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.

General trout season closing this week. Upper Owens now kicking out some bigs. Migratory browns and rainbows have moved up from Crowley Lake. Aquatic weeds an issue in lower sections. Monument to lake will close on 11/15, open above the Benton Bridge year around. Middle Owens bite has been slow; still producing some quality rainbows on drift trips. Flows are low, 75cfs. in the wild trout section. Crowley will close to all angling on 11/15. Fishing has been slow recently. East Walker flows down to winter releases at 28cfs. The catching has been slow. Pleasant Valley Reservoir has good conditions. Inlet, and river section fair. Tubing best around launch ramp towards inlet. Hot Creek has been planted with small rainbows, & browns. Water conditions fair. Alpine Lakes close on 11/15 with general trout season. Some nice browns being caught on Grant Lake, get those larger streamers out. The Gorge is open year around, and is fishing fair/good during warmer periods. Dry/dropper rigs work well here. A significant cooling trend is forecast to begin on 11/16 with a chance of snow above 5000′. Cooler/drier weather will settle in for an extended period.

It is not always possible to post all of our client pictures on this fish report page. I do my best to put them in our gallery. If we have previously posted your pictures on this page; or you have had a recent guide trip with us, you can always find them by going to the photo gallery and search for your name.



Small mayflies, midges, & the last generation of caddis are still emerging daily. Hi-vis para mayflies, & caddis adults used as your upper fly; with dropper bead head nymphs like Assassins, flashback PT’s, olive dubbed crystal caddis, & tiger midges can be effective in the deeper tailouts, and brush lined slots. The bulk of the fish are holding in the deeper pits during the cooler periods of the day, so add some weight, & attach an Under-Cator to your nymph rigs to get down to the trout lying in these holes. We have had a consistent run of large rainbows this fall using streamer patterns like Spruce-A-Bu’s, Loebergs, & Seal Buggers. Light sinking tip lines are adequate to get your imitations down to these rascals that are staging up in the tailouts of the larger pools. Numbers have been down on recent drift boat trips due to a lack of fish stocking. Flows have dropped to 75cfs. forcing the trout to migrate into the deeper pools.





Breaking news! There has been a solid push of fish moving up from Crowley Lake on this moon. Numbers of rainbows, & browns have increased recently. The “monument section” will close on 11/15. You can fish year around above the Benton Bridge with special angling restrictions. The sections below Hot Creeks inlets have significant aquatic weed that makes nymphing difficult. The fish are spread out, & spooky. Make your stream side approaches quietly, & on their tails. Keeping a low profile is necessary to avoid spooking them. Most of the browns are lying under the cut banks during higher sun periods. Flows have dropped considerably; with current levels being 50cfs. Attractor patterns, & streamers are good calls for migratory trout. Drifters Crawlers, crystal eggs, San Juan Worms, crystal leeches, & Assassins are my go to nymphs below an Under-Cator.





Water conditions are good, with above average flows thanks to recent run-off. Click on this link to read what the CDFW is now documenting as to how Hot Creek will be managed. HC has been recently planted with thousands of sub-catchable rainbows and browns.





Thanks to the CDFW, and passionate volunteers for their efforts to get fish planted in Hot Creek. Many 8-10 inch rainbows, & thousands of 4 inch browns have just been put into HC. If we can just get some help from mother nature on the water part…HC will comeback strong next summer. These are very small fish, and will have a long winter to face. Please take it easy on them if you choose to fish HC at all. Several public sections were planted. Drifters guide Doug Rodricks toting fish transport buckets.



Fishing has been on the slow side overall. The reservoir level has dropped recently providing more access near the inlet section. The small river section can kick out fair numbers of hold over trout using dry/dropper rigs, & streamers. Flows have dropped, & this fertile little river can be really fun if you work the harder to reach brush areas accessible when the powerhouse is not generating. I like dry/dropper combos like Stimulators, hi-vis mayfly, or caddis as the upper. Use smaller Assassins, FB PT’s, or crystal tiger midges as the nymphs. Tubers can have a blast here as well, & it is a great place to fish as a back up spot for Crowley if the weather becomes nasty up the hill. Use full sinking; or heavy sink tips to get down ten feet quickly. Loebergs, Crystal Leeches, Agent Orange, Spruce-A-Bu’s, & Punk Perch will get you grabs.





Prime time now hat it is cooling down some in the Owens Valley. Use Mayfly adults, Hi-vis caddis, or para hi-vis mayflies as your upper fly. Good dropper nymphs are # 18 Assassin nymphs, or FB PT’s. Cooler temps improving conditions. Good call during weekends, or holidays.





Fishing has been fair-slow. Flows are down and now at 28cfs.





Closed for the winter.



The bite remains slow most days. Shore fishing, & float tubing will remain open until 11/15. Alligator Pt. Hilton Bay, & Six Bays will be the best locations for the last hurrah. Whiskey Bay is also kicking out fish in the late afternoons, and mornings. Shore fishing is easy here; but you will need to walk in from the closed entry gate.



Closed to fishing after 11/15. Access remains good in most alpine locations Grant Lake has been the best for big browns this fall. Tubers trolling streamers with full sinking lines can get into some larger 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.