Lower O and PVR report

[sktruth]

Left my house at 7:45 friday night (ontario) and made it to the campsite by 12:10. It was my first time camping at PVR as at first i found the wrong campground. When i got off at pvr dam road i made a left down a dirt road and found what was to be called pvr PIT campground. It's on blm land and is only 2.00 dollars to camp. Said nah, and went and found the campground i was looking for, PVR. Had a couple of beers and called it a night.
Woke up Saterday at about 6:30 and started the morning fire. Weather was amazing and had to be at least in the 70's both days. Had stuff ready to go and we were off fishing by 7:30. Fished hard from 7:30 till about 3 on the lower O. Fished from PVR dam through chalk bluff and the catch n release section all the way to laws. I only has two rises all day, (damn). I tried everything from caddis, mosquitos, royal wulf, humpys you name it, as well as prince, hares ear, copper john's, midges, wooly buggers, etc. Now i am mainly a dry fly guy so i was trying the dropper technique. After the morning skunk, we deceided to try PVR to get into some fish.
Got to PVR at abut 2-3pm Saterday and stayed till about 5-6. Caught many fish with my bro Mike landing the largest. Only took a few pics of Mike holding his fish. Fish were beautifull and most of them were caught on a nightcrawler beneath a bobber. Mike also got one on a mini jig. All fish were released to fight another day. Called it a day and got back to camp for hot links. While at camp, i looked at Mike's little BBQ and deceided i would rather eat cold hotlinks rather than cook them on that pos. It looked horrible. Then it was time to devise a way to cook dinner. Luckily for me i had my work van with me. After a little thinking, i found a nice string stick and took some bailing wire and strapped a fork to it. worked great seeing how mike's idea of taping the fork to the stick failed. (tape melted) It's weird how after you've been drinking all day, u don't think quite straight anymore. Anywaise, dinner turned out fine. While hanging at the campsite that night Mike heres something in the water, right behind us. We here a huse sploosh as if a duck was splashing so we turned on the flashlight and both were amazed to see, what i think, was a beaver. Spooked us both a little bit.
Woke up sunday at about 7:30 as the sun was already up and very warm. Packed up and wanted to fish some more before we headed home. Fished the catchnrelease section again sunday morning for nothing. It sucks when you see fish breaking the surface and u can't match the hatch. But, at least we were able to WATCH alot more action than the day before on the river. Stopped in the smokehouse just outside Bishop for some garlic pistachios. (Awesome) Then made the next stop at Schats for some sheepshearded, extra sourdough and some onion foccacia (sorry for speeling). Went out Line street and followed the river down to warm springs. It was really brushy and windy so we only stopped a couple of times. At the last stop, as i'm watching the river from the bank (up three feet) the bank gives way as i slide 3 feet down and managed to keep my head from getting wet. I was soaked. Went to the van and changed and called it a day.
Weather was absolutely gorgeous both days. Sunday it got windy as we were leaving and watched the clouds start moving in. Hope everyone enjoys the post and pics.
One question for everyone. Since, i am more of a dry fly guy, when fishing just nymphs, not drys, do you guys use sink tip line? Also one more question. I was at the fly shop and they said try a bunch of streamers with some pinch weights. My question is, i can cast a dry and a nymph fine, but how come once i had a little split shot to my line, i can't seem to cast at all. It always seems like the weight and the nymph, or streamer start tangling, reall bad? Anywaise thanks for the input, i really appreciate it. Thanks to everyone for their help on camping.

[netdawg]

Great report and even better pics!

22 Days before I'm there in the valley for 5 WHOLE DAYS!!!

Nice work at PVR, sorry the river was so hard on ya.

[GdHkSet1]

Thanks for the great write up and pics, those bows look sooo good and from the looks of it that weekend trip turned out pretty good, dirty grill and all! Tight lines.

[cjschock]

Nice fish, I hope to make it up there in the next few weeks

[shutupandfish]

Nice pics that part of the owens is always good My buddy and me where up there about a month ago and it was on fire. But I didnt catch a nice one like you did, good job, I will be up there again this month.

[fishing_addict]

Nice report, I'll hopefully be up there around the 2nd weekend of April if my plans don't fall through!!!

[numbnuts]

Sktruth next time try nymphing with a small zebra tiger or a black wd40. I was there on saturday and also had a dry fly rod along with my nymph rod but they didnt want any caddis or bwo, but it was pretty consistent on the nymphs.

Also with respect to casting what weight fly rod are you using if its a light set up you will get tangled trying to cast with too much weight.

BTW nice fish from PVR...

