The most northerly of these early opening waters is Independence Creek. It is a nice little stream that starts at 11,000 feet in the Kearsarge Pass area west of the town. There is a paved road running from Independence up along the stream to the Onion Valley area and the campgrounds there.

South of Independence Creek are Symmes Creek, Sheppard Creek, George Creek and Lone Pine Creek. These all are small, and are exten-sively stocked not far from Highway 395 to provide good early action.

The Owens River near Bishop is a major water, with mostly fly-fishing regulations, although a large portion is open to angling of all kinds. The Owens Gorge is another general regulations section of the Owens, which is open year 'round, and features isolated fishing close to town, by virtue of the steep canyon the stream flows through.

INVASIVES
Unfortunately, all California trout anglers need to be aware of aquatic invasive species. You are probably sick of hearing about quagga mussels and New Zealand mud snails. But it's important to know about them to preserve our waterways from their ill effect.

The quagga mussel is a tiny creature that originally came from Russia and is thought to have arrived in ballast water in oceangoing vessels. Quaggas first showed up in the Great Lakes, and then spread to the Colorado River system, and then into California via the Colorado River Aqueduct from Lake Havasu.

They've caused millions of dollars in damage to waterworks and have shut down some fishing lakes. Many lakes have set up boat washing and inspection stations to prevent this costly pest from spreading, so be aware that you might have to get your boat inspected or pressure-washed before launching.

The New Zealand mud snail is another tiny pest that has infested many moving waters in the Eastern Sierra and has the potential to harm trout fisheries around the state if allowed to spread. As with the quagga mussel, the primary way to control the snails is to make sure your waders, wading shoes, float tubes and other gear is snail free. There are specific instructions posted on most Sierra waters explaining how to do this.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION
The California annual resident license is $41.20. A non-resident annual license is $110.80, and a 10-day non-resident runs $41.20. The two-day license (either resident or non-resident) is $20.75, and a one-day is $13.40.

To get stocking information on your favorite waters, go to www.dfg.ca.gov, click on the recreation tab, then the fishing tab, and scroll down to fish-planting schedules. Open that, and you get a good statewide set of lists that you can zoom in on to get the planting information for your local lakes and streams.

An excellent source of up-to-date fishing information is the fishing report that runs in many Southern California newspapers. Crafted weekly by Outdoor News Service, the reports give anglers a heads up on the current fishing conditions each week at all Southern California locations. If you don't take a paper, or your paper does not feature the fishing report, you can read it on-line each week at www.outdoornewsservice.com.