Winter weather always has an effect on Eastern Sierra fly fishing. A winter storm from Wednesday to Saturday is going to make fishing tough and cold with lots of snow in both the Owens Valley and upper elevation waters. Good time to stay away from the Eastern Sierra. The snow pack has dropped below the wettest year and I’m curious to see if this snow storm puts us back in the lead for the wettest year recorded in the Eastern Sierra. As we move forward with this massive snow pack fly fishers will need to seek out alternative fly fishing spots. Bishop Creek in Bishop and Owens River Gorge are worth checking out for winter fly fishing spots.
Bishop Creek in the Owens Valley is a great alternative spot to fly fish when the lower Owens River flows are unfishable..
Lower Owens River
Wild Trout Section:
The water flows in the lower Owens River have been at 200 CFS and are expected to rise to at least 300 CFS by the end of the week. At these flows the river is pretty much unwadable. Fly fishers will be restricted to fishing the few spots in the wild trout section that have accessible banks or shore line. Trout can be caught at these flows. The key to success is fishing nymphs with lots of weight. Three to five AB or BB sized shot will be needed to get the flies down on the substrate where the trout are feeding. There is a lot of willow tree debris on the substrate from the beavers and you will be losing flies to the substrate. For the Euro nymphing rig I’m increasing the size of the tungsten beads on my flies. I’m using 3.0 to 4.0 beads to get the flies down. Tiger midges, zebra midges, olive quilldigons, hot spot pheasant tail nymphs and bead head flashback pheasant tail nymphs are producing trout. Fishing is slow and perseverance in the form of lots of casts is what’s producing a few trout.
With the lower Owens River flows going up to 300 CFS there will be limited spots for fly fishers to wade .
Hot Creek:
Interpretive Site:
New snow from this most recent storm (taking place as I write this) should not affect fly fishers accessing the creek, after the storm. Nymphing is still the best method to be fly fishing on the creek. Midge patterns and blue wing olive nymph patterns are what the trout are looking for. Don’t forget to use scuds in the creek as there is a healthy population of scuds that the trout feed on.
Fly fishers accessing Hot Creek canyon need snowshoes and need to watch out for ice going in and out of the canyon .
Hot Creek:
Canyon Section:
Fly fishers accessing the canyon section need to be using snowshoes. Nymphing in the canyon is producing wild brown and rainbow trout. With the decrease in fly fishing pressure fly fishers are finding bigger trout willing to take their nymphs. Olive scuds in size 12 or 14, tiger and zebra midges in sizes 18 or 20 and bead head flash back pheasant tail nymphs in size 18 are the fly patterns producing in the canyon.
Nate Ostrander from Bishop hooked up on the indicator on the upper Owens River. Photo Credit Nate Ostrander.
Upper Owens River
Above Benton Crossing Bridge:
After the storm, fly fishers will be able to access the upper Owens River again from Benton Crossing Road. It’s about an hour’s hike in on snowshoes to the better fishing spots in the area of the confluence of Hot Creek’s three forks. The trophy trout are in the river in good numbers offering fly fishers an opportunity to catch one of these trophy trout. I like to fish the cutbanks, deep runs and holes that the trophy trout use to rest and feed on their migration through the river. I’m offering the trout a bigger bite of calories by using size 10 or 12 jigged flies like the stoner nymph and the two tone green/gold Prince nymph. Throwing a streamer that you can get under the cutbanks or down deep in the holes is producing trophy trout.
Increase flows in Bishop Creek Canal will allow fly fishers to get closer to the water without spooking trout..
Bishop Creek Canal:
Behind the Ford Dealer:
With increased flows it’s easier to cast to the trout without spooking them. I like to use three different nymphing techniques to fool the canal trout. I use a dry and dropper with an Adams parachute on top and a midge or pheasant tail nymph as the dropper. I use indicators, Airlocks, placed 1.5 to 2 times the average water depth above the bottom fly. I use olive quilldigons, bead head flash back pheasant tail nymphs, tiger midges and zebra midges. Bishop Creek Canal is a great water to Euro nymph. I use the same fly set almost all winter. I use an olive quilldigon on the point, stoner nymph in the middle and hot spot pheasant tail on top.
Fly fishing in the Owens River Gorge is a great alternative spot to fly fish when the wild trout section is unfishable.
Owens River Gorge
Upper and Middle Gorge:
The gorge is a tail water fishery that fishes like a freestone creek. The fish feed opportunistically on what is floating down the river. This is a great spot to fish your favorite dry fly as you will fish it with more confidence. For the dry fly I like an Adams parachute, elk hair caddis, Royal Wulff and blue wing olive parachute. For the nymphs I run bead head flash back gold ribbed hare’s ears, bead head flash back pheasant tail nymphs, tiger midges and zebra midges. Some fly fishers are daunted about the hike in and out of the gorge. Access into middle or upper gorge allows fly fishers to walk in on a paved road. Walking out of the gorge is like walking out of Hot Creek canyon twice. Pace yourself and it’s an easy hike out.