I was surprised when Tom Martens opened his adjacent article on Big Bear Lake with the observation that it doesn’t get attention from fly fishers. Before Richard Alden Bean passed away in 2014, California Fly Fisher had published a number of his stories that focused specifically on fly-fishing opportunities at this impoundment. And Rick’s excellent, but now out-of-print guidebook, Fly Fishing Southern California’s Lakes and Streams (Aguabonita Books, 2000), similarly highlighted Big Bear as a worthy destination for fly fishers. If fly fishers truly are rare at Big Bear Lake, it is not because the lake has been off the radar.
Rick had fished Big Bear for more than fifty years, and this lengthy experience, along with his talent for observation and his angling expertise, meant he understood the character of the lake and the habits of its fish species better than most anglers. Yes, Rick said, Big Bear could be a headache to fish during the summer, when “multitudes of waterskiers, personal watercraft, and fast boats churn the surface from dawn to dusk,” and wind might raise whitecaps, but by evening on an average summer day, the lake could become “quite tranquil” and well worth hitting then with a float tube or even by wading along the shore, especially the north side. At least back then, the early morning was likewise a quiet time, perfect for angling before a lot of motorboats and jet skis started blasting through the water.
For Rick, Big Bear was not simply a trout fishery. He enjoyed casting a fly for any fish species that might want to eat it, and he appreciated that the lake gave opportunities for shots at largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, at least three species of sunfish, and carp. A fly fisher visiting Big Bear could be assured of finding interesting angling during much of the year, even if temperatures or other conditions might turn the bite off for a particular species. Here’s a sampling of his fly-fishing advice.
Trout. According to Rick, “trout angling at Big Bear Lake can be both easy and difficult.” One of his friends, a fly-fishing guide named Keith Kern (Google doesn’t indicate whether he is still in the business), noted that the highest densities of trout will hold in the deeper west end during the winter, move eastward in the spring, because the shallower water there warms more quickly than the west end, then move back to the deeper west end during the heat of summer and east once more in the autumn. During the summer, trout will often hold in or near the thermocline that marks a sharp drop in water temperature and dissolved oxygen.
As for flies, Rick was something of a traditionalist. If a pattern worked well through the years, he stuck with it. For Big Bear, Rick advised that “you can make out quite nicely with a handful of Woolly Buggers in olive, black, and/or brown.” That said, he noted that fly fishers might also come across hatches in the morning and evening, likely very small midges, and the lake also has damselflies. Plus, the wind can drop terrestrials — ants, beetles, and other bugs — onto the lake.
In general, though, much of the fishing at Big Bear Lake, whatever the species, will take place below the surface. Rick reported that Keith Kern used a Type IV full-sinking line when the trout were deep at Big Bear. The fish can also be leader shy, Keith told Rick, especially when shallow, which is when a 12-to-14-foot leader with a 3-pound tippet can be appropriate. Big Bear Lake is a put-and-take trout fishery, but that doesn’t mean its trout are necessarily unsophisticated.
Bass and panfish. One of Rick’s favorite areas for bass and panfish at Big Bear Lake was Grout Bay. During high-water years, this “cow pasture,” as he called it, would flood during the spring and “become a veritable [and often wadeable] panfish and bass factory.” The north shore has other similar shallows, often weedy, which hold largemouth bass and panfish, while the steeper south shore offers rocky structure that smallmouth bass like. Private docks can be “bass magnets.” Poppers will bring surface action during the warm days of the spring, summer, and fall. Rick liked deer-hair bugs when a soft delivery was called for, hard-bodied bugs when the waves were up and the popper needed to be noisy. Despite his enjoyment of top-water action, though, Rick also recognized that “a sinking line and subsurface flies will find more and often larger fish” and that “Big Bear’s bass respond well to the same olive or black Woolly Buggers that catch Big Bear’s trout.”
Carp. Rick noted that “carp are plentiful” at Big Bear Lake and that he enjoyed fishing for them “in the spring, when carp are in the shallows in huge numbers, spawning. They will take, or at least strike at, small olive nymphs and Woolly Buggers.”Richard Alden Bean was a fan of Big Bear Lake’s fly-fishing opportunities and not at all reticent in letting his readers know why they should fish there and how best to do it. This lake should be better known and at least is worth a visit from fly fishers who live within a reasonable drive.
If You Go…
All watercraft, including float tubes, are required to be inspected by the Big Bear Municipal Water District for invasive species, and must also have a Lake Use Permit. Visit bbmwd.com for information.
The district also collects data that have value for boaters and anglers. Of particular interest for fly fishers are water temperature and dissolved oxygen by depth, which can be accessed through the “Limnological Report” link under the “Lake Info” button at bbmwd.com.
The “Visitors” button on the district’s website provides links for visitor services like lodging, dining, and marinas.
—Richard Anderson
