Flowing at a steady and unusually clear 183 cfs the East Walker is nothing short of spectacular! Springtime weather seems to finally be hitting the Walker drainage and fish are responding accordingly. A Baetis hatch comes off strong in the Miracle Mile around 11:30am with fish up to 16″ responding. Small midges also come off after the sun hits the water. Nymphing and fishing with “meat and potatoes” flies will get you the toothy beasts that roam this water. Midges of all sorts will be eaten here all in #’s 18-22.. Grey Poly Wing Emergers, T-Midges, Zebras and Tigers, Discos and Biot Midges just to name a few.. Pearls, Silvers and Greys seem to be the preferred colours at this time. WD-40’s and Micro Mayflies in the same colour schemes are also on the East Walker resident trout menu. Large Streamers of are getting some heavy attention when passed through aggressive trout territory. Remember, any strike on the East Walker can result in hooking the trout of your life!

The Upper Owens continues to harbor some big healthy fish.. A few more seem to have arrived, but, you do really have to work to get them. The monument to crowley section is not anything special at this time. The fish seem to be favoring the larger holes above the bridge. Roads are clear and access is not a problem. The usual patterns with a little flash are doing the trick when passed by the lips of big fish. Patterns such as; Robo PT’s, FB Hares Ear, Sparkle Trigger Nymph and Bubbleback emergers all in sizes #16-20 are just a few to try. San Juans added to those nymph rigs also raise the hookup ratio. Big streamers are also an option here.. Use a weighted streamer or a sinking line for this.. your favorite larger streamer will do the trick here.

Someone is always hungry in Hot Creek. It is only up to us fly anglers to fish it correctly to extract these wild trout. Water is still clear and low with mininum weeds and snags. Hatches these last couple of weeks have not been thick. Weather seems not to affect Hot Creek as one can sink down some baetis/midge imitations and catch fish in the windiest and unstable weather. Baetis Emergers are getting eaten vigoursly in #’s 18-20, T-Midges and Poly Wing Midge Emergers are also on the menu #’s 18-20. PT’s in small sizes (#20) and Red Midge Larva imitations are also flies of choice, all in sizes #18-20.

The East Walker has been doing what it does best– consistently kick out Big Fish! The flows have stabilized at a perfect rate of 150cfs and the water is as clean as it gets on tne East Walker. Access is open and weather is very pleasant. A great BWO hatch comes off as well with many flies over the water. Some response is seen in the upper sections of the river but the fish downstream prefer not to feast on these guys recently. Some perch were pushed through as the river was recently pumped up to 300cfs but only the larger bird-eaten ones remain. The perch feed is not on yet as it was this time last year forcing the fish to feed heavily on aquatic bug life. However, there is baitfish in the water so large streamers have been working great as always on this true quality water. For the nymphs use; #16-22 Tiger and Zebra patterns. Chironocones in #18-20 red, black, olive.. WD-40’s in varied colours #18-22, BWO Emerger patterns, Halfback BWO emerger patterns and poxy back BWO emergers all in sizes #18-22’s are good patterns to try.. Bunny streamers such as; Slumpbusters, Zonkers, rock knocker sculpins and various other patterns in lighter colours fished correctly will get you into fish! Thie fishery will only get better as the spring weather warms up bridgeport and the surrounding areas… Get ready for a great year here…

Hot Creek contines to be a place where you can catch as many fish as you want, depending on how good you are at fishing it! Access is open with most of the snow disappearing or re-appearing as we speak.. Most days a great BWO hatch comes off and the creek shows you what it is capable of as fish appear out of their hold to consume surface bugs. This happens around 12-3:00 pm on most days depending on weather. Otherwise the underwater bug consumption biomass is very high! #18-22 red brassies and disco midges… also copper colours for the brassies and pearl or green for the disco, but, red has been steady. #18-22 BWO emergers, Loop wing emergers, halfback emergers and Robo PT’s are just a few of the successful underwater patterns on this volcanic creek. BWO’s come off #18-22 so fish your dries accordingly. Small tippets and soft tipped rods here…