The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

So my buddy wanted to take his son on his first float tubing trip. The plan was to stay on the June Lake Loop, fish Crowley in the am and then a closer lake in the evening. Good plan till nature got in the way.

Hit Mammoth Lakes about 3 pm on Thurs. Very overcast - clear that storm was on the way. Hit the Loop and freezing rain coming down. Time to find cabin and hunker down for the evening with an adult beverage or two.

Friday tried to stick with plan and checked out Crowley in the AM. Very cold and VERY windy. White caps like bad day on ocean. Time to explore and look for sheltered lake. Wind not bad at Gull so put the tubes in. Got a few pulling seal buggers but nothing big. Bait folks pulling um out like no tomorrow.

Sat AM didn't look much better for Crowley so we tried Upper Twin in Mammoth. Wind not too bad with overcast sky. Everyone in group caught fish. Hooked up with two good ones. First one ran into weeds immediately and got off. Second one hit and took off for 395. Took me into backing. Got it back to 20 feet from tube when seal bugger pulled out. #$#$@$. Then the snow storm started. Bite on for 1/2 hour before storm then shut down and lake became a white out. Never tubed with 1/2 inch snow on tube before. Got off lake and called it quits for the day.

Cleared some on Sunday so hit Green Banks area on Crowley. Lots of tubers but no one catching much. Seeming like 1-2 fish per tube the norm. I got one decent fish on a grey-white double bunny. We moved across lake to Layton Springs area for PM. Others in group hooked several each - more action than AM for sure. I couldn't get a bump. $@#!$@%

Return to springs area for Monday AM before hitting highway for home. Weather much better - lake like glass till noon. Everyone in group hooked 4-5 fish each including buddy's son who had a very nice one on that jumped twice next to my tube before coming off. Once again I couldn't get a bump. ##$@$@. Had fast sink tip on floating line but may have still been too high. Maybe just pissed off fishing gods. Did see something never seen before. Was a big pelican hanging around us. Buddy's son hooks a fish and pelican immediately comes over by his tube. Pelican follows line in water and waits for fish to splash on surface. Fish swirls next to bird who dives down and takes the fish. Time to carry sling shot in the old float tube???

Of course blue bird weather forecast for rest of week with fishing picking up.

Darti

That's the first I've heard of pelicans bothering fisherman at Crowley. Never had that problem myself, but have had loons chasing my fish on some of the B.C. lakes!

I've had that happen to me on Lake Don Pedro a few times. They kinda taste like spotted owl!

Beerfly

Really? I always thought they had more of a fishy flavor, like Sea Otter. To me, Bald Eagle tastes a lot like Spotted Owl.