Guided fly fishing trips for Crowley Lake, Grant & Silver Lakes, the San Joaquin, Upper and Middle Owens Rivers, Pleasant Valley Reservoir, Hot Creek, & the Gorge located near Mammoth and Bishop Ca. will give you opportunities to catch trophy rainbows and browns while being guided by expert fly fishing pros. Sierra Drifters guides utilize top of the line center console bay boats, drift boats, float tubes, and high quality fly fishing tackle to guide you on these blue ribbon trout waters.

The wild fires on Bald Mountain east of Mammoth, & the terrible fire on Lower Rock Creek have been contained. Amazing job done by the hard working fire crews. THANK YOU FIRE FIGHTERS. More hot weather on the way for next week with no precipitation in the forecast for a while. Crowley lake has been the most consistent fishery locally; with some big rainbows, cutty’s, and browns showing up. Spot up on the weed lines using perch fry and damsel fly patterns. CDFW putting in the rookies recently. Upper Owens is fun for planted rainbows and a few wild browns. Flows are low, majority of the fish are in the pools with little dry fly action. Hot Creek remains fair at best. East Walker flows have dropped (108cfs) moving the fish back into limited weed free/deeper sections. San Joaquin is perfect for wading and casting dry flies into the pocket water. Fish are small; but beautiful if you hike a ways to escape the campground planters. Bridgeport Reservoir kicking out good numbers of planted rainbows for trollers, marina no longer launching boats. Middle Owens still roaring at 480cfs. Wading not advisable, drift fishing tough; but conditions improving. The local alpine lakes have very good conditions. The “bite” depends almost entirely on planting from the CDFW, & tourism supplements with Oregon rainbows. These fish are opportunistic, and will hit streamers eagerly. Locate the “meat balls” and troll flashy streamer patterns with full sinking; or heavy sinking tip lines. Rush Creek, the West Walker, and Rock Creek are all down in flows and easy to fish. Dry/dropper rigs fished in the pockets, or deeper runs can be very effective.

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The inside action is pretty much over near the inlet to McGee. Rapidly falling water levels reducing the fishable area. The CDFW has been stocking sub-catchable triploid rainbows the last couple weeks, & those little rascals are showing up at times in Hilton, & McGee Bay. The submerged aquatic weeds are now protruding making the deeper weed lines easy to identify. This condition will set the stage for some great fly fishing in August as the perch fry, & damsel nymphs hide along the edges. The algae bloom has tapered off, & is not causing presentation issues currently. Sandy Pt. & Hilton have had decent snaps recently; but McGee Bay is the best overall. Tubers should be looking to troll some damsel nymphs along the weed lines in McGee, Sometimes Bay, Sandy Pt. and Hilton Bay. As the lake level drops, the leader length will decrease for still water nymphers. 13-17 feet is now the norm. The trout are concentrating in the cooler, more oxygenated water emanating from McGee Creeks influence, & the insulation that deeper water provides. The damsel nymph & perch fry emergence is also triggering aggressive feeding behavior as the trout follow the nymphs towards the submerged aquatic weed lines. Hang your flies above a clean mud bottom in close proximity to a hard weed line for consistent action. Gillies, broken back midges, crystal zebra, or tiger midges (big ones), and damsel nymphs are all good calls while fishing below an “sliding” Under-cator. My go to rig the last few days has been an Assassin; or Drifters Punk Perch #14/16 as the upper, with a dark crystal tiger midge (#14), or broken back copper tiger (#16) as the larva pattern. Keep the tigers 6-12 inches off the deck. I have also been using twin Assassins; or a Punk Perch with an Assassin dropper along the weeds. Keep them a foot or more above the bottom.***Special angling regulations begin on 8/1/16 and will continue throughout the remainder of the season on Crowley. The entry gate to the marina opens at 7am instead of 6am now.

This fishery opens last Saturday in April & closes November 15th.



Conditions are poor downstream from the Benton Bridge due to heavy aquatic weed growth. Upstream from the bridge special regulations apply, & the conditions are better above the confluence of Hot Creek inlets. Grasshoppers are prevalent currently. Use a stimulator with a bead head nymph like an Assassin, FB PT, olive crystal caddis; or olive zebra midge as a dropper. You will also see a solid caddis hatch, although I have not seen a great surface charge from the fish in a couple trips here. Hi-vis caddis adult patterns used with a dropper can also get grabs. The water levels are very low above HC, & the irrigation canal inlets. You will find most of the planted rainbows, and wild browns in the deepest pools and pockets. There are a few nicer rainbows hanging around that are best fooled by attractor patterns like the “Drifters Crawler” and crystal eggs. A strange thing this season are the migration of Sacramento Perch moving up the river. You may get into quite a few of them in the deeper pools.

