In the past I've always been opposed to paying to fish Pvt. water but lately I have been considering it. If you have fished Pvt. water do you think it was worth it ? What waters have you fished or would you recomend ? Ones that come to mind i'd like to try are the hot creek ranch, and the ranch on the east walker I forget the name.

I’ve fished Hot Creek Ranch several times. Here are some things to help you make a decision about fishing it.

Hot Creek Ranch is dry fly fishing only and wading is prohibited. Hot Creek is a beautiful 2 mile spring creek that winds its way through the flat terrain of the property. The hatches are pretty reliable and there are quite a few rising fish, as you would expect. The scenery around the ranch is quite spectacular with a variety of terrain that’s visible when fishing the creek. The mountains to the West are particularly impressive. When you fish Hot, you are not only enjoying the fishing but also the beautiful surroundings. If you like technical dry fly fishing on a small spring creek, you will probably enjoy Hot Creek Ranch. Hot Creek is also close to many other fishing opportunities such as the Hot Creek public section, Crowley Lake, the Owens River and several lakes near Mammouth Lakes. There are 9 cabins, each with fully equipped kitchens.

One negative aspect of the stream is the size of the fish. Although the fish are reasonably plentiful, their size are typically small for a pay-for-play operation. Fish range from dinks to about 16 inches, but fish 17 inches or larger are hard to come by. The average fish is typically from 12 to 15 inches. You can spot larger fish in the stream, but they typically don’t rise to dry flies. It’s my understanding that larger fish will hit hoppers, but I personally have never fished a hopper hatch on Hot.

Another problem you will encounter is the limited availability of rental dates. Many anglers fish the stream year after year and they reserve the best dates for themselves. Plus, so many anglers want to fish the stream, that availability of ANY cabin is very limited. Basically, newcomers must "take what they can get". The only other alternative is to keep checking the Ranch’s Availablilty Calendar on a frequent basis and hope for a cancellation (typically very rare during the prime fishing times).

Finally, the Ranch has a strict cancellation policy. If you cancel between 30 and 14 days from your arrival, you’ll lose your deposit. If you cancel less than 14 days from your arrival, you will be charged the entire amount of your proposed stay. (I got burned by this policy when a fluke early Winter snow storm hit exactly on the days I was supposed to fish the Ranch; even though it would have been incredibly difficult for me to get through the Sierra snow storm and the storm dumped 4 inches of snow on Mammouth Lakes, I was charged the full amount of my two-night stay).