Day Off On The Owens River

I haven't had a day off in several weeks and needed to get out of town to do some fishing and the only place this late in the summer that is productive is the Owens River which is just four hours away.  It is around 100 degrees right now which is crazy weather for late September.  So it is best that you get out early in the morning.  The problem is that it is still very cold in the mornings (20 degrees) and the fish are not very active.  So you have to wait until around 8-9 am before you will see much action.  Just don't stay until noon or you will fry your brain!

The fishing was good on the Owens River this week.  Trout rising for dry flies and they were also hitting my Copper John.  Nothing big, which is unusual.  In fact, I was a bit surprised that I was able to catch as many as I did.

As I walked the river around 11 am I noticed that there was an entire school of fish in a deep pool trying to stay cool.  They weren't going to rise for a dry fly so I put on artificial salmon egg and attached a small piece of non-toxic lead to my line and let the egg sink to the bottom and wallah; fish on!!!

As I said, don't stay too late on the river in the early afternoon or else you will get sun stroke.  You can always come back in the early evening and try again.

Heading back home after a nice day off on the river.

To view other Fish West photos click here.

Day 2 On The East Walker River

Spent Day 2 on the East Walker River.  We spent several hours in the morning and early evening on the river.  The weather was beautiful and the fish were biting.

I didn't catch all of the ones that rose to take a look at my fly.  These Browns are just too smart for that.  You have to be very attentive and also quick.  When the fish comes up to take a look at the fly it will sometimes just look but at other times it has it's mouth open and is ready to eat.  That's when you have to be ready to set the hook.  That's easier said than done.  Especially since you have to use barbless hooks.

But once the fish is on then fun begins.  These Browns know how to fight.  They will do almost everything from wagging it's head to jumping out of the water and spinning in the air to get the hook out of it's mouth.  Sometimes you can get them in close as my wife Debra did this morning and then lose it.  She said it was at least 20 inches long.  And there are times when they are so big that they will even snap your tippet, as one did for me this morning.  But then there are times when you can land them as I did today.

And that friends, is what it's like fly fishing on the East Walker River. Stay tuned for Day 3 tomorrow.

Fishing in Bridgeport

We arrived in Bridgeport yesterday at about 3:30 pm for a few days of fishing on the East Walker River.  This is a beautiful area for sightseeing as well as fishing.

After we got unpacked, Debra wanted to rest from our long drive.  So, while she was napping, I took off to check out the river..  It was a little windy, which is always a challenge for fly fishing.  But I was up to the challenge and decided to brave the elements.  I wasn't left unrewarded.  After just a few casts a nice brown trout was on the rise.  It was a picture perfect presentation and the timing on setting the hook couldn't have been better.  As a result I caught my first brown trout of the day.

Gotta go for now.  I'll have more later on today.

Fishing At Jenks Lake

The Fam went fishing yesterday in a local Southern California fav.  It's called Jenks Lake which is located in the San Bernadino mountains, near the city of Redlands.

 

Our day started off at about 9am by first checking out the Santa Ana River.  For many years I used to take church kids to to summer camp at Camp Metoche which is located along the river.  We threw in our line but it didn't look like it had been stocked for some time so we didn't have any success there.  So we decided to drive up to Jenks Lake.

It was a beautiful day and the sweet broom along HWY 38 was in full bloom and absolutely gorgeous!  I saw some plants that were ten feet tall!  There was even a little snow still left at the very top of the mountain range.

To get to Jenks Lake you exit off of HWY 38 onto Jenks Road and just follow it to the lake. Jenks Lake is a small mountain lake of 10 surface acres. It is open mid March through mid October from sunrise to sunset. There are picnic tables and hiking trails. Parking is $5 per vehicle. (Forest Permit not valid here) There are restrooms but no consessions. Nearest supplies are in Angelus Oaks.

There and numerous campgrounds located along Jenks Lake Rd.  There is a swimming area located along the south eastern edge of the lake.  And this is also black bear country.  No motor boats are allowed. Rowboats, canoes, kayaks and float-tubes are permitted. There is no launch ramp and you must carry your vessel down a flight of steps.

I was told that Jenks Lake was recently stocked with rainbow trout.  Jenks is stocked with rainbow trout during the Spring and Summer by the DFG. There are also some largemouth bass, bluegill, redear sunfish and catfish here.  Last year (2009) Jenks Lake was drained, cleaned and refilled and restocked.

I have fished this lake many times and it can be difficult if you don't know what you're doing.  The Lake is lined with trees that can aggravate any casting angeler.

 

The lake was in decent shape but there was some weed growth extending into the lake about 20 feet along the shoreline.  This required a considerable cast and some accuracy.  Children would not be able to fish the South bank because it is too steep.  However, there is a nice peer that extends out into the lake where children would be able to fish successfully.

