Scenic 395 - The Official Guide 2019/2020

2019-2020 Scenic 395 55 Fishing By Jim Matthews www.OutdoorNewsService.com I t was a friendly argument around a campfire. Three fishing buddies were arguing about when the trout fishing was best in the Eastern Sierra. One was clinging to the late April trout opener, argu- ing that it was when big rainbows were spawning and no one had fished waters in the region since the previous November. The second was pointing out that the big browns spawn in the fall, that it was prettier then because of the fall colors, and the opener and summer crowds were gone. The third listened for some time without chiming into the conversation. The fire popped and a spark shot out of the coals past the quiet angler. Both the arguing an- glers watched the spark fly past their buddy, and stayed looking at him: Their looks asked the question: Well, what do you think? “Hopper season,” said the third angler. It may not be the best time to catch the most trout. It may not be the best time to catch the biggest trout. Yet, when flights of grasshoppers move across mountain mead- ows in the Eastern Sierra, a lot of the big winged insects end up crashing onto the surface of meadow streams and rivers. They land with plops, and then kick their legs trying to get back to the bank. Many don’t make it. A one- to 1 ½-inch grasshopper with a body the diameter of the pencil is a sub- stantial meal for a trout accustomed to eat- ing aquatic insects averaging about the size of a grain of rice or smaller. The distur- bance on the surface is hard to miss in the clear water. So the fish gorge themselves, eating the big insects off the surface of the water in splashy rises and continue to pick up those that drown and eventually wash under the surface. The fish get fat during hopper season. During the peak of the grasshopper flights, the trout stuff themselves so full of hoppers they look more like brightly colored sausages than the sleek fish they resemble the rest of the year. Looking into the throats of freshly-caught trout, you suddenly un- derstand where the expression, “stuffed to the gills,” came from. The binge can go on for several weeks, and the trout will eat hoppers from when they first start buzzing around meadows in early July right through September. The biggest flights of the big in- sects will last for two to four weeks most years and can happen anytime from July through early September, depending on the weather year and elevation. The 2019 summer was hailed as an in- credible hopper season. Fred Rowe, who was the first fly-fishing guide in the region before fly-fishing was cool, simply said, “this is the most intense hopper season I’ve ever seen.” Rowe, who still guides fly-fishermen through his Sierra Bright Dot Guide Service (www.sierrabrightdot.com ), said his clients were having 15 to 30 fishing days on the up- per Owens above Crowley, landing brown trout to 20 inches on surface hopper pat- terns. In the Crowley Lake basin, anglers walk- ing across the meadows of the streams that feed the lake – the upper Owens River, Hot Creek, McGee and Convict creeks, Hilton Creek, Whiskey Creek, and Crooked Creek – were greeted with waves of thousands of hoppers flushing ahead of them. You heard about the swarms of grasshoppers in Las Vegas? It was like that. But every meadow along every stream in the Eastern Sierra had more grasshoppers than most years. From the West Walker north of Bridgeport, south through the East Walker River drainage (especially Green Creek and Summers Creek which were es- pecially mobbed with hoopers). Lee Vining Creek, Rush Creek, along with Parker and Walker creeks in the Mono Lake Basin were swarmed at levels that rivaled the Crowley basin. Rock Creek and Bishop Creek also had a big hopper hatch. But this is not just a once-in-a-lifetime event. There are big hatches of grasshop- pers on all the Sierra meadows each year, and the trout eat them with gusto, especial- ly the wild fish who know what they repre- sent – an easy, big, meal. For fly-fishermen, these is when they can splat a big hopper pattern down onto the surface of the water, not worry so much about finesse, and still catch fish. For spin- fishermen, they can fish small hopper-like crank baits or live hoppers (impaled with a small hook just under the top of the thorax to keep the bait lively and kicking) or the surface with and a small float. Even long af- ter the big numbers of hoppers have disap- peared, a sunken live or imitation hopper (Rowe said a yellow woolly worm is the per- fect fly) drifted deep through pools, runs, or undercuts will catch more fish that other baits and lures. The fish have been eating them for at least a couple of months, and won’t pass up just one more. [Crickets you can purchase at tackle shops make a good substitute if you can’t catch enough grasshoppers in the meadows to use for bait.] At the campfire, the two arguing anglers were now focused on their fishing buddy who repeated. “Yes, hopper season in the summer and early fall, that’s the best. Every trout in the Sierra is eating them, the weather is the best it will be all year, and even I can catch fish during hopper season. It’s a no-brainer.” Of course, fishermen being fishermen, the argument went well into the night. Hopper season in Sierra is the fisherman’s nirvana PHOTO BY JIM MATTHEWS A veritable blizzard of grasshoppers means it’s a good time to catch some fish, since they’re out for a feast. PHOTO BY FRED ROWE An imitation grasshopper is shown next to a real one. Both are a good choice to bring in fish during hopper season, when the grasshoppers are out and the fish are look- ing to feast on them. NOW AVAILABLE: LIFETIME SUBSCRIPTION Get a PDF of every future Scenic 395 for one low price: $47.50. Email scenicadsales@gmail.com for more information.