Crowley sucked early on for fly fishers. ??Even those anglers who choose to fish by means of "the dark side" struggled most days early on.?? Numbers of fish were well below average considering the excellent conditions and mild winter. ??Catching was very slow in the initial stages of the season but has come on strong recently.?? Go figure; I was totally wrong on the pre-season forecast here.?? The more I experience, the more I don't know.?? The Mamma's Day hatch of chironomids has proved to be excellent once again.?? We are going to see some sore arms in the near future if you are planning a trip to Crowley soon.?? The fish are in deeper water this week.?? Look on the flats and drop-offs in 11-14 feet.?? Throat pumps are indicating fish plugged with chironomid larva and daphnia specimens.?? Copper and dark headed tigers in the #16-18 range fished as close to the bottom as you can set on will do a number in the Sandy Pt., Leighton Springs and Hilton Bays areas.?? Local high liner Don McPherson of Mammoth Lakes has had good results stripping a Punk Perch pattern in Big Hilton before the hatch this week.?? Don got into some noteworthy browns and cutts.?? Fish this area in a southerly or westerly wind condition.??

The bite starts slowly around nine am and peaks just as the wretched east wind begins just before noon.?? Gillies and crystal emerger's #18-20 rule during the emergence.?? 5X tippet will get you more takedowns while stillwater nymphing.??

Mr. Mike Casey from Lakewood, CA and Mr. Craig Holmes from Hawthorne, CA went rod to rod for the Super Bowl of stillwater nymphing.?? "Case" had the points and pretty much spanked "Homey" in the "more" column, but we all know?Ķsize matters.?? Homey got the cutt that gave him MVP for the series.?? HOMEY!!!