525.  

Crowley Lake: Very good 

The Western Outdoor News hosted Double Haul in the fall takes place on Saturday September 15^th on Crowley Lake.  Conditions on the lake are excellent and if the weather co-operates this year’s event may see some of the top fly fishers scoring ten or more fish for the first time in many years.  The lake is as clean as I have seen it with regards to algae and weeds. The fall turnover will not occur for another two-three weeks due to the warm weather.  The chironomid hatches are ballistic and if you hit Crowley during a rising barometer it can be stupid good using the still water nymphing method.  Streamer fishing is also very good during the mornings and late afternoons.  The damsel fly nymph migration is tapering off and the weeds are pretty much gone except for a few clumps in McGee on the west and south shore and well up into the Owens channel.  Pretty skinny water in both locations-the fishing has been inconsistent in less than 4 feet. 

An above average amount of larger fish are being fooled on the chironomids this year and my prediction is the top guys will get more scores on midges than on streamers like Loebergs and Drifters Punk Perch patterns.  The perch fry have been hammered hard this year as they have not had the heavy weeds to hide out in.  Translated, there are less of them and the fish are feeding on what is most available, the plentiful midges.  The fish have also been moving into deeper water and feeding on daphnia when the pupa are not in huge numbers.  This is when some of the more adventurous tubers that like to cover water can get fish out in the 15-20 foot range with full sinks and spank some numbers. 

Alligator has been very slow as of this report.  The water is very warm here relative to the north end and there is some thermal activity emanating from the lake bottom that I have witnessed at times at Layton Springs.  Six Bays has had some very good catching at times but it has been inconsistent and when it shuts off it sucks. 

McGee Bay more to the south side of the inlet in 7-10 feet.  North Arm from Green Banks to Windy in 6-11 feet.   Money!!!   Some fish showing out in front of North landing but at this time pretty inconsistent.  It is not wide open every day, and there are some slower days associated with weather and barometric changes. With out a doubt this has been the best overall fishing I have seen on Crowley in a long time. 

Gillies #18, 20 are rocking during the hatches as well as our pupa patterns #18-22.  Use the pupa out deeper and 6X tippet for a better presentation on the smaller midges.  Tigers and zebras #16-20 as the lower flies are doing the trick during the “in-between” and off emergence periods.  Loebergs, Agent Oranges, Blood Sucking Vanderleeches, and last but not least the light and dark Drifters Punk Perch patterns are good choices for you streamer tuggers. 

The Crowley Lake Fish Camp is the check in location for the D-Haul again this year and they are offering a THIRTY percent reduction off Sierra Drifters guide flies and Sungicator strike indicators beginning on Thursday the 13^th through the Sunday after the Haul. And at the Crowley Lake General Store Dan is offering the following discount for the remainder of the season: Buy 10 get 2 Free!

Check out this awesome double rainbow I got a shot of recently while guiding Ken and Larry Jackson from Northridge CA.  Kenny found the pot of gold (in this case it was a big brown) at the rainbows end in the North Arm of Crowley.

Ken Jackson 

Check out this gorgeous cutthroat spanked recently by Mike Rovzar from San Juan Capistrano…….Beloved Drifters guide Fill Therrien did the netting ceremony with pleasure.

Mike Rovzar

The McGuire family has invested a bunch of time with us this summer and it has paid off for Sergey.  Two Bug Doug put the Serge-ster on a 22 inch bow one day and Fill Therrien got him into another twenty plus the next!  Sergey could be a guide in the ruff ehhh?

"Fill" and Sergey Maguire

"Two Bug" and Sergey Maguire

"Two Bug" & Serge Maguire...nice rainbow on a Sierra Drifters Punk Perch while stripping out of the float tube for the first time.

We had another amazing week of trout fishing on Lake Crowley with Phil Therrien and Doug Dolan. My 10 and 12 year old boys have become fly fishing fans due to the awesome fishing these experts have shown us. We caught 30 - 45 fish each of the three days and many were 17 - 22 inches! Its the kind of fishing I would expect to have to travel to far away places to experience.

Both Phil and Doug are not only very expert fly fishermen, but show great patience with my two active boys.

Jim Maguire
Prestige Solutions, Inc

Lower Owens River: Very Good 

The first drift boat trips are going very well and they are pretty much like forecast.  Numbers are good using the “dip and strip” method of fly fishing a streamer from a drift boat.  The weather has been hot during the noon periods and this slows the fish and the fishers down.  It will be getting cooler soon enough and the conditions will only get better.  Flows are still being released at 450cfs but the clarity is very good and the fish have been looking at these flows all summer and are settled in nicely.  Good late afternoon caddis, PMD hatches in the mornings, gobs of midges to fill in the gaps.  We are gonna spank em this fall for sure!

The wild trout section is still tough to wade and impossible to cross but there is enough water to fish during the cooler periods of the day.  Fishing dries on the surface is the best way to fish this area at current flows this time of year.  #18-20 may fly patterns, #18 elk caddis with dark brown bodies are good choices for the hatches.  If you have trouble seeing these smaller patterns tie a larger dry like a Stimulator #14-16 eighteen inches above your point or target fly.  Use the big fly as a reference or marker.  

