Eastern Sierra Fly Fishing Report: Week of September 11, 2026

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 overnight reset our rivers have needed since July. Bishop stays hot in the afternoons, so down valley you are still fishing first and last light. Keep a thermometer in your pack, because water changes temperature far more slowly than air and a cool morning does not mean a cool river. 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 for anyone who wants numbers this week. The lake is dropping fast after a light winter, clarity is still very good now that the summer algae has died back and sunk, and surface temperatures have been running into the mid to upper 70s. The perch fry have finally grown big enough that trout are keying on them, especially through the middle of the day, so we would fish a perch or minnow imitation up top with a small leech below it. Midges are showing up in usable sizes again after weeks of almost nothing but tiny specks, while the Callibaetis are fading and the damsels are nearly done. The stream mouths and channels in roughly 6 to 15 feet are still the water, with McGee Bay and the North Arm the two areas we would spend our day in, and Whitmore Road is open from McGee through to Green Banks so float tube access is easy. One thing worth knowing if you strip: most grabs come on the drop and feel more like a rub on your finger than a take.

Try: Epoxy Minnow Shad, BH Zonker White Bright, BH Krystal Bugger Black, The Black Chironomid Pupa, BL Blob FAB Sunburst Fire Tail.

Hot Creek

Hot Creek was reading 5 CFS this morning, which is about as thin as this water gets. Clarity is good, the weed beds are heavy, and the crowds at the Interpretive Site have finally thinned out now that the holiday is behind us. This is still a morning fishery for us. Sporadic midges from about 7 to 10:30 give way to Tricos and caddis, with female Tricos hatching around 7 and the spinner fall starting near 9, and the bite slowing between 10 and 11. The good news is that cooler afternoons have brought the back end of the day into play again, with caddis and male Tricos starting around 4. Between 10:30 and 4 we would go subsurface with a scud or a midge and swing something buggy through the deeper slots. Here is a tell we lean on: splashy rises are almost always caddis, sippy rises are Tricos. Keep your drifts to about four seconds, look at the clear lanes rather than the weeds, and set fast, because these fish are eating and spitting very quickly by this point in the year.

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

Upper Owens River

The Upper Owens came up a touch this week and the gauge read 66 CFS this morning, up from the high 50s earlier in the week. The water is clear above the upper Hot Creek confluence and off color below it, and with the days shortening the fishing has improved downstream of the junctions. Fish are sliding in out of Crowley, mostly browns in the 13 to 20 inch class along with some larger rainbows looking for cool water, and the fall spawning Coleman strain rainbows are starting to show. They are not selective yet but they are very spooky up in that clear water, so keep low and keep your distance. Hatches are thin beyond the ever present midges and caddis, and the Trico spinner fall has been inconsistent, starting around 9 to 9:30, so egg and worm patterns are doing most of the damage. One change worth acting on: these fish came in keying on perch, so dead drifting a dark leech right on the bottom below the bridge is worth your first hour. Two housekeeping notes. Irrigation has begun, so anything upstream of the first drive through gate can be hazardous, and the ranchers now have cattle inside the fence, so stay above them. Keep off the shallow gravel where you can.

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

Lower Owens River, Wild Trout Section near Bishop

We will give it to you straight again this week. The gauge read 491 CFS this morning, which is a big push of water and puts wading essentially off the table. Anything much over 350 down here and you should be fishing from dry ground. Clarity has been good. Nothing solid on the bite has come back to us from the Wild Trout water this week, so treat this as a flow update rather than a fishing report. If you go, work the soft edges where that volume slows against the willows, get heavy enough to reach the bottom quickly, and fish first and last light while Bishop is still sitting in the low to mid 90s through the afternoon. And do not be shy about swinging a streamer down here. Almost nobody does, and that is exactly why it works.

Try: Czech Nymph Natural, BH Pheasant Tail Angel Hair, CDC BWO Dry, BH Krystal Bugger Peacock, Wooly Bugger Brown.

East Walker River

The East was running about 229 CFS at last check with good clarity, and the nights have finally turned, with lows down in the 40s. Water temperature is still the whole game on this river. It has been holding in the 60s until mid afternoon, so mornings are safe and the back half of the day needs watching. Forget the old rule about staying up by the dam for cold water. As the reservoir drops, the release can run 70 and warmer around the clock, and after a cold night the river actually cools as it moves downstream, so the colder the night, the farther down you want to go. We would tight line the deeper slots, run a dry dropper through the riffles, and swing something with a bit of bulk in the first hour of light. Carry a thermometer and check it below the bridge, because we have watched temperatures climb from the mid 60s to the low 70s in under an hour.

Try: Holy Grail Black, Copper John Black, Muddler Minnow Classic, Adams Parachute, Black Buzzer.

Bridgeport Reservoir and Twin Lakes

Nothing fresh has come back to us out of Bridgeport this week, so what follows is from the end of August and we would treat it as a starting point rather than gospel. The reservoir was fishing very well as long as you were up in the inlet channels, with boats counting 15 to 40 fish in a day. The open water was warm and slow and the trolling had not switched on yet, though it should as the nights keep cooling off. If you are on a fly line, get into the moving water where it comes in and nymph a chironomid deep with something buggy above it, or work the channel edges with a leech on a sinking line at first and last light. The Twins gave up a 7 pound 10 ounce brown out of Lower Twin, with most of the action deep on the troll or tight to the shoreline early and late. One date to keep in mind: the short stretch of Robinson Creek between the lakes closes to fishing in mid September for the spawn, so check the regulations before you step in.

Try: The Green Damsel Nymph, Egg Sucking Leech Olive, Brown Hackle Peacock, Bead Body Scud Olive, BL Blob FAB Sunburst Fire Tail.

Weather Outlook

Wind first. A High Wind Watch and a Fire Weather Watch are in effect for the Mammoth Lakes area from late Saturday morning into early Sunday, with southwest gusts to 35 mph during the day and up to 50 mph overnight. Pick banks that put the wind at your back and expect a fight on the long casts. After that it calms down and cools off. Mammoth runs 72 on Friday and 70 on Saturday, then settles at 68, 67, 67 and 67 from Sunday through Wednesday, with nights between 46 and 50. Bishop sits at 94 Friday and 93 Saturday before easing to 86 on Sunday and holding in the high 80s for the rest of the week, with nights down to 49. There is no rain in the outlook through midweek. Those cold, clear nights are what actually pull the heat out of a river, so expect conditions to keep improving right through the week.

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.