Fishing Report
Eastern Sierra Fishing photos compiled by our local guide staff and the rest of the information sourced from their crew and our wonderful guests. Thank You!!!
Photo @CarterMurphyPhoto
Invasive Golden Mussel !
The discovery of these new golden mussels present threats to more local waters than the Quaggas and Zebras because they need less calcium in the water and can survive higher and lower temps. Bottom line, we need your help to spread the word to keep the invasive species from spreading into our lakes and streams. Best practice for boats, trailers and gear is Drain, Clean & Dry.
www.wildlife.ca.gov/mussels
866-440-9530
Lower Owens River
Flows on the lower Owens River are up to 400 CFS and are expected to continue to go up. This is too high to safely wade. This will be the last lower Owens River report until the flows drop back under 300 CFS which is the start of safe wading levels for the lower Owens River. I expect the flows to lower starting in October or November.
Owens River Gorge Update
Flushing flows mimic spring runoff conditions. Now that flows are back to normal levels the wild brown trout of the Owens River Gorge are feeding on dries and nymphs. A dry and dropper rig is the perfect way to fish the river. For the dry fly fish with size 16 stimulators, size 16 Adams parachutes and size 16 elk hair caddis. For the nymphs use a size 18 olive quilldigon, size 18 bead head flash back pheasant tail nymph and size 16 bead head flash back gold ribbed hare’s ear nymph. It’s hot in the gorge and fly fishers need to carry lots of water so they can stay hydrated while fly fishing in the Owens River Gorge. Watch out for the stinging nettles which are prevalent all along the banks of the river.
To stay up with the changing flows check out Eastern Sierra water flows.
>> Complete Lower Owens Fishing Report by Sierra Trout Fly Shop
Upper Owens River
Above Benton Crossing Bridge
Indicator and Euro nymphing in the mornings is producing rainbows and brown trout to 18 inches. These fish are feeding on size 18 olive quilldigons, size 18 bead head flash back pheasant tail nymphs, size 16 bead head flash back gold ribbed hare’s ears and size 12 stoner nymphs. Mayfly hatches are coming off late morning. The trout are feeding on the hatching mayflies if the wind is not sailing the insects off the surface of the river. For the mayfly hatch fish with size 16 pale morning duns, size 16 pale morning dun sparkle duns and size 18 blue wing olive parachutes. On the windy afternoons a size 16 elk hair caddis is fooling a few wild rainbows and browns to 12 inches.
>> Complete Fishing Report by Sierra Bright Dot
Hot Creek
Interpretive Area: With spring runoff subsiding and the clear water in the creek the fish are coming to the surface to feed on hatching trico mayflies, blue wing olive mayflies, pale morning dun mayflies and gray caddis. The morning hatches start off with the female trico hatch and the caddis migration. Mid-morning look for the trico spinner fall. The blue wing olive hatch and pale morning dun hatch follows the trico spinner fall. The pale morning dun hatch is just starting. Look for the caddis hatch late afternoon or early evening. Use size 22 female trico parachutes, size 22 trico spinners, size 20 blue wing olive parachutes, size 20 gray elk hair caddis and size 20 gray parachute caddis.
The Canyon: Weed beds are at full growth making it tough to fish with nymphs, particularly with the decrease in water flows as spring runoff is decreasing. If you can get your nymph to drift in the lanes between the weed beds without hanging up you can catch fish. Nymph with size 18 olive quilldigons, size 18 bead head flash back pheasant tail nymphs, size 16 bead head flash back gold ribbed hare’s ears, size 12 stoner nymphs and size 20 gray La Fontaine’s caddis emerger. Floating a dry fly over the weed beds does not create as many hookups on the weeds. Use nine to 12 foot 5X or 6X leaders and at least three feet of tippet to fool the wild brown and rainbow trout feeding on the surface. For dry flies fish with size 22 female trico parachutes, size 22 trico spinners, size 20 blue wing olive parachutes, size 20 gray elk hair caddis and size 20 gray parachute caddis. Key to success is fishing with the pattern that coincides with the hatching insect. If the trout are not taking your fly figure out which insect is hatching and use the corresponding dry fly.
