What We Offer
All of our guided trips are all-inclusive,
including flies, tippet, leader, and all other terminal tackle,
with no additional charges. We can provide
all your equipment and even loan you a pair of waders, boots
and polarized sunglasses if you do not have those. You will only
need a California fishing licsense if 16 years or older - we
provide the rest. A full lunch is provided on full-day trips
and beverages on half-day trips.
Our licensed and bonded professional guides
fish all the waters from Bishop to Bridgeport and the East Walker
River. The Trout Fly Guide Service can tailor a guided trip suited
to your abilities and fly-fishing tastes. Whether it be one of
the special packages for First-Time Beginners,
to a day on the world-famous Hot Creek or Crowley Lake, or a
week-long pack trip to the Back Country, you will be assured
of getting some great fishing as well as excellent instruction
to expand your abilities. |
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Stream
Fishing the Eastern Sierra
When you
book a trip with the Trout Fly guide service, your guide
will call you before the trip to discuss what you are
looking for on your day. 'Want to work on a specific
skill like nymphing or dry fly fishing, or do you want
to learn how to fish a certain local fishery, like Hot
Creek? 'Catch a lot of fish or target big fish? Want
a spot easy walking from the car or want to get away
from the crowds? This is your chance to describe to your
guide what is your ideal day and then let him tailer
the trip to make it happen.
Your guide can offer
you choices in streams that are almost innumerable starting
in the high country, up to and above the tree line with
majestic views that will take your breathe away. Want the
beautiful views but want to skip the hike, there are a
myriad of alpine streams a short walk from the car. One
of these is the San Joaquin River which runs through the
Devil's Postpile National Monument and offers a shot at
a Golden Trout or even a Grand Slam - a Rainbow, Brown,
Brook and Golden Trout in one day.
As we drop down into
the high valley just below Mammoth Lakes, freestone and
spring creek streams offer typically larger fish based
on prolific insect hatches and concentrations of fish that
are unparalleled. And, finally down to tail waters in the
Owens Valley which offer warm temperatures even in the
middle of winter.
With literally hundreds
of streams within an hour of the shop and more guides on
the water daily than any other guide service, we have the
ability to put you on fish consistantly. But more importantly,
our expert guides can teach you the skills necessary to
make you a better angler so you catch more fish
when you are out on your own after your trip with us.
Whether you are a
novice or seasoned pro, our master guides have the knowledge
of our local streams and years of guiding experience to
rachet up your abilites in casting, entomology, reading
water and playing fish.
If stream fishing
is your 'cup of tea', we got streams!
Check
out some of our favorite streams |
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Stillwater
Fishing - Alpine or High Valley Lakes
Alpine Lakes
We have high-country
lakes only a short hike away from the crowds that are filled
with tons of smaller, voracious fish including Golden Trout.
Or, take in some of the most spectacular views around from
a float tube in the Mammoth's lakes basin, over the hill
in the Red's Meadow and Devil's Postpile areas, or on one
of the lakes on the June Lake loop. Most of these lakes are
well planted with 10 to 14 inch DFG fish as well as larger
Alpers trout, raised locally, in the 5 pound plus category.
Half-day trips in the
afternoons into the evenings can be especially productive
as well as beautiful when the trout begin to rise and roll
on the surface. You can nymph or even skate dry flies to
see that quick take.
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High Valley
- Crowley Lake and Bridgeport Reservoir
These two stillwater
fisheries have some of the strongest, hardest-pulling, most
well-fed trout on the planet including Rainbow, Brown and Cutthroat
Trout. We can take you in one of our fleet of 12 boats, jump
in the float tube or even fish from the shore at many times
during the year.
Our all-day trips are
a full 8 hours all season long and our half-day trips are a
full 5 hours. We usually recommend half days on Crowley or
Bridgeport as the wind comes up on most days by midday shutting
down the hatches and can force you into the few protected areas,
which may or may not be holding fish.
Additionally, the typical
day consists of a bite that leads in for an hour, is strong
for three hours and tapers off for the last hour – a
total of five hours. Once the bite has slowed, the fish will
typically move into colder, more oxygenated water to digest
their food and the fishing will be slow until the start of
the next bite in the late afternoon.
If the wind holds off
and the fishing is still good at the end of the five hours,
we will let you extend and make it a full day in most cases.
We will contact you the evening before the trip to set the
starting time to best match the bite on all trips. If the bite
is starting at ten o’clock, there is no reason to be
out there at 7 am.
For lake trips, we can
meet you at the store and provide transportation to the lake
saving you the drive as well as the parking fee at the marina
or meet you there affording you the maximum fishing time -
your choice. Since we provide all the flies for all guide trips
at no cost, there is no need to meet at the store to ensure
you have the right patterns in your box. Most of the time you
will be using patterns developed by the guides themselves.
We will be glad to sell you some of our special guide flies
at the end of the day, after you have seen them in action. |
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Midging
The most popular
way to fish Crowley or the “Res” is to “midge”.
This powerful technique, invented and first used on local
waters by Trout Fly guides, Harry Blackburn and Mike
Peters, in 1993, has made for unparalleled stillwater
fishing ever since. With minimal casting prowess, even
beginner's can catch large Trout from the ease and comfort
of a boat.
The technique,
formally called stillwater nymphing, is quite simple.
A small, artificial fly is suspended near the lake bottom
under an indicator (small bobber) imitating a chironimid,
or “midge”, the primary food source for the
Rainbow, Brown and Cuttthroat Trout found in our lakes.
When the fish sips in the fly, the indicator moves or
is pulled under and the race is on for angler to quickly
lift the rod tip and set the hook before the trout realizes
his “meal” consists of wire, thread and other
non-edibles and spits it out. If the angler wins, then
it is “game on” and these very strong, well-fed
fish take off like rockets.
Stripping
For the more technical
stillwater angler, who does not wish to watch an indicator
all day, we offer several other alternatives to stillwater
nymphing. A fly just hanging there rarely fools the biggest
and smartest fish in the lake – they just get too
good a look at it. These larger fish, particularly large
Brown Trout, target small fish, not insects, as their
preferred meal. Stripping streamers, which imitate the
small Perch fry that become prevalent mid-summer, will
give you a much better shot at that these bigger fish,
not to mention getting your arm straightened out when
one of these monsters slams your fly.
Stripping is best
done from a float tube in order to achieve the best presentation.
We can take you and float tube launching from the shore
or from one of our boats affording the mobility to easily
move about the lake throughout the day. |
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Slow
Trolling
Another way to strip
without getting in the float tube is to slow troll from the
boat. This can be a very powerful technique, especially when
the wind comes up hard and fast. Most of the very biggest fish
taken on a fly are taken during the first 45 minutes after
it gets windy and rough. We can drag a sea anchor to slow the
boat to the speed of a float tube and make long passes in the
boat trolling and stripping with full sink lines. This is great
when that Crowley wind comes up midday and shuts down the midging
or can be done anytime with the trolling motors on our boats.
Fishing the Shallows
Our fleet of twelve boats
includes boats designed to get you into the shallowest of water
in the stealthiest manner. Center-console, “flats style” boats
are great for midging in fairly shallow water but we also have
trully shallow-draft bass boats and completely flat-bottom
boats in our fleet that can open up a whole new Crowley experience.
During that time of the year when a good portion of the lake
is covered in massive weed beds, especially the north end,
we’ll even row you in one of our drift boats right across
the weeds to access pot holes to stalk working fish that even
float tubes can’t get to.
Fishing the shallows
also provides an opportunity to
catch larger fish. Big fish in shallow waters require longer
casts, smaller flies, finer tippet, and more skill to prevent
break-offs, but the first time you stalk, sight cast, and see
a Trout take a run like a Bonefish in two feet of water, you’ll
know you have left the ranks of the many and joined the ranks
of the few.
Brown trout are nocturnal
feeders and nothing can be so rewarding as getting out there
at first light and sight casting to these large predators working
in the shallows with clear, intermediate, or slow-sinking line.
The shallows also offer
the opportunity to fish with dry lines, either with Calibaetis
dry flies, a dry and a midge dropper, or even twitching Damsel
nymphs across the surface. Catching a hook-jawed monster with
a little size 20 fly caught in his bony mouth is probably about
as good as it gets in stillwater Trout fishing.
If you have graduated
from the body-count-is-everything mentality and are ready for
a truly quality stillwater fishing experience, we would love
to accommodate you and broaden your horizons.
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Drifting
the Lower "O"
During the fall and
winter months we also offer drift trips on the Lower Owens
River. Drifting can give access to large sections of the
river that are unaccessible by any other means. The Bishop
area being at only half the altitude as Mammoth Lakes is
very warm in winter and even provides excellent dry fly
hatches midday as well as nymphing and streamer fishing
all day.
Besides fishing from
the boat we use the boat to access unaccessible riffels,
runs and pools, and opt to beach the boat and fish nymphs
and fish dries rather than just strip streamers
It can be 26 degress
in Mammoth with the snow blowing sideways and on the Lower "O" it
is short-sleeves weather. Don't forget to throw your fly
rod in with your skiis and snowboards the next time your
up during the winter months. |
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Call (760) 934-2517 for
information and reservations |
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