The East Walker River is one of the best trophy trout rivers in the Eastern Sierra. Of all the rivers I’ve fished I consider the East Walker River to be one of the best brown trout rivers in California. Most of my time fishing the East Walker has been on the Miracle Mile and this time I planned on exploring the canyon section of the river. The flows were stable at 260 CFS and fishing reports were saying that the river was fishing very good. I was excited to map out more access points and hopefully catch a giant brown trout.
After fishing the East Carson River I made my way to the East Walker River. I started fishing below the first bridge with the plan to backpack in and stay the night somewhere along the river. There isn’t much to say about the East Walker River except that the fishing was phenomenal. I believe a combination of factors made for the perfect fishing conditions: I figured how to fish the river, the flows were optimal, and less pressure in the canyon.
I covered about two and a half miles of new water and caught fish at every access. The fish were holding in pocket pools around large boulders and in soft seams. I was using a rubber leg stone and my BWO pattern and both were getting equally bit. I also fished streamers with good success. The fish were so aggressive to the point where I could let my streamer drag in the current and they would come out of nowhere to grab it. The majority of my big fish were caught nymphing.
The ratio of browns to rainbows I caught were about 6:4 and I must have hooked over a dozen fish each day I fished. This trip marks the most brown trout I’ve have ever caught. I hooked a lot of trophy trout but the higher flows in the canyon make it nearly impossible for me to net them by myself. I was fortunate to land a chunky brown the first night before sunset and a true big East Walker brown the following day.
The last day I fished the East Walker River the flows were reduced to 230 CFS. I didn’t know this when I started fishing and found a section that was nearly unfishable at 260 CFS to be super fishable. I was able cover a ton of water and although I feel like I didn’t find as many fish, getting around the river was much easier.
I attempted to fish the Miracle Mile section but found it too crowded. I was able to fish a small section of it on the third day and managed to bring in a nice rainbow. I quickly ran out of water to fish once I started running into people who were holed up downstream. The Miracle Mile has a lot of pros in that it is the least strenuous to get around, has the most access, and has the most varied water but it comes with con of being overcrowded and pressured.
I wish the East Walker River wasn’t so far away.
