Owens River

The Owens River is located in eastern California and is 193km long, rising in the Sierra Nevada in southwestern Mono County.  It stars from the Long Valley Caldera, passes Lake Crowley reservoir, and descends to the Owens River Gorge, and then passing to the north end of the Owens Valley.

The upper part of the river is a high plains creek, the middle – a canyon tail water while the lower is a valley tail water.


The river is host to many insect species and is quite dense in trout, about 10,000 fish per mile in some areas. There are many wild and stocked rainbows, but brown trouts dominated the area. Upper Owens has many private areas, where fishing only consists of catch-and-release on barbless flies.

Summer is warm and breezy, being a good place if you want to chill out and have a bit of piece of quiet.