JUNE 17, 2025

 

Well, due to some volunteer work we’ve been doing we haven’t been on the water much the last few weeks getting in a day or two here and there as follows. ​

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BACKCOUNTRY:

We did make it to Upper Rock Creek above Mosquito Flats in Little Lakes Valley fishing the creek and first four lakes getting mostly small Brooks and an occasional small Brown or Rainbow all on a Black Ant. The fish were very active grabbing our offering continuously. During future trips we’ll be tossing Caddis and Mayfly patterns also. At some point we cross the creek to fish since most anglers stick to the hiking trail side of the creek, lakes, and ponds. 

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We also hit Mine Creek along the Bennettville Trail in Tioga Pass. The water here is still cold so the resident small Brookies were not actively feeding except in a couple small, shallow ponds catching a few on the same Black Ant. This should change in a couple weeks as the run-off subsides so we’ll mix in some dry flies during upcoming trips.

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Upper owens river:

The big Cutthroats have headed back to Crowley after their May spawning run so now it’s pretty much dry fly fishing for mostly smaller Browns with Caddis and Mayfly patterns. The last two years some bigger Browns have come up in July so we’ll stick with those dry flies and also streamers stripped upstream along the cut banks. We’re hoping for a good hopper season drawing up some bigger Browns this late July into September casting Hoppers, Foam Ants, and Stoneflies. Regardless of how the hopper season pans out this is a good time of year to fish those patterns.​

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GULL LAKE:

Even though the catching has slowed a bit since the pre-Memorial Day stockings we’ve been having good success getting up to 16” Rainbows utilizing the methods described in the Way and Means below. Coming up is another round of big Oregon Rainbow stockings before the Fourth of July that bolsters the fishing right through to another round of stocking before Labor Day. There’s nothing better than spending a Summer’s day on good ol’ Gull Lake!​

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ways and means

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Gull and June Lakes:

We primarily fish a 6lb test Carolina Rig with floating baits (5’ to 6’, 4lb to 6lb fluorocarbon leader at Gull, 3’ to 4’ at June), a nightcrawler and bobber rig, and sometimes chuck Thomas Buoyants and Rapalas. 

Baits of choice are Garlic, Salmon Peach, and Chartreuse Garlic Power Baits, Mice Tails, and Garlic Pinched Crawlers with a size 16 treble hook. We would use a size 14 but sometimes the Mice Tails won’t float with a bigger hook. With the nightcrawler we run the main line through a Carolina Keeper then through a Cast-a-Bubble to a barrel swivel, 4’ to 5’ leader (same as the floating bait) ending with a 6 or 8 worm hook. This works best near the reed banks. These baits have been the go to for years now but sometimes we’ll change it up just cuz we can. Start out with a different bait on each rig to see what’s working best. 

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Upper owens:

We’ll nymph, streamer, and dry fly here. 

Nymphs: A single nymph size 12 or 14 under an indicator with tapered fluorocarbon leader liking Yellow Spots, Flashback Pheasant Tails, Hare’s Ears, and Zebra Midges hitting mainly the deep, slower bends and deeper cut banks. Streamers: Pretty much sticking with size 4 or 6, olive and black, beaded and cone head Wooly Buggers, Leeches, Sculpzillas, etc. swinging and stripping downstream getting close to our side cut bank when stripping up. Dry Flies: Mostly size 12 or 14 Caddis and Mayfly patterns. We’ll fish these either similar to the streamer method downstream or up and across for a nicer drift. What about terrestrials? Throw a hopper, foam ant, or stonefly on now and then. You never know what might grab it!​

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Hey!! 

“Keep chuck’n and a grind’n” !!

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