Scenic 395 - The Official Guide 2021/2022

40 2021-2022 Scenic 395 Fishing Top 5 Eastern Sierra Fishing Spots By Jim Matthews www.OutdoorNewsService.com F or a region that historically never had trout of any kind south of Conway Summit, the Eastern Sierra Nevada has become known across the country for the quality trout fishing that exists there now. Here are the five best spots for anglers interested in landing a quality trout. Crowley Lake For Eastern Sierra Nevada anglers, Crowley Lake is the water all other fisheries are measured against. The Crowley watershed has a complex regime of regulations, an aggressive and creative stocking program, and an increasing number of wild trout. Throughout the long fishing season (last Saturday in April through Nov. 15), Crowley Lake produces more and bigger fish than all other waters in the re- gion. For the first half of the season, Crowley Lake is open to all types of fishing – bait, lures, and flies – and it has a five-trout limit. From Au- gust 1 through the close of the season, Crowley has a special two-fish, 18-inch minimum size bag limit and anglers are restricted to using artificial lures with barbless hooks – fondly known as the trophy sea- son. Surveys done by the Department of Fish and Wildlife show that the average size of the trout caught opening day of the season is 13 to 14 inches most years with those fish weighing in at a pound. Most of those are fish that were planted by the DFW the fall before as three- to six-inch trout and have grown that size on the rich food supply in the alkaline reservoir. Each year the state plants around a half-mil- lion or more small trout in the fall, and they grow into trophy sizes quickly. By the end of their first year in the lake, the fish are mostly 15 to 17 inches long and approach two pounds. By the next spring, they are 18 to 20 inch trout in the three-pound class; and by their third year in the lake, they can be four to five-pound class trout. The DFW now plants the lake with at least two varieties of rainbow trout, Lahontan cutthroat trout, and brown trout in some years. The browns and cutthroats show a proclivity to be longlived and when trout over six pounds are caught – and there are more of those fish than in decades – they are these two species. No Eastern Sierra fishing career is complete without at least a few days of fishing this incredible reservoir, and for fly-anglers, it is a nir- vana. Owens River If Crowley Lake is the hub of all Eastern Sierra trout fishing, the Owens River is Crowley’s main artery and a tremendous fishery in its own right. The Owens River managed with a complex set of rules on gear and bag and anglers need to read these regulations (which are too lengthy to summarize here). There are three distinct parts of the Owens. The upper river above Crowley Lake is a meadow river that cuts through an ancient caldera. Most of the season, the river has a good population of wild trout from six to 12 inches long, but runs of spawning trout out of Crowley pack the river with rainbows, cutthroats and browns from 15 to 26 inches long and weighing up to eight pounds spring and fall. There is also a short stretch right below the Benton Crossing bridge that gets plant- ed with hatchery trout throughout the summer. Between Crowley Lake and Pleasant Valley Reservoir, the Owens River flows through a deep gorge that can only be reached by hikes in from the rim or the two ends of the canyon where there is road ac- cess. The river here is a series of deep runs lined by tules and canyon walls. While most of the trout are wild eight to 10 inches, the canyon is known to hold some huge brown trout. Fishing “the gorge” is usual- ly done in solitude. Below Pleasant Valley Reservoir, the Owens River flows through the broad Owens Valley all the way (with recent new flow allotments) all the way the Owens Dry Lake. The Bishop to Independence stretch is a wonderful trout fishery that is best fished via drift boat because the banks are so brushy. Guide services in Bishop offer these floats year-around and the average rainbows and browns are one to two JOSH WRAY/MONO COUNTY TOURISM Few places can match the quality of the fishing along the Eastern Sierra. Continued on Page 41