Bishop Creek Canal
If you can put up with the mosquitoes there is a good evening ovipositing caddis event. Show up on the creek when the sun goes behind the Sierra Range. Dead drifting a size 16 elk hair caddis and allowing it to drag across the stream and then strip it upstream, fluttering a caddis, produces lots of wild brown trout. Middle of the day nymphing under an indicator or with a Euro rig is producing trout and the rare bass. Using size 16 bead head flash back gold ribbed hare’s ears, size 18 Frenchie’s, size 16 SOS nymphs, size 16 hot spot pheasant tail nymphs, size 18 olive quilldigons and size 12 stoner nymphs is producing trout to 12 inches. For the dry fly fisher try fishing with size 18 Adams parachutes, size 18 blue wing olive parachutes and size 16 elk hair caddis to fool a few surface feeding trout.
>> Complete Bishop Creek Canal Fishing Report by Sierra Bright Dot
Crowley Lake -FANTASTIC!
All boats entering Crowley Lake will need to be inspected.
Fishing on Crowley Lake continues to be excellent some days, and a little slow on others. The mornings have been perfect with no wind, and a lot of midge hatches going on. The bite really seems to turn on after 8:00 a.m.
The fish are spread out all over the lake, there is not one area that has more concentration than others of fish. They have moved deep, because the surface water temperature is about 65° now. Finding fish in 20-30′. Because of fishing so deep, try albinos, and if you don’t get bit then start trying other things. I have had luck using emergers, streamers and a few other patterns while experimenting. So try some different things and see what might work for you on a particular day and time of day. They seem to not be real picky right now.
Please keep the fish in the net and let them have a chance to revive before releasing them. These warmer water temperatures can really put a lot of stress on the fish.
https://www.crowleylakefishcamp.com/fishing-reports
Fishing Reports by top ranked Fishing Guides – Owens River, Hot Creek, Bishop Creek and Eastern Sierra Lakes
- Local Fishing Report by Sierra Trout Magnet
- Weekly Fly Fishing Report by Sierra Bright Dot
- Bishop Creek Fishing Report by Parchers Resort
Fishing Maps
Bishop Creek – It’s ON!!!!
Courtesy of Parchers Resort and South Lake Landing
Surprise!!! High country heaven is early…
Well, all righty then…
we’ve heard you and you’re right. No matter how busy we are, there’s really no excuse to be slacking on the Fish & Trail Report to such an extent that June 7th is Report #1. It’s an injustice of the highest degree, and veers dangerously close to an unforgivable act of deviance on par with starting a hike to summit Mt Whitney at 10am decked out with Vans and no socks, a tank top, a fanny-pack holding only a 12oz can of Red Bull and a few packets of pop rocks for energy, and a full-sized fully-charged Bluetooth speaker slung over your shoulder blasting a tragic mix of Yoko Ono’s greatest hits, Tupac’s posthumous anthology, and a live version of Bruce Springsteen’s “Pink Cadilac” playing every 3rd or 4th song. It’s awful to think about, and I apologize. Moving on….
Conditions & Trail Report
It doesn’t happen as often as we’d like, but the snow accumulated over the winter months has left us with what experts refer to as an “average winter” or “average snowpack”. What a remarkable treat and a welcome change of pace! Hahaha. This “average snowpack” coupled with a mild spring that trended a smidge on the warmer side, has resulted in favorable conditions for this early in June.
Currently the first tier of backcountry lakes, including the trails to some of the most popular day hikes near Parchers like Green Lake, Brown Lake, Long Lake and the first Tyee Lake, are clear or soon to be clear. As of yesterday the trail to Long Lake only had a few snowbanks left and best guess is they’ll be gone within a week. Bishop Pass is still pretty socked in so it’s likely off the table for the average day hiker. You ready to lace ‘em up?
Also noteworthy are the wildflowers starting to pop all along South Lake Road between 7500ft and 8500ft. Bunches of yellow or purple flowers are the most obvious but we’ll get some red Paintbrush and Colobines showing up next.
