BY ERNIE COWAN
MAMMOTH LAKES—The quickest way to start an argument among Eastern Sierra trout hunters is simply to ask, “where’s your favorite spot?”
Some won’t even give you a hint, but as soon as someone tosses out a location, it’s on, because everyone else has another opinion.
None of them are wrong. Different anglers have different approaches and some work better than others, but the bottom line is to find what works for you.
There are several kinds of Sierra trout anglers.
There’s the one who goes to the same place, year after year. It’s more about tradition than catching fish, although many of the repeat offenders have a pretty good idea of when and where to catch trout at their perennial spot. Keep an eye on them. You might learn a thing or two.
Then there’s the anglers who check all the WON fishing reports and dash about from Twin Lakes, Bridgeport, to Virginia Lakes, maybe down to Lake Mary, in Mammoth, Silver Lake in June Loop, or South Lake in Bishop, with a quick side trip to the Lower Owens or the Sand Trap in Lone Pine.
They could care less about tradition. It’s all about the trophy, social media posts and personal best fishing.
They might travel hundreds of miles but not catch as many or as big a fish as the anglers who fish the same place all the time.
The ones who just love to fish but don’t take much time to learn are probably the most common.
They follow their heart, show up with a tacklebox that looks the bottom self of the bait section at Cabela’s and go at it. Filling their stringer might involve PowerBait, nightcrawlers, loosing several expensive lures and bobbers, but damn, they will have fun, and isn’t that the reason for it all?
Maybe one of the rarer breeds of fishing folks are those who don’t really come to fish. A rod, reel and maybe a few flies or lures is all they carry to dip wild creek pools or cast into gin-clear wilderness lakes as they wander trackless Sierra wilderness. You see, they are there for the overpowering beauty of the High Country and fishing is the excuse they needed to come.
The rarest Sierra angler is the professor. They study trout, know the perfect water temperature for an aggressive bite. They know what bugs are hatching, creek flows, lake surface temperatures, and where the underwater springs are in just about every lake.
They shape and paint their own lures, sight fish, or have special deep trolling techniques. They don’t catch many fish, but you can bet the ones they do catch are whoppers.
The good news is none of these anglers are wrong.
With the drive-to lakes filled with stocked rainbows, wild lakes holding aggressive brookies, ‘bows and brown, and higher elevation lakes home to prized golden trout, there is something for everyone in the High Country.
California’s Eastern Sierra is a world class trout fishery right here in our own backyard.
Let’s take a tour along the Eastern Sierra from Bishop to Bridgeport and see what it has to offer as we slip into summer.
Bishop area waters and Lower Owens River—David Smith at Mac’s Sporting Goods in Bishop said there have been few reports from the Lower Owens because of higher daytime temperatures, “but it is fishable now and always good for a couple of fish.”
Anglers at Pleasant Valley Reservoir have been doing pretty well, connecting with trout to 2 pounds using small Tube Jigs near the boat ramp. There have also been a few reports of some larger trout on the chew for anglers tossing lures towards the dam.
Waters in Bishop Creek Canyon were stocked last week by DFW, and Ramona Sever at Parchers Resort and South Lake Landing said anglers are doing well.
“We’ve had a lot of boats coming in early because they had limits,” Sever said.
The best spots continue to be at the inlets at the back end of South Lake. Water levels are still slowly rising and have reached the boat ramp, allowing for private boat launch.
It’s a similar story at Lake Sabrina where Fern Bishop said the water there has reached the launch pad, allowing private boats to launch.
“The best action has been at the back of the lake, at the honey hole on the left near the waterfall,” Bishop said.
Nothing big reported from Bishop Canyon last week, but anglers are also reporting steady action at North Lake.
