It has been many years since I have used the word "excellent" for Crowley. I had three long time clients recently and we lost count at 50 in a gale of wind! The word epic was tossed around, but not quite designated yet. By September when these fish gain another couple inches and a add more weight on average you may see this label for Crowley once again. I have been guiding Crowley nearly everyday this month and it appears that Crowley is back and we will have a tremendous season here. Some of our long time clients have returned to fish here and they all agree that Crowley is once again an amazing and consistent fishery. The brown counts are incredible and growth rates look to be nearly off the charts due to the mild winter.

The chironomid hatches are spectacular and you can expect grabs while still water nymphing on your first casts in most areas of the lake. Sandy Pt. & Layton Springs have been the most popular and consistent areas, rig up for 11-15 feet. The fish move deeper as the sun climbs especially if there is no wind. Fish a midge emerger pattern for your upper, and a larva pattern like a crystal tiger or zebra midge as the lower beneath your Under-cator. Twin emergers like the Drifters "Gillie" have been deadly on the high pressure days. You may also fish these pupa imitations higher off the bottom as the fish are looking up in the water column for the emerging insects. I have had good "catching" weather permitting...just about everywhere including McGee Bay, Sometimes Bay, the Hilton's, and Green Banks.

The water clarity is as good as I have ever seen this year and visibility is nearly 10 feet! Not exactly the Caribbean but damn good for Crowley. Some algae buds are showing as water temps near that mid 60 degree mark. I believe we will have relatively mild turnovers this year due to less nitrates from shoreline run-off (cow dung). The weeds are also starting to grow around the 10-11 foot range so make sure you locate a clear spot of bottom to suspend your flies over.

There are some jumbo sized Sacramento Perch starting to spot up on their shoreline Redd's this week also. They fight like a wet gym sock, but if you ever wanted to eat a fish out of Crowley they are delicious.

I have updated the Drifters fly box in the Fish Camp tackle store and Crowley Lake Deli with new patterns to fish all of the Sierra. Both locations are selling the fantastic "Under-cator" strike indicator now as well.

Photos:

Main Photo Above: Long time Crowley fly fishers Lance "first light" Geiger, his father Bill, and Guy Sanderson had a great day while still water nymphing.
Photo # 1: Frank Carlsen with a nice brown caught on a crystal copper tiger midge
Photo # 2: Richard "pops" Rathcke still banging those Crowley fish at 83. He fished all day in a tube the day before!

Photo # 3: Richard "the ripper" Rathcke agrees Crowley is back big time!

Photo # 4: Eric Carlsen backing down hard in full reverse while in his tube battling a Crowley rainbow that took him way into fly line backing.

Photo # 5: Jeremy "screech" Hermes with one of his many nice bows caught on Crowley Lake

Photo # 6: Dave Fleming with his cute little "midge" daughter Bryce showing off a nice Crowley bow

Photo # 7: Brayden Fleming would not put his rod down on Crowley for two days and did great!

Photo # 8: Guy "big fish" Sanderson with one of his many he got on Crowley agrees the lake is really fishing well this season