The Shark's report is great, so I will get into some of the specifics of the trip. The fishing is on fire right now at the "Big C".
Short story, Little Hilton was on excellent to us for the first two days, 13' of water, tiger or grey emergers in size 14 or 16. Mcgee good and consistant in the latter morning, 9' to 13' of water, tigers, zebras, and grey gillies in size 16 and 18. Big fish in both areas. Important to be on the edge of the creek channel in Mcgee to get consistant action. Checked green banks and leighton springs for dirty warm water.
Long story........
First day started in Mcgee in 13' of water and found okay fishing, a bite every five to seven minuets, just enough to keep it interesting. The thing that kept us there till 10:30 was the size to the fish. Most of the ones we landed were over 17". Dave and Jeff had left an hour and half before and I hadn't heard from them, so at that time we took off for Little Hilton. What we found there was good action. As we pulled up, Jeff, Dave and Dave's son, Justin had a triple going. Other boats were hooking up also. Good sign. We get the anchors down(all the rentals at Crowley come with two anchors) in 13', adjust our indicators and start catching. We were fishing the basic indicator rig, 5 or 6 wt. rods, floating line, 14' leaders(composed of 11' of 10lb to 18" of 4x fluoro to the first fly to 16" of 5x fluoro to the second), sierra drifter sunjicators, #6 split shot 1' above the top fly. Lots of double hookups. We were fishing the double greys in Mcgee and continued in Little Hilton. A gilled chironomid on the bottom and an emerger on the top. When we first arrived we positioned the bottom fly 6" off the bottom, as the day wore on, we kept moveing the flys higher off the bottom and finally ended up about 16" from the bottom. When that bite sort of slowed, we repositioned in 9' in hopes of some bigger fish. Right off the bat Shelly gets a 19" and I a 18", right on. A couple of more fish come to the net, then it happened, my indicator gets pulled under followed by a trail of bubbles. I set and this thing boils, its big
, probably the biggest trout I have ever hooked in Crowley.
And it proves its strength and stamina by
spooling me and breaking my 5x tippet. On my reels, they carry 40yrds of 20lb. dacron(I'm switching to spectra) and have never been spooled by a trout. This fish was a stud. The fish are so healthly right now it amazed me, by their acrobats and fiestiness.
There were a number of big fish blowing out on damsels,but I never got a chance to fish for them, although I did hang a damsel patteren 2' under my bobber(as a third fly) in hopes, but never connected with it.
One other point of that day was most of the bigger fish were hung on a size 14 tiger with a gold bead or black bead.
TheShark with a 19" rainbow
Day two.
We started at Little Hilton and it was game on right off the bat. Lots of fish comeing to the net, but only a couple of keepers. Keepers is what we call fish that are 18" or bigger. About 11:00 the bite slowed and we headed to Mcgee. In finding a friend of mind Bob Klug, a Bishop local, and talking to him we decided to fish in tight, inside of the main group of boats. We had the boat setting in 9' of water with it comeing up to 7' a rod length behind us. This proved key as Shelly being new to the sport of fly fishing was haveing trouble getting her rig very far from the boat. Don't get me wrong, she did great, a super student, obeservant and attentive. The fish seemed to key in on the edge of the creek channel and we were getting bites not ten feet from the boat. Again the double greys were working for us, with our fly position 4" off the bottom. We had good action in spurts at this spot, but we were getting some good fish. Dave had been fishing the deeper water in Mcgee and reported that he had 12 fish with
the smallest being 17". He had to leave and head back home. Dave and Jeff had the same if not better action, than Shelly and I. They are two very good fisherman and proved that with a 4th and 5th place finish in the Double Haul contest, the first year they entered! I am stoked to have them as friends and a part of the collective fishing information circle. They are also accomplished saltwater guys, which is where I met them ten years ago on a long-range trip.
Jeff with a 20" rainbow and Justin staying cool(the fish didn't seem to mind the extra company!)
Dave with a 22" rainbow
Day three.
Little Hilton's conditions changed. The surface temp. warmed to 72 and it seemed the fish had moved out of there. We only had six fish to the net by 08:30, so we took off to Mcgee. We found Bob again and talked about boat position, flys, etc. and made the decision to fish were we had the previous day. It was good consistant action, not great, but we kept busy. Same type of flies as the days before, although I did get some fish on a 14 "gaudy" tiger. There was another hot fly, but I am not allowed to tell about it until after the contest in September. Basically an enhanced Zebra.
Speaking of fly patterns. I am a big believer in boat position and depth of the flys over fly pattern and color. You have to be on the fish to catch them. Patterns and color are important, but there are other things that have a bigger bearing on your final outcome.
All in all, this was a excellent fishing trip that came up at the last minute. The water had just turned over and the fish were stacked in these two spots. The water clarity in Mcgee was nine feet. We could see our chrome forceps on the bottom while adjusting our indicators! You could see lots of fish around and under the boat. I have never seen conditions look so good. It seems that Crowley is back to normal.
A forcast that I would like to make, is that since the fishing has been so slow there at the lake and the conditons bad most of the summer, not near as many fish have been taken by the bait and kill guys. There are only a few more days left before the speical restrictions apply. This september is going to be off the scale. The lake is at a super high level which makes for massive weed beds and lots of perch fry.
Also got a couple of cutthoats, this one going 18"
The camera person would only take pictures of my small fish
Bob in his laid back style
I can't say enough good things about this lake and the people surrounding it. My thanks to Bob Klug, Jeff and Dave Mcbride, the lake staff and the local guides Tom, Mickey and Fill at Sierra Drifters for being so helpful and giveing with there information.
www.sierradrifters.com 
CrowleyBound Report! 
Linear Mode
