The Lower O is fishing very well for numbers and the weather has been absolutely fantastic

Owens River - CA


by Tom Loe
12-29-2011
Website

The bigs have been camera shy recently; however we are hooking a couple most drifts. Flows are excellent and have been holding at 125cfs at PV for a while. Streamers like Spruce-A-Bu's, Loebergs, Punk Perch #8-12 have been best for us with a moderate sinking tip line and the "dip and strip" method. Focus on the deeper pools, the riffle water has not been productive lately even during the hatches of midges and mayflies.

The wild trout section is also fishing well and there is some surface action around 1 pm each day. Nymphing in this section with or without an Under-Cator using FB PT's, crystal midges, crystal caddis larva, birds nest (Assassins), and broken back patterns work well. Keep them heavily weighted and near the bottom as the fish are not moving a lot out of the deeper pools.

The photo above shows Steve Robbins in full bore "bendo" while on a recent drift with Tom Loe.