Pleasant Valley Reservoir, Hot Creek, & the Gorge located near Mammoth and Bishop Ca. will give you opportunities to catch trophy rainbows and browns while being guided by expert fly fishing pros. Sierra Drifters guides utilize top of the line center console bay boats, drift boats, float tubes, and high quality fly fishing tackle to guide you on these blue ribbon trout waters.



Record rainfall for October! A series of Pacific storms doused the Sierra with huge amounts of precipitation. Snow closed the higher mountain vehicle passes; but the levels were above 9000 feet in the Mammoth/Bishop area. Freestone creeks like The West Walker, McGee, Mammoth Creek/Hot Creek experienced spring like levels with turbid/high water. Levels will begin to stabilize as a drier/warmer weather pattern begins to take over this week. Crowley Lake marina access now closed. The last few days plagued by gusty winds, and rain with slow fishing. The lake remains open until 11/15 for float tubes, and shore fishing. Middle Owens flows remain low at 79cfs. The rains have not impacted water clarity in this fishery. The “catching” has slowed on drift boat trips, & for those wading the wild trout section. Stable weather in the forecast should improve the bite. Upper Owens still running high with some off colored water due to recent rains. Conditions poor below the confluence of Hot Creek. Turbidity will improve slowly as run-off subsides. Hot Creek seeing very high flows due to recent rains. Conditions will improve over the next few days. East Walker flows back to 90cfs. Very good water conditions for late fall. Pleasant Valley Reservoir/Gorge a good call for tubers, & fly fishers that prefer wading. Lake levels are good for access, & water conditions in the river have not been impacted by recent rains. Grant Lake, & Rush Creek have been kicking out some nice browns. Brown trout are staging up to spawn near the inlets, and on the gravel beds.

We want to thank all of our clients for supporting us. It has been another record fall for us, & we truly appreciate your business, & friendships. It is not always possible to post all of our client pictures on this fish report page. I do my best to put them in our gallery. If we have previously posted your pictures on this page; or you have had a recent guide trip with us, you can always find them by going to the photo gallery and search for your name.



Flows stable at 80cfs. These are low levels. Wading & crossing are not difficult at rates below 150cfs. Caddis activity is pretty much over; small mayflies and midges are now the hatches. Chub & sucker fry will be the primary target for the bigs, so have a selection of streamers like Loebergs, Spruce-A-Bu’s, and Punk Perch with a moderate sinking tip line. Good nymphs to have are Assassins, flash back pheasant tails, Drifters Crawlers, olive crystal zebras, olive dubbed caddis, and broken back tiger/zebra midges. Guided drift boat trips have been slower due in part to lousy weather. We are still getting some trophy rainbows, with an increased number of browns on the chew. The bite on the MO parallels the weather during the cooler months. With a warming trend forecast to move in the bite will pick up in most sections.





Water is off color, and high below Hot Creek due to recent rains. Flows are still running above normal in all areas at 100cfs. The browns will be moving up from Crowley to spawn as the weather cools. Attractor patterns, & streamers are good calls for migratory trout. Drifters Crawlers, crystal eggs, San Juan Worms, crystal leeches, & Assassins are my go to nymphs below an Under-Cator. Access is fine, with no snow or ice present.





Due to recent rains water conditions are poor. Conditions will improve as run-off abates this week. Click on this link to read what the CDFW is now documenting as to how Hot Creek will be managed. HC has been recently planted with thousands of sub-catchable rainbows and browns.





Thanks to the CDFW, and passionate volunteers for their efforts to get fish planted in Hot Creek. Many 8-10 inch rainbows, & thousands of 4 inch browns have just been put into HC. If we can just get some help from mother nature on the water part…HC will comeback strong next summer. These are very small fish, and will have a long winter to face. Please take it easy on them if you choose to fish HC at all. Several public sections were planted. Drifters guide Doug Rodricks toting fish transport buckets.



The reservoir level has dropped recently providing more access near the inlet section. Brood stock rainbows have been planted recently here. The small river section can kick out some good numbers of hold over trout, as well as the big boys using dry/dropper rigs, & streamers. Flows have dropped, & this fertile little river can be really fun if you work the harder to reach brush areas accessible when the powerhouse is not generating. I like dry/dropper combos like Stimulators, hi-vis mayfly, or caddis as the upper. Use smaller Assassins, FB PT’s, or crystal tiger midges as the nymphs. Tubers can have a blast here as well, & it is a great place to fish as a back up spot for Crowley if the weather becomes nasty up the hill. Use full sinking; or heavy sink tips to get down ten feet quickly. Loebergs, Crystal Leeches, Agent Orange, Spruce-A-Bu’s, & Punk Perch will get you grabs.





Prime time now hat it is cooling down some in the Owens Valley.Flows are great at 52cfs. Use caddis adults, Hi-vis caddis, or para hi-vis mayflies as your upper fly. Good dropper nymphs are # 18 Assassin nymphs, or FB PT’s. Cooler temps improving conditions. Good call during weekends, or holidays.





Thanks to recent rains flows are at good levels. 90cfs. Fishing has been fair-slow.





Closed for the winter.



The boating season ended with a whimper; due in part to lousy weather. Shore fishing, & float tubing will remain open until 11/15. Alligator Pt. Hilton Bay, & Six Bays will be the best locations for the last hurrah.



Access remains good in most alpine locations Grant Lake has been the best for big browns this fall. Tubers trolling streamers with full sinking lines can get into some larger fish while targeting drop-offs, inlets, & structure. Agent Orange, Crystal Leeches, Loebergs, Spruce-A-Bu’s, and Punk Perch patterns are good calls to use along drop-offs, structures like submerged stumps, and near inlets.