Fall weather is finally here as daytime temperatures are only reaching up into the high 80’s middle of the day in the Owens Valley. Early mornings and late afternoons is time for an extra layer or two of clothing. Mid-day is still perfect shorts and T-shirt weather. The fish are preparing for spawning season and the upcoming winter. This is my favorite time of the year to be out fly fishing in the Eastern Sierra. The fish know to bulk up before winter gets here. This is a perfect time to be fishing the lakes and in particular the tributaries to the lakes that the trout use to spawn in.
McGee Creek is one of the Crowley Lake tributaries that will be closed to fishing starting October 1st.
Lower Owens River Wild Trout Section:
LADWP is sending water south at a rate of 375 CFS in the lower Owens River. This is a rate of flow too high for me to allow clients to wade the river. Under 300 CFS is wadable flows for clients. For the few hardy anglers fly fishing from the banks, nymphing is producing wild brown trout up to 16 inches. Euro nymphing is the most productive method on the lower Owens River right now. Fluorocarbon leaders and the right fly weight will get your offering down to the fish. Size 12 to 16 stoner nymphs, olive burlap caddis, gold ribbed hare’s ears, Butano nymphs, quilldigons, olive micro mayflies, and perdigons with 3.0 to 4.0 mm tungsten beads fooling the trout.
Flows of 375 are too high to safely wade the lower Owens River.
Hot Creek:
Interpretive Site:
Morning hatches of trico may flies, caddis and blue wing olive may flies are providing surface action for fly fishers. The trico hatch comes off first sometime before 9:00 A.M. Followed by the caddis hatch and ends late morning with the blue wing olive hatch. I’m fishing size 24 trico spinners, size 20 gray partridge spent caddis, and size 20 blue wing olive parachutes. The fish are very selective in this section and productive fly fishing is over by 11:00 A.M. Fly selection is only half the formula on this section. Proper presentation with light tippets, 6X or 7X, on 12 foot leaders is needed to fool the wary brown and rainbow trout of the interpretive site of Hot Creek.
Glenn Mayer of Foothill Hill Ranch works a dry and dry, size 16 Adams Parachute and size 20 blue wing olive parachute, in the canyon section of Hot Creek.
Hot Creek Canyon Section:
The trico mayfly hatch is hard to fish in the faster water sections of Hot Creek Canyon. The slower sections right below Hot Creek Ranch offer good fishing in the mornings. Caddis and blue wing olive mayflies offer consistent fly fishing action all morning. Size 20 gray, partridge spent caddis, parachute caddis and X-caddis are fooling trout. By 10:00 A.M. the blue wing olive mayfly hatch is in full swing and floating a size 20 blue wing olive parachute on a drag free drift will produce lots of wild trout. I use a dry and dry method in the canyon when I’m using small dry flies size 20 to 24 that are hard to see on the creek’s surface. I use a size 16 Adams parachute as my indicator fly and attach the tiny dry fly on three feet of 6X tippet attached to the bend of the Adams. This allows me to find my smaller fly on the creeks surface. When I lose sight of the small dry fly, I set the hook on any rise within three feet of my indicator fly.
Upper Owens River:
Above Benton Crossing Bridge:
Trophy trout are starting to migrate into the upper Owens River. Nymphing and pulling streamers through the deep pools and runs is producing a few trophy trout. Successful fly fishers are covering lots of ground to find the pockets of trophy trout that are in the river right now. I’m using stoner nymphs and green/gold Prince nymphs on jig hooks on my Euro nymph rig to fool the trophy trout. The run will continue through March when the rainbows will finish their spawning in the upper Owens River.
Walking the bank of the upper Owens River looking for pods of trophy trout is how successful fly fishers are catching trophy trout.
Bishop Creek Canal Behind the Ford Dealer:
Weather is changing and early morning is cold on the canal. By 9:00 A.M. it’s hot again. The trico hatch is starting to fade away. There is still a short time window where the trout are keying in on the trico spinner fall. Mid-morning the fish are feeding on a size 16 Adams parachute and are taking a size 16 bead head flash back gold ribbed hare’s ear three feet under the Adams on 5X tippet. Mid-day is hot and a good time to head up in elevation looking for a cooler place to fish. For determined fly fishers throwing a hopper in the middle of the afternoon will produce a few trout.
A blue sky morning on Bishop Creek Canal using a size 16 Adams parachute for the dry and a size 16 bead head flash back gold ribbed hare’s ear.