Fish'n
Conditions
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Sierra
Drifters advocates "Fishing for Fun"
Catch &
Release!
We have experienced guides available
who can put you on some of the finest trout water the state has to offer.
Let's go "catching" together!
Santa & Christa go
drifting...
Howdy friends and Sierra Drifters, best fishes to
all. Here are the 2008 X-mas Fish’N Conditions for the Eastern High
Sierra. I had the honor of guiding Santa and his favorite elf Christa on
a drift boat trip recently. Apparently Claus needed to get away from his
heavy work load and take a drift on one of our guided “drift sleds”!
To sum up in one word how the fishing has been since
our prior report. SAAAWEEET! Great weather, well above average fishing
most days in all the year around waters, and noticeably uncrowded. It has
been one of the most pleasant falls I can remember. The dry fly
opportunities on the Upper and Lower Owens Rivers have been incredible and
superior to any fall season in recent memory. The long range forecast is
calling for some colder more seasonable conditions to arrive with the full
moon; however significant snowfall is not forecasted with this initial set
of storms.
Road Trips!!!
Sierra Drifters founder Tom Loe will be doing Power
Point assisted seminars on fly fishing and the techniques used to ply the
waters of the Sierra this winter. He will be speaking for the Diablo
Valley Fly Fishers on 1-13-09, and then the San Jose Fly Fishers on
1-14-09. Tom will head down to So-Cal and greet the Deep Creek Fly
Fishers on 1-28-09, and then again for the Fly Fishers of Orange County on
the evening of 1-29-09. These seminars are loaded with seldom published
information, Tom’s special guide tips, combined with plenty of instruction
and are formatted as “off the water” guide trips. If you fish the Sierra
you will find these seminars very rewarding. Tom has been professionally
guiding for over a decade and has logged over 2700 guide trips to date.
The public is welcome to attend. Please contact the clubs for
information, start times, and directions.
Diablo Valley -
www.diablovalleyflyfish.org
San Jose –
www.flycasters.org
Orange County –
www.ffcoc.org
Deep Creek -
www.deepcreekflyfishers.org
Sierra Drifters Guide Service implemented a
“Fishing Relief Stimulus” program effective October 31st.
If you have had it with politics and market watching and wish to get away
and debate with a huge brown or watch a BWO mayfly drift into a brightly
colored rainbows mouth we have several guided fishing programs to campaign
about. For a limited time we have rolled back our guide rates to 2005
prices! When is the last time you saw a guide service lower prices? Gas
prices are coming down and the fishing is great.
We
can customize gift certs for that special fly fisher for the holidays at
the special price also. Click the rates button for prices and call or
email to order please.
DFG:
We have dodged a major bullet here in the Eastern
Sierra due to a recent court ordered decision to prohibit the stocking of
trout in areas where they may potentially threaten, or compete with
endangered species. The DFG has negotiated a temporary deal with the
court and the two environmental groups that are responsible for the action
to keep the majority of the previously planted waters stocked until
January 1st 2010, or until a formal EIR has been presented to
the groups and the court illustrating that the stocking of non-native
trout will not negatively impact the waters in which they are being
planted. The financial repercussions of this decision will be of major
significance to many locations, as well as the embattled DFG. Sotcher
Lake in the San Joaquin basin will no longer be planted, as well as Pine
Creek drainage near Bishop for the local drive to waters in the Eastern
Sierra.
We have provided a link to the DFG so you may examine
the multitude of fisheries that are going to be impacted by this new law,
as well as the groups and people responsible for the suit.
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/
Lower Owens River:
We are enjoying mild Indian summer type days down in
the Owens Valley. Lots of sunshine, warm temps and hungry trout! Flows
are hanging around the 100-125 cfs range at the PV outflow. With the
current conditions you will need it all. Streamers and nymphs in the
mornings, dry flies after lunch.
The bite has been on most mornings then escalates
during the baetis hatch after 1 pm. The fish are also working the midges
over daily especially during periods of high pressure. Stick with
flashback PT’s #16-18, bead head birds nest #18, crystal tiger and olive
zebra midges #16-20. Parachute BWO’s #18-20, Griffiths Knat #20, Para
Adams #18 are good choices for the dry fly enthusiast. 5X has been no
problem with a 9 foot leader.
The streamer bite from our guided drift boats has
been awesome most days with my Spruce-A-Bu #8 (the Kelley Bundy) blonde
version being the fly de’jour most days. We have also seen some good
snaps on the Blood Sucking Vanderleech #10-12 on the darker days or lower
light periods. This is what I call an “insurance pattern”… Literally. It
was named after my guide insurance broker! Merry X-mas Stanley. Our
guides are also happy to accommodate spin anglers on our drift boats
(clients to provide their own spinning rods/lures).
We have a bunch of great pictures to show you of
recent trips on the Lower Owens...
Nelson & Guy; 62
trout under the fishing tree!
Kent & Aaron...45 to
the net!
Brant &
Esther...X-mas Bow!
Michael S. "one of
thirty"
Daryl B shows off a Brown on a recent drift trip with Two Bug Doug
which he landed over 60 fish to the net on the dip and strip or the method
that over the course of the day renamed the strip and jig. He would jig
the fly the last 10ft to the boat and they were just whacking it that way,
we laughed, it was just one of those stupid days on the river that every
angler would like to have.
THANKS FOR A GREAT DAY ON THE "O" UNTIL NEXT TIME "DUDE".THANKS, RYAN
AND ZACK fishing with "Fill"
Upper Owens River:
The party is still raging here but my guess it will
slow substantially after the associated cold core lows that are forecast
to chill the Long Valley region down into single digits by X-mas. There
are huge numbers of fish holding in the river this year, with every large
pool having the possibility of a twenty incher!
The "Wiz"... 1st
trout on the fly!
I had a thirty fish morning today (12-9), all on
parachute midge patterns #20. My time on the water was 3 hours. I got
into a magnificent 22 inch brown to top it off. Dry dropper rigs are an
excellent choice here, hang your nymph three feet below the dry. No
mayfly activity the last week here, it is all midges, but most small
parachute patterns will suffice.
Another quality 22"
Brown on a #20 midge dry
Nymphing with PT’s #18-20 and crystal tiger midges
#18-20 in the deepest pools are also good choices. Long upstream casts
are the best way to fool the larger, wearier trout. If the wind is hooked
up from the west in the morning, pack your bags and head south, it will be
a long day. You will find that if the fish are aggressively, or pattern
feeding, it will be easier to get closer to them if you keep a low
profile.
GUIDE TIP:
Making presentations on spring creeks to rising fish
upstream can pose some special challenges. It is essential that you read
the velocities, pulses, and bulges of the water in all the areas your fly
line may drift. For example: you have a soft (slow) piece of water
twenty five feet upstream of you that is showing several feeding fish.
The water directly in front of you is moving very quickly for about a rods
length upstream. This is a common scenario on the Upper Owens, especially
on the larger oxbow type bends. A common mistake is to cast right on the
rise forms dropping the rod tip to begin stripping line as it accelerates
downstream. This presentation will generally not work because your
imitation will be moving faster than the water the naturals are drifting
in. This is due to the fact that the line near your rod tip is pulling
the fly faster than the water the fish are keying on. In addition, fish
look well upstream for their next meal; they prefer to inspect a morsel
prior to sipping it down. Leading the rise form will give the fish a
chance to look at the imitation. The proper presentation is to lead the
rising fish at least 5 feet or half your leader’s length upstream of the
showing fish, and immediately reach and elevate the rod upstream with the
rod tip gently lifting the line off the faster water in front of you to
get a true drift for your imitation. Do not overcast and “line” your fish
with fly line. Keep the leader only over their rise forms. Practice
keeping the fly line out of the fly’s direct line of drift. A small reach
mend to either side of your imitations drift will pay big dividends on any
given stretch of water.
Hot Creek:
The flows have really dropped since it has become
colder and the fishing reflects the change. Even the upper section near
the hatchery is slower due to the ice and slow water on the confluence of
Mammoth Creek. Midges are the rule, late mornings after the frost melts
for timing. Use a dry/dry combo rig with a parachute BWO #18 as the upper
and a #20 midge adult as the point fly three feet in separation. Check
out the brown that got fooled by this rig on our website. Dry dropper
nymph rigs are also working well some days, use a small disco midge,
WD-40, or olive zebra as the dropper. Road conditions are still good and
the crowds have thinned out after the end of Nov.
Michael L. with his
HC Hog!
Pleasant Valley Reservoir:
Freeze tubing has been great. Tugging streamers with
a full or heavy sinking tip line is getting those hard core individuals
into plenty of fish near the inlet and launch ramp section. The LADWP is
not allowing “pontoon” type flotation devices on PVR, with or without
oars. You may want to check with the powerhouse lords before you lug your
tube down the road and launch. Them water folks, I believe are overly
concerned about the evil Quagga Mussel getting into their pipes. If you
have had your tube in any water that has been known to have the mussel,
please do NOT jeopardize the closing of this area to tubes by using it
here.
Loebergs, Spruce-A-Bu’s, Agent Oranges #8-12 will all
get grabs. Stillwater nymphing along the drop-offs on the west side will
also be productive using gillies and tiger midges #16-18. 8-12 feet is
best. The river section is also fishing well using dry dropper nymph
rigs. Hard to beat a copper or black tiger #16-18 as a nymph here, but
you will also see a good number of fish sipping midges in the “suds”
during the late mornings.
The Gorge:
Still pretty good down here. Lots of surface action
on midges and small mayfly patterns #18. Dry dropper nymph rigs will also
get grabs in the deeper pools. The creek is more accessible this time of
year as the foliage has thinned out. No snow or ice yet so the hike in,
and the trek along the bank is just plain ole rock hopping instead of a
glacial assault.
East Walker River:
Flows are really low and we are not fishing the Cal
section at this time.
Sierra Drifters Flies are
available at the following great fly shops and stores: Crowley Lake
General Store in Crowley, Kittredge Sports in Mammoth Lakes, Malibu Fish’n
Tackle in Thousand Oaks, Stroud’s Tackle in San Diego, The San Diego Fly
Shop in San Diego, The Fishermen’s Spot in Van Nuys, Bob Marriott’s in
Fullerton, Buz's Fly Shop Too in Bakersfield, & Crosby Lodge at Pyramid
Lake, Nevada. There are links to
these locations at the resources tab above. We pride our Guide Service &
Products on Innovation not Imitation!
Be the fly friends…Tom Loe
Sierra Drifters Guide
Service
Driftfish@qnet.com
and Michele Loe
Eastern Sierra Real
Estate….
http://www.mammothlakes.com/mlRE/Agent_Michele.html
Michele@MammothLakes.com
