The Eastern Sierras

The Eastern Sierras have eluded me for years up until last summer. This range is so out of the way from everything else that I usually fish that I have had a hard time committing a trip to the region. Last summer I ventured out there with my friends; Damien and Kyle, to backpack the Golden Trout Wilderness with a few days after in the Mammoth Lakes area.

We hiked all the way up to those lakes and found a small handful of Golden Trout that were smaller than the huge population we found at the base camp.

Mammoth Lakes was a different world entirely. I am convinced that Crowley Lake is the stillwater equivalent of the San Juan River’s “Texas Hole”. A bunch of boats piled up on each other, everyone is fishing the same rigs, and every so often, someone will catch a big one. Hot Creek was cool I guess. It kind of just felt like I was fishing Canyon Creek on a Saturday in July. The Owens really stole the show. What an incredible river…