Lower Owens Drift Trip 11-4 and 11-5
My cousin has a Hyde Drift boat and a passion for flyfishing. He called me up last week and asked if I could join him for a drift trip down the Lower O. Flows were looking ideal, and the reports were saying the bite was near epic. I hadn't made it up to the Sierras yet in 2007, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity.
Leaving at around 5:30pm on Saturday the 3rd, the drive up went smoothly. We got the drift boat out of it's storage spot in Bishop, checked into the T-Bird, and rigged up our rods. My cuz had tied up a bunch of dark and light streamers - his personal favorite being a pattern he calls the "Caped Crusader". We also had a selection of Sierra Drifters favorites - punk perches, Loebergs, Kelly Bundys, etc... We had high hopes. The weather was supposed to be perfect.
We rose at six and hit Jack's for breakfast. After getting our grub and coffee on, we headed up river to the put-in. We expected to run into one of the many guides who take clients down the Lower O these days. We looked for the telltale signs of guide staking out a run - a client car parked by the put-in, or a bicycle locked to the fence - but to our amazement, the first spot we hit looked wide open. It was only later on that we realized we'd only beaten the pros to the river because we'd forgotten about the daylight savings time change.
My cousin backed the boat up to the bank of the river, and dropped the boat in. The flows were low, but very fishable.
We stuck with the tried and true "Dip and Strip" method we'd learned from our old Pal, Tom Loe. This technique produced immediate results as I stuck a nice little 'bow just past the bridge. It was a planter, but I still enjoyed the fight nicely on my 5 wt rod.
From there, it was pretty much just following the recipe: drift to the next hole, anchor, cast, strip, and set the hook. We pulled four or five fish out of nearly every hole. None were large, but all were fun. At first we mainly were catching planters, but then the brownies started showing up. Here I am fighting and landing a nice little brown:
We didn't catch any big browns or Alpers' bows. The largest fish caught were DFG planters that had probably been in the river a while. We could tell them by their fat pink stripe:
But the prettiest fish by far are the brownies:
On day two (Monday) we decided to give McGee Creek a try. We hoped that spawning fish had moved up the creek from Crowley. After a long walk through the cow patties, we arrived at the creek.
Unfortunately, it didn't look like any of the spawning fish had made it up the creek just yet. All we saw were some wiley little browns and a few scattered small 'bows. The sun was high, and the fish were easily spooked. My cousin went fishless.
I had better luck, and was able to get a few small 'bows to play.
We then decided to head back down to Bishop for another quick drift before heading home. We ate a quick lunch, and put in at the Line Street bridge at about 1pm. The fishing was as good or better than the day before. We even had a few more of the larger fish. I guess we got a little carried away, because before we knew it, it was about 5pm, and the sun was going down fast. The fish were rising all over the place, and we just kept catching them.
At the end, we were rowing down stream to try to beat the sun going down. But by the time we hauled out, it was dark.
Overall it was a great trip. The weather and conditions were outstanding. We each had 30+ fish days back to back. I am looking forward to doing another drift trip this winter.
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