Rock Creek, Convict, Crowley and Mammoth Lakes area—Anglers fishing Rock Creek Canyon have lots of options for catching plenty of fish. Seth Hoover at Rock Creek Lake Resort said the lake has been kicking out lots of limits with 1- to 3-pound rainbow, along with the occasional 4-pound fish. Larger olive Woolly Buggers have been working very well near the outlet, along with black ants, Blue Duns and Adams flies. Bait anglers are doing well from shore with Mice Tails and salmon eggs and Rooster Tails and Mini Jigs are good lure choices. Water temperatures are still cool at 54 degrees.
Rock Creek below the lake was stocked late last week with DFW rainbows and is also producing plenty of limits.
Hoover said wilderness anglers have also been reporting an active bite with flies the most effective choice.
It’s easy to see why Convict Lake is fishing so well. Brian Dunham at Rick’s Sport Center said the lake received another load of Desert Springs trophy trout last Friday.
“Right now, we consider Convict Lake to be the best lake in the area,” Dunham said. Fish are spread out, with the inlet still a good place, but often crowded.
Water temperatures in Mammoth Basin lakes are still around 54 degrees, and that means trout are still active and cruising the shallows.
Dunham said Lake Mary has been the most active this past week, but Mamie is also holding lots of fish with Lake George holding bigger rainbows.
Water levels are high at Twin Lakes, but Dunham said there has been a good bite for brook trout with Mayfly patterns.
Crowley Lake continues to see a strong bite in the North Arm in areas like Layton Spring, Alligator and Christmas points with water temperatures at an ideal 57 degrees.
Dunham said fish have moved into the North Arm where incoming water is a bit cooler and to avoid an algae bloom that has begun in other areas.
June Lake Loop, Lee Vining, Lundy Lake—June Loop has a lot fishing variety that include four major lakes with easy access; Rush Creek, a trophy brown trout water flowing between Siver and Grant Lakes, and nearby, hike-in waters that are now in prime condition as early season water temperatures reach just the right level to energize feeding trout.
Loop waters are well stocked, thanks to both the California Department of Fish and Wildlife for quantity, and the June Lake Trout Stocking program for quality, trophy rainbows. June Lake is also stocking brown trout.
Shore fishing continues to be strong at June Lake, but the wise angler locates the deep trough in the middle of the lake where larger fish will start to hang out when summer water temperatures begin to climb.
Anglers are reporting a good bite for 2- to 4-pound rainbows at Gull Lake, with boats, kayaks and float tubes best to get into deeper water.
Silver Lake is the winner this week, producing loads of 3- to 5-pound fish and an 8-pound hawg reeled in by Mike Schott from Cyprus who was dunking salmon/peach PowerBait from a boat.
Grant Lake is the largest in the loop, offering some great brown trout hunting at the Rush Creek inlet and is also knows as a prime brown trout water, especially in the evenings for anglers trolling Rapalas.
Virginia Lakes, Bridgeport area—Virginia Lakes are the highest elevation waters in the Bridgeport area, and the reports coming from there are good from Big, Little and Trumbull lakes. Shore fishing has been a bit challenging with angler fishing from float tubes doing the best with PowerBait, Mice Tails, inflated nightcrawlers and pinched crawlers. Best lure choices are Thomas Buoyants, Panther Martins and Mini Jigs.
Quality vs. quantity has been the rule at Bridgeport Reservoir, according to Jim Reid at Ken’s Sporting Goods, with several 4- to 7-pound rainbows came in. Trolling has been most effective with the usual lures with most boats reporting five to 15 fish days.
“It’s not crazy, but most of the fish are over 3- to 4-pounds,” Reid said.
The Twin Lake continue to yield some larger fish, including a 9.3 brown caught by Michael Breeher who was trolling a TK Tackle lure at Lower Twin Lake.
Upper Twin Lake produced some solid fish last week, including a 5.8-pound rainbow.
Reid, at Ken’s Sporting Goods said the anglers he talked with report thing began slowly but picked up once they began moving around.
Early and late with Thomas Buoyants and small Rapalas has been a good tactic at the Twins.
