Fall is quickly turning to winter as winter storms are heading to the Eastern Sierra this weekend. Fly fishers fishing freestone streams draining the Eastern Sierra have been treated to great fly fishing and great fall colors. The fall colors are now in the Owens Valley. With the cooler day time temperatures and lack of sunlight on the streams, hatches are now middle of the day to late afternoon. Mayflies and caddis flies are offering good surface action during the hatch, and good nymphing opportunities before and after the hatch. Mid-day has been gorgeous on Eastern Sierra waters this fall.

Rock Creek above Big Meadows campground produced wild brown trout that took nymphs in a dry and dropper rig.

Lower Owens River Wild Trout Section:
Flows in the lower Owens River should be at 170 CFS by the weekend and at 100 CFS by the end of the month. The euro nymph rig with Butano nymph, stoner nymph, and burlap caddis have been fooling wild brown trout to 14 inches. There are some mid-day mayfly hatches that the trout have been ignoring. With the lower flows the trout should be feeding on the surface of the river. Sporadic caddis activity is providing some action for fly fishers fishing dries.

A typical wild brown trout from the catch and release section of the lower Owens River that took a stoner nymph fished on a Euro rig.

Hot Creek:
Interpretive Site:
The insects have been most active late morning to early afternoons. The trico hatch is on the water but the trout have been finicky on what fly patterns they will take. One day it’s the female trico parachute, the next day they will only take the trico spinners, and other days they just are not interested in the trico patterns being drifted over them. The blue wing olive mayflies and the gray caddis are offering much more consistency in fooling the trout with dry flies. I’m using size 20 blue wing olive parachutes, and size 20 gray partridge spent caddis from noon to 2:00 P.M. to fool wild rainbow trout and wild brown trout. The wind has been coming up in the afternoon and that’s the time I call it a day and head home.

Hot Creek Canyon Section:
Best action has been from 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. Nymphs are hard to work around the weed beds, but have been productive. I’m using size 20 bead head flash back pheasant tail nymphs and size 20 gray caddis emergers like the gray La Fontaine emerging caddis. Once the trout are actively feeding on the hatching mayflies and caddis I switch over to dry flies. A size 20 blue wing olive parachute and a size 20 gray spent partridge caddis are fooling the rising browns. I’m fishing the smaller fly three feet behind a size 16 Adams parachute. This allows me to see where the little fly is on the water. When I can’t see the caddis or mayfly on the water, I set the hook on any rise close to the Adams.

Upper Owens River:
Above Benton Crossing Bridge:
Flows in the upper Owens River will be at 120 CFS for the winter. This amount of water makes for good resting areas in the deep pools and runs for the migrating trout heading up the river from Crowley to spawn. Nymphs and streamers are producing a few trophy trout for fly fishers willing to cover lots of water in search of the trophy trout that are in the system. Bouncing these flies on the bottom of the deep pools and runs is offering the flies to the fish where they are resting on their migration up the river. There have been mid-day hatches of caddis that the resident trout have been feeding on. I expect to see a significant increase in the migrants in the river every time I’m on the water. They just have not shown up yet.

Upper Owens River:
Below Benton Crossing Bridge:
Trophy trout are spread out throughout this section of the river. There are lots of weeds in the shallow riffle sections. I’ve been fishing Euro nymphs in the deep holes and runs allowing the flies to bounce along the substrate. I’ve been concentrating my effort in the area of the monument. A few trophy trout have been hooked from the lake to the monument. Stoner nymphs, green/gold Prince nymphs, black slumpbusters, and black wooly buggers are fooling the few trophy trout in the area.

Bishop Creek Canal Behind the Ford Dealer:
Fishing here has become a mid-morning affair with a dry and dropper. I’ve been successful with size 16 Adams parachutes, and size 16 elk hair caddis for the dry flies. I’ve been using size 16 bead head flash back gold ribbed hare’s ears and size 18 bead head flash back pheasant tail. Right around noon there has been a good blue wing olive hatch on the water. I’m using a size 20 blue wing olive parachute.

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