First trip to the Eastern Sierras. Looking for advice.

[fishfnatic]

First of all, I will get this out of the way, I am very excited!

I am heading out of Orange County Thursday very very early morning. Heading out to Mammoth Mountain. I will be there until Sunday afternoon. What lakes should I visit? Which are producing the most? How well do artificial lures (spinning tackle) work? I hate using power bait and would hate even more to gut hook a brown or native. I usually fish drop shot worms, kastmasters, and (rarely) jigs.

Considering the distance from Mammoth to some of the southern waters, we were thinking of stopping at one of them on the way in. From what I've found, there is Owens river, Lower/Upper and some lakes. Any of those places worth stopping at?

Convict is on the list to visit and so is Crowley. Are there any can't miss places to fish out there?

Any advice would be appreciated. If there are any specific colors I should look at that would be awesome to know to. If you aren't comfortable posting this information, considering the fragility of the native population, feel free to PM me.

FTR: I do plan on keeping stockers while CPR the natives (browns, brookes, rainbows, etc.)

Thanks for reading!

[zzzfish]

Fishfnatic, I'm not sure how long you'll be up there but you must visit Convict Lake, June Lake and the surrounding lakes, Lake Mary, Rock Creek Lake, Hot Creek, Creek below and above Tom's place. I would suggest that you use barbless hook only or pinch your hook to lessen unwanted death. Your spin set up should be ultra light rod with 2lbs line, small splitshot, and small barbless hook. Nighcrawler and Salmon Eggs work well. Kastmaster, panther martin, trout worms in natural and orange collor also work. You can also tie a fly on and they can be superb at time (google wooly bugger). One key advice that I would like to give you regarding Convict Lake is that you should take the time to hike to the other end of the lake by the inlet and fish around there. Hot Creek is great but you should know the rules and regulations before you go.

Good luck with your trip and post a report when you come back.

[STEVE IN SOCAL]

Unless you have a boat, I'd skip Crowley. Instead, upstream from Crowley you can fish the upper Owens at Benton Crossing. Upstream from the bridge is single barbless hook, though.