I used my Diawa light-weight backpacker rod and reel.  I first set it up with a 1/4 ounce silver Cast Master lure.  This is a killer lure that catches fish anywhere.  I've even caught fish with it in the mouth of a volcano in the Andes Mountains in Colombia.

It took a few casts but I had a fish on within minutes.  It hit at least 30 feet out and even did a tail dance!  Most of the fish in Jenks Lake are catchable 12-14 inch fish.

However, sometimes you might also catch some really small ones!

Kimberly had some success but as you can see these were pretty small bass.  She caught her fish with a Cocktail Spinner.

So, we had a great day together as a family, caught some fish, got outdoors and then to top it off we stopped at A&W on the way home and had a rootbeer float!

Fishing in the Cold and Snow

Sorry I have been a lazy bum and didn't get this story and pictures out right after our fishing trip to the Owens Valley.

Debra and I took our daughter Kimberly to the Owens Valley for her first fly fishing trip. I have taught my entire family how to fly fish; including my mom so I was excited to pass this on to my daughter.

We arrived in Bishop and there was a terrible storm brewing.  I checked the weather reports before we left and it looked like we were going to avoid the storm but it didn't work out that way.  While we were fine in Bishop, the higher elevations were getting a pounding.

As we climbed in elevation on our way to the Owens Valley the snow got deeper and deeper.  The roads had been cleared but when we arrived on the upper portion of the river there was snow everywhere.

The temperature got down to about 20 degrees.  The wind wasn't bad, but there was a wind chill factor and it was probably more like 15 degrees.


You can see by this next picture how much Kimberly and Debra were bundled up.  It was very cold!

We fished as best as we could.  Kimberly had an opportunity to learn how to fly fish and Debra enjoyed the outdoors and the beautiful scenery.  I walked down river a ways to the bridge and was able to catch a small trout only about 6 inches long.

While the fishing experience was not very good, the time together was great!

So we decided to go to Mammoth.  Kimberly had spent six months there working at the main lodge at the top of the mountain.  We got into Mammoth and the snow was coming down but the roads were clear.  We decided to drive to the top of the mountain so Kimberly could see the resort where she worked.  As we got closer to the top there was more and more snow on the road and the wind was blowing pretty hard so it was a snow flurry.  We found a parking spot and stepped out of the car into snow up to our shins.  We started to walk across the lot to the cafeteria and about three-quarters of the way there Kimberly started to get lite headed and was having problems with altitude sickness.  So we decided to go back down into Mammoth and get something to eat. After getting something to eat we drove back to Bishop.

We also fished the lower portion of the Owens River.  The weather was much better at the lower elevation.

They had released a lot of water from up-river so the fishing was not any better in the lower section.  You couldn't wade because of the shear volume of water.  But Kimberly had an opportunity to practice her casting and at least we were warmer!

We had a very enjoyable trip together even though the fishing was terrible.  I'm looking forward to going back to the Owens River when the weather, water and fish cooperate a little better!

Getting ready to go Fishing

Planning a trip to the Owens Valley in the next week to fish the Owens River.

Stay tuned for pictures and reports.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Visiting Fossil Falls

Well our vacation time has come to an end and we are back home and back to work. On our last day we were going to flyfish in the Bishop Creek just below Lake Sabrina. I have been there before and it is a kick to catch the planted rainbow trout that are sitting in the stream waiting for a tasty fly to come their way. But because of a previously scheduled appointment, we decided to cut our trip short, so we weren't able to fish on our last day.

However, the day was not a loss. Even though it was a 5 1/2 hour drive back home, we made time to stop along the road to do some site seeing at Fossil Falls which is located on HWY 395 on Cinder Rd. Once you exit the highway you will follow the signs down a dirt road for about one mile until you reach the parking area. From the parking area you will travel down an easy pathway about .21 miles through an ancient lava flow to the edge of the primitive rock formation overlooking the gorge below.

While you won't find any fossils or water falls at Fossil Falls you will find a very cool looking lava flow that was formed from a prominent cinder cone volcano located to the north known as Red Cinder Mountain, or Red Hill.

The black shiny lava was worn smooth from the Owens River which once flowed from an ancient lake. The water cascaded down the flow and created a water fall that dropped about 40 feet into a gorge below. The rock formations are astounding and literally were literally sculpted by the rushing water and wind. The 360 degree panoramic view is also spectacular and your eyes can hardly take it all in.

This is a fascinating area and well worth your time to stop and see. There is also a small campground nearby for an overnight stay and I'm sure you would get a beautiful view of the stars at night.

If you would like to see some of the photos I took of Fossil Falls click here.