Sierra Drifters advocates "Fishing for Fun" Catch & Release!

Sierra Drifters Fish Report

Howdy friends and Sierra Drifters. We finally got a shot of winter at the end of January and it was much welcomed as the Sierra snowpack is at alarmingly low levels. This winter continues to be in sharp contrast to what we saw last season and if you have any rain or snow dances I would encourage you to start hopping immediately! The long range forecast has no significant precipitation in sight and the weather has been far more akin to spring than the dead of winter.

One major example of how mild it has been is Crowley Lake. Sitting at an elevation of near 7000 feet Crowley is typically completely iced over end to end until late March/early April. From my vantage point at Drifters HQ I have been looking at an "ice free" McGee Bay since early January, and the lake currently has only light ice in Crooked Creek and near the dam. The vast majority of Crowley's surface is clear! I have seen chironomids recently that have emerged from Crowley and my trophy pond is nearly ice free with the trout feeding aggressively here.

If the current weather pattern holds I suggest you make plans to fish Crowley/Bridgeport early. My experience with years such as this suggests a very strong opening with the fall being below average.

Crowley will have a more normal "cycle" with the level beginning near full, and then lowering steadily throughout the season. You will not have to deal with the immense weed beds out to 20 feet of water this season, nor the filling of the lake onto the pastures where there is no food for the fish to forage on the mud flats. This year will be very strong for chironomids and damsel flies, less so for callibaetis, baetis, and perch fry. The blue algae blooms will be less of a nuisance as well. The spring turnover will be earlier, the fall earlier as well. The down side is we will be at very low water levels on Crowley and Bridgeport come next fall if significant precipitation does not happen soon.

I "witnessed" a bunch of sub-catchable trout getting planted into both lakes this year and this will definitely lead to a better season than we have seen early on in both reservoirs for numbers. DFG allotments have been much lower in recent years which have decreased the trout populations in both lakes. You will see increased numbers of 10-12 inch browns by summer in both areas also, as they have been planted in numbers once again. I am seeing a bunch of them on the Upper Owens this winter in the 8-9 inch range. My outlook this season is very good early and I am optimistic about a good year on Crowley through mid- September for sure. Bridgeport will fish well through early July for fly fishers, may be iffy after that unless a good jag of snow comes our way here soon.

Our main photo shows Tom's "The War Wagon". Jim and Sergey Maguire enjoy a nice streamside lunch next to my snowmobile and sled we use to take clients in comfortably when it snows on the Upper Owens. Fun in itself!

They had this to say, "Thanks for a great 2 days Tom! What a great adventure. Catching big bows in the snow and then back home in 6 hours and 80 degrees. Where else can you do that! Jim"