[Eat Sleep Fish]

awesome pics man! nice lookin brooders. good job out there!:Thumbs Up:

[fly addict]

SKTRUTH, If your new to fly fishing and having trouble casting, join a local fly fishing club. Most have casting clinics that will improve your casting. Just make sure you pratice. I think Deep Creek Flyfishers is close to you.
I was on the LO this past weekend and the dry fly fishing was off the charts with 5+ hrs of nonstop action on BWO or adams all 3 days for browns and wild rainbows up to 16". It was the best I have ever seen it there.:LOL:

[chivo]

nice fish man, TRUELY NICE FISH. Gotta love them true bows.

[Mike274]

SKTruth,

As previously said with the lighter weight setups it gets harder to false cast bead head nymphs and weights as with dry fly fishing. It's more to do with weight some times than technique. The extra weight will cause the line to drop into a tailing loop and walah, a big mess!

Here's my way since most of the rivers up there are shallow in comparison to some;

Streamers - you can use a sink tip here because you are dipping and stripping. This allows for the streamer teg get a little below the surface. Faster moving water may require a heavier line.

Nymphin - Floating line (usually 5 or 6 weight), 9' leader + tippet. I use a double nymph rig under an indicator alot. No need for sinking lines here as the weighted nymphs and or split shot will get the flies down. No false casting here, just kind of chunk and dunk.

In closing I would suggest you contact Joe Liebu. He works out of Bob Marriott's Fly shop in Orange, Ca, and also can be found at the Long Beach Casting Club (Great place to pick up tips, pointers and just meet some great guys). Joe puts together an on the water nymphing class on the Lower Owens. It is 2 days and well worth the money.

My two cents

Mike

[brant]

try using stimulators. that is what i used to get them the same weekend on the lower o

[Trout-Slayer77]

awesome report and great read....some nice fish pics too !!! that big bow is a good looking fish...how big ?

[sktruth]

I am using a 5wt VERY basic setup. I only use a floating line because i mainly throw dry's and I can't buy extra spools for the reel that came with it. I know i probably should get another reel at least with some type of sink tip i would think, but I'm not completely sure. The biggest of our trip came in at 20.5" from pvr.

Thanks everyone for their input, i really appreciate all of the responses.

[Mike274]

SK,

No worries! The rivers in the Sierra's are small enough to nymph efficiently with the floating line. You just may need to adjust ledaer length and weight accordingly. You can also use it to still fish under an indicator at various depths like the Crowley method. Then, when you can afford it buy a spare spool and a sink tip line.

Remember, when nymphing do not do a lot of false casting! Unless, you want to pick out tangles all day. to get your distance lift, cast, lay down and repeat. Be sure to lift and repeat as soon as the line lays down on the water. If you wait to long it will sink and make it difficult.

Mike

[DreStyle]

One question for everyone. Since, i am more of a dry fly guy, when fishing just nymphs, not drys, do you guys use sink tip line? Also one more question. I was at the fly shop and they said try a bunch of streamers with some pinch weights. My question is, i can cast a dry and a nymph fine, but how come once i had a little split shot to my line, i can't seem to cast at all. It always seems like the weight and the nymph, or streamer start tangling, reall bad? Anywaise thanks for the input, i really appreciate it. Thanks to everyone for their help on camping.

NICE TOAD !!!

Those are good questions man. I've only been fly fishing for about 3 years and got kinda hardcore about just in the last year or so. I've had to learn alot of these things the hard way by being a walking cluster-f*** with a fly rod until someone corrected me or I watched a video. As far as the sink-tips go, the way I understand is that you use those more in streamer situations as opposed to nymphing. If you are using a dry and nymph (dry-dropper) I wouldn't use a split shot unless you have a REALLY FAT dry on top or it will get pulled under. If the water is moving and you need to get the nymph down I would use split shot with another type of indicator. If they are down so far that you need split shot the dry fly is useless. There is a really awesome DVD on nymphing by Kelly Galloup that you can get at alot of fly shops or order online. It's really detailed and shows many different rigs and most importantly alot of "how" and "why".

http://www.flyfishtv.com/vid_detail/Nymphing.htm

BTW ... I'm not sure whether you released that toad or not, but if you did, make sure you don't hold it under the gill plate, wet your hands before handling, and get it back into the water ASAP. If you released it into a frying pan with some butter and garlic then I guess it doesn't really matter. A filet of fresh trout is definitely a tasty dish every so often.

[deanhall32]

That was a great report!! Who cares that it was a little slow for you guys- you had fun while we were stuck down here!!

Pretty funny about getting dunked in the drink. I will probably always have that in the back of my mind when I'm standing on the banks of the lower owens.

Thanks for the pictures too

[kgselect]

Nice report. Beautiful holdover fish from PVR. Although I'm no expert, matching the line, leader & fly to the conditions is very critical. If you are fishing the river, floating line will work for both drys and nymphs, but, it will depend on the depth, drift, current, etc. Probably best to ask the experts at Brocks in Bishop. They will give you advice depending on where you will be fishing. Good luck and thanks for the report.