Lower Owens River: Good

The big news down here this week is the very good fishing on the surface with the ever increasing BWO may fly hatch. We have been having fun from noon to two most days and the fish are really keying in on this pop. The weather has been incredible and very mild with highs around seventy over the holiday weekend.

The midge activity is also off the charts as the water temps are well into the upper forties and low fifties by the afternoon. The low flows are making wading very easy in the wild trout section. Make sure you have a selection of #16 BWO patterns as well as some midge cluster imitations in the #20-22 range for the surface party. PT's, WD-40's, crystal tiger midges, and olive crystal zebra midge patterns are solid choices for nymphing in the #16-20 range.

The streamer fishing has been only fair recently and I attribute this to the fish keying on the daily baetis hatch. The noon through two thirty period is by far the best time of day right now on the LO. We are doing 10-30 fish a drift using the dip and strip method with streamers and it will pick up for sure as the water continues to warm up.

Veteran Drifters David Kendrick and Jerry Neve had a better than average drift recently with nearly thirty chunky rainbows coming to the net. David went bendo a bunch dip'n and strip'n; Jerry took big fish honors on the very last stop of the day! Great weather, fun day guys, way to stick em'!

Bill Stock and Robert Champagne had a good mix of streamer and dry fly opportunities on their way to thirty rainbows and browns during a recent float with me. The fish were tough on the top this drift but Bill managed to school some nice BOW's on BWO's, while Robbie spanked some really sweet rainbows on our Spruce-a-Bu prior to the hatch.

Bill "Willy" Amans had to scratch and claw his way to twenty on his drift, but nailed ten browns in one pool during a short but sweet baetis hatch. Tank top and summer clothes kind of weather combined with great shots of the local wildlife (inside joke) made this an incredible day to be on the LO. Nice shooting Willy!