Fishing Reports

The Lower Owens is holding near 270 CFS, and the number to watch is 200, because that is where we start wading it upstream with dries and nymphs. Everything else has settled into proper October. Crowley is down to its last two weekends of boat season and still fishing on midges all day, Hot Creek has dropped to 4 CFS with the weeds finally starting to break up, and the East Walker is running about 90 CFS with the better fish still sitting below the bridge. The air has turned

New here? We send this report every Friday morning, free. Get it in your inbox. The Lower Owens keeps coming down, and that is still the one number worth watching this fall. It read about 300 CFS when we wrote last week and the gauge was sitting at 269 CFS on Tuesday afternoon, so the summer release out of Pleasant Valley is unwinding at a steady clip rather than all at once. Wadeable water is in sight down there. It is not here yet. Everywhere else the season has settled int

The summer release on the Lower Owens has finally broken. The river was reading 463 CFS when we wrote last week and it came in at about 300 CFS on Wednesday night, which is the fastest drop we have seen down there all year. It is still too much water to wade, but the direction of travel is the point, and that is the one number worth watching this fall. Everywhere else the season has turned over properly. Crowley is in the middle of the best run of fishing it will give you all

A dry cold front pushed across the region this week. It brought no rain with it, just cooler air and a good shove of wind over the crest, and it moved the season along another notch. The headline for us is on the Lower Owens, where the summer release is finally winding down: the river came off 517 CFS on Tuesday and was reading 463 CFS this morning. That is the number to keep an eye on, because the day it drops into wadeable water the best fishing of the year opens up on a ri

Welcome back to our weekly report from the 395 corridor. The headline this week is wind followed by a real cooling trend. A High Wind Watch and a Fire Weather Watch are up for the Mammoth Lakes area from late Saturday morning into early Sunday, with southwest gusts that could reach 50 mph overnight, and then the pattern settles into cool, clear and dry through the middle of next week. Mammoth tops out in the high 60s from Sunday on with nights in the 40s, which is exactly the

Welcome back to our weekly report from the 395 corridor. September is here and we can feel the season turning. Nights in Long Valley are dropping into the 40s, the days are staying near normal and dry, and that cooling trend is exactly what these waters have been waiting for. Our story of the week is Crowley, where the algae has finally cleaned up and the perch fry have arrived in numbers, and the rivers are all running low and clear enough that a careful approach matters mor

We finally got a break. A couple of days of rain rolled through the middle of last week with thunder, lightning, and even a power outage, and it put some badly needed water back into the country. Long Valley warmed back into the mid 80s right behind it, but a trough moving through the Pacific Northwest has today running cooler and breezy, and the ridge is breaking down over the weekend. That matters more than it sounds: cooler nights are what actually reset a river. Carry a t

Middle of August, and after a brutal stretch of heat the forecast finally offers some relief. Monsoon moisture is pushing in with real thunderstorm chances through the middle of next week, which should knock the air temperature down and, more importantly, cool the water overnight. Until it does, a voluntary Hoot Owl restriction is in place on Crowley, both stretches of the Owens, Bishop Creek Canal, Bridgeport Reservoir, and the East Walker. Carry a thermometer, fish the firs

Deep summer on the 395 corridor. Water is warm, weeds are thick, and the whole game right now is timing. Fish the first few hours of light and the last hour of it, carry a thermometer, and give every fish a quick, wet release. One piece of good news: bait season closed on Crowley on August 1, which hands the lake back to fly anglers just as the fish move shallow. Here is where things stand. Every fly below is one we tie and stock, so tap any name to grab it. Crowley Lake Crow

Summer is in full swing up and down the 395 corridor. Water is warm, the weeds are up, and the bite is all about timing, so early mornings and evenings are your friend right now. Here is where things stand this week. Every fly below is one we tie and stock, so tap any name to grab it. Crowley Lake The lake is fishing hot in every sense. Rainbows, cutthroat, and browns are coming to the net all over, with the North Arm and Hilton Bay leading the way. As surface temps climb, fi