Bishop 10-19 10-21 long report w/pics

[sktruth]

I woke up friday morning with the anticipation of catching some trout in the sierras. Left my house in Ontario, got ice and i was on my way by 3:00am. I had already packed with the anticipation growing all week. Traffic was awesome and I made it to Bishop without a problem by 7:00am friday morning. What a gorgeous morning.
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After stopping by Brocks flyfishing I was off to the owens river by laws museum. (my first time fishing the owens) By this time i believe the temperature was right around 45 degrees or so. Started out throwing some dry's with droppers. I didn't can't anything at the owens, but it was really nice fishing it finally. The river had alot more overgrowth than what i had expected and i found it very difficult to fish much of the river without waders.
Left the Owens at approx. 10:00am for the ride up the hill. Turned off towards south lake and continued the journey. Came too Four Jeffries campground only to see that it was closed. Son of a... I was suppose to meet a good friend of mine here later that night, now what? Well i deceide to go fishing of course, i'll deal with meeting him later.
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Started off at table mountain campground and managed to beat the skunk by catching 3 little guys. All probably between 6-8" long. Drove up, but weir pond didn't look the best. Went down the hill a little more to parchers and deceiced to try here. Caught 3 within the first hour and missed just as many. It seemed like the ticket this afternoon was a yellow humpy size 16.
After fishing for a few more hours i had to find camp. I found that Forks campground near intake 2 was still open.
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So then i had to drive back down the hill, so i could get cell phone reception and tell my buddy the news plans. Actually it was a message so i was hoping for the best. The weather on Friday was just gorgeous. Slight breeze, clear, sunny, AWESOME. I made my way to camp and made some dinner. With a god awfull headache I called it a night about 8:00pm. All i could thing about before bed was if my buddy was going to show up. I was suprisingly awoken at about 11:00 pm friday night by my buddy Dano. I woke up got out of bed, had a few beers, and began swapping stories again. Dano is my best friend and he moved to Gardnerville(outside of tahoe) about 4 months ago. First time we've been able to really catch up.
Woke up about seven and began to make breakfast. Bacon of course!!!! No not with eggs, or haskbrows, or toast just Bacon!!! Breakfast of champions.

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Drove up to parchers and wanted to get Dano into some fish. This was his first time fishing a stream.
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No luck for either of us. I was flyfishing and he had his spinning rig with him. I tied on a fly and was letting the current take it. I asked if he wanted to try some salmon eggs that i got for him, but neither of us were to sure how to rig a salmon egg for a river. We didn't know if he should use weight or not or exactly how to do it. He is so used to fishing lakes in socal. Went down the hill a little to Table Mountain campground and i managed to get three.
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Hopefully someone will be able to help explain what type of trout they are. I'm not exactly sure, plus i'm colorblind. at least shades and it makes it tuff. I greatly appreciate the info in advance. The winds were REALLY blowing bad at this point. Dano deceided he wanted to get back into some fishing more his style. With a quick thought i took him over to intake 2. The wind was still blowing. Within a half hour i got two little guys throwing a small meps spinner. I had my spinning rig with me as well. I ended up with 5 total from the intake with my buddy getting the skunk for the whole day. That sucked! On the other hand, I am new to flyfishing but absolutely love it. This was only my third time trying it. I'd like to say that up until this trip i had only managed a few fish with dry flies. But saterday at intake 2 i got one on a wooly bugger. It was awesome. Now if i can only get one on a nymph i'll be doing alright.
Went back to camp to hot dogs and beer. Oh yeah, did i mention the high wind advisory peaks at 100mph and valleys at 75mph. We were in for a fun night. We made it, and still had an amazing time.
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We woke up Sunday and were all packed by 9:00am. I asked Dano if he wanted to get some more fishing in, but he said he had to get going.
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Left by 9:30am and arrived in Ontario by 1:15pm. Did i mention i brought the wind all the way with me. Sorry guys...

ps. Since i am new to flyfishing can someone please offer some advice? I know that its recommended that you stand downstream and cast into the current. On small streams and creeks like bishop creek i find it easier to let the current take my fly downstream while i stand upstream and then i can position my fly in the pools where i want. If i stand downstream and cast upstream into a pool, the current which usually is moving pretty decently, takes my fly back downstream way too fast. Any suggents or comments are greatly appreciated. Thank you

[one_leg]

Great report and awesome pics.

Those trout are juvenile Brown trout.

I haven't even tried to flyfish since the mid seventies while in Jr. highschool.
I can't help you out in the flyfishing department, sorry.

I hope to pack it up to Table Mountain in the future. Some really good hunting and fishing in them there parts.

One_Leg

[moflyfish]

Great report sktruth!

You can fish either downstream or upstream with the fly rod. You just want to make the fly makes a natural drift with the current and there is no drag on the water.

For upstream fishing, you'll need pickup the line off the water as the fly drifts towards you.

For downstream fishing, you'll need let line out so that the fly drift naturally downstream. Hope this helps!

[City Dad]

Down stream or up stream can work. While it is usually important to maintain a drag-free drift when fishing drys, it is not always necessary. Caddis flies tend to skitter across the surface and an elk hair caddis fly, when dragging can draw stirkes - and sometimes it is the only thing the trout want. I like them size 14 and 16.

Nymphs or wets of course, don't require the same kind of consideration for drag, but there are times when one presentation has advantages over another. For example; if fish are really spooky, they might scatter when a line lands on or passes over them. Another really good time to fish from upstream is when bugs are coming up from the stream bed. Drift a nymph into a likely hole form well up-stream. As you fly enters the hole, tighten up the slack. This wil cause your fly to rise. Trout can't seem to resist a bug "swimming" to the surface.

also, in tight casting spots with lots of over-hangs etc. a lot of guys fish leaders that are way too long. Yes, you might need ten, twelve, sixteen feet of mono in some siturations, but if its all tangled in the branches it doesn't do much good anyhow.

[sktruth]

forgot to add, all fish were carefully released unharmed.

[IncredibleHuck]

Sweet report! I've never camped there before, how is it compared to four jefferies?

[Mike274]

Jason,

Congrats on the fly fishing venture. I have one thing to say and that is practice. Now, Contrary to some beliefs a drag free drift is important while nymphing also. Drag keeps the nymph from getting down, and isn't that the purpose of nymphing in the first place? Underwater bugs or larva travel in a somewhat consistant pattern with the current as well, and anything out of the ordinary be it dry or sub-surface will turn off fish doing simple feeding and not just eating everything in sight which does happen on occassion.

Nymphing is an art that a lot of people do not understand or know about. People think that as long as you get the fly below the surface that's all you need. Not true. There is a renound local guy in the L.A./Orange county area that has on the river clinics at the Owens. They feature all day Saturday and about half day Sunday learning the art of nymph fishing. They say that there are certain times when dry fly fishing is good, but you can always catch fish nymphing. I have found that to be true. By the way the clinic is conducted by Joe Liebeau. Ask around the fly fishing world and they will know who he is, or you can PM me and I will give you more info. Nyphing is also a very popular fishing method for Lake Crowley.

You will learn how to read the water, rigging, achieving the appropriate drift etc. Well worth the money. It will cut your learning curve in half. He will also cover dry dropper if you like. Again, welcome to the world of fly fishing. People always ask me how it is and I don't know about you, but it is one of the hardest things I have ever done.

By the way salmon eggs can be fished on a treble hook (I prefer red) one egg per each hook on the trebble. You can fish it either on the dead drift or with a small split shot 18-36" above the hook depending on current speed. Start with the smallest shot and go up. Just like nymphing the faster the current the more weight you need to get the food down to the feed zone. I have tried all the eggs and found that Pautke's are definately the best. My two cents!

Mike