Wintertime Techniques and Tactics for Hooking Trout in the Lower Owens River in Bishop
Chris Leonard is a career history-social science teacher at Mammoth High School. His greatest
passions are education and fly fishing, making him a choice fly fishing instructor and on-water
guide. He guides through Kittredge Sports during the summer, also weekends and holidays
during the school year. Rivers and lakes. Tenkara and Western rods. He has lived in the Eastern
Sierra fulltime since 2004. His favorite waters to fish and guide include the Owens River, Hot
Creek, Rush Creek, Rock Creek, San Joaquin River, and Crowley Lake.
A seasoned traveler, he has chased trout as close as the Western USA, as far away as the
Midwest, Eastern USA, Central America and South America. He has hooked steelhead in the
Pacific Northwest and Alaska, redfish in New Orleans and Texas, and bonefish, permit, and
tarpon in Belize. His passion for fly fishing began in 2005 when he started the Mammoth High
School Fly Fishing Club. Chris is also a founding board member of the Crowley Fish Foundation.
His program is a story of how the creation of the Mammoth High School Fly Fishing Club led him
on a journey of fly fishing and guiding throughout the Eastern Sierra. He did not know how to
fly fish when he started the club in 2005. Now, twenty years later, he is a seasoned angler. He
will share stories, techniques, and tactics for fly fishing the majestic Eastern Sierra range. The
Eastern Sierra is a jewel of a region for fly fishing - filled with creeks, rivers, and lakes, both on
and off the beaten path. It’s a beautiful part of the country, and a great place to wet a line.
Here is a link to the Crowley Fish Foundation: https://crowleyfishfoundation.org/