Owens River 4/8-4/11

[billy b]

Was all over the river ... from lower end of PVR to south of Big Pine without much luck. May have saved the trip with a 3-4 lb. rainbow on a mice tail. It was a purdy fish ... I wondered if it was an Alpers. Got home and wondered if I should have tried some mini-jigs. Duh. Anybody had success with them on the river. My Acadia has 4w drive ... but not a lot of clearance ... so I wasn't sure about trying some of the turnouts between 5 bridges and Hiway 6. Are there any easy turnouts? Seems like the river in that area was pretty shallow.

At Line and below there were some nice pools ... but no love. I used crawlers ... power eggs ... and some mice tails ... also a little bit of PMartins but maybe should have used lures more ... got one hookup on a black and gold #6 which is supposed to be the best. Mac's said that some people were having some luck with salmon eggs. Next time I'm hoping to use wife's electric wheel chair and trek on below the PVR power plant. If I can have half of TOnly's success I'll be happy. Saw a ton of people at the lower entrance but not many cars parked at the upper end ... Hmmm

BTW ... twice I saw a little brown critter running up the shoreline ... and then swimming in the Owens ... cute little guy - chocolate brown - about the size of a small dachshund ... any ideas what it was? (No ... it wasn't a lost dachshund ...lol)

Gotsta learn to use crickets. Man ... how do you catch and hold those lively critters!

[retired96]

You shouldn't have a problem driving along some of the dirt roads off of the main road to get to the river. I drive a Kia Sorento ( not 4WD) and have no problems getting to the river off of the dirt roads leading from the main road..... DWP did raise the flows about 5-6 days ago and that can have a big impact on the fishing.............The brown critter you saw could have been a beaver or a marmot which is much smaller than a beaver.. I have seen the critters many times fishing the Lower Owens..

[Viejo]

You would do well to learn to fly fish. 30 fish days are not uncommon and you don't have to drive up and down all day. You could have seen a otter. In addition to numerous Beaver, Otters can also be seen frequently. There also are weasels that I've seen at PVR camp.

[John Harper]

Yes, it was pretty slow up there last week. Thanks for the report.

John

[TroutOnly]

the turn out at hwy 6 billy then follow the river and the parallel road south nice roads with good action to nice sections of the water that hold trout,,,,,the rivers going to be low for a while.............

[billy b]

the turn out at hwy 6 billy then follow the river and the parallel road south nice roads with good action to nice sections of the water that hold trout,,,,,the rivers going to be low for a while.............

You're saying downstream from Hiway 6 ... rather than downstream from 5 Bridges? I tried down from Hiway 6 ... some of the turnouts weren't so easy because of clearance.

I turned off from Aberdeen ... Bartell ... Hiway 168 (couldn't find any road next to the river at that point) ... all the way up to PVR campgrounds. I remember using Mepps spinners right next to the PVR campground with no regs ... no designated camping spots ... etc. Good times ... 50 years ago or so.

[Tfisherman]

Hey Bill you fishing the opener on sat?

[Kingfish Addict]

From the 395, take Line St east until you hit the Owens. Great fishing there too...

[billy b]

Hey Bill you fishing the opener on sat?

Hey TFish ... great to hear from ya. Never forget you taking me out for a guide-lesson in your boat. Are you still making worms? I still have some.

I gave up on opening day when I bought my cabin up at Big Bear ... did my 30 years of openers on June ... had boat #2 I am thinking about going down to the area soon since I'm only about 1.5 hours away ... being up here in Northern Nevada.

How about you?

[Tfisherman]

I'm fishing closer to home, just came back from Idaho, the opener will be nice this year with lots of open water, but I like to wait untill the there is less people up there, yes I am still making my trout worms, had someone win money in a derby at fishermans retreat with them.

[billy b]

I'm fishing closer to home, just came back from Idaho, the opener will be nice this year with lots of open water, but I like to wait untill the there is less people up there, yes I am still making my trout worms, had someone win money in a derby at fishermans retreat with them.

you moved?

[Tfisherman]

no I just did a little fishing in Idaho, I will be fishing a derby on sat. day close to home Im still in southern cal.