SIERRAS/COLORADO FORM CHARTS

Sierra/Colorado Form Charts Western Outdoor NewsPublished: Jul 01, 2009

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EASTERN SIERRA FORM CHARTS BISHOP AREA — Every four years or so Southern California Edison pops for a big plant of Alpers in Bishop Creek’s upper lakes and Sabrina, South and North each got 1,800 pounds of quality rainbows last week. Weather hot but more thunderstorms could break the heat wave that took air temps over 100 degrees in Bishop and slowed fishing on the Owens River to an early morning bite that was best when there was a caddis hatch. BRIDGEPORT AREA — West Walker River was almost in shaped when mid-week thunderstorms bumped the flows again. East Walker flows up as they start to let water out of the reservoir, but still fishing well on the nymphs and some dries. Bridgeport Reservoir good for 1 to 2-pound rainbows on bait and midges. Upper and Lower Twin Lakes steady for stockers and the occasional bigger fish. A few kokanee in the mix. Robinson Creek stays good for a few days after a plant. Virginia Lakes basin in full swing and so are the mosquitoes. LEE VINING AREA — Saddlebag resort open and the lake is fishing well for holdovers. Lundy Lake full. Good fly fising on dry flies in Tuolumne River and Lee Vining Creek. JUNE LAKE LOOP — Loop lakes feeling the heat, but some good catches made early and late on bait. Trollers can beat the mid-day blues by going deep with leadcore. Grant Lake has been filling fast. No word on the fishing but new café is supposed to be good. MAMMOTH LAKES AREA — All the Mammoth Lakes basin waters are on a good bite, but Mary and George were singled out for the best action. San Joaquin River still out, but should be in fairly soon. Convict Lake steady for fair fishing. Hot Creek very good for experienced fly anglers with some dry fly action on the upper Owens River. Trout have moved shallow to feed on midges at Crowley where the perch action is still wide open on big fish. COLORADO RIVER FORM CHARTS LAKE MEAD — The heat was brutal this past week, which meant fishing past 9 a.m. was an exercise in ridiculousness. Thus, the best striper action has understandably been in the early-morning hours. The topwater bite’s been up and down, with Government Wash and the mouth of Calville Bay both producing on surface offerings. For those opting to fish cut bait, the mouth of Boxcar in 65 feet of water has been a key locale. Most linesides are averaging 2 to 3 pounds, however, there were fish to 10 pounds taken this past week. Bassin’s been hit or miss, according to reports, with the Temple Bar area seemingly producing better than other spots.   WILLOW BEACH — There was only a single double-digit striper to report this past week, as action took a hit due to the scorching weather. Trout limits were still available, however, for those targeting the rainbows.  MOHAVE LAKE — Just to give you an idea of how blisteringly hot it was this past weekend, according to staffers at Cottonwood Cove Resort, it was 115 degrees in the shade. Considering it was at least a few degrees warmer than that on the water (not to mention not a lick of wind in sight), fishing was understandably relegated to the morning and evening hours. Overall action was on the slow side because of the heat, with a few stripers in the 21⁄2- to 5-pound range reported to the north of Cottonwood Cove by the power lines, Placer Cove and up towards Willow Beach. Anchovies seemed to produce best, however, anglers did report a few stripers on Rapalas or Bomber Long A’s. Catfish also showed their whiskered mugs. LAKE HAVASU — Scorching weather hit the area this past week, making early-morning or late-evening outings the rule. Even so, stripers were still on the chew, hitting both topwaters and shad imitations. Smallmouth continued to take drop-shot plastics or cranks fished in the shallows.