Welcome fellow anglers to the Opening Day Crowley Lake Fishing report. This week was a great time to be on the water as we had great mid-day temperatures which made for some great angling over the weekend. We had around 9,000 visiting friends and families here with us at the Fish Camp and what a celebration it was. The fishing action got started at daybreak which was around 5:05 a.m. and by 6:00 a.m. there were boats on all aspects of the lake.

The opening day action was great with most anglers reporting bag limits and the fish were averaging 1.5 to 2.0 lbs on most stringers. We also had our annual Fred J. Hall Memorial Opening Day Fishing Tournament this weekend. The tournament's main focus is on the largest fish caught on Opening Day.

We had lots of really nice size fish come to the scales but unfortunately only one can win in this all out battle for first place. This year's opening day Fred J. Hall Memorial big fish winner for the adult division was David Buckman from Crowley Lake, CA with a 25" 7lb. 14 ?? oz. brown trout.

The winner for the kid's division goes out to Reimi Woo of San Diego, CA with a 22 ?? " 5 lb. 11 oz. rainbow. Nice job guys and gals and thanks for competing in this year's tournament.

Now for all you still fisherman out there here is what's hot and what's not on Crowley. I have seen a lot of good stringers over the weekend and I have seen a number of different types of bait taking home the glory but if I was to pick three top baits for the week I would have to suggest Berkley Gulp Eggs in fluorescent red, orange and chartreuse. I would also suggest Berkley Gulp in Chunky Cheese, Sherbert Burst, and also Lemon Twist and last but not least the inflated night crawler fished Carolina style on 2 lb. test will surely get the rods bent in a hurry. So get out there and go fish. Suggested areas: Alligator Point, West Shore, and BeaverCove.

The trolling has been very productive as well. We have seen a good number of quality fish coming to the scales this weekend that have come in on the troll. This time of year the fish seem to be suspended a little higher in the water column, so you can offer the trout two different offerings. One being on lead core line the other being flat line trolling. Either method will be productive as long as you keep your swim baits in the upper half of the water column. For lead core, I would suggest 1.5 to 3 colors. The hot lures for the week are as follows: Owner Mira Shad in Flame, Pink Passion, and Black Pearl. I would also suggest double jointed Rapala's in baby brown trout, gold/orange, firetiger, and metallic perch. Thomas Bouyants in red/gold, rainbow trout, and black have also been productive as well as needlefish in bubblegum, firetiger, and pearl bikini.

For all you fly anglers out there here is the scoop?ĶThe midge emergence has been starting to come on around 10:00 a.m. and lasting until around 2:00 p.m. The fish have been keying in on larva and pupa patterns during this period and this is definitely your best time to be on the water. I would suggest fishing Sierra Drifter's chironomids in #16 copper tiger's, light gillies, black tiger's, and crystal leeches. I would suggest fishing 5x tippet to your point fly and you should be hanging these flies around 18 inches off the bottom. Suggested areas: McGee Bay, Sandy Point, Green Banks, and Big Hilton.

Once again we would like to thank all of our participating patrons over the opening weekend for joining us and we look forward to seeing you all through out the season. We also have a couple of rental boats left for rent over the weekend so if you are thinking about coming up you should make your reservation a.s.a.p. in order to secure your reservation. Best fishes to all and happy hunting.