East Walker River, Nevada

Below Bridgeport Dam (California)

The East Walker leaves Bridgeport Reservoir about five miles north of Bridgeport on Highway 182 and runs roughly seven miles to the Nevada line. The first stretch below the dam, known as the Miracle Mile, is the most famous and most crowded water, slick-rocked and hard to wade when releases climb. Flows are set by the Walker River Irrigation District for farms downstream in Nevada, so they change with irrigation calls rather than weather.

Rosaschi Ranch (Nevada)

Across the state line the first public water is Rosaschi Ranch, a former ranch now inside Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and reached off Nevada 338 south of the Sweetwater summit. NDOW manages it as a trophy cold-water fishery: catch and release only, artificial lures and flies with a single barbless hook. Trout numbers are highest here and drop as you go downstream. About 62 percent of the Nevada river has public access, and the river is legally non-navigable, so the water inside private ranches is private too.

The Elbow and below

Just downstream of Rosaschi is the Elbow, a general-regulation reach that NDOW stocks with rainbows and where bait is common. Raccoon Beach, Ravenelle and the state park lands at the former Flying M, Pitchfork and Rafter 7 ranches carry the river on toward Mason Valley, with access opening up as Nevada State Parks develops them. Below Yerington the East and West forks join and the Walker runs to Walker Lake.

Brown trout

Wild browns are the draw on both sides of the line, fed on Sacramento perch and baitfish flushed out of the reservoir, crayfish and golden stones. Spring can be either dry fly and nymph fishing or big streamer water depending on releases, summer is caddis in the evenings and streamers by day, and fall is pre-spawn streamer season. Rainbows are wild in the Nevada trophy water and stocked at the Elbow; mountain whitefish reproduce naturally.

Season and regulations

California Fly Fisher puts the ideal flows at 75 to 250 cfs held steady for several days, with wading turning dangerous above 350 cfs, and NDOW notes irrigation-season releases of 200 to 500 cfs make the Nevada river hard to wade. Reno Fly Shop adds that winter fishing shuts down when releases fall under 40 cfs. This page treats 75 to 250 cfs as in range.

The California section from the dam to the state line follows the general trout season, the last Saturday in April through November 15, and is artificial flies and lures only with a restricted trout limit; Ken's Sporting Goods in Bridgeport reports a 2-fish, 18-inch minimum. Nevada is open year-round: catch and release with single barbless artificials at Rosaschi Ranch and a 5-trout general limit elsewhere. You need a California license on one side of the line and a Nevada license on the other. Confirm in the current CDFW and NDOW regulations.