Crowley Lake Fly Fishing Tactics 

with Ernie Gulley
7:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 12, 2012

In the past decade or so, Crowley Lake has become a premiere destination for Southern California fly fishermen searching for really big trout. Just off Highway 395, south of Mammoth, a day on Crowley fits well into an Eastern Sierra fishing expedition. Created in 1941, it is the largest reservoir in the LADWP system, roughly five miles wide by 12 miles long, a resting place for the Owens River before it begins its long journey to our water supply.


Rainbow and brown trout grow fast and fat in the nutrient rich lake, feeding heavily on the incredibly prolific chironomid insect species, better known to us as midges. The best techniques for catching trout on Crowley are unusual, and very different than what we’re used to on moving water.

 Ernie Gulley was born in Southern California, and started fishing with his dad as soon as he could walk. Lake fishing had a special attraction for Ernie, which continues to this day. Ernie is the 2007 winner of the “Double Haul in the Fall” tournament at Crowley, and has placed second in the 2008 and 2009 “Stillwater Classic” team division. Now a resident of Riverside, Ernie has been an instructor of fly tying and stillwater fishing at the Deep Creek Fly Fishers, and is a past president of the High Desert Fly Fishers.

 Ernie has dedicated himself to learning and developing deadly nymphing techniques especially for Crowley Lake. In his program this Thursday night, Ernie will teach us the best places to fish the lake depending on the month of the year. He’ll show us a map of the lake along with the trout's migratory pattern during the season. Ernie will teach us how to fish the lake from the shore, as well as from a float tube and boat. He’ll share with us the correct patterns, as well as the best way to rig them on the leader for the specific style of indicator fishing most effective on Crowley. Also important is how to choose the appropriate fishing depth at different times, and how to adjust your rig to get there.