Fly Fishing The Owens River

[@Jim-d8u]

With fly fishing you will be constantly learning. I started in 1970 and I learn new things every year. One word of advice; don’t handle the fish you are releasing with dry hands, doing so removes the fishes slime coat leaving them open to infection, which has obvious negative effects on their survival.

[@Artificial_Fishing]

I usually do wet my hands, I sometimes forget with stocked trout. Thanks for sharing

[@mizzyride]

Thanks for the video man. Owens hard fishing at this time of the year. Fish get really sluggish. You put the effort in though.

[@Artificial_Fishing]

That helps take some of the ease off haha i appreciate you! Better luck next time tight lines 🙏

[@hikesteepfishhigh]

oh wow!!! the 395!!! I love it out there. I fish there throughout the year as well. the canal is good throughout the year. the Owens is great at times. hot creek is tough to fish throughout the year. on the Owens you have to match the hatch of bugs. they usually hatch in the mornings and evenings. blue wing olives, pale morning Dunn's, black gnats, parachute adams, Griffiths gnat and elk hairs caddis work well as dry flys. size 12, 14, 16. and during the summer hoppers in size 12. during the day try fishing subsurface with an indicator on your leader, fluorocarbon tippet and a bead head nymph. they make small indicators for fly fishing. bead head flashback pheasant tails, gold ribbed hares ear, olive quildigons, olive perdigons all work well on the owens in size 14, 16, 18. fish it like you worm fishing with a bobber and worms. basically drift it through sections of the river. the Owens is pretty deep with a lot of moving water. sometimes you need to add split shot to get the nymphs down. we often stay up in bishop creek canyon during the summer. tons of places to fish and camp. bishop park campground is beautiful and has some good walk in sites on the middle fork of bishop creek. we day hike out to the lakes behind north lake headed to chocolate lakes and also the inlet to north lake. excellent brook trout fishing.

[@Artificial_Fishing]

Good to know! I noticed them only feeding on top really early and just before sunset especially at hot creek they were going crazy there. I ran into someone there and they told me there picky and ide have to match the hatch. Next time I’ll look at a report and see what there biting. This was my first time using an indicator it was highly recommended here

[@hikesteepfishhigh]

@@Artificial_Fishing the cutthroats come into the Owens in may as well! some big ones!

[@Artificial_Fishing]

@@hikesteepfishhigh how do I keep the fly line moving at the same speed as the fly? I found it hard to get a natural looking drift fishing from the bank, my fly line and leader are always in a different current lane. Is that what mending is for?

[@genedavella9817]

@@Artificial_Fishing Yes, that's what mending is for. You don't want your line shaped like a cup, catching all the water rushing by. It speeds up the drift to unnatural speeds. Size 16 is pretty big for this time of year too. It's great that you take Jr out there with you but, be very careful along the banks of the river. They do collapse at times.

[@grantjohnson837]

Great video btw!!!

[@Artificial_Fishing]

Thanks! Tight lines

[@SDPBALLCOACH]

Early Spring and early Fall are good times to fish Upper or Lower.. When it's that cold avoid the Upper, water temp is too cold. Go back to Bishop area temps should be better and better fishing.. Forget those canals...

[@danielwatson5106]

watching your video i could almost smell the freash air

[@Artificial_Fishing]

One of the things I look forward to up in the mountains

[@grantjohnson837]

So are there certain spots you can fish legally at this time? We are going up here in a couple days, and was confused on where to get in and where to go to the right spots.

[@Artificial_Fishing]

Nice! Ur gunna love it out there. Right now you can only fish from Benton crossing bridge upstream to big springs barbless catch and release. There’s a dirt road that parallels the river but idk how much snow is out there. I parked at the bridge fished there a bit and walked up a few miles. Tons of spots along the way but it was slow for me. Good luck on ur trip!