Eastern Sierra Fly Fishing Report: Week of October 2, 2026

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 year, the first fall fish are nosing into the Upper Owens, and the East Walker has come down to a level that suits it. The odd note is the air, because Bishop is forecast in the low 90s this week, so the water is cooling faster than the sky suggests. Here is how we see it. Every fly below is one we tie ourselves, so tap any name to grab it.

Crowley Lake

Crowley is our pick and it is not close. The last two weeks have produced the kind of numbers that make people cancel plans, with big pods of fish stacked in McGee Bay and feeding from first light. Surface temperatures have come down into the 60s, the water is still clear, and midges are the whole story now. We would run two flies and expect 70 to 80 percent of the grabs on the lower midge, with bright shiny patterns earning their keep through the morning hatch and darker greys and blood reds taking over as the day warms. McGee Bay, Layton Springs, Alligator Point and Green Banks have all been holding fish in 8 to 15 feet. This is a very spot specific bite, so locate the pod before you commit to a pattern, and do not overlook a perch fry on the top dropper. Sizes 16 to 20 cover the midges. The lake closes to boat fishing on October 25, so the clock is running.

Try: The Black Chironomid Pupa, Chironomid Nymph Red, Epoxy Buzzer Red Pearl, Black Buzzer, Epoxy Minnow Shad.

Hot Creek

Hot Creek is down to 5 CFS, which is about as thin as this water ever runs, and it fishes like it. The weeds are at full height and the water is clear, so light or completely unweighted rigs are how you keep your flies out of the salad. Mornings are the main event. Midges come first from around 7, then tricos take over with the female hatch early and the spinner fall around 9, and it slows right down between 10 and 11. The middle of the day is quiet and that is your window for a scud or a small streamer worked through the open lanes. Afternoons have come back into play now that the water is cooling, with caddis and male tricos picking up around 4. A single fly on a short tight line drift beats a long rig here, and if nothing is showing, a beetle tight to the bank will move a fish.

Try: Thorax Trico, Spent Partridge Caddis, Bead Body Scud Olive, Foam Beetle, TG BH Zebra Midge Black.

Upper Owens River

The Upper Owens is at 71 CFS and it is starting to build. The first of the fall fish are in, bigger rainbows and a few browns up out of Crowley, but they are not everywhere yet and you will need to cover ground to find them. The water above the Hot Creek confluences is very clear and those fish are spooky as a result, so a stealthy approach matters more than the pattern you pick. Below the junctions the water is off color, which works in your favor. Standard fall and winter fare is already taking big fish: an egg, a worm, a pheasant tail, a leech, and a perch fry dead drifted hard on the bottom if you are below the bridge, because these are lake fish that have spent the summer eating perch. Tricos are inconsistent with the spinner fall around 9, and a parachute will still pick up the smaller browns. Cattle are inside the fence now and the spawning gravel deserves respect, so stay out of the shallows and wade as little as you can.

Try: BL Bright Red Weighted Squirmy Wormy, Leech Black with Pink Egg, BH Pheasant Tail Angel Hair, Tungsten Bead Head Zebra Midge Red, Adams Parachute.

Lower Owens River, Wild Trout Section near Bishop

This is the week the Lower Owens got interesting. The gauge read about 300 CFS on Wednesday night, down from 463 CFS when we wrote last week, so the summer release out of Pleasant Valley is coming off hard. That is still too much water to wade and the willows make bank casting a chore, but the trend is what matters. Hardly anyone has fished this river since spring, the high cold flows carried it through the heat in good shape, and the trout in the Wild Trout section have not been hooked in months. Clarity is good. For now we would fish the first and last hour with a streamer thrown down and across and stripped back against the current, and keep a small baetis or a midge nymph deep through the middle of the day. Evenings will give you blue winged olives and caddis on top. When this drops into wading range, and it will soon, drop everything and come down here.

Try: CDC BWO Dry, BH Pheasant Tail Sparkle Back, Copper John Black, Holy Grail Black, Wooly Bugger Brown.

East Walker River

The East Walker has come down to 139 CFS, which is a good number for this river in the fall, clarity is good, and the water has cooled enough that you can fish the whole day rather than just the ends of it. The browns are colored up and this is the stretch of the season when the river gives up its best fish. Where you stand matters more than usual. The Mile below the dam has been slow and nothing worth repeating has come back to us out of it, while the water below the Highway 182 bridge has been fishing properly, so that is where we would start. Go bigger than feels sensible. A streamer covers ground and finds the fish worth finding, and a dry dropper or straight nymphing fills in around it. Be aware the window closes as flows keep dropping, because much of the river gets too shallow to hold fish at low water, so this is one to do now rather than in three weeks.

Try: BH Zonker White Bright, Muddler Minnow Classic, Elk Hair Hopper, Czech Nymph Natural, BH Krystal Bugger Black.

Bridgeport Reservoir and Twin Lakes

Nothing solid has come back to us out of Bridgeport this week, so we will tell you what we know rather than fill the gap. The last word we had was that the reservoir fish had moved out of the inlet channels and spread through the main body of the lake, which killed the channel bite and put the boats covering open water on top. For a fly angler that means a sinking line and a slow retrieve over the flats rather than parking on an inlet, and shore fishing should have improved since, because the lake has kept cooling. The Twins had toughened up when we last heard, still giving up decent numbers but making you work for them, with early and late the productive windows. A leech, a bugger or a soft hackle fished slow and deep is what always works up there and we would not complicate it. Both the reservoir and the Twins close on October 25, the last Sunday of the month, so there is not much season left.

Try: BH Krystal Bugger Peacock, Egg Sucking Leech Olive, Brown Hackle Peacock, BL Blob FAB Sunburst Fire Tail.

Weather Outlook

The strange part of this week is the air. Bishop is forecast to sit in the low 90s with lows around 50, which is well above normal for the first week of October, and Mammoth Lakes runs in the middle 70s with sunshine most days. Nights in Long Valley are dropping to just above freezing, so Crowley and the Upper Owens will be cold at dawn and warm by lunch. Dress for both. No rain is in the forecast through the week. The useful thing about cold clear nights is that they pull heat out of the water far faster than warm afternoons put it back, which is why the fishing keeps improving while the thermometer in town says otherwise. Carry one for the water anyway, especially on the East Walker.

A note from the shop: every 395 Fly Co fly comes with a tutorial for the water it is tied for, so you will know exactly how to fish it before you are standing in the river. Questions on patterns, sizes, or where to start this week? Email us anytime at 395flyco@gmail.com, we are always happy to talk flies.