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.



Upper Owens has some snow, & ice on the access roads. 4 X 4 vehicles are fine. It will be near zero degrees at daybreak here this week. There are some great migratory fish holding in select pools; but overall it is very slow with a significant decline in numbers this week. Weather much nicer around Bishop. Middle Owens bite has been fair/slow; still producing some quality rainbows on drift trips. Flows are low, 75cfs. in the wild trout section. East Walker flows down to winter releases at 28cfs. The catching has been slow. Pleasant Valley Reservoir fair/poor. Inlet, and river section spotty. Tubing best around launch ramp towards inlet. Hot Creek has been planted with small rainbows, & browns. Water conditions fair, bite can be good for smalls. The Gorge is open year around, and is fishing fair/good during warmer periods. Work being done in Lower Gorge. Dry/dropper rigs work well here.

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 search for your name.



The “catching” has been on the slow side in most sections. Cooler weather to settle in this week. Small mayflies, midges, & the last generation of caddis are still emerging daily. Hi-vis para mayflies, & caddis adults used as your upper fly; with dropper bead head nymphs like Assassins, flashback PT’s, olive dubbed crystal caddis, & tiger midges can be effective in the deeper tailouts, and brush lined slots. The bulk of the fish are holding in the deeper pits during the cooler periods of the day, so add some weight, & attach an Under-Cator to your nymph rigs to get down to the trout lying in these holes. We have had a consistent run of large rainbows this fall using streamer patterns like Spruce-A-Bu’s, Loebergs, & Seal Buggers. Light sinking tip lines are adequate to get your imitations down to these rascals that are staging up in the tailouts of the larger pools. Numbers have been down on recent drift boat trips due to a lack of fish stocking. Flows have dropped to 75cfs. forcing the trout to migrate into the deeper pools.





Access is ok with all wheel drive vehicles; but there are some ruts that might get a low ground clearance car stuck. There are some big Crowley Steelhead, & some large browns present now; but you will have to cover a bunch of water to locate the rascals. Numbers have declined recently, & most of the browns are spawned out. Single digit air temps will keep ice in the rod guides until 10/11am for an extended period. You can fish year around above the Benton Bridge with special angling restrictions. The sections below Hot Creeks inlets have some aquatic weed that makes nymphing difficult. The fish are spread out, & spooky. Make your stream side approaches quietly, & on their tails. Keeping a low profile is necessary to avoid spooking them. Most of the browns are lying under the cut banks during higher sun periods. Flows have dropped considerably; with current levels being 50cfs. Attractor patterns, & streamers are good calls for migratory trout. Drifters Crawlers, crystal eggs, San Juan Worms, crystal leeches, & Assassins are my go to nymphs below an Under-Cator.





Some snow, & ice in the canyon. Very cold air temps predicted for this week. Fishing is pretty good for smaller rainbows, and dinky browns that have been recently planted. The fish have acclimated, & are eager to hit most nymphs and dries. A few holdover fish are also in the mix if you locate the deeper holes. 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. Drifters guide Doug Rodricks toting fish transport buckets.



Fishing has been slow due to lack of stocking. The reservoir level is up close to the tree line, making access difficult in the transition section. The small river section can kick out fair numbers of hold over trout using dry/dropper rigs, & streamers. Flows have dropped, & this fertile little river can be really fun if you work the harder to reach brush areas accessible when the powerhouse is not generating. I like dry/dropper combos like Stimulators, hi-vis mayfly, or caddis as the upper. Use smaller Assassins, FB PT’s, or crystal tiger midges as the nymphs. Tubers can get into some fish around the boat launch ramp towards the inlet. Use full sinking; or heavy sink tips to get down ten feet quickly. Loebergs, Crystal Leeches, Agent Orange, Spruce-A-Bu’s, & Punk Perch will get you grabs.





Work being done in the lower section near the powerhouse. Flows are low. Use Mayfly adults, Hi-vis caddis, or para hi-vis mayflies as your upper fly. Go to dropper nymphs are # 18 Assassin nymphs, or FB PT’s.





Fishing has been fair-slow. Flows are down and now at 25cfs. Wicked cold in the mornings here.