Hi friends and happy May to all.

Spring is in full swing, eastern sierra style, in the high country. The general trout season is fully underway now as we start to explore more areas to fish. Weather thus far has been downright beautiful and made for some pleasurable and memorable days on the water. Our fish magnet, center console boats have all been on Crowley Lake checking out every inch of this special stillwater in search of large trout. The midge hatches have been coming off strong daily and are steadily building, as we get closer to Mother’s Day. Most of the fish are keying in on emerger midges throughout the day in all the usual areas. Some areas have been hotter than others and there are even a few perch mixed in too. We have been getting some solid take downs of our strike indicators that have produced some real nice fish. The fishing will only get better as we ease into the month of May and water temperatures begin to warm up. Come on up and get on the lake with us to witness what it is like to catch that fish of a lifetime. This is a great time to introduce the youngsters to fly fishing too. We find our stillwater programs are the simplest way for them to grasp the techniques and instruction that will serve them well in their years ahead. There is still a good amount of snow in the upper elevations and a lot of upper lakes are still holding ice. Some creeks and rivers are beginning to show sign of swelling with the run-off, but they are still very fishable at this time. We have not seen the spring run of cutthroat trout yet in the Owens River but they should be showing up any day now. All of the big rainbows from the winter have made their return to Crowley Lake to gorge themselves on the abundance of food here. It was a long and harsh winter for these fish and they are eager to fill their bellies with mass quantities of midges. McGee Creek does have some rainbow trout that have moved in and there are a few cutthroat starting to stage at the creek mouth, as they get ready to make their way up. The East Walker River in Bridgeport has been flowing at a steady pace the past month and some large fish have been going on the bite. Flows may rise here soon, but if the river stays around the 300 cfs mark we should see a larger amount of fish go on the feed here. Hot Creek has been very good this spring and it is fantastic to see such a comeback of aquatic life here over the past 3 years. It is quite amazing how fast a fishery can return to a healthy state after being devoid of fish. The Department of Fish and Wildlife has done a great job of bringing this place back to what it used to be. There are some great dry fly opportunities in both sections of the creek and some larger fish are now inhabiting this place once again. We have seen them! All roads to the canyon parking lots and to the interpretive site are fully dry and clear. The Middle Owens River is flowing high and we will see a rise here shortly as Crowley continues to receive water from its tributaries. Opening day did produce some fish here despite the high flows and we may do some drifting here if the flows continue to remain at a stable level. We will definitely be fishing Bridgeport Reservoir again this year and could be making trips up there as soon as the end of this month. We will keep you updated on our website and on our Facebook page. The San Joaquin River is yet to be accessible, and we don’t anticipate good fishing here until the runoff subsides some. When it does though, we can expect some great dry fly fishing to take place, which is what makes this place so special and fun to fish.

We will also be fishing Grant and Silver Lake this season. These are fun alpine lakes to fish in the June Loop and some larger trout get caught out of these waters each year. Caltrans has been hard at work to start road clearing on all passes. They must make road safety assessments and repairs, which involve some boulder clearing and reconstruction at times. So far State Route 89 is open to traffic, but Tioga, and Sonora Passes remain closed. Many campgrounds in Mono County and Inyo County have now opened, but a good amount in the upper elevations are still buried under snow. The public comment period for submitting proposals and opinions to the Department of Fish and Wildlife for the new regulation changes that will be taking effect as of March 2020 has now closed. I got the chance to attend the DF&W meeting in Bishop and the Mono County Fisheries Commission meeting in June Lake last month. I got a pretty good feel of how the community feels about the new changes. In a nutshell, there was concern about having the lakes open all year to fishing. The main concerns brought up were over fishing, trash, pollution, and people getting injured or death. After guiding the year around waters since their opening in May of 2007, I have never seen or heard of any deaths or rescues needed. The Upper Owens’ water temps drop down to a frigid 39-degree average during the winter months and can get quite deep in some areas. The few die-hard anglers that do make their way to these waters to fish are careful and know what they are doing. I would have to say there is a greater risk of harm coming to an individual skiing the backcountry where avalanches are of major concern. Secondly, I have seen a minimal amount of litter during the winter months as most anglers fishing at this time respect the land and the fish they are targeting. Most will also follow the rules and regulations, but you will have a small percentage that would not. The upper lakes would be inaccessible to all but the hardiest of anglers as well. The main concern I brought up at the commission meeting was protection of spawning fish (no take) during the time they are in the river and going from a 5-bag limit on Crowley Lake to a 2-bag limit. A delay of the catch and keep season on Crowley would be a bad move and financially affect a lot of businesses in the county. On the other end of the regulations for Crowley, extending the catch and keep season into the months of August and September with a 5 fish bag limit would wipe out the wild egg layers and males in a matter of years. The final alternative would be to leave the regulations at Crowley unchanged, which I think most of the community are in agreement on. We will have to wait and see now what the CDF&W commission decides to do.

Hope all of you can join us up here this month for the fun. You can click here to fill out one of our trip request forms. We can also be reached by phone or text at 760-935-4250 or email at sierradriftersgs@gmail.com

Don’t forget you can stock up on flies for this season at our online store. Also visit us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Reagan’s Sporting Goods in Bishop is a great stop for all your outdoor sportsman needs and the Crowley Lake General Store has great food and common household and camping needs items for you vacation. Both locations have our flies for sale too. Rick’s Sporting Goods in Mammoth also carries a limited selection of our flies.