Last thing to report on the hiking side of life – there were no PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) hikers early this week…..and then boom, there they were. The first week of June is a bit early for most thru hikers, but here they come. I was able to corner a solo PCT hiker who was in the process of repacking his gear and thus helpless to flee, he had some helpful information when pressed, most notably that Mather, Glen and Bishop passes were all pretty socked in still..difficult but not impossible (obviously). His timing had him atop Mather Pass late in the day and it was really mushy and post holing was not super fun..and there was a section that was both precarious and unavoidable, so be careful out there folks. Fair warning… using our resupply storage at Parchers is appreciated, but we can make no promises that you’ll be safe from our pesky questions about trail conditions.
Fishing, Stocking & Water Levels
South Lake and Lake Sabrina were both stocked this week and both have rentals available including pontoon boats and motorboats. The grade of fish planted and the amount of fish brought by California DFW were very respectable..a very welcome sight. I don’t have any info on the bite at Intake but fishing at SLK & Sabrina is very good.
South Lake just opened yesterday so fishing for the boaters I spoke with were reporting catch & release counts that were…well… too high to even quote here because most wouldn’t believe it. Let’s just say that if catching & keeping a 5 fish limit was the goal, it would probably take as many minutes to do so.
The lake levels are rising at both reservoirs, not as fast as they could be, maybe a food a day at SLK and a few inches at Sabrina. The South Lake launch ramp has some water on it but it’s currently unusable for a trailered boat….unless you don’t need the axle on your trailer any more. Might be another week before small boats can launch, but it’s hard to say. Boaters can launch off the shore at Sabrina.
DFW lost some of their fish inventory due to a power outage at one of our local state hatcheries, what if any impacts to us is not clear at present. We have fish from Idaho and Oregon coming this month and with the fishing being exceptionally good right now, I’m confident the fish would be plentiful and on the chew for weeks even if we weren’t getting more fish – so things are looking great.
Fishing is good enough to where a lot of lure & bait recommendations are somewhat unnecessary. Check in with the guys & gals in our shops and they’ll put you on the right stuff.
Current Hours of Operation & Rental Fleets
Lake Sabrina
Boats, beer, pie & shop: 7am-6pm daily.
Breakfast bowls, burritos, burgers & more: 8am-3pm Friday – Sun.
4 Pontoons, 8 Motorboats, Paddleboard, Canoe
South Lake
Is OPEN now!
Boats, tackle, snacks etc. 7am-6pm daily
(weather & demand dependant)
1 Pontoon, six 8hp motorboats, two 15hp motorboats
Additional rental inventory is constantly being added to each landing as the water rises.
Parchers Resort Store
Snacks, gifts, cold drinks, wood, ice and so on. 8am-6pm daily
Operating hours subject to change without notice for a variety of reasons including but not limited to wind, other inclement weather, power outages, staffing, or unexpected limitations outside of our control
BOOK ONLINE
Sabrina Boats – www.VisitLakeSabrina.com
South Lake Boats & Parchers Cabins– www.ParchersResort.net
Early to mid-June 2025 is a rare opportunity for visitors to enjoy fishing & hiking conditions more akin to summer, but with the lighter crowds of fall. And don’t forget, Parchers has 25% off cabins on weekdays until June 15th.
Hope to see ya’ll soon… the mountains are calling!
Sierrally,
Jared Smith & the Lake Sabrina, Parchers Resort, & South Lake crews
PS- I had to write this report from scratch twice due to technical difficulties – so I skipped a thorough review of spelling & grammar. Figured getting the info out was more important than spelling like an imbecile.
Latest about fishing Bishop
Summer weather is here. Hot days and windy afternoons are typical for this time of the year. Get out on your favorite water in the mornings before the afternoon breezes makes it tough to present your flies. Afternoon winds are good for when the grasshoppers are flying around. Have not seen many grasshopper larvae yet. Stoneflies, mayflies and caddis flies are the insects the trout are feeding on. Nymphing before the hatches is very productive. Now is prime time to be fly fishing the creeks that drain the Eastern side of the Sierra. This is the perfect water to fish a dry and dropper rig. The San Joaquin River is open as of July 2nd. Mosquito season is underway particularly if you’re on the water late in the evening.
Year-Round Fishing
