Sierra Drifters Guide Service
Guided fly fishing trips for Crowley Lake, Grant & Silver Lakes, the San Joaquin, Upper and Middle Owens Rivers, East Walker River, McGee Creek, 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.
Fish’N Conditions 6/8/19
The winter storms have finally left us, and warm and sunny days are now the norm in the sierra. We have experienced some overcast days with some wind lately but it looks like hot and sunny weather is very close. This will get the snowpack melting at a quick rate and we can expect the freestone rivers and creeks to swell and become off color during the late morning and afternoon periods on most days. Afternoon thundershowers will return as usual for this time of year and they are welcomed and provide quite the refreshing cool down during the hottest part of the day. Crowley Lake has been good on most days with the fish holding at different levels of the water column. They are moving around now and must be located day to day. Middle Owens River holding at 400 cfs and should increase soon with McGee Creek bringing in more water to Crowley Lake. McGee Creek cutthroat are in and taking over the riffle sections. East Walker flows ramped up big time! We will see if they come back down and Bridgeport Reservoir is allowed to rise in water level. Still a week or so out before the fish start to channel up in the Res. Hot Creek fishing great in the mornings in both sections. The clearing of the roads in the Mammoth Lakes Basin has begun.
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***We are currently updating and improving some pages on the website. There may be temporary issues as we work on the site. You can always contact us at 760-935-4250, or email at sierradriftersgs@gmail.com.
Sierra Drifters is a guide service based near Mammoth Lakes, CA. There is no retail shop to visit, but our time tested fly patterns are available to purchase at select locations and online here on our website. Click here to view our entire selection of flies.
Crowley Lake 6/8/19
It has been kind of up and down fishing here with the mix in the weather. Some days we are seeing some pretty good wind come down the lake and others are warm and glassy. There is no real concentrated body of fish currently as they seem to be moving around from day to day. Different holding depths are being selected by the fish depending on the weather. Some big fish are being caught in the usual areas but we are weeding through the recent plants of some smaller browns and rainbows. #16 Copper Tiger Midge, #16 Zebra Midge, #16 Broken Back Gillie have been good flies. The first generation of damselflies and callibaetis are now making an appearance. It won’t be too long before the fish make their move into McGee Bay along the weeds in the shallows to start feeding on them.
Mitch Kelly had a fun day on the lake and got into some good ones!
Phil Therrien in action getting ready to net young Rocco Alvarez’ first fish
Check out this pig landed by Chris Nelson and guided by Doug Dolan!
Lou Mugavero fished with Doug Dolan and got this nice brown!
The boys fished with Jerry and had a blast! From left to right Peter Bolten, Michael Charny, and Jordan Buettner
Carson Ezell with a nice painted up brownie!
Middle Owens River/Wild Trout Section (Bishop Area) 6/8/19
Flows jumped up a few days ago but then returned to 400 cfs here. It’s been a little slower here lately. This level is still too high for wading in the wild trout section, but fishing the slower water and the edges can yield some takes. Smaller nymphs with some flash in them are a good call with plenty of weight to get your bugs down. Look for some afternoon hatches on all sections of the river. When the mayfly hatch is happening, try switching to our #16 Punk Perch and Crystal Leech just prior to and after the peak of the hatch. Best flies for these area have been #10 Loebergs in all colors, #8 Spruce-a-bus in light and dark, #16 Punk Perch, #14 Crystal Leech, #18 Assassin Light, #16 San Juan Worm Red, #18 Blue Winged Olive, #22 Parachute Midge, #18 Broken Back Copper Tiger Midge, and #18 Crystal Caddis Larva Olive Dubbed-Black.
Upper Owens River 6/8/19
The few cutthroat that entered here seem to have retreated back to the lake. There are some great Caddis hatches taking place late morning and afternoon. Lots of wild rainbows and browns are taking advantage of this and a light weight rod with a dry fly setup can be quite fun here now. Smaller nymphs fished under a small indicator will pick up these fish in the slower water too.
Hot Creek 6/8/19
Great caddis action here too. Dry dropper setups have been effective fished in both the Interpretive Site and the canyon sections. Mammoth Creek exhibiting run off behavior after the mornings warm up. Egg patterns and SD Crawlers also good nymph setups to fish currently.
This is a year around fishery with special regs in place. We walk and wade guide here.*Doug Rodricks, Doug Dolan, Hans Grotewold, and Devin Preston are under permit from the Inyo National Forest Service to guide Hot Creek.
East Walker River 6/8/19
Best to fish elsewhere right now as the river recently blew out with flows over 700 cfs. Great fishing though before the increase, so it will be solid once the flows come back down.
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Ryan Adamson fished with Doug Dolan and got this EW brown!
George Choe fished with Doug Dolan on the same trip and got some really BIG FISH!
Here’s George with fish of the day, week, and month!
Balanced patterns are the new rage for nymphing, & streamer fishing. We have been guide testing these patterns for several years, & I can honestly say they are the most significant improvement in fly design in over a decade. They are truly superior to conventional fly designs. The flies ride “parallel”; or “level” to the bottom giving them a far more realistic profile. The jig style hook becomes more effective as it seldom gets snagged on the bottom, & sets efficiently in the fishes mouth. These flies are intended to fish as your bottom fly in a multi-fly; or tandem rig. They are deadly fished solo as a streamer. Add these patterns to your quiver for all fisheries that you still water nymph; or cast streamers. Click on “fly sales” on the nav bar above, hit “menu” first from a mobile device to access the nav bar.
You can pick up our flies & Under-cators at Reagan’s Sports in Bishop, the Crowley General Store (not at the lake), Ricks Sport Center in Mammoth (limited selection), Bridgeport Reservoir RV Park (currently closed for winter), Stroud’s Tackle in San Diego, & Malibu Fish’N Tackle in Thousand Oaks.
Thank you for visiting our website and checking out our report. Be the Fly…. Doug and Jenny Rodricks, Sierra Drifters Guide Service
