California angler and content creator Mike of Trout Made Angler Company has weighed in on the 2026 Eastern Sierra trout opener, nominating Twin Lakes, Bridgeport Reservoir, Convict Lake and Lake Crowley as the standout fisheries, while questioning why the June Lake Loop appears to have underperformed for the second year running.
In a solo episode of his 'Get Made Show,' Mike pulled out his notes and ran through what he saw across the opening weekend — a raw, unfiltered recap of which Sierra waters produced consistent fish and big specimens, and which left anglers shaking their heads.
"The winners for the Eastern Sierra 2026 opener — the lakes, right — were Twin Lakes, Bridgeport Reservoir, Convict Lake, Lake Crowley," Mike said. "And it's based on a consistent bite and big fish from what I saw."
The call lined up with reports from across the angling community. Mike pointed to social media chatter, conversations on the water and YouTube content from peers including Sea Spanker Outdoors and Super Duper Outdoors as evidence that the message was consistent: the headline Sierra lakes brought a strong opener.
The story at the June Lake Loop, however, was the polar opposite. Mike grouped the loop's lakes together as the "losers" of the 2026 opener, but went out of his way to make clear that he was not blaming the fishing itself or any single angler.
"And the loser — but loser cuz they're grouped into one loop or one group — is a June Lake loop," he said. "Unfortunately, and that's just not my experience, right, just me being on the water catching dinks or whatever. I fish and fish, you know, but I looked around and I remembered what was going on that weekend, looking around at other anglers that were fishing."
Mike said the chatter from other creators backed up the impression. He referenced Super Duper Outdoors Ted, who he said had reported similar frustrations at the loop during his own Sierra Bound 2026 opener, and noted that fellow YouTuber Rob from Sea Spanker Outdoors had also raised concerns after fishing the area.
The most pointed theory came from Captain Jig Hooks Mike, who, the Trout Made host said, had floated the suggestion that the June Lake Loop simply was not stocked in the lead-up to opening weekend.
"Captain Jig Hooks Mike had a conspiracy theory that the loop didn't stock before the opener," Mike said. "So there was all holdovers, you know. Which is possible."
Mike noted that during 2025 there had been discussion of the June Lake Loop attempting to mirror the more aggressive trophy stocking program at Bridgeport, but said the evidence on the water this opener pointed to a quieter than usual program. While bigger fish in the 3 to 4 pound range did come out of the loop, the consistency was missing.
"It's the loop, man. There's big fish in there," he said. "Big fish came out of there. 3-pounders, 4-pounders. I didn't see anything big though. Nothing big."
For anglers planning a return trip to the Sierra in the weeks ahead, Mike's takeaway was that the bigger named impoundments — Crowley, Convict, