longjawnsilver
11-12-2007, 01:03 PM
Got the opportunity to do a drift boat trip on the Owens River over the weekend. My buddy Frank and I went out with Fill from Sierra Drifters and although we didn't get into any of the big fish we were hoping for, we did manage over 50 fish for the day.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/longjawnsilver/Fishing/Bishop/river.jpg
The weather was beautiful all day on saturday. We were asking our guide Fill how far south you hafta go to get into the bass on the river, and he was telling us about the lone pine area, and how in four years guiding out of bishop he hasn't seen anyone pull out a bass even though he has spotted one or two small (6") ones here and there. About a half hour after this conversation we were set up on a spot nailing one trout after another on wooly buggers when I hook into a fish that feels a lot heavier, but i doesn't take any real runs. As soon as I get a glimpse I see it's a bass, and a decent 1-1/2 pounder at that!
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/longjawnsilver/Fishing/Bishop/bass1.jpg
My buddy Frank immediately pulls out another trout so after we got a bass and trout in the same net we got the chance to take a photo with both fish.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/longjawnsilver/Fishing/Bishop/basstrout.jpg
I managed another smaller bass out of the same stretch of water, and our guide Fill was totally shocked since he hadn't seen a single bass come out in four years and now here are two in five minutes! The trip was great and I highly recommend Sierra Drifters, it was a great way to fish some of the river that you can't reach from foot.
Sunday we planned on tubing Pleasant Valley all day, and we knew there was a chance of rain so we packed our lunches/drinks and threw on our rain gear and hit the water right at first light. The plan was to fish bigger jerk baits in hopes of getting a big brown. I didn't have as much patience so I kept switching to minijigs for a break to nail fish on almost every cast.
Here are a few of the browns and one nice rainbow we caught on Sunday.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/longjawnsilver/Fishing/Bishop/frankbrown1.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/longjawnsilver/Fishing/Bishop/brown1-2.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/longjawnsilver/Fishing/Bishop/frankbrown2.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/longjawnsilver/Fishing/Bishop/rainbow1.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/longjawnsilver/Fishing/Bishop/frankbrown3.jpg
Most fish were caught on the big jerkbaits, and it was always surprising catching stocker sized rainbows on 7" bass jerkbaits. Besides a nasty wind that came up for just over an hour from 1:00-2:30ish, the weather was not too bad with just light rain most of the day. The fishing was basically wide open the whole day, and we fished from 6:00-3:00. Total for the day between us was 185 trout including 35 browns to 17" (yes, we made sure to keep a fish count all day). The fishing is awesome up there right now!
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/longjawnsilver/Fishing/Bishop/river.jpg
The weather was beautiful all day on saturday. We were asking our guide Fill how far south you hafta go to get into the bass on the river, and he was telling us about the lone pine area, and how in four years guiding out of bishop he hasn't seen anyone pull out a bass even though he has spotted one or two small (6") ones here and there. About a half hour after this conversation we were set up on a spot nailing one trout after another on wooly buggers when I hook into a fish that feels a lot heavier, but i doesn't take any real runs. As soon as I get a glimpse I see it's a bass, and a decent 1-1/2 pounder at that!
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/longjawnsilver/Fishing/Bishop/bass1.jpg
My buddy Frank immediately pulls out another trout so after we got a bass and trout in the same net we got the chance to take a photo with both fish.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/longjawnsilver/Fishing/Bishop/basstrout.jpg
I managed another smaller bass out of the same stretch of water, and our guide Fill was totally shocked since he hadn't seen a single bass come out in four years and now here are two in five minutes! The trip was great and I highly recommend Sierra Drifters, it was a great way to fish some of the river that you can't reach from foot.
Sunday we planned on tubing Pleasant Valley all day, and we knew there was a chance of rain so we packed our lunches/drinks and threw on our rain gear and hit the water right at first light. The plan was to fish bigger jerk baits in hopes of getting a big brown. I didn't have as much patience so I kept switching to minijigs for a break to nail fish on almost every cast.
Here are a few of the browns and one nice rainbow we caught on Sunday.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/longjawnsilver/Fishing/Bishop/frankbrown1.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/longjawnsilver/Fishing/Bishop/brown1-2.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/longjawnsilver/Fishing/Bishop/frankbrown2.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/longjawnsilver/Fishing/Bishop/rainbow1.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/longjawnsilver/Fishing/Bishop/frankbrown3.jpg
Most fish were caught on the big jerkbaits, and it was always surprising catching stocker sized rainbows on 7" bass jerkbaits. Besides a nasty wind that came up for just over an hour from 1:00-2:30ish, the weather was not too bad with just light rain most of the day. The fishing was basically wide open the whole day, and we fished from 6:00-3:00. Total for the day between us was 185 trout including 35 browns to 17" (yes, we made sure to keep a fish count all day). The fishing is awesome up there right now!