Upper Owens River: Very Good 

My suggestion as the best moving water fishery currently in the region.  The flows are low but not severe, this being a spring fed creek with some additional water coming in from the diversions at Mono Lake sometimes.  The section upstream from the Benton Crossing Bridge and confluence of Hot Creek (referred to as Long Years) is fishing very well with several types of rigs doing the job.  Dry/dry rigs with a hopper and caddis or mayfly #18 is deadly during the morning and afternoon hatches.  Dry dropper bead head rigs are always a good choice and bead head nymphs like PT’s, WD 40’s, Tiger and zebra midges will all work if presented well.  There are some large resident fish in this area and as the summer rolls on streamer patterns like the Loeberg used with the “dip and strip” method will be very effective at times.  Early mornings and windy late afternoons are optimum times for the reel wreckers here.  Get those streamers down along the cut banks.  You are going to be donating flies if you use less than 2X tippet!  The section downstream from the campground is well stocked and has additional fish migrating up from Crowley to spice up the pit in this section.  The river is larger in this area and you will have better success fishing under a Sungicator (strike indicator) and using more weight to get those nymphs down into the deeper pools.  Drifters copper tigers and flashback PT’s #16-18 spank the planters here and you will get the occasional large wild fish working their way up from Crowley to keep you honest! 

Bridgeport Reservoir: Fair 

Jeffery Wenger at the Marina is advising larger boats to launch at the “bath tub” ramp.  He is having no problems getting out his rental boats but reports the marina docks may be removed soon as the level is getting skinny inside the marinas break wall.  The Bridge remains in good shape despite the low water year and we should see some fine fly fishing as the water begins to cool this fall. 

The algae are not a factor nor are the weeds if you target the center of the lake and towards Rainbow Pt.  Full sinking lines with Loebergs, Vanderleeches and Drifters Punk Perch patterns are good choices for tubers trolling streamers.  Get down 12-15 feet and you will begin to hit fish. 

Jeffery reports trollers are doing well with some big browns being netted.  You may still fish bait here and keep a five fish limit per day. 

East Walker River: Fair 

The sections below the “miracle mile” are showing signs of low and warm water.  There is some heavy weed present in the slower sections making presentations difficult if not impossible.  The fish are concentrating and moving towards the dam as the oxygen content and flows continue to drop.  I suggest that you do not fish the EW in the lower CA sections, if at all, until the water temps begin to cool in September.  Seventy degree water and low flows here put lethal stresses on trout. 

Hot Creek: Fair 

Same story here.  Very low flows out of Mammoth Creek are not making for great conditions on Hot Creek.  The fish are holding in the deepest pools.  There can be some fun hopper fishing this time of year as well as excellent caddis and midge action on the surface.  Fish Hot Creek during the coolest times of the day and you will put far less stress on the fish.  Fishing dry flies and not nymphing the big pools will get you into the more active fish that are not stressed by the current conditions. 

San Joaquin: Good 

Very low levels for August however this river is fed by mostly snow melt with cooler feeder springs that are not geo-thermally warmed, so the water temps do not become as much of a factor here as in other areas.   Dry dropper rigs with a Stimulator (plenty of hoppers along the banks, hence the Stimmy) on top and a bead head  PT, hares ear, or Drifters olive zebra and caddis larva #16-20 will get you grabs.  We got some takes on parachute ant patterns as well.  Terrestrials are a vital part of the trout's diet on all of the freestone creeks in the Sierra.  As the levels continue to drop use smaller patterns in the #16-18 range.  Caddis and mayfly adult patterns are right on most of the time here #16-18.  Fishing the largest pools and deeper cuts are your key to locating concentrations of fish.   Casting upstream from the tailouts of the larger pools is the best strategy for presentations.  Conventional drifts and high sticking will work on only a small percentage of the water right now.  The fish are very spooky and you must make longer casts to get consistent grabs.

West Walker: Fair  

This is a good place to catch planted rainbows on a dry dropper rig near the campground planting areas, or the Pikel Meadows trout habitat section. Drifter’s crystal tiger midges #16-18 are butter for these fish; I prefer the black nickel beads. The river is low and very accessible right now with above average amounts of fish being planted here recently. 

Alpine Lake Regions: Good 

Lakes are always your best bet during high or low water years in this area.  They offer a more stable habitat and are not as influenced by the current conditions we are experiencing.  In addition to the stability and beautiful settings these areas offer there has been a great effort by the County and local businessman to supply an above average amount of planted quality fish in all of the drive to local Alpine lakes. 

My favorite fly for streamer fishing these gorgeous fisheries…the Drifter’s Spruce-A-Bu.  We have two versions of this pattern (light and dark) that I created and I must say I am partial to the “Kelley Bundy” or blonde style.  Although the “Mary Ann” dark olive style gets more grabs when it is cloudy or if the sun is low.   I can’t say if the trout love this pattern or hate it, all I know is it gets bit.  Use it with a full sink or heavy sinking tip line and troll along transition zones like drop-offs, creek inlets, and “corners” of Alpine lakes.    

Sierra Drifters flies and “Sungicator” strike indicators are only available at the following great fly shops and stores (don’t be fooled by any of the imitations out there!): Crowley Lake Fish Camp at Lake Crowley, 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 and online at www.bigfishhappen.com. There are links to these locations at the resources tab above.

We pride our Guide Service & Products on Innovation not Imitation!

Be the fly friends…Tom Loe

Sierra Drifters Guide Service    

760-935-4250

Driftfish@qnet.com 

and Michele Loe Michele@MammothLakes.com