The weather has stabilized for now and the snow pack has settled in. The snow is still soft and fluffy, requiring fly fishers to snowshoe or snowmobile into upper elevation waters. We’ve turned the corner on winter and the day light hours are getting longer. The aquatic insects are slowly starting to get more active. Midges and blue wing olives are the most active in Eastern Sierra waters right now.
International Federation of Fly Fishers South West Council is holding their second annual fishing tournament, the Trout Rodeo, this Saturday, Feb. 4. This is a catch and release tournament on open waters in the Eastern Sierra. For more information go to http://www.swcffi.org/trout-rodeo.
Tom Paulson winner of last year’s Trout Rodeo helps the Home Street Middle School Fly Fishing Club learn to fly fish on Bishop Creek Canal.
Lower Owens River
Wild Trout Section:
The river continues to offer the best fly fishing conditions in the Eastern Sierra for eight-to-12-inch wild rainbow and brown trout. There is not enough insects, mayflies or midges, hatching to offer consistent dry fly action. Nymphing continues to be the most productive method of fly fishing the river. I’m using my new Cortland 10.5 three weight with my new Waterworks – Lamson Remix -5+ reel to Euro nymph. I’m fishing with a size 18 olive quilldigon, size 12 stoner and a size 16 hot spot pheasant tail nymph. With the winter conditions I’m covering lots of water with my casts. I know trout are cold blooded and if I’m off by an inch the trout will not move to take my nymphs.
My new Euro rig, the Cortland 10.5 foot three weight with a Lamson Remix loaded with an Airflow European nymph line, is a great Euro outfit for the lower Owens River.
Hot Creek:
Interpretive Site:
Fly fishers have established a trail into the interpretive site from Hot Creek Hatchery Road. The snow is still soft and snowshoes make it a lot easier to access the creek. Access is tough and it’s keeping the fly fishing pressure way down. There is not much in the way of hatches right now. Fly fishers will do best fishing with nymphs. I’m using midge nymphs and midge pupae in tiger midge or zebra midge colors.
Accessing Hot Creek Canyon is tough even with snow shoes.
Hot Creek:
Canyon Section:
Lots of soft fluffy snow makes it tough to access Hot Creek Canyon. For the ambitious fly fisher willing to hike into the canyon the wild brown trout and rainbows are feeding on nymph patterns. I’m fishing size 20 to 22 tiger midges and zebra midges in nymph and pupae stages, and size 18 bead head flash back pheasant tail nymphs. I’m fishing my nymphs 18 to 24 inches under a size 16 Adams Parachute.
With all the new snow on the ground, fly fishers have to access the upper Owens River from Benton Crossing Bridge.
Upper Owens River
Above Benton Crossing Bridge:
Getting to the areas with trophy trout requires a snowmobile or snowshoes. Snow shoeing into the deep holes, runs and cutbanks where the trophy trout are resting and feeding takes an hour. I like to fish bigger sized nymphs for these trophy trout. I use size 12 stoner nymphs and two-tone green and gold Prince nymphs. Fly fishers are getting one or two fish per rod right now in this section.
Bishop Creek Canal water levels have dropped, making fly fishing tough again.
Bishop Creek Canal:
Behind the Ford Dealer:
As the water clears and the flows drop, the trout have gone back to being spooky. It’s hard to approach the trout holding waters without spooking the trout. I’m Euro nymphing this section and finding I’m spooking more trout than I’m catching. I’m using an olive quilldigon, stoner nymph and a hot spot pheasant tail nymph.