JUNE LAKE LOOP/CROWLEY TROUT...
It was quite an opener for anglers plying Eastern Sierra waters on April 26 and 27. Weather conditions were wonderful and big numbers of trout were landed. Most of the trout caught were good-sized rainbows in the 1 to 3 pound range, but a handful of trout in the 5 to 9 pound range were landed by some fortunate anglers. For anglers that have the desire to bust a quick limit of trout, you can’t go wrong by paying a visit to the Eastern Sierras.
“June Lake kicked out a lot of trout on the opener and so did Gull Lake,” reported John Logue at Ernie’s Tackle. “The biggest trout we heard about on the opener was a 9.14 pound rainbow that came out of June Lake. That fish was caught by a float tuber named Troy Miller fishing with salmon eggs.”
“The second biggest trout reported came out of Gull Lake and it weighed 9.4 pounds. Scott Olefson caught that fish. He was fishing with a small rubber jig. Silver Lake produced a 5.13 pound rainbow for Mike White. He was fishing with a worm,” continued Logue.
“Stream fishing was fairly slow this week due to low flows. The runoff hasn’t really started yet. When it does we expect the stream fishing to improve. At most of our local lakes limits were the rule. If I were coming up here to fish, my first choice would be June Lake with Gull running a close second,” tipped Logue.
“I fished the East Walker on April 26 and the fishing was decent despite the low flows,” related Scott Freeman at Ken’s Sporting Goods. “Since the flow was so low I really had to be stealthy and seek out the areas that had deeper water. Both dry flies and nymphs produced fish for me, but in general flies size 16 or smaller worked the best.”
“The fishing at most of our lakes was fairly slow on the morning of the opener, but things heated up later in the day,” related Jim Reid also of Ken’s Sporting Goods. “The best fishing took place at Upper Twin Lake, but Bridgeport Reservoir was good, too. Most of the guys fishing at Upper Twin used bait while trolling was the best method at Bridgeport Reservoir. The largest fish reported was a rainbow that went 6.75 pounds. The average trout caught weighed between 1.5 and 3 pounds, with the majority of them being browns.”
“Virginia Lakes are still iced over and the fishing there was slow for ice anglers. I expect the ice on those lakes to break up within the next 10 days,” added Reid.
“The Owens is fishing pretty well for anglers working with small dry flies,” reported Dan Farris at Brock’s Sporting Goods. “Small nymphs are working too, but most angler prefer to fish with dries when they can.”
On the upper Owens River fly anglers are reporting lots of action. In the morning nymphs are the ticket, but in the afternoon dry flies are producing pretty well.
Lake Crowley produced limits and near limits of trout for both fly anglers and anglers fishing with conventional tackle. At Pleasant Valley Reservoir the story was much the same, with fly, bait and lure anglers all scoring trout.