Crowley Lake

Overview

Crowley Lake fills Long Valley below the Sierra crest between Mammoth Lakes and Bishop, formed in 1941 when the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power built Long Valley Dam on the upper Owens River. It is about 12 miles long and five wide, with a deepest spot near 100 feet but a lot of 12 to 25 foot flats and coves, and it is California's best-known stillwater for fly anglers. The fishery is a stocking program on a grand scale: CDFW plants hundreds of thousands of rainbows, browns and Lahontan cutthroat each year, private plants add more, and the rainbows show little natural reproduction. What makes those fish grow is food. Crowley has enormous midge populations, Callibaetis and damsels around the weed beds, and Sacramento perch whose fry become the main course from late July into fall. Opening day, the last Saturday in April, is the tradition: fish are scattered in the coves and inlets, and midges and balanced leeches under an indicator in McGee Bay, Hilton Bay, Green Banks, Alligator Point, Sandy Point and Layton Springs do most of the work. June and July bring the damsel hatch along weed beds that grow 13 to 15 feet tall; late summer algae blooms push fish toward cold inlets and springs; fall fishes as well as spring with fewer people. From August 1 the lake goes to artificial lures only with an 18-inch minimum and a two-fish limit, which is why the biggest fish get caught late. Launching goes through Crowley Lake Fish Camp at the south end, with a quagga mussel inspection on the way in.