Upper Owens report

[retired96]

Spent 4 days fishing the Upper Owens, The river is running fast with alot of weeds. It is overflowing the banks in all areas. The area south of the campground is all under water all the way to the dirt road.. On the oppisite side of the river, there is moving water at least 200 yards past the west bank fence....I have never in 50 years of fishing that river ever seen that much water overflow the rivers banks...

Fishing was tough no matter what I used as you got grass and weeds snagged on every cast. I did manage to catch 6-10 a day but was fishing for 7-8 hours each day.. Mosquitos were terrible and its going to get alot worse.. I predict its going to be sometime before the river gets back to normal..

[tacklejunkie]

Cool, sounds like much needed water.
Never fished the upper but a few weeks ago the lower was doing great as usual.

[dockboy]

The Upper O won't slow till late July this year. When the runoff is bad its better to fish above Hot Creek confluence, less water. I agree with TJ. I've had really good fishing on the lower below PVR during the summer. After they keep the water levels constant, the caddis come off in droves. If gets a little warm there in the summer, but its fun without the crowds you get in winter.

[TypeCast]

Wondering why you spent all that time at Owens under those conditons. I'm up here now, and can confirm that it's tough everywhere. We are working pretty hard to scratch out some fish, and we found wide open fishing at lower twin that produced about 50 in 2 hours (between guys) but stocked fish only entertain me for so long.

This snow is restricting me to drive up spots as all of my hike in lakes are inaccessible (hell, some of my drive ups are still covered in ice) and the creeks are all swollen.

June area and bishop draiage still on the radar. Will report with photos when I get home.

[sierraslam]

You may want to try the back side of Grant. I did well there last weekend. Grant is full of water and looks great, for Grant that is. To get back there you have to take the dirt road that is before the road that goes to Grant and June. The river is flowing strong, and DWP has the other way in blocked. I fished directly across from the Grant Lake Marina. Good luck and enjoy!

[flytyingreloader]

Grant Lake may not be the most scenically beautiful lake in the Sierras, but it has a LOT of fish in it. I do much better from a boat than from shore, and on many days it is good to get off the water by 1 P.M.--unless you enjoy wind and whitecaps for their recreational potenial.

[sierraslam]

There were wake boarders, sea doo things, we still did well. Garden jigs did the best as to be expected.