As forecast Crowley Lake and Bridgeport Reservoir had good openers with numbers being reminiscent of the "good old days". The ice free conditions throughout most of the "winter that wasn't", combined with phenomenal weather- put plenty of smiles on those that braved the crowds and came up to fish the untouched waters.

Reigning Still Water Classic winner & "Lord of the Fly" Carey Kutzke called me from McGee Bay on Crowley Lake opening day and said it was the best fly fishing bite he has seen in many years for the opener. I agree, Crowley has risen from the ashes and is promising to be very good this season. Stop by and say hi to the very friendly new managers Abbie Grooms and Adam Tomason who have been at the Fish Camp for a number of seasons now. John Fredriksen the owner of the lease for many years has put some nice new cabins in for rentals, and plans on having a small cafe and additional cabins in the near future.

Crowley is back, come check it out.

The big reservoirs are both seeing solid emergences of chironomids on the warmer, high barometer days. We have been using twin gillies, copper tigers, and broken back midges during the hatches seeing grabs about 1-3 minutes during the better bites near Sandy Pt, Big Hilton Bay, and Layton Springs. The consistent depth has been 12-15 feet in these locations. The fish are in general very mixed with a bunch of dink rainbows, a surprisingly high percentage of 12-14 browns, and the occasional 20 plus rainbow or "Herman the German" in the mix. The wind has been killing the bite unfortunately but you can still pick away at them if you can find a lee shoreline.

Streamer fishing from a tube has been slow in both locations as there are no perch fry, damsel nymphs, or callibaetis in any significant numbers yet. May is looking good, get up here for a shot at a Fifty plus day this spring.

Photos:

Main Photo Above: Big City Chris Henrich says "this is big country, with big fish-and if ya don't respect that boy, it'll kill ya!"
Photo #1: Brent Robinson with a super sized Bridgeport Reservoir bow he caught while still water nymphing over opening weekend.
Photo #2: Craig Weismann with a fine Crowley Lake rainbow caught on one of the Drifters fish magnets.
Photo #3: Natalie Wolf and Devin Preston with Crowley Lake double chocolate brownies!
Photo #4: The Sierra Drifters Fish Magnets will take you to the hot spots on Crowley and Bridgeport in style.