Howdy friends and Sierra Drifters

We are just a couple weeks away from the general trout opener in the Eastern High Sierra but it seems like we are still smack dab in the middle of winter. A string of late spring storms continue to dash through the region bringing significant snow to the upper elevations and strong gusty winds with cooler air temps. The extended forecast is calling for a major warming trend currently. Great news for spring skiing, however quite the party poop-er for some otherwise fine water conditions in most of the year around waters. Release rates on the tail waters of the East Walker and Lower Owens continue to be below historical averages despite the recent storms. As of this report the LO real time gages continue to be inaccurate with the flows holding at 275cfs immediately below the dam at Pleasant Valley Reservoir. The EW has been staying around 100cfs and the flow gage is also inaccurate currently.

Crowley Lake and Bridgeport Reservoirs are full and have been ice free since January. This equates to a shot gun start for the fly fishing seasons on both of these great still waters. During the warmer days I have seen significant hatches of chironomids in both locations. You will see a very early "turn over" in both lakes this season with water levels decreasing in both locations as the summer unfolds. This is in contrast to last year where we observed the lakes starting low, then filling and remaining high throughout the entire summer. This is a good scenario for both fisheries and we will have a fine season with more consistent fishing throughout the summer.

The Alpine Lakes will be ice free and accessible much earlier this year. It is too early to predict which locations will be in full operation as the late storms may hamper conditions for each resort. Convict, Lundy, Twin Lakes Bridgeport will all be open and ice free. The Convict Lake campground is closed for maintenance this opener but you should find other lower elevation spots that will be open and snow free unless we continue to get hammered by late storms. We may have some issues on the San Joaquin this summer as well. A hurricane force wind downed thousands of old growth trees here that destroyed campgrounds and closed roads. The NFS is working to clean up these areas and campgrounds. Despite the light winter, we may see a late opening of the road into this area due to the tree falls.

The San Joaquin and West Walker are freestone rivers that are not dammed or flow regulated. The run-off will be moderate this season and you will see some fine conditions early on, with very good flows by July. The fall will have lower than normal levels- but not poor in my opinion, there is enough snow left from the previous winter to keep things flowing.

Photos

Photo # 1: Best selling author Jefferson Parker and his bride Rita drifted with Sierra Drifters and Rita caught this nice rainbow on the fly her frist time out.

Photo # 2: We can teach you how to cast a fly and how to land a fish, but a smile like this comes natural with a fish hanging!