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Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Thursday, September 2, 2010
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The Long and Short of It |
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Friday, 04 July 2008 |
By Kent Rianda
 Guide Scott Flint shows off Hot Creek Rainbow caught by 14-year-old beginner Hailey ArmendezSUBMITTED PHOTOS
These sections with thick bushes right down to the waterline are where many times you find those trophy-size, planted trout hanging out to get away from the shore fishermen as well as the boats and tubes out in deeper water. You don’t need a fly rod for this technique as using a spinning rod with a fly and bubble works just as well and it has proved very effective over the years. I have to admit I love showing off if I am lucky enough to catch a couple of those five to 10 pounders and making sure the shore guys get a good look as I release them back into the lake.
Well, no showing off this night as lots and lots of casts provided nothing but two, small Brown and two small Brook trout, and when I say small, I mean like less than four inches long each. Now, we are talking some very aggressive little fish here as these guys are attacking a fly that is more than a quarter of their own length. Beyond their aggressiveness, I was struck with how beautiful these little guys were – right off the pages of National Geographic magazine. Every detail off these wild fish was perfect and the colors were as if they had been rendered by an artist in exaggerated colors.
They say the four phases of an angler’s life are first just wanting to catch a fish, then wanting to catch lots of fish, followed by wanting to catch really big fish and finally evolving back to just wanting to catch fish. I’ve been stuck in phase three for a lot of years but those four little beautiful fish meant more to me than the 20-inch Brown I hauled out of Crowley a couple of days ago. Maybe, I’m entering phase four – scary!
Here are the latest recommendations for this week. For the bait and lure fishermen . . .
Crowley Lake
BAIT - Night crawlers, inflated, 2-3 ft off the bottom or add marshmallow for Sierra Sandwich, PowerBait or PowerEggs in corn, yellow and orange. LURES - Thomas Buoyants in red/gold, frog, chartreuse, and watermelon, Rapalas in rainbow, perch, and firetiger, Tasmanian Devils in orange or green, 1/4 or 3/8 oz Kastmasters, Crocodiles or Hot Shots, Trout Teasers in the brighter colors.
Grant Lake
BAIT - Inflated nightcrawlers, 2-3ft off the bottom or suspended 5-7 ft under a bobber, PowerBait, 2-3 ft off the bottom in rainbow, pink or orange, PowerEggs, 2-3 ft off the bottom in red, pink or orange. LURES - 1/4-1/2 oz Cyclones in firetiger, chartreuse or orange, Thomas Buoyants in silver/blue, flashback, or frog patterns, Crocodiles in firetiger and gold/orange, Kastmasters in silver/blue, orange or gold, Rapala floaters in gold/blk, silver/blk or perch, or sinking brokenbacks in the more solid colors.
Rush Creek
BAIT - Salmon eggs, red worms or meal worms drifted with small split shot 8-10 inches from hook in fast riffles, seams and pockets or pools, PowerEggs drifted 8-10 inches from hook in red, orange or green.
LURES - Panther Martins, sizes #2-#4 in blk/gold, yellow/silver and gold, Rooster Tails in white, brown, green, orange or black, small Mepps Spinners, small Rapalas in perch, rainbow and brown.
Gull Lake
BAIT - PowerBait or PowerEggs 2-3ft off bottom in rainbow, green, orange and red, meal worms or night crawlers suspended 5-7 ft under a bobber. LURES - Rooster Tails in white, orange, black or green, Spin-o-lures, small Kastmasters in silver, gold, silver/orange and perch, small floating Rapalas in rainbow, brown and black/white.
Twin Lakes
BAIT - Worms or salmon eggs suspended 3-7ft under a bobber or float night crawlers inflated off bottom (length depends on weed growth), crickets, PowerBait or PowerEggs off bottom (length depends on weed height). Red, orange, or pink for eggs, rainbow, orange, or chartreuse for PowerBait. LURES - Hot Shots, small Kastmasters (flash tape a must), Rooster Tails, white, orange, green and yellow, small Rapalas-floaters in rainbow, perch, brown patterns, Panther Martins in gold, silver, flash painted blades.
Convict Lake
BAIT - Inflated nightcrawlers 2-3 ft off bottom, marshmallows 2-3 ft off bottom, PowerBait 2-3 ft off bottom in rainbow, orange, corn flavors, PowerEggs 2-3 ft off bottom in green, pink or red, nightcrawlers suspended 5-7 ft under bobber. LURES - Sinking Rapalas in perch, gld/blk, rainbow, firetiger colors, Thomas Buoyants in red/gold, frog, rainbow, flashback, Crocodiles and Kastmasters in gld/org, green or red flash tape, silver w/ flash tape, Z-rays and Phoebes
For the Fly fishermen . . .
