Fish Report — MAMMOTH LAKES FLY FISHING

Happy Spring Solstice! Longer and warmer days have brought about some really fun fishing. Lower Owens is flowing at an easily wadeable 77 cfs, and is fishing great subsurface almost all day, with a killer mayfly hatch some days around 1p

Mike Villemaire 3/22/25 Mike Villemaire 3/22/25

Sometimes in January we are buried in snow and chipping ice off our guides to catch fish.. This year we are enjoying the sun and a few solid hatches. Nice fish are actively eating in our year round waters. Hot Creek has lots of wild fis

Mike Villemaire 1/14/25 Mike Villemaire 1/14/25

Fall is just around the corner, along with some excellent fishing. Upper O has been really fun, good numbers of fish, a few big resident fish in the mix, and a few Crowley fish are in the system. Colors of the Aspens are already lit, Br

Mike Villemaire 9/28/24 Mike Villemaire 9/28/24

Temps have cooled off a bit after a pretty intense heat streak. Actually seeing frost at higher elevations early in the AM which is pretty crazy for July. That said, very comfortable daytime temps for fishing, and plenty of bugs hatchin

Mike Villemaire 7/30/24 Mike Villemaire 7/30/24

Hope everyone had a killer 4th of July! Lots of fun fishing right now. Upper Owens has a ton of wild fish, planted rainbows, and a few random lunkers hiding in deep pools / undercut banks. In the morning you’ll find pods of fish rising

Mike Villemaire 7/10/24 Mike Villemaire 7/10/24

Trout season is officially open and we have lots of killer fishing options right now. Hot Creek isn’t seeing a ton of snow melt yet, and on warmer days there are fish rising to caddis, blue winged olive duns, and small grey or olive midg

Mike Villemaire 5/7/24 Mike Villemaire 5/7/24

Fishing is awesome right now. We are fishing in Flows on the Lower O are around 125 cfs as of this report, which means you can wade most of the river to get into position for super productive nymphing techniques, or to cast that mayfly o

Mike Villemaire 3/20/24 Mike Villemaire 3/20/24

Snow is falling in Mammoth area, Upper Owens and Hot creek both having early midge hatches, midday BWO’s coming off and fish rising to them. Still finding lake run fish in certain holes on the Upper O.. As always you have to walk some wa

Mike Villemaire 2/19/24 Mike Villemaire 2/19/24

Mammoth area fishing is really fun right now. You can put in some effort and casts and find some total slabs on the Upper O…or grab your 2 or 3wt, and toss small mayfly dries to pods of wild rising fish on Hot Creek..same on many bends o

Mike Villemaire 12/6/23 Mike Villemaire 12/6/23

Great Fall vibes around the Mammoth Area right now. Got a little dusting of snow this past weekend, mountain looked ready to ski for a day or two. Since then it’s been beautiful sunny days in the 60’s with the colors of the aspens reall

Mike Villemaire 10/5/23 Mike Villemaire 10/5/23

It’s been different season from any I can remember. Some fisheries in amazing shape, some that are usually good this time of year are a little more challenging. Tons of hoppers in Hot Creek Canyon, and tricos and caddis are taking some

Mike Villemaire 8/30/23 Mike Villemaire 8/30/23

Flows are still up, but fishing is really fun on many of our waters right now. Hot Creek has been consistently delivering larger fish than most years, and we are mainly still nymphing here. That said, some days fish are starting to eat

Mike Villemaire 7/26/23 Mike Villemaire 7/26/23

Fishing has been really fun, and also challenging at the higher flows in our area. Yes, some waters are super high and difficult to fish currently, but others are kicking out really nice fish if you know where to find the fish (and how t

Mike Villemaire 6/25/23 Mike Villemaire 6/25/23

Runoff is really kicking in around the Mammoth area, so conditions can be variable day to day depending on temps and how much snowmelt comes through the systems. That said, the spring setting is gorgeous here, and we are finding places t

Mike Villemaire 5/26/23 Mike Villemaire 5/26/23

Mike Villemaire 3/28/23 Mike Villemaire 3/28/23

Still an insane amount of snow around Mammoth, expected to break the record for annual snowfall with the storm today. Access to our waters is really the tricky thing right now. Some fishing possibilities near bishop, though the gorge roads are closed, as well as the usual access roads to wild trout section of Lower Owens. Up here, you need a snowmobile, or be willing to hike in the snow to find fishing opportunities. That said, there are some nice fish that are eating in our spring creeks, and even some hatch activity during warmer parts of the day. The scenery is breathtaking right now, so it’s worth the effort.

Mike Villemaire 4/3/22 Mike Villemaire 4/3/22

Great weather for the weekend, get out and fish! Looks a little stormy early next week…

Hot Creek is fishing solid right now, with a mix of midges hatching early am, mayflies coming off around 12 or 1pm depending on where you are on the creek, and sporadic caddis activity after that. Bite takes a dip around 2.

Upper O still has some lake bows hanging out in certain areas, but you’ve got to cover some water to find them. Midday some mayflies are bringing some smaller resident fish to the surface, along with some caddis dancing on across the water.

Lower O early AM starts off a little slow, with a few fish rising to midge clusters and crane flies, then nymphing picks up with the usual midge patterns, micro mayfly patterns, caddis larvae and stoneflies in the mix.

Mammoth Lakes Fly Fishing | (619) 756-4149 | bigtroutday@gmail.com