East Walker River: Flows, Access and Flies

The East Walker below Bridgeport Reservoir is a big fish river. It does not give up numbers the way the Upper Owens does, and it will make you work, but the trout that live in it are the kind you remember. The two things that decide whether you have a good day are the flow and the water temperature, and both are worth checking before you commit to the drive.

Reading the flow

The productive band is roughly 80 to 250 cubic feet per second. Inside that window the river is wadeable, the fish are spread through the runs, and you can cover water properly. Much below 80 and it gets thin and the fish get very spooky. Much above 250 and you are pinned to the banks fishing whatever you can reach.

Because this is a tailwater, flows change when the reservoir releases change, sometimes quickly. Check the gauge the morning you go rather than relying on what it was doing last week.

The temperature rule that catches people out

There is an old piece of advice that says stay up by the dam because the water is colder there. In late summer that is backwards, and believing it will cost you fish.

As the reservoir drops through the season, the water coming out of the dam can run 70 degrees and warmer around the clock, because it is pulling from a warm lake. Meanwhile a cold night chills the river as it flows downstream. So after a cold night, the further down you go, the cooler the water. Carry a thermometer and check it often, particularly below the bridge, where we have seen it climb several degrees in under an hour.

In practice, through the warm months, that means fishing until around ten or eleven in the morning and then again after seven in the evening once the sun is off the water. Once autumn nights arrive properly, the river opens up all day.

Cover water

This is not a river where you stand in one run and wait. The fish are spread out and often concentrated in specific lies, so the anglers who do well are the ones prepared to walk. Fish a run properly, give it fifteen minutes, and move on if nothing shows. The walk between spots is part of the method, not wasted time.

The flies

Nymphing is the backbone here. A BH Pheasant Tail Sparkle Back in 14 to 20 and a Holy Grail in black cover the perdigon style patterns that get down fast in the faster runs. A Czech Nymph in natural is the heavier option when you need to reach the bottom of a deep slot, and a BL Bright Red Weighted Squirmy Wormy is worth having on when the water carries any colour.

Midges matter more than people expect on this river, so carry a TG BH Zebra Midge in black down to size 22. Tricos come on from mid August into September, so a Sparkle Dun Male Trico earns a slot in the box in late summer.

For the dry dropper approach that works so well in the faster water, hang your nymph beneath something big and buoyant. A Stimulator in yellow or an Elk Hair Hopper both do the job and occasionally get eaten themselves. And when you want to go looking for the fish that made you drive up here, swing a Wooly Bugger in brown.

The short version

Check the gauge before you go and hope for something between 80 and 250. Carry a thermometer and remember the water cools as it runs downstream after a cold night, not the other way around. Fish early and late in summer. Cover water rather than camping on one run. Nymph it hard, and keep a streamer rigged for the fish you actually came for.

Every fly above is one we tie ourselves and keep in stock. You can shop all our East Walker flies here, and if you want to know what the river is doing before you set off, our weekly report covers it. Questions to 395flyco@gmail.com.