The section upstream from the Benton Bridge is open year around with special regulations. Seasonal closures, and angling restrictions apply downstream from the bridge, check regulations before fishing in this section.



Blown out. FLOWS ARE 480 cfs. and the highest in several years. Wading is not practical, or advisable in the wild trout section currently.

This fishery remains open year around. Special regs from the footbridge at Pleasant Valley campground to the fishing monument 4.7 miles downstream.



Fishing has been fair/slow this summer. The slower fishing can be directly attributed to the lack of planting from the HC hatchery. This is the primary reason HC is not kicking out the numbers it once did. HC is now being managed as a wild trout fishery only, and new practices are not allocating the planting of additional trout here. You may still get into some decent fish in the deeper weed free sections using scuds, Assassins, and smaller olive crystal caddis, or dubbed olive caddis larva patterns while nymphing the deeper pockets that are weed free. Caddis adults and hoppers are best for surface action.







Continuous hydro power generation, & fluctuating water levels are not conducive to consistently good fishing at this time. Pretty dang hot here after the sun gets up a little too. The higher flows will help clean out the aquatic weeds to improve conditions when it starts to cool down in the fall.





Best time to fish this area is mid-September, through May. Flows are great at 52cfs. ; but it is very warm here by late morning.





No reports from fly fishers here; but trollers using lead lines are doing really well for planted rainbows around the deeper water near the dam. The marina is not longer launching boats due to falling water levels. Water conditions are good with the algae bloom not an issue.





Fishing the cooler periods is preferable as water temps are getting very high. The flows are now around 100cfs. There remain issues with aquatic weeds in the slower sections. Focus on the pocket water; or riffles for more consistent action. Heavily weighted nymph rigs fished in the faster riffle water downstream will get you a shot at a larger browns. Strong caddis, midge, mayfly, & damsel fly hatches are going off. Try larger Assassins, FB PT’s. and damsel nymphs. Hi-vis caddis, and hoppers are targets for surface feeders. Lob some Loebergs, Punk Perch, or damsel nymph streamers for a shot at bad LeRoy brown during low light periods.





Water clarity/flows are good now. Fish the rifles, & pocket water near Pikel Meadows, or Chris Flats sections. A deadly rig for this area is a dry/dropper using Stimulators, or hi-vis caddis and mayfly imitations as the upper fly. Tie on bead head tiger midges, Assassins, or FB PT’s as your nymph about 2-4 feet below the dry.





Conditions are very good here for fishing dries and wading. I like to fish hi-vis mayfly; or caddis patterns with a bead head dropper nymph like an Assassin, FB PT, or tiger midge. The riffles are best fished with high riding dries like stimulators, parachute ant patterns, foam beetles, & attractor adults. I suggest you have a stout wading staff even though the flows are down. The skeeters are ravenous down here this summer, don’t forget then deet.







Beautiful Jurassic Pond is a private trophy trout fishery that is exclusively guided by Sierra Drifters pros. It is situated near McGee Creek, and overlooks Crowley Lake. We fish with streamers, nymphs, & dry flies during warmer periods. You will not find larger trout anywhere in the Eastern Sierra. If you want a dance with a twenty pound rainbow, or double digit brown-this is the best private fishery in the region. Summer session are booking fast. Contact us for availability please.





These lakes are highly dependent on planted trout, & the bite will be related to how many fish are stocked during your visit. Check CDFW/resort planting schedules to get the latest updates. Tubers trolling streamers with full sinking lines can get into some fish while targeting drop-offs, inlets, & structure. Agent Orange, Crystal Leeches, Loebergs, Spruce-A-Bu’s, and Punk Perch patterns are good calls to use along drop-offs, structures like submerged stumps, and near inlets. Try dry dropper rigs using hi-vis mayfly patterns as your indicator/dry fly while suspending a small midge, Killa-baetis or Assassin nymph below it 2-3 feet during low light periods. The wild brookies and browns can be fooled using this technique during the warmer summer months.