Mammoth Lakes Basin
STREAMERS - #10-12 Hornburg, Woolly Buggers in Olive or Purple, #10 Doc Twin Lake Special in Brown or Olive, #8 Pops Buggers with a #16 Zebra Midge, #14 Prince Nymph or #14-16 Copper Dropper
NYMPHS - #16-#20 Mercer's Midgling, #14-#20 Frostbite in Red #20-22 Palamino Midge in Gray or Black, #12-#16 , #12-#16 Hare's Ear , #12 Sierra Damsel, #14-#16 Prince Nymphs
DRY FLIES - #14-16 Stimis, #12-20 Parachute Adams, #18-14 Ants and #14 Loop Wing Callibaetis.
Hot Creek
NYMPHS - #20-22 BTS Nymph, #16-18 Pheasant Tail, #18 Black Beauty, #18 Disco Midge, #16-18 scud, #18 Mighty May PMD, #18 Sparkle Pupa in Tan, #18 CDC Caddis in Olive and #16 Micro Stone.
DRY FLIES - #16-18 Hatchmaster PMD, #16-18 Hackle Stacker PMD, #20 Foam RS2, #18-22 Griffiths Gnat, #14-18 Elk Hair Caddis, #16-18 Parachute Caddis and #14-16 Outrigger Yellow Sally
Crowley Lake
NYMPHS - Red/Black Tigers are still the soup du jour in size 16 and 18. Fish are also nailing Damsels so hang one under the indicator about 5 feet down in 10+ ft of water.
STREAMERS - Slow twitch a damsel pattern up from the bottom.
Upper Owens River
NYMPHS - #16 Micro Stone, #16 Copper John in black or Copper, #12-14 Red San Juan Worm, #12-18 Zug Bug, #14-18 Hares Ear, #18-20 Olive WD40's, #16 Sparkle Pupa, #16-20 Soft Hackles, #14-18 Zebra Midges, #16-20 Flashback pheasant tails.
DRY FLIES - #10-18 Stimi's, #14-16 Tan Elk Hair Caddis , #16-20 Adams Parachutes , #14-20 Hemingway Caddis
STREAMERS - #6-10 Woolly Buggers Brown and Black, #8-12 Zonkers.
June Lake Loop
STREAMERS - Doc's Twin Lake Special in olive or Brown, Matukas, Pop's Bugger in Black or Olive, Ruby Eye Leech, Mini Leech, Ext Body Leech
NYMPHS - #18Tiger or Zebra Midge, #18 OptiMidge in Gray or Olive, #16 Copper John, #16 Prince Nymph, #16 F/B Pheasant Tails, Callibeatis Nymphs and #20 Parachute Adams
Lower Owens River
NYMPHS - #16 Barr's PMD Emerger, #14-16 Prince Nymph, #18 Kyle's Super Flash PT, #18 Copper John in Red, #18-20 Barr's BWO Emerger, #18-22 Disco Midge in Green or Red, #12 San Juan Worm and # 16-18 CDC Caddis in Green or Tan.
DRIES - #16-20 Elk hair caddis #16-20 Parachute Adams #18 Sierra bright dot #18-22 Griffith gnat #16 CDC Baetis
East Walker River
NYMPHS - For midges stick with the venerable WD-40’s in grey, black and Olive, Zebra Midges #18-#22. Still a sparse bwo hatch from 10’ish till 3pm most days; Poxy-Back Baetis, Surface Emergers and Barr’s BWO emergers #20-#22.PMD patterns such as Beck’s sulphur emerger in #14-#16 Caddis will be the mainstay from afternoon on; Gallatin spotted sedge emergers, Sparkle Pupa, Z-Wing caddis, CDC emergers and translucent pupas in #14-#18.
DRY FLIES - Stimulators in yellow, tan, orange #12-#14, Cutter’s EC Caddis #16-#18, Elk Hairs #14-#16, Hoppers in Tan #12, CDC Caddis emergers #16.
For more info on places not mentioned here, go to thetroutfly.com/fishreport.html Kent Rianda is an owner and guide for the Trout Fly and Troutfitter in Mammoth Lakes. He spends 5-6 days a week guiding and fishing on his favorite spot, Crowley Lake. He has fished more than 2,000 days on Crowley during the last 16 years, probably more than any person alive. His primary guiding interest is teaching.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 10 July 2008 )
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