February 6th 2013

The Upper Owens remains the best for trophy sized rainbows. Chris & Scott Linkletter, pictured above punished the bigs while fly fishing nymph patterns.

The weather has definitely taken a change for the better in the Eastern Sierra. The frigid air temps that plagued the region have given way to seasonable temperatures. We are enjoying the nice weather but are hopeful we get another bout of winter as the snow pack has slipped to just average, or slightly below for the region.

Access to the Upper Owens & Hot Creek have improved; however I strongly suggest you check out the feeder roads that lead down to the UO before you drive in. The ruts are deep and muddy. It is typically frozen in the mornings and thaws by late afternoon making the roads a mess. Mud/snow tires and all wheel drive are a must to avoid a costly towing bill. The East Walker still has a good amount of ice and snow along its banks, the roads leading into the "miracle mile" are also 4X4 only.

Flows on the EW have dropped again to the low 20 cfs range and there is very limited water to fish at this release rate. The majority of the water here is "alotta nada". The pools that are deepest are holding good numbers of healthy rainbows and browns. No BWO activity in the Cal section yet , Nevada has had a few come off; however it will not be long until the water temps hit that magical low 40's consistently and the baetis begin to come off in numbers. Currently small midges, caddis larva or olive rock worms are good calls along with SJ worms, streamers & egg imitations. The fish are not super aggressive so keep your rigs near the bottom and the presentations on the soft side of the current.

Hot Creek remains good on the warmer days with a huge midge hatch blanketing the water on the high pressure days. Cluster patterns, or #22-24 parachutes that ride in the surface film are good choices for surface action. Flows are good here considering the time of year and the larger fish will be holding in the deepest pools. Redundant drifts while nymphing with, or without an Under- cator will get looks. I like small birds nests, broken back/articulated midge patterns, or #20 flashback PT's here for sub-surface attacks.

The Lower Owens has been very good for numbers with some very pleasant weather recently in the Owens Valley. The LO is much lower in elevation than it's cousin to the north, consequently it is about 30 days more evolved in aquatic emergences. The blue winged olives are coming off consistently now with the first generations of these critters pretty large. I call them #15's. When the pop is on you can get grabs on just about anything that floats in the #14-18 range. Keep your adults riding high and well dressed. Lead your targets 3-5 feet upstream and remember this little phrase "Da foam is home-don't roam from da foam!"

Flows remain very low at 100 cfs below the dam at Pleasant Valley. We are doing drift trips in the lower sections and having good success tugging streamers like Spruce-a-bu's, Agent Orange, and olive Punk Perch with a light sinking tip line. It is fun switching to dries as the BWO hatch comes off and adds diversity to the drift.

Pleasant Valley Reservoir and the Gorge have really picked up the last week as the level at PV has dropped and big numbers of planted and hold overs have migrated up into the transition area and river below the power house. Dry/dropper bead head combos with a good ole tiger midge or Assassin birds nest as your nymphs will put the hurt on the pods feeding on the huge midge and BWO hatches coming off currently. Tubers are also enjoying some good "catching" using the still water nymphing method with chironomid imitations along the drop-offs or trolling full sinking lines from the launch ramp to the inlet area with streamer patterns in the #8-12 range.

The Gorge is a fun place to fish this time of year and during the warmer days the surface action can be non- stop using #16-18 BWO or Adams patterns. Access is good in the middle to lower sections, some ice up top. You will find eager wild brown trout in the Gorge if you make your presentations from a downstream position to avoid spooking them.

The Upper Owens has been spotty, and the bigs are less in numbers than a few weeks ago. We have had some great days here but had to cover a bunch of water to do so. The snow is nearly gone. The upper sections by Long Years are really tough to access by vehicle so it is quite a hoof to get up here. The surface action really picked up nicely this week with the warming temps and I saw the first few blanket midge hatches come off with some active feeding in the softer water on clusters of the tiny midges. We have been fishing dries for 2 hours a day this week! The bigs are still best to fool while nymphing the deeper pools and slots. Assassins, flashback PT's, broken back midges, SJ worms and roe patterns are good choices.

Photos:
Photo #1: Mr. Linkcredible showing off "JAWS" a beautiful male rainbow he caught on the Upper Owens. Check out the choppers on this buck!
Photo #2: Joe Agostino nailed a couple Upper Owens "snow bows" for his first time in on the sleds with us.
Photo #3: Ralph Constanzo had an epic day on the Upper Owens hitting numerous bigs while nymphing, here's #1 Photo #4: Ralph with #2
Photo #5: Numero tres!
Photo #6: George Tucker with a nice UO snow bow of his own.
Photo #7: Big Ben Kauffman did well on the UO getting big numbers on dries and a few pigs like this while nymphing
Photo #8: Ronny "the giant" Peters with his first snow bow.
Photo #9: Joe-Joe with another of his bigs on the UO
Photo #10: Pro spin fisherman Manaby Saito came all the way from Kyoto Japan to get a shot at the Upper Owens snow bows. Manaby could thread a needle with his casting skills and did very well using spinning gear and making a video for his TV show. Arigato!
Photo #11: Scott Linkcredible had a great day nymphing the UO
Photo #12: His wife Chris ALWAYS gets the bigs! She had an amazing run of these quality rainbows at the end of our day
Photo #13: Three in one hole!
Photo #14: Ya just gotta give it to her, she is good!
Photo #15: I love my job!!!
Photo #16: Big Ben crushed them on small midge adults while dry fly fishing the Upper Owens
Photo #17: Jeff Bordosky and Two Bug on the Upper Owens. Jeff's hands were too cold to do the hold!
Photo #18: Gilbert Rowe showing a fat East Walker brown
Photo #19: Back to back browns for Gil in the morning on the EW
Photo #20: Skip Barnes with a blimp of a brown he caught on the EW recently. We used an Agent Orange and egg pattern combo to get the good ones to hit while nymphing
Photo #21: You guessed it, the Linkcredibles with a drift boat double
Photo #22: Chris with a nice Lower Owens rainbow caught on a Spruce-a-Bu streamer