East Walker River
again cranking out
huge brown trout

By JIM MATTHEWS
Outdoor News Service

BRIDGEPORT -- For a lot of trout anglers, the East Walker River has been where they've landed their biggest brown trout. The fishery has had it's ups and downs over the years, but newly mandated minimum flows and a return to a consistent brown trout stocking program has anglers buzzing again.
"I think the river has fished as well or better this year than it's ever fished since I came here when I was 10 in 1972," said Jim Reid, owner of Ken's Sporting Goods in Bridgeport. "It might not be better than it's heyday when it was ripping along in the 1980s, but it's certainly as good."
As a tailwater fishery flowing out of Bridgeport Reservoir, the East Walker was always considered one the best brown trout fisheries in the state, and there was a huge controversy when it was made one of the state's first restricted gear waters with a reduced limit and size restriction. Eliminating bait fishing and setting a minimum size on the fish that could be kept was an new concept in the late 1970s and early 1980s. But the regulations proved their worth by increasing the number and quality of the fish caught by anglers, and now there would be a fight if someone suggested the one-fish, 18-inch minimum size rule be changed.
Today, the East Walker is considered one of the benchmarks in the state's Wild Trout program, an example of how good a fishery can become with proper management. The weed beds and gravel bottom hold a rich diversity of aquatic insects and crustacea that create the rich food base that grows the fish fast and large. Fly-fishermen love the stream because of abundant and varied hatches that come off all season, making for excellent dry fly fishing.
Two high water years the previous two seasons, following by this year's drought set the stage for an exceptional early fishing season. The high water washed a lot of fish out of Bridgeport Reservoir, and the mix of browns to rainbows is about 60-40 this season, according to Reid. Browns have always dominated the fishery, but rainbows from the reservoir have also flourished in the rich fishery. Normally, through the late spring and early summer, the flows in the East Walker are ripping bank-to-bank, making fishing difficult. But this year, flows have been low and fishable almost from the trout opener, and the number of quality fish -- both browns and rainbows -- has been impressive. The biggest fish, however, continue to be the browns.
"There was a three-week period this year when there were 10 fish over 27 inches were caught and released down there," said Reid. The biggest fish reported was a 29 1/2-inch brown trout caught by Brad McFall, a Mammoth Lakes fishing guide who works through the Troutfitter. The fish was at least 10 pounds.
As state fishery program manager Terry Foreman says, "the good old days come and go," and on the East Walker, the good old days are right now. Again.
Before the era of 10-pound hatchery rainbows released into waters for anglers, wild brown trout in the Eastern Sierra provided the only real opportunity anglers had to catch a trophy fish. Most of the larger lakes and streams in the region that had wild, self-sustaining populations of browns produced fish every year from three to five pounds, and something over that mark was always a possibility. The productivity of the East Walker always made it one of the best at producing trophy fish -- and nothing has changed.
Over 25 years ago, I was fishing a small maribou streamer through a long, deep run just below Bridgeport Reservoir and landed a deep-bodied, 19-inch brown. For a lot of years I told people the fish weighed 4 1/2 pounds, but in hindsight and looking at the photos, it was probably closer to 3 1/2. But it was the biggest brown trout I'd ever caught then and remained so for a few years.
Two weeks ago, Becky and I were fishing the river again and she hooked a big rainbow in the 18 to 19-inch class that was extremely deep-bodied. The fish took her dry fly in a riffle stretch in the meadow below the dam and rocketed out of the water when she set the hook. Before she lost the fish, it rolled right in front of me showing its size and crimson stripe. As we were walking back to the truck at dusk, she smiled at me and said she thought that was the biggest trout she'd ever hooked.
A lot of people can say that about the East Walker.

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