East Walker River
Flows 20 cfs
10:00 - 4:00
After a tough day on the Truckee, I decided to spend the time and head to a hot spot.
The East Walker is a tailwater out of Bridgeport in CA. Having fished many tailwaters in CO, I figured I would have better luck.
The drive down was a mess! Heavenly eventually reported 12 inches of snow for the day, and the blowing snow and wind made it a difficult drive down. A trip that should have taken an hour and a half ended up taking over 3 hours. I left at 7:00 AM wanting to be the 1st on the water, knowing that the weather would keep most people off the water, but I was rewarded with the river all to myself!
From the reports at the local fly shops and the hype on the internet, I figured there would be at least a few people there, but nobody showed up until about 3:00 and even that guy didn't stick around long.
This is a "cute" tailwater, the dam is small and the out flow is through a big culvert that creates a big pool that locals call the "Big Hole". Flows were super low, so sight fishing was the name of the game for most of the day.
"Big Hole"
A lot of stocker sized fish, and fish with fins rubbed to a nub from the concrete raceways at the hatchery, but there were a few "wild" fish, or at least holdovers who have lost their hatchery characteristics.
The river is hyped as a place to catch a monster fish, but unfortunately, I didn't see any. Most were between 12-17 in. I fished between big hole and just down past the gauging station, so there might be some big guys further downstream, but I was having fun perfecting my drift and watching the fish flash on my flies was a kick in the pants.
I even managed a sucker!
As the sun was getting low in the sky, I figured it was time to see if I could find any big brownies. I tied on a size 4 slumpbuster and managed to coax a few browns. With the water being low and clear, it was cool watching them shoot out and chase the streamer.
Again, no big guys, but it was fun slinging streamers. 2 of the browns came out of "Big Hole", and a few from the undercut banks. I even had quite a few bows give chase and strike, but they would just bite the tail and not commit.
Flies for the day were midges. Small and black were key for me. I tried some reds and creams but they weren't interested.
Size 20 tungsten zebra midges, glass bead head midges, juju midges, and WD40's were all good flies. Keep the colors dark. I tried to bust the hatch with some crazy colors and patterns, but they would just move out of the way of the drift. Kinda of cool to watch. I started the day with a 5x leader, in anticipation for big fish, but quickly moved down to 6x and 6x fluro tippet since these fish have seen it all.
A great day overall, definitely a confidence builder compared to my day on the Truckee. Fishing new places is fun, but you have to make sure your expectations are in line!!!
I'll be back in the Tahoe area again in April. I hope to get on the Little Truckee and I might fish the Big Truckee again...the skawalla watch will be going off and I'm hooked on fishing stoneflies!
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