Tundra

Eastern Sierra snow bow season has come and gone once again.  Since I missed my opportunity in the winter of 2014/2015 due to some unexpected living conditions, I made it a point to put some time on the upper Owens this year.  Let me tell you, this is one brutal unforgiving fishery when it wants to be.  It can be a river of a million perfect drifts without a single bump, on top of that you have crowds on the river worse than Disneyland.  I decided to fish the river during a snowstorm with the usual suspect.  We thought it would thin the crowds as we are both gluttons for punishment.  Punishment, it was.

This was a two day trek into the tundra conditions of the upper Owens Valley, snow shoes and frozen fly lines.    My first day on the river I hooked into a damn beast of crowley lake migratory rainbow trout.  The beast took a black crystal bugger on a dead drift.  It felt like I snagged a log, I set the hook and it took me for a fast and furious ride down river.  Rewind about two hours.  I was rigging my line, debated whether I should run 4x or 3x tippet.  I had a gut feeling that 4x was going to be too light, but I rigged it anyways... every damn time.  Fast forward to my fight with what I can estimate to a trout in the 26" range.  I'm yelling to my buddy to come help, doing what I can to keep it away from the riffle water.  Well... you probably can guess what happened.  My advice go one line size heavier than you think.  You can always adjust down if the fish are line shy, but you can't always get a second chance hooking a trophy on the same trip... at least in these high pressured fisheries.  Until next year.

Celebration

Upper Owens River 12-29-12

I've spent countless hours this year on the quest to fulfill my fly fishing fantasies.  Hundreds if not more flies tied, lost and stolen.  Driving into the cold dark highway at odd hours to be on the trail  before the break of dawn.  I've fly fished in three states besides California this year, and I'd have to say the Sierra is still my sweetheart.  However, the Owens rivers have always left me with a bittersweet ending, and I wasn't about to end the year without one last fight.

Snowfields stretched across the upper Owens valley into the horizon.  It was COLD, well below frost point.  Surprisingly, I wasn't the only one crazy enough to embark on this arctic quest.  By noon it looked like the usual spots were already combed through, so I took my time.  I made sure Erika and I were layered for comfort, and secondly I made sure every fishing knot was tied with care.  We let the fishing pressure cool down and began our descent into the snowfield.

The snowpack was deep enough to bury my feet.  It was also deep enough to make hiking significantly more tiring.  It was a good thing we ate that pastrami sandwhich at Mahogany Smoked Meats in Bishop.  Erika took the first run and I hiked slightly upstream from her.  Within 15 minutes I detected a strike and I was on.  My line whipped off the bank and peeled line off the reel.  I applied downstream pressure and took control of the fight.  I walked the trout downstream where I could land it without breaking off the 6x fluoro tippet.  It was a one eyed specimen in the 18inch range.  Erika named it Cataract Jack as she took a photo for me.

Another strike shortly after...  The first one took the Kern Candy, the second took the SJ Worm.

Moments later I drifted my flies through a large pool and missed at least half dozen strikes.  It seemed like they were pooled up however I failed to connect.  Erika on the other hand managed to catch a leech infested trout with a inflamed anus and deformed gill plate.  I didn't even know leeches lived in the upper Owens.

Erika drifted her flies in another section and connected with a nice brown.  I was surprised to see it take a egg pattern.

The fishery turned off after 2pm and not a bump was felt until we decided to leave at nearly 4pm.  I knew there were larger trout in the river, yet without a snow mobile they were most likely well out of reach.  The temps were dropping and the fear of frost bite was real.

 

 

A group of Japanese fisherman were the last men standing, truly the way of the warrior.  Congrats to them for their persistence and strong will.  Surely one of them must have caught a trophy.

The sun was setting quickly and a soft glow reflected off the snowfield as we drove out.

Celebration at our favorite brewery.  It was definitely a good day in the eastern Sierra!


Lower Owens River 12-30-12

The ice cracked as I turned the dial of my Simms Rivertek Boa's. The lower Owens almost felt colder than the upper this morning.  Masses of clouds loomed up and over the crest of the eastern Sierra,  bringing waves of cold air into the valley.  Surprisingly, the cold weather didn't stop the crowds from crowding the river. The browns were somewhat cookie cutter and all were taken with a size 20 z-midge.  I noticed prolific green caddis larvae in about a hook size 20-22 while pulling up algae.  Anybody going up should give them a try.  Thanks to everyone who has followed me along my fishing adventures, Especially Erika who has put up with every miserable condition known to man.  I couldn't have done it without her.  Hopefully next year I can share more back country adventures (Long trek into the upper Kern watershed) and more fly tying and gear reviews.  I also hope to get into Utah in the near future.

Thanks for following!

Fall Fly Fishing on the Owens River

Finicky Browns were abound on the Lower O.

Lower Owens
What does a fly fishing addict do when one gets a four day vacation from work? Drive far from home with a 4x4 loaded with fly fishing gear, beer, and food.  Yes, I'm going to say that's the order of importance. 

Made it to the Lower Owens river the day after Thanksgiving.  It was as busy as Disneyland during Christmas.  I was given a roughly drawn map by the fly shop guy to try a lesser fished area of the lower O.  It was a narrow 4x4 trail that gave my paint job some new battle scars... however it led to a prime piece of water that had some eager browns rising for emerging blue winged olives.  My first trout took a size 18 midge emerger, this trout was impressively strong and looked to be roughly 15".  It gave me a few hard runs and unglued at my feet.  Several more were caught on small robo PT's.  Nothing large and spectacular, however they were all highly selective.  It was technical and rewarding. 

Lower Owens River, CA

Upper Owens
The Upper river was packed! I drove the trail upstream for miles before I could find somewhere to fish.  Surprisingly the wind was calm and the day was warm.  Around 1pm a BWO hatch persisted until approx. 3pm.  Only a few fish were rising in the section that I fished.  Most fish caught on dry flies were dinks.  Some giants from Crowley Lake were scattered in the upper river (I spooked several).  I had a few rainbow trout take a tungsten teddy fly and a size 24 z-midge.  At the end of all our hard work, Erika and I had beer and lunch on the tailgate of my truck, overlooking the river.  That alone was worth the drive to get away from the socal madness.

Upper Owens River, CA