Mammoth and local fly fishing report 05/30/09

My wife Karen and I just got back from Mammoth. We fished the East Walker first. Flows at the Walker are great. It's also pretty clear with a tea color but good visibility, not silty. It fished very well. Lots of small fish in the 8 to 10" range with the some 14 to 16" fish. Also in the mix are the 18" fish. Karen caught most of her fish on a bead head zebra midge in olive. The majority of my fish were caught on a sparkle caddis pupa
in tan. I was using a three weight Sage which worked extremely well.




 
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We also stayed and fished at Hot Creek Ranch. This is my third time at the Ranch and I'll definitely be going back. I used a one weight sage with 6x fluorocarbon. There were quite a few small fish eager to take the size 22 dry flies. However, there was also a lot of 14 to 16" fish as well. I hooked one 22" brown that fought through two runs. I had the fish at net twice before he got off during the third attempt. My net was a bit small for his shoulders. A fish that size rising to such small flies was impressive.

 If you haven't fished a zero or one weight fly rod you're definitely missing some really fun opportunities. Years ago when these rods first came out I thought they were merely toys used to get people to spend more money. I've come to realize they are the perfect tools for catching more fish. I noticed when big fish jump they don't pop the line from too much rod resistance. I'm also surprised at how much pressure I can put on fish without the tippet or rod breaking. Let's face it, these California waters get hit hard and the bi- product is very intelligent fish that demand light tippet. I've broke off many big fish while using three or four weight rods and 6X leader but these lighter rods just soak up the shock allowing more time to react to large fish. I'm ordering two more for my uh...daughters!    

Our local fishing is in full swing with barracuda showing up, bonito on the bite, calico's being caught in good numbers,
bigger white sea bass around the Island and the yellow tail are beginning to breeze in. This is all from the 65 degree water that has recently pushed into the coast all the way to Catalina.     

All the best

Bill Calhoun    
  

Posted by Calhoun's Coastal Fly Fishing at 5/30/2009 3:27 PM
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: Mammoth and local fly fishing report 5/30/09
 

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