Over 900 miles of driving ! My legs look as if someone took a weed wacker to em from hiking thourgh sage brush, So tired I can't even think straight. Fishing ? It was OUTSTANDING !!!!!! I spent 6 days fishing the upper owens, one day on hot creek, and one day floating silver lake in the june lakes loop. The upper owens is an amazing river. Its smaller then I expected but the fish are large considering the size of water. The hatches were epic at times, with multiple types of bugs coming off at the same time, Ussually small pmd's and yellow sallies in the afternoon with caddis in the morning's. These fish LOVE dry's, this river is dry fly heaven. As long as you could put a fly right up against an undercut bank and you had the right fly on it was great fishing, the fish will not come out of those undercuts, the fly must be put in just the right place, After doing that for several days I must say I am pretty damn good at it, I'm sure that will fadeaway quickly though. Oh and the drift must be absolutly drag free, even a little 4 inch dink will not touch it if it is not. I had a few 20 fish days, average was probably around 12 fish landed with several lost, Hooked a few pigs, but lost em all, they fight so hard and jump so much, and every single one is so fat it's ridiculous. These fish are so spoiled, they eat when they want to, not when they have to. Most fish were about 12 inches that i landed. About a 50/50 mix of browns and bows. The benton crossing area is just like a spring creek should be, slowly snaking its way thourgh a huge meadow of grasses, you could cover alot of water in just 1 mile of walking because it makes so many S turns. The headwater section, Were it actually comes out of the ground fishes more like a freestone creek. But I did have the most fun fishing that area, Its only about 1 mile of public water, then its pvt property. I just stood there for awhile with my mouth watering, looking at that prime stretch of water, I almost went for it. The fish are really good size in the headwater section of the river, I hooked one fish on 2 occasions that was pushing 18 inches easily, I know it was the same one because I have never seen a rainbow that was so red, It may have been a cutthroat, Not sure. I worked on another fish that was again easily 18 inches in this pool about 50 feet from my campsite. Remember this is knee deep water that you can practically spit across.  I now will officailly call the upper owens my new favorite river.
Hot creek ? Well, 2 words to pretty much sum that river up, HELL HOLE ! I will never fish this river again, Over rated is an understatement. It is shallow, fast, You only get drifts that last a few seconds, its weed choked, and stinks like sulphur, and was crowded on a monday morning. I did manage to hook 3 very nice fish in about 8 hours of fishing but I lost em all. It was so windy that day, Bits of pumice were just pelting the back of my neck. I must mention that wind is a CONSTANT factor, its just a question of when, how hard, and from what direction today. Wind is a factor everywhere in that area. The one neat thing at hot creek was seeing the broadstalk fish at the hatchery, They were huge, some maybe 10 pounds. With perfect tails and fins, not like the stockers we get over here.
Silver lake was ok, Caught alot of planters, But again the quality of the planted fish in that area is pretty darn good. Much more like wild trout then we get. Thats because they are purchased by mono county from pvt stocks of fish. Not the crappy dfg planters.
To sum it up it was an amazing trip, with amazing scenery, and memory's that'll last a lifetime. The owens valley is an amzing place, the mountains and granite peaks are unbeleivable, Convict lake is gorgouse. Everywhere you go or look there something to see. Mono lake is pretty cool. I drove thourgh yosemite on the way there and back over sonora pass on the way back, No way I'm paying 20 bucks to drive thourgh a crowded yosemite on 4th of july weekend. Didn't get to fish east walker or the rock creek area, I got stuck on the owens, its that good ! This will become an anual pilgrimage. Heres a few pics. I took, Not many fish pics. its hard to take a fish pic. alone, And in my opinion should not be done as the fish needs to be revived and released immediatly not messed around with so you can prove something. The few i did get were just some small guys. It was all wet wading and the water is warm, I'd guess around 60 degree's, the trout just thrive in this warmer water.
Pic 1 is a small puddle I found at hot creek that would sometimes start bubbling, So like a moron I stuck my hand in it and got burned.
pic 2 is the owens river.
pic 3 is a small brown that ate a parachute adams.
pic 4 is dinner, dont give me no greif i kept one fish and it was tasty.
pic 5 is a funny little guy that ate a fly as big as his head.
pic 6 is were the owens actually comes out of the ground, theres several springs there, this was about 50 feet away from my FREE campsite, wich was a great campsite.
pic 7 is an amzing backdrop as i fished the owens river.
pic 8 is typical owens river.