East Walker River Fishing Report

Ken's Sporting Goods mentions The East Walker is sitting at 132 cfs and still fishing well, but rising daytime temps mean anglers should keep an eye on water temps and start planning around cooler windows. Best bet right now is to focus on the early morning before the sun bakes the water and come back for the evening session when things settle down. Streamers like sculpzillas, double bunnies, and dead-drifted crayfish are doing work early, but as the light comes up, it’s time to switch over to nymphs. Midges, pheasant tails, hare’s ears, flashback emergers, and copper Johns are all solid choices through the midday stretch. The Miracle Mile section is starting to wake up again with more fish sliding back in, offering some fresh opportunities there. Evenings are lighting up with caddis hatches and dry fly takes, with elk hair caddis, E/C caddis, chubby Chernobyls, and parachute Adams all in the mix.

Ken’s Sporting Goods reports mixed results on the East Walker River, which is flowing around 90 cfs. The “Miracle Mile” still seems to be recovering from last year’s fish kill, with most anglers struggling in that stretch. Better action came downstream, especially from below the bridge down to Murphy’s Pond. Anglers finding success were mostly drifting nymphs, with a few fish taken on streamers. Productive patterns included rainbow warriors, San Juan worms, squirmy wormies, perdigons, copper Johns, drag queens, dead drift crayfish, and sculpzillas. A bump in flows could help push more fish back into the Mile.

The late summer fish die-off in the East Walker was much larger than normal this year, caused by a toxic combination of warm water temperatures, algae blooms, and weed growth. While the die-off is a localized event below Bridgeport Reservoir, the overall trout fishing on the river is still considered good. We recommend scouting spots either further down the river or above the reservoir before wetting a line.