San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Fly Fished the Upper Owens river by Mammoth and the East Walker River outside of Bridgeport last weekend. I primarily used euro-style tight line nymphing with very specific tackle associated with that technique. For example, I have a 10ft , 3 weight echo shadow x rod that is very sensitive at the tip and sturdy like a 6 weight at the handle. I also use 40 ft of mono line like amnesia with no fly line. Basically I bounce heavily weighted tungsten nymphs on the bottom of the river and set the hook when I feel a bite. I caught almost 100 trout in 4 or 5 days so it is a very successful method for catching numbers (most of the fish were 10” or smaller but got some large ones too). Well that’s my 1 trout fishing trip for the year so it’s back to SD bay for spotties, surf fishing for perch, and warm water lakes for carp and bass!

That’s what a trout tail looks like! Nice job

Those are some nice looking trout... Great #s too... WTG..
Butch

Nice! What is the benefit of amnesia vs a thin euro nymph line like the one made by Rio? Just starting to get into euro nymphing and it’s definitely effective

Great job! I am kind of sad I didn't get to fish any of the Mammoth lakes or creeks this year but if they're still biting like that I may have to take a drive up there soon.

Did the stock the upper owens?

Risentide, the amnesia is the line from the reel which attaches to a sighter line and 5 ft of 5x or smaller tippet. Amnesia doesn’t have much memory so it’s good for managing the line like fly line. Maxima chameleon or Cortland camouflage are also good.

Here is my total euro rig recipe:

40 ft 14 lb mono
3 ft 10 lb mono
18” of 8 lb sighter line
2 mm tippet ring
5 ft of 5.5x with a dropper 18” to 2ft from end

Regarding flies, I tie up different natural color thread frenchies with thread hot spots instead of dubbing (super easy to tie guide fly). Lastly I caught those large ones on the upper Owens using a Croston’s chenille worm variation that I tie. Hope this helps!!!

So no fly line is visible, not even in the guides?

Isn't it easier to use a long, light spinning rod (Steelhead rods come to mind) and a spinning reel if no fly line is being used?

I'm not used to seeing great looking fish like those out of the upper Owens, those are beautiful.

OOlicon wrote: Thu Oct 26, 2023 5:05 pm I'm not used to seeing great looking fish like those out of the upper Owens, those are beautiful.

You need to go up in the winter time! The rainbows that come out of Crowley to spawn in the Upper Owens look like steelhead

Gotcha, I've only ever experienced it after opening day, pre-closure must be something else.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane, I lived in Bishop for almost 25 years. Loved the upper Owens above Crowley Lake in the fall