August-September Monsoon was finally over and we had wonderful weather until the snow arrived and it lasted 2 days (snowed all day both days) and was gone the next. Cold mornings with beautiful afternoons, plenty of bugs were here to keep the fly fishers in trout heaven but snow confused them. Regardless since trout couldn't tell the difference a snow flake hitting the surface or a "real" bug. NO problem if they pay attention to the rises. The aspen leaves have turned over early September, meaning they are showing their lighter shade of green and the next process will go to light yellow and a few of very small patches are peeking out of the most protected areas. Aspens are starting to go yellow in small patches, and will probably go earlier than normal to full yellow, but of course that's "Mother's" job to predict and I'm just going by what I see daily. Wednesday produced even more yellow, so if you're looking for some great color give it about 5 more days. Conway Summit is showing light lime and a bit of color which is visible as you drive south. Yep, aspens are in full gold and some rust, but with the wind 2 days ago, they may not last. Mono County keeps pumping tourism with the color and they are behind schedule. The colors were magnificent and peaked around the 10th of October and lasted about 7 days. The event was later than normal probably due to the amount of water that hit the Eastern Sierra last winter. Flowers were also magnificent and for a longer than normal time stayed around. It's the 27th and it's much colder since we've been getting wind about every other day which continually drops the temperature a few degrees daily. I'm still waiting for my indicators to show up so I can see what this winter may have in store for us but it's too early to predict. Wind is still plaguing the mountains either with light breeze or heavy gusting. I'm hoping to hit a nice day and flail the water with a few bugs. DFW did an exemplary job at stocking and it kept the anglers happy and coming back for more. Little Virginia might be frozen as of now, but it will thaw and freeze up again a couple times before it shuts off all fishing for the winter.

BAIT: Worms were number one with some power worms, garlic powerbait and micetails and pinched crawlers also doing the job. Haven't been stocked since the 11th, but everyone tells me there are hundreds of fish swimming around the lake, and I believe it.

LURES: 1/6 oz Red/gold Buoyant, silver/blue Kastmaster, Rooster tails, Silver Super Duper 501, "O" gold Mepps, bleeding frog Buoyant and Taz Devil and any small gold spoons will do the job if you know the secret to each and how they work and how you need to retrieve them.

FLY AND BUBBLE: Para Adams, Olive elk hair caddis, X-Caddis, tentwing caddis, Adams parachute, grey hackle yellow and Griffith's Gnat and any small dark flies.

FLY RODS: Early in the week streamers, some hoppers are getting hits so pick your favorite and tie it on, prince nymph, and emergers. Great hatches early this week as the temp is perfect, and dark mayflies (duns). Matuka's, black crystal buggers produced well after the rain and no one tried midges. Midges, midges, midges are working great but put on your specs as they are size 20 and 22's. Lots of different flies have been working and getting the info out of the "fly" guys is tough.

BACKCOUNTRY: Still not much news from the back country all summer, it's rather odd that no one is fishing back there or they just don't want to share any information. Lots of people on the trail mostly hiking or packing in.

NOTE: If the trout bleeds don’t throw it back into the lake, it will die. If you care about the resource please be careful when releasing fish back into the water and IT ATTRACKS BEARS. More bears are NOT what we need.

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