By Dan Bacher

May 7, 1999

Walker Lake, the terminus of the Walker River system that drains the eastern Sierra Nevada, is a unique fishery now undergoing a dramatic recovery. The lake's legendary Lahontan cutthroat fishery is again booming, after years of drought and water diversions caused the native fish to almost vanish in the increasingly alkaline water in the early 1990s.

The lake, located in the mysterious high desert country of Nevada 5 miles north of Hawthorne, offers starkly scenic vistas similar to those of Pyramid Lake to the north. It is a large lake, 25 miles long by 5 miles wide, a remnant of ancient Lake Lahontan that covered much of central and northern Nevada during the last Ice Age.

The lake dropped over 130 feet between 1880 and 1995, but it rose again 14 feet over the last four years. Paul Kneeland, Fish Sniffer advertising director, and I could see the progression of the receding water level as we drove by a series of water markers on the road down to the launch ramp during our first trip to Walker Lake. We were scheduled to fish with Bob Tompkins, fishing guide and owner of Gun and Tackle, Inc. in Hawthorne, on April 2,1999.

The big fresh water inflows of the past six years, combined with the conservation efforts of the Walker Lake Working Group, have caused the fishery to rebound. This year fish in the 3 to 5 pound class, along with larger cutthroats up to 9 pounds, are again common for anglers.

Tompkins, who has been fishing the lake for 30 years and guiding for 2 years, indicated that the bite had been spotty the week before we arrived. On one day, two anglers fishing with Tompkins caught seven cutthroats averaging 3 to 5 pounds and going up to 7 pounds. "The spring bite just hasn't started yet," noted Tompkins, "although it should begin any day now."

We began trolling with Tor-P-Do spoons and Yozuri Emperor Minnows in the Cliffs area near the launchramp. However, we didn't get any hits here and we moved to the lake's far south end, where fishing continued to be tough.

Finally, we saw outdoor writer Martin Streineck and is fishing partner; Craig Chenoweth of Lee Vining, catch three quality cutthroats to 3-1/2 pounds while top-line rolling in 10 feet of water along the shoreline.

They also reported releasing three smaller fish. Kneeland switched to a blue! silver Yozun lure and soon had a hook-up. Simultaneously, Tompkins hooked up a fish on a Tor-P-Do, but this trout came unbuttoned quickly. Kneeland boated his fish, a robust, fat 18 inch cutthroat. About 10 minutes later I landed a 12 inch cutthroat that I released; I also had another hook-up on the Yozuri lure. However, we didn't have any more bites for over an hour.

Tompkins, in the desire to put a larger fish in the boat, decided to go back to the Cliffs area, legendary for its big trout. When we speeded up the lures, I hooked and landed a feisty 19 inch cutthroat with beautiful brown, gold and white colors on its body and bright red "slash" marks under its gills. We didn't have any more hook-ups after that.

Every boater that we talked to that day reported catching fish, but nobody reported taking limits. Tom Ward and Rich Churchfield of Yerington showed us five quality cutthroats that they landed while trolling chartreuse and yellow Tor-P-Do spoons at a variety of locations. Bank anglers also reported catching some trout while tossing out Power Bait and lures off Sportsmen's Beach and other areas.

The Nevada Department of Wildlife plants the lake every year with a minimum of 200,000 cutthroats in the 6 inch range, according to Chris Drake, NDOW fisheries biologist. Unfortunately, spawning conditions aren't fishery good for trout on the river so the fishery is primarily a hatchery-supported one.

The fish grow fast in the lake's alkaline water, where no other species of trout can survive. The largest fish caught in the past two decades was a 16 pounder taken in 1990, just before the fishery went into decline. In the past five years, the largest cutthroat was a 9 pound, 8 ounce beauty taken in January. "Fishing is best during spring and fall," said Tompkins. "During the summer, the water temperature heats up and the fish go deep. However, we had good fishing into the summer last year because water temperatures were colder than normal."

The only two other fish found in the lake now are Tui chub, the main forage fish for the cutthroats, and the Tahoe sucker, which has declined dramatically in recent years. The chubs thrive on the lake's abundant algae, zooplankton, small crustaceans and insects.

Although an occasional rainbow trout and catfish have been caught in the lake during periods of highwater, these fish don't survive very long in the alkaline water. "Sacramento perch used to thrive in this lake is in the early 1960s, but the increasing salinity and alkalinity in the water caused them to disappear," added Tompkins.

Wildlife and legends abound at Walker, set between the snow covered Wassuk range, crowned by Mt. Grant at 11,245 feet, and the smaller Gillis Range.

Paiute Indian legend speaks of "great serpent" that once existed in the lake. This mythical creature was supposedly sighted by a man named Peters in 1907.

Native Americans, the forbears of the modern day Paiutes who now live on the reservation that includes the lake's northern shore, inhabited the Walker Lake Basin over 11,000 years ago. A hunter-gatherer society, they thrived on pine nuts, wild game and cutthroat trout.

The lake also plays host to up to 1,400 common loons on their annual migrations during the spring and fall. Hawthorne celebrates the arrival of the birds each spring with the Annual Loon Festival.

The future of Walker's fish and wildlife looks much brighter now with the formation of the Walker Lake Working Group over the past decade. The goal of the group, composed of conservation organizations, federal and state agencies and local businesses, is to "build support for developing a long term solution to protect the lake without jepardizing the upstream community." Their objectives are to reestablish spawning runs of cutthroat trout, provide sufficient water so that salt levels are low enough to support the Walker lake ecosystem and acquiring and transferring water rights for environmental & recreational purposes.

Lodging in Hawthorne is available at the El Capitan Resort & Casino (775) 945-3321, where Kneeland and I stayed.

Boat launching is available at Sportsmants Beach.

For fishing information and guide trips, call Bob Tompkins of Walker Lake Guide Service and Gun & Tackle, Inc. at (775) 945-3266.

For information on the Walker Lake Working & Group, write P0 Box 867, Hawthorne, NV. 89415.

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