Greetings Anglers,
Opening day was on April 29th this year and I spent several days checking out the streams in the Eastern Sierra in preparation to guide you this year and get you some stamps in your CDFW Passports and for the Heritage Trout awards.
Many people fishing the opener. Lake Crowley was packed with boats and tubes, on Saturday it looked like in spots you could walk across the lake!! Mc Gee Creek was flowing well, not discolored and the fish were there to be caught.
Upper Owens River above Benton was not too crowded on Sunday, probably due to not many fish at this time. The big bows have already returned to the lake and the Cutthroats have not started moving up yet, not one to be seen in either Mc Gee or Upper Owens, probably a couple more weeks and we should start seeing some movement.
Hot Creek was fishing slow in both areas, water looks very good, strong flow and cold temps have taken out quite a bit of the nuisance weeds and made fishing easier. Hooked into one 22″ rainbow on a 3wt and was in for a great fight!!
Bishop creek was looking real nice though got a LOT of traffic for the opener, Saturday and Sunday saw upwards of a 100 anglers spread out between the catch basin all the way up to Lake Sabrina.
Independence creek was finally accessible when they opened the road up all the way to Onion Valley CG, there was still quite a bit snow on the ground and while fishing the creek was possible, hiking to the lakes will still be a few weeks out.
Planning group outings for the Season… how many of you would be interested in a 2 day excursion in Late July or Early August to fish for 3 or 4 Heritage Trout Species, The trip will be in North Eastern California, staying the night in Alturas, which is central to 4 species of Heritage trout. This trip would be for a maximum of 5 anglers. Drop me a email if interested and for more details.
I look forward to seeing you on the water and fishing with you this year.