Owens river restoration

The eastern Sierra is already a Mecca for fly fisherman and this will only make it better.
 
A friend was the unit biologist who worked on that settlement starting 20 years ago. We had our van tossed by a warden because he wanted to know why we were going into Butte City after getting a permit at Howard Slough. It was because it was before small cell phones were common and he had to use a pay phone to check on the settlement's progress. He worked hard to get water back into Rush Creek too. It's a stream that runs into Mono Lake and will have trout in the lower sections too. I don't know how that worked out.
DWP was an impossible organization to work with from his experience and taking this long to reach agreement verifies that.
 
calamari said:
A friend was the unit biologist who worked on that settlement starting 20 years ago. We had our van tossed by a warden because he wanted to know why we were going into Butte City after getting a permit at Howard Slough. It was because it was before small cell phones were common and he had to use a pay phone to check on the settlement's progress. He worked hard to get water back into Rush Creek too. It's a stream that runs into Mono Lake and will have trout in the lower sections too. I don't know how that worked out.
DWP was an impossible organization to work with from his experience and taking this long to reach agreement verifies that.
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If they would also transplant some cheat grass and wild Chukar to go with the non native Brown Trout they may have something. :cheers:
 
quail hound said:
They're around.:cheers:
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Hell yeah, they are! I was born and raised there ? came into the world at Southern Inyo Hospital in Lone Pine, then went home to Independence where I lived in the same house until I left for college.

If there's been a sufficient amount of spring rain (which there hasn't been in the past several years), there'll be lots of chukars in the Inyos. You have to know where the springs are, though, and they're few in number and not easy to find.

As for fishing, it's a trout mecca, but I could take you to some bass ponds on the valley floor that'd make your jaw drop. They're entirely on public land, but like the springs in the Inyos, they're all but impossible to just stumble upon. The locals (and I still consider myself one although I haven't actually resided there in 30 years) never talk about them to outsiders.
 
Inyo is a beautiful county. I've been trying to pinpoint it but haven't yet found those fabled draws where chukar, mtn quail, Ca quail, and gambles can be had in the same draw after snow has driven down the high country birds. I believe they may lie in lands that are now off limits to hunting? 9 mile canyon road is a beautiful drive and then there is Methuselah, what an amazing land. You can pm me coordinates to a few of those bass ponds.:thumbsup:
 
What a great place to be from and to grow up as a boy! I bet the Cottontails still run at the sound of your name.
I hunted Chukars in that area with my friend who was the unit biologist for DFG back then. Found them on the flats or on the ridge tops depending on the year. Flats-good. Ridge tops-not so good. Like you said though it's all moisture dependent and seems almost like they lay dormant in the ground like seeds waiting for rain.
Fly fishing for big trout chasing Sacramento Perch minnows where McGee creek enters Crowley are some of my favorite memories. Sitting in Sheepherders hot spring drinking wine while the sun went down over the Sierra escarpment is another.
 
calamari said:
What a great place to be from and to grow up as a boy! I bet the Cottontails still run at the sound of your name.
I hunted Chukars in that area with my friend who was the unit biologist for DFG back then. Found them on the flats or on the ridge tops depending on the year. Flats-good. Ridge tops-not so good. Like you said though it's all moisture dependent and seems almost like they lay dormant in the ground like seeds waiting for rain.
Fly fishing for big trout chasing Sacramento Perch minnows where McGee creek enters Crowley are some of my favorite memories. Sitting in Sheepherders hot spring drinking wine while the sun went down over the Sierra escarpment is another.
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Oh God, just the mention of cottontails brings back a flood of memories. We hunted them east of the Black Rock Fish Hatchery (clue to Quail Hound, a couple of those bass ponds aren't far from there) and then on the other side of the highway around the alfalfa fields of the 8-Mile Ranch.

I specifically recall one summer day when I was about 12. My dad took me fishing way up Independence Creek in the morning, then I spent the blazing July (or maybe it was August) afternoon at the public swimming pool at the school. Then when 5:30 p.m. rolled around, we headed out to chase the rabbits.

I didn't think much of it -- that's just what we did growing up in the OV. But my dad picked that day to impress upon me how fortunate I was to have days like that, which most kids would never come close to experiencing. He said when I was much older, I'd always look back upon them fondly and wish I could relive them.

Damned if he wasn't right.
 
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