Pleasant Valley Reservoir

Pleasant Valley Reservoir is the Eastern Sierra water you fish in winter. It is a narrow LADWP buffer reservoir that backs the Owens River up into the mouth of the Owens Gorge about 8 miles north of Bishop, at 4,390 feet, more than 2,500 feet below Crowley. While the high lakes are closed and frozen, this one is open all year under the statewide lake rule, and CDFW plants it every week or two from December into June: 14 plants between mid-December 2025 and late June 2026, and none from July through September. The planted rainbows fill the bag. The resident browns are why a fly angler comes, and recent winters have turned up plenty of fish of 1.5 to 2 pounds.

The best water is the northwest end, where the gorge river runs in below the Control Gorge powerhouse and stays a river for a short way before it slows into the lake. Nymph the moving water with a dry-dropper or an indicator, and work the seam where current meets still water, which is where the rainbows stack up. Out in the lake, a float tube does the work. Hang a midge pupa under an indicator just off the bottom, or count down an olive, black or orange streamer in sizes 6 to 12 on a full sink line along the drop-offs, 10 feet down or more. Baetis come off in March and April, and the gorge mouth shelters the lake from much of the wind on those afternoons. October through April is the season. In summer, power generation swings the flow and the level, the planting stops, and the trout fishing turns spotty.

Plan around access and crowds. LADWP closed the Pleasant Valley Control Gorge Patrol Road, the paved road along the east shore to the north end, in March 2023 "until further notice". Check whether it has reopened before you plan to walk or bike to the inlet, and until then fish from the dam end at the south. Weekends, holidays and the days after a plant bring out the bait anglers, and the Blake Jones Trout Derby fills the banks in March, so fish a weekday if you can. The Lower Owens Wild Trout water starts right below the dam, and the gorge is above the lake, so a slow day here is a short drive from moving water.