Happy New Year anglers! The Sierra Drifters Guide Team and staff would like to thank all of you that fished with us in 2019. There were some great memories made, both on and off camera, as many anglers landed some of their best and largest trout. Brown, rainbow, and cutthroat trout showed in fantastic numbers last year, and the coming year looks to be even better.

With a good start to the winter, we are hoping for another great snowpack to keep things going. A few of our specialty waters like Pyramid and Eagle Lake gave up some great fish, and if this winter brings enough water to Eagle Lake, we will be booking trips here for the month of June. We will keep you updated through our newsletter, website, and on social media.

The Lower Owens River has been fishing its best in quite a few years. Some larger rainbows and browns are feeding in the softer water and deep pools on all of our runs. We have been drifting our entire beat on the river over the winter and catching some terrific fish on streamers. The Blue Wing Olive hatches have been sparse on most days, but as we slide deeper into the winter, we will start to get some good hatches in the afternoons. This is a great trip if you like to fish away from the crowds, as we often do not encounter too many anglers while drifting the river. The brush lined banks of the river make access difficult, thus leaving the drift boat as the best option for getting to the spots that do not get fished much. In fact, most of our biggest fish are found in these hard to reach areas. I know many of you have been waiting all fall for the flows to come down and the fishing to get good. It is happening now and you can fill out our trip request form here if you would like to float the Lower Owens with us. This is a great trip option for kids too, as the casting is easy, and the methods we use are easy to learn.

The access to Hot Creek is still open by vehicle as most of the snow that fell since Thanksgiving weekend has melted down. There are still some patchy remnants along the road leading into the Interpretive Site and into the canyon section. Midge hatches have been keeping the fish active on the surface daily, and egg patterns, San Juan worms, and smaller midge pupa and larva have been getting takes. It is a great time to mix up your rod selection with lighter 3 weight and up to 5 weight setups. We like to refer to Hot Creek as a small creek with big rewards. While Hot Creek can be challenging; requiring one to make the perfect cast and drift, it can also be one of the best places to learn a trout’s behavior. Hot Creek is now holding fish of various sizes from 6” all the way up to 24”.  

Moving over to the Upper Owens River, we are now getting nothing short of spectacular fishing. We knew this was going to be a great snow-bow season for big fish by the early run up river this year. High water from Crowley Lake kept the big fish pushing their way up river since late October. With the winter weather cool down that has remained in place for the past couple of months, large groups of trophy rainbow trout have flooded the river as they prepare for their annual spawn. Most of the fish are still in their pre-spawn mode, which has them holding in the deep and slow water. Knowing where to cast and drift your fly is the key to success over here.

One thing to keep in mind is, pre-spawning fish are not going to move very far from their holding areas to take a fly. You must drift your fly right in front of them, allowing the fish to see your offering and not expend any energy in taking it. This can only be achieved by employing the right techniques which include specialized mending and line control. An outing with any one of our professional river guides will teach you the skills to get these fish on your line. Once you have mastered these techniques, you can apply them to any other rivers you fish. These fish typically stay in the river through the month of March on most years. We deploy our snowmobiles to reach them if the snow becomes too deep to drive through. These are unique trips to the area, and the fish are similar to steelhead that migrate from a large body of water into the rivers to spawn. We have nicknamed them “Crowley Steelhead” because of this similarity.

Looking north to Bridgeport and the East Walker River, low flows have remained consistent here and should continue to stay at this level through most of the winter. We sometimes will see a brief increase in flows if the snowpack gets high and we experience a melt off condition. Either way, the fishing can be very good here in the winter. We still fish here, during the winter months, but the area of water that is holding fish becomes greatly reduced. The fish will concentrate or pod up in the slowest and deepest water. As the number of fish holding in one area increases, so does the competitiveness among them. Not only are winter fish eager to eat, since food is sparse during the cold months, but they also have to compete with the rest of the fish in the river. The bite can be wide open at times and very fun. Throw in some mayfly hatches on the warmer and overcast days, and you have some fun fly fishing on one of the best rivers in Mono County.