Tight Lines: Fly fishers need to monitor water temps
(Sierra Bright Dot fly fishing report for July 30.)
Fly fishers fishing in the afternoon should be monitoring the waters temperature and quit fishing when water temperatures reach or go above 70 degrees. California Department of Fish and Wildlife is requiring anglers to voluntarily quit fishing in catch and release waters in the afternoons, it’s called a hoot howl. Freestone streams in the Eastern Sierra like Bishop Creek, Rock Creek, Mammoth Creek, and Rush creek, are a good alternative to fly fish when other waters get too hot. These waters are a great place to fly fish with a dry and dropper rig like a size 14 Adams parachute and size 16 bead head flash back gold ribbed hare’s ear.
Lower Owens River Wild Trout Section
Lower Owens River flows have stabilized at 225 CFS. This is a perfect flow to be wading the river and fishing with nymphs in the morning. Euro nymphing from 7 a.m. to noon has been producing wild brown trout up to 16 inches. Gold ribbed hare’s ears, hot spot pheasant tail nymphs, Frenchie’s,
Butano nymphs, stoners, and olive quilldigons have been producing on the Euro rig. Nymphing under an indicator is producing wild browns with bead head flash back gold ribbed hare’s ears, bead head flash back pheasant tail nymphs, caddis nymphs, and copper John’s. This is a water to leave alone in the afternoons, but is offering good caddis activity in the evening.
Hot Creek, Interpretive Site
An early morning hatch of trico mayflies continues to offer fly fishers great dry fly fishing from 8 a.m. to about 10 a.m. Female trico parachutes and trico spinners in sizes 22 and 24 have been fooling the wild brown and rainbow trout that are feasting on this morning hatch. There are a few pale morning duns, and blue wing olive mayflies hatching after the trico’s and some caddis hatching as well. There is not a lot of water to fish in this section and most fly fishers are fishing on the bottom end of the interpretive site right above Hot Creek Ranch. Nine foot leaders tapered to 5X with three feet of 6X tippet is the minimum I would use in this section. Dog days of summer require using 7x tipper to increase the number of takes a fly fisher gets.
Hot Creek, Canyon Section
Hot Creek Canyon is just short of a mile of spring creek fly fishing. This section offers fly fishers the best chance of catching a wild rainbow or brown trout on a fly. Nymphing this time of the year is tough with all of the weed beds in the stream offering little open water to fish. Fishing with pale morning dun parachutes, Adams parachutes, trico parachutes, trico spinners, elk hair caddis, X-caddis, and parachute caddis on the surface will fool the fish when they are feeding on the hatching insects. Success is having the right size and pattern for the insect that is hatching when you are on Hot Creek.
Upper Owens River, Above Benton Crossing Bridge
This is a morning or late evening fishery due to afternoon water temperatures equal to or over 70 degrees. Early mornings are good with nymphs and dries. Fishing bigger nymphs like size 12 green/ gold wire prince nymphs, stoner nymphs and copper John’s are producing trophy trout from the deeper holes and runs. Fishing olive quilldigons, pheasant tail nymphs, and bead head flash back gold ribbed hare’s ears are fooling the pan sized trout. Trout are coming to the surface to take foam hoppers, parachute hoppers, and tan bodied Madam X in size 12 and 14. There has been caddis activity which is easy to imitate with size 16 or 18 elk hair caddis or X-caddis.
San Joaquin River
Access to the San Joaquin River is a mandatory bus ride leaving from Mammoth Mountain each day from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. This is the best pocket water fly fishing in the Eastern Sierra. Technically a west side stream. Dry flies placed behind each obstacle, forming the pocket, will produce wild rainbow, brown, brook, and golden trout hybrids. Add a nymph three feet under the dry fly and you will double your opportunity to catching wild trout. Use your favorite fly patterns here and they will produce. A good way to use the bus to your advantage is have them drop you off at one of the many campgrounds in the area and fly fish you way upstream until you’re ready to come out of the river. This way you do not have to walk back to your vehicle.
Bishop Creek Canal Behind the Ford Dealer
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power have dredged the canal. They have removed sediment and weed beds. This has not slowed down the fly fishing despite the canal running very dirty with lots of debris in the water. Euro nymphing and dry and dropper nymphing have been producing wild brown trout and stocker rainbows to 14 inches. Stoners and olive quilldigons have been working for Euro nymphing. Adams parachutes with three feet of 5X tippet tied in at the bend of the hook with either a size 16 bead head flash back gold ribbed hare’s or size 18 bead head flash back pheasant tail nymph attached has been fooling the trout.
This section has been fishing the best early in the morning. I like to be off the water by 10 a.m.
(Fred Rowe owns Sierra Bright Dot Fly Fishing Specialty. He teaches fly fishing and fly tying, is one of the original fly fishing guides in the Eastern Sierra. When he’s not out fishing the waters of the Eastern Sierra from Bishop to Bridgeport, he is an avid hunter who loves to hunt birds, especially waterfowl. Fred can be reached at (760) 920-8325 or at roweboat5@verizon.net. His webpage is at sierrabrightdot.com)