Owens River Ranch Is a Spot of Gold for Rainbow Trout

For most, there was no escaping the madness on opening day of the Eastern Sierra trout season.

More than 5,000 anglers flocked to the shores and onto the water at Crowley Lake early Saturday morning, launching an attack so thorough and effective, they might as well have been dropping depth charges.

And things weren’t much different elsewhere. So much Power Bait was cast into the local creeks and rivers, it’s a wonder they didn’t dam up. So many boats zigzagged across the lakes, it’s surprising that there weren’t any serious collisions, or brawls.

But in the middle of all this, between Bishop and Bridgeport, was the Owens River Ranch, the well-kept secret, far removed from the circus atmosphere, where the only chaos was the occasional splashing of a fly-hooked trout.

Lynn Adams, 56, of Arcadia, spent opening day here. He could have looked in any direction and not seen another soul, had he not focused on the river itself, adeptly casting his fly and watching wild trout rise up and snatch it.

“I caught 12 rainbows, from 1 1/2 to 3 1/2 pounds, one small brown about 10 inches long, and then about six or seven little fish,” he said, before embarking on another session.

Louie Horton, 77, of Vista, was enjoying the scenery, gazing off in the distance toward barren Bald Mountain, watching hawks soar above lush meadows and dive into stands of aspen and pine.

“This is so great . . .,” he said from the wooden deck of his cabin. “The fish are the bonus. You know, to catch the trout--that’s lovely. But just to be here and to fish this water. . . .”

This would be the portion of the Owens River that runs through the Alpers family-run Owens River Ranch, a 210-acre spread just below the headwaters of the popular river, which meanders down the mountains to Crowley Lake and beyond to Lone Pine before running into the aqueduct that leads to Los Angeles.

The Alpers family offers no fishing novelty: Vast stretches of the upper Owens are renowned for their wild trout. Nor is the Alpers spread the only private ranch offering uncrowded river fishing: The renowned Arcularias Ranch is just downstream.

But the Owens River Ranch is unique for its simplicity, which is what regulars say gives it its charm.

“We don’t even advertise,” said Tim Alpers, 47, who with his mother, Alice, runs the fishing business on the ranch.

“The only reason my mother even agreed to do this story is because . . . I don’t know of any other way to say this, but many of the regular customers, who have been coming for 40 years, are starting to die off and we want to start bringing on some new young people that have the right attitude, that care for the land, and I don’t have to follow them around and pick up trash after them.”

Tim Alpers’ grandfather, Fred, bought the ranch for $2,500 in 1906 from a homesteader, whose log cabin, built in 1860, still stands--though in a dilapidated state--along the riverbank.

Tim and his father, Bill, who died in 1979, made the fly-fishing resort what it is.

There are nine cabins, some built in the early 1900s, which used to house cattlemen. They rent for $40 a night per person, double occupancy. They are small, but have electricity and running water, both generated on the grounds. Only the telephone lines and propane tanks are brought in from the outside.

Alpers’ is still a working cattle ranch, that responsibility belonging to Tim’s sister, Kathleen. But with the cattle grazing down in Bishop until June 15, the fishermen have the run of the place now.

In the Owens River, they have a mile or so of cool-running stream teeming with wild browns, rainbows and cutthroats, all of which can be caught only with barbless flies, and all of which must be released.

Adams holds the ranch record, a 12-pound 7-ounce brown he caught 37 years ago.

Also on the property is Alpers Creek, a 1.9-mile waterway that has not only wild trout but large rainbows Tim raises in a series of dammed ponds on the creek. Anglers are restricted to flies and live bait--no lures--and can keep two fish apiece.

“The kids just go wild out there,” Alpers said. “We figure that to get people started in the sport, we have to let them hook and catch a few.”

Finally, there is Alpers Pond, a 3 3/4-acre catch-and-release pool stocked with hundreds of trout from five to 20 pounds, all grown on the ranch. Only four anglers are allowed on the pond at a time, and they fish in three-hour sessions from float tubes, using barbless wet and dry flies.

“You can learn more in three hours out here than you can maybe in years trying to catch big fish anywhere else,” Alpers said.

Perhaps, but its the wild river surrounded by wilderness that keeps people coming back.

“I was in a high-stress business with a responsible job,” said Horton. “My wife Esther and I . . . I would say, ‘I’ve got to get out of this place’ and I’d come over here for three or four days, and it just took all the stress away. I’d come three or four times a year. Works every time.”

ALPERS’ RAINBOWS

People throughout the Eastern Sierra know the Alpers name well, since most of the trophy-sized rainbow trout pulled out of lakes and rivers were grown on his ranch.

Alpers studied fisheries and wildlife management in college and worked with the Nevada Department of Wildlife before realizing that conditions on his ranch were ideal for growing fish.

He started raising half-pounders to stock Alpers Creek for guests at his ranch.

Resort owners on the June Loop then offered to buy Alpers’ fish to supplement Department of Fish and Game plants.

Not to be outdone, landing operators throughout Mono County--as part of a region-wide fisheries-enhancement program--started buying Alpers’ fish as well.

Realizing the potential, Alpers started growing bigger fish--five-15 pounds--and today is credited with boosting not only the local fisheries, but local economies that depend on fishermen for survival.

The DFG has the primary responsibility of keeping the entire region stocked, a task it has done admirably over the years. But the agency has fallen on hard times financially and can no longer maintain the stocking schedule it once did.

Nor can it afford to grow fish slowly and naturally, in dammed ponds, the way Alpers does, until they become enormous.

“In the last four or five years, Alpers trout have been prominently displayed and people now know that they can come up here and have the opportunity to catch the ‘trophy-sized’ rainbow trout,” said Jeff Irons, a spokesman for the Bishop Chamber of Commerce.

Has Irons caught one?

“No,” he said. “I’ve been sitting in boats with guys the last three years and they’ve caught ‘em left and right around me and it [ticks] me off.”

SUMMER BREEZERS

Yes, it’s still spring, but who would know it, what with the temperatures soaring and the yellowtail and barracuda active in Southland waters.

Yellowtail have been bending rods off the Coronado Islands south of the border for weeks. But last weekend they made an impressive showing off the La Jolla kelp beds, attacking live sardines and iron lures. Anglers in sport boats were pulling in fish averaging 10-14 pounds.

The barracuda have been speeding from one location to another, slashing through schools of huge anchovies. Orange County was a hot spot last week, but lately the best bite has been just off the beach at Oxnard.

South of the border: The first tuna of the season, 40-pounders, were caught aboard Point Loma Sportfishing’s Vagabond near Guadalupe Island off Baja California. Another vessel, the Shogun, cruised past schools of skipjack and yellowfin near Benitos Island. Those are hopeful signs, skippers say, that the tuna season will begin early this year.

NOTEWORTHY

A three-day fishing trip to benefit cancer patient Tom Ortman, a former crewman of the Morning Star out of San Diego, is scheduled May 16-19 off the Baja coast. Cost is $299 a person and all proceeds will go to Ortman and his family. Details: (619) 223-1627.

CALENDAR

The Orange County Boat Show will begin a four-day run today at the Anaheim Convention Center. Cost is $7 for adults. Admission is free for children 12 and under.

The American Fishing Tackle Manufacturing Co. is holding its annual Day at the Lots show, featuring displays, sales and seminars, Saturday, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., at its Irvine facility. A raffle will be held to benefit the United Anglers of Southern California. Details: (714) 660-7067.

The Day at the Docks, a celebration kicking off the summer fishing season, featuring contests, displays and demonstrations, will be held May 11, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., on the waterfront at Point Loma, Fishermen’s and H & M sportfishing landings.