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.

Cold temperatures have prevailed here this last week. Daytime temps are reaching milder levels as of late. Slight chance of snow into the weekend will drop temps back to 20-30 degree highs into next week. A sprinkling of larger fish have migrated up river on the Upper Owens, with some pools holding multiple big fish which is standard for this time of year. Hot Creek has fish in the open water pockets and lanes between the weeds. Middle Owens is starting to pick up. Some larger fish are making a showing with a mix of mediums and smalls. The Wild Trout section still has some decent action after the cold morning air warms. Pleasant Valley Res is fishing very similarly as well. East Walker still at winter flows and it has been cold here, and flows have dropped slightly since our last report.

***New for 2017! I have limited quantities of some new patterns that will guarantee advantage in your quest for trophy trout. 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. Some sizes are not available due to back orders on jig hooks, & are only available online at this time. I will add more sizes on some patterns as we get shipments in. Click on “fly sales” on the nav bar above, hit “menu” first from a mobile device to access the nav bar.



Careful driving in here, and especially going out after the snow has melted in the ruts. Morning temps have been below zero earlier in the week, and are just starting to come up to single digits. Ice in the rod guides is the norm here until the air temps warm up enough. Check your reels for freeze-lock after a few casts. You don’t want that trophy rainbow to break off your fly after putting in all the effort to get him/her to bite. Submerging your rod and reel in the river for a good 15-20 seconds should do the trick. Flows are holding at 57 cfs. Egg patterns are our go-to rigs in the cold mornings. Combine these with leeches, assassins, SJ worms, and PT’s. Switch to midges, emergers, and small “strymph” (streamer/nymph) patterns as the daytime temps warm. The fish will move every few days or so at this low flow rate, so covering water is still the way to go. Locating fish now means covering water.

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 searching for your name.



Flows holding steady at 75 cfs above Bishop Creek. We are starting to see a few more fish down here. Some bigger models have moved into the deep pools. Look for some school sized rainbows podded up in the depressions around the transition zones. Keeping your distance is important as the water is very clear. BWO hatches have been coming off daily, and #18 Mayfly patterns will get the job done presently. Streamers like Loebergs and Punk Perch have been the hot flies. We have seen some bigger fish chasing these down all the way back to the boat, so being ready for a last minute take may tie you into something special.







Significant snow, and ice in the canyon. Look for some bigger fish in the riffles moving in to spawn here. There are not many of them here, but the few that you locate are nice grade. For the school size fish, smaller bugs like midges #16-18, PT’s #18-20, Copper John’s #18-20 are all working well. They are not selective and size matters more here than pattern. The canyon section is heavily weeded, so locate some slots or openings to get your bugs into. Try mixing it up with some scuds and other small patterns. 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. Here I am taking a moment to watch these young fish adapt to their new home.



Careful on the banks by the river. Freezing mud can be very slippery and cause a cold water dip. Water is clear as gin here. Fish are starting to transition more to winter feeding mode and holding areas. Dry/droppers in the slower sections still accounting for decent numbers. Now is the time to start focusing on the slower deeper water as the temperatures settle in. Copper Tiger, Zebra, Gillies, and Broken-back pattern midges are a solid dropper choice this time of year. Keep them in sizes #16-22. As an upper/dry #18-20 Parachute Adams, BWO’s, and #16-22 Elk Hair Caddis are great choices.





If you’re willing to make the trek into the canyon here the action is good. No need to get out early as the mid-day hatches provide plenty of action. Cast 10-15′ above your targeted fish to get your presentation on the water well upstream of them. I like 10-12′ leaders here to avoid spooking the surface feeders with your fly line splashdown. Elk Caddis, Parachute Adams, and midge patterns in #18-22 are best. You can attach a short dropper nymph about 2′ or so to your dry when the fish aren’t feeding on top. Good patterns are #18-20 copper tiger and zebra midges and #20 PT’s with or without flashbacks.





It has been Alaska like winter temps in this region. Flows here are reading 26 cfs as of today. This is a small drop in water level and combined with the cold air temps the fish can be sluggish. Get those flies right in front of their noses to get bit. Nymph rigs with enough weight to bounce the bottom are also getting some of the bottom grubbers to bite. Eggs, SJ worms, Assassins, Serendipities, Copper John’s, and Midges are good searching patterns this time of year. Go with larger sized flies on top and smaller ones on the bottom if you choose to fish a two nymph rig. For example: #14-16 as your top bug and #18-20 as your lower.