Virginia Lakes Resort Fishing Report

Greg Shirly of Acton, 3lb3 trophy on a crawler
Photo Credit: Virginia Lake Resort

by Carolyn Webb
10-1-2016
Website

Weather: - (7am Temp First light/Last light)
Sunday 42º 6:18/7:10 Clear and calm Monday 39º 6:19/7:08 Clear and calm Tuesday 40º 6:20/7:07 Clear early with hi thin clouds moving through Wednesday 41º 6:21/7:05 Clear early with heavy clouds moving in around 11am and remained all day Thursday 41º 6:22/7:04 Clear early with a few thin very high clouds with a light breeze knocking off the leaves at Little V and around noon the clouding came from the west and covered 1/2 of the sky  Friday 40º 6:23/7:02 Clear and cool light breeze with gusts throughout the day, large billowy clouds all day Saturday 40º 6:24/7:01 Very windy most of the night through about 5pm with clouds moving through the area This past week was warmer and the aspens turned yellow then wind all day on the 1st of Oct which dropped most of the leaves at the resort.

CalTrans is still on hold repairing the remainder of the rock fall project that started last summer. Chain link fencing installed above the barriers from the fire damage and it has daily 8-5 one lane closures. More chain link barrier fencing is being installed on top of the concrete barriers along the south-bound lane in order to handle any mud slides due to the rain.

The stock truck stocked on Wednesday this week as they have gone to an every other week schedule. Fishing was good after Wednesday as they sstocked some very nice trout, up to 1.5lb and around 13-14 inches.

BAIT: Night crawlers have been great all summer, but with the latest stocking the pink tail/white head or white tail/pink head mice tails, yellow glitter powerbait, salmon peach powerbait, and garlic sage are also taking a lot of trout. Pautzke's red glitter salmon eggs on size 14-16 red egg hooks have been producing somewhat. For the best action using a mice tail use the new light wire hooks by Owner called Mosquito hooks and be sure and ask how to hook the mice tails for the best results. The next way to hook up a mice tail is fill a clear bubble with water and stop it with a swivel and about 3 to 4 feet of leader with a treble hook and bury it inside the ball, that is from the courtesy of the Marshmallow King.

LURES: Try red/gold Buoyant's, small gold Kastmasters, Rooster Tails and small gold spoons, gold Super Duper's, and Panther Martin yellow/red dots and gold fire stripe Hot Shots. Always try all your favorite hardware until the fish find the "action" they are looking for. Remember to use the lure properly by adding the right swivel for the best action. Not much change here.

FLY AND BUBBLE: Lots of dry fly action this week due to the warmer air so try a Yellow Stimulator, X-Caddis peacock, or an Olive Elk-hair Caddis, green body California Mosquito and Grey Hackle yellow size 14, damsels, hoppers and black ants. Also try some Black Gnat parachute #14, Cowdung #14, and Adams Female #14. They're all working especially the Grey Hackle Peacock size 14, my favorite this time of year. Oh I almost forgot, the spider trails are flying crazy off the pine trees so get out your yellow or orange soft hackles.

Best action is ALWAYS when their is a chop on the water which is usually late afternoon to legal limit at night.

FLY RODS: Olive woolly bugger or Dirty Doc, Virginia Lakes special, black woolly buggers, olive Hornberg's, Hemmingway Caddis, Tent-wing Caddis, Olive Elk Hair Caddis, Yellow Sally Caddis and Black Gnat parachute size 14 and skinny stillwater nymphs. Not to be redundant, but if you tie flies try using less material than normal for high elevation waters as they work better maybe because they've seen everything a couple hundred times this time of year. Same as last week the 18-24th.

BACKCOUNTRY: Surface hatches were a bit slow unless you have the right fly, as they've seen everything a few hundred times. Get crazy and Dump the bait and try some dry flies with a bubble or fly rod on small gnats, green body mosquitoes, black ants, hoppers, and olive elk hair caddis sizes 16-18; fly size will change as the weather cools so start using smaller hooks. Lure action that did was on gold Super Duper's, gold Mepps size O, and very small gold spoons. Early morning and early evening are the best times for any action. This is pretty consistent for the canyon. Come and ask me what's hot.

Please keep only what you can eat, it is a valuable resource. Also, If the trout bleeds, it's yours, PLEASE don't toss it back into the lake as it will die. If you care about the resource please be careful when releasing fish back into the lake. Also, IT ATTRACKS BEARS!


Virginia Lakes Resort is located near the top of Conway Summit between Mono Lake and Bridgeport, CA. We have everything you need to enjoy the Eastern Sierra. Check out our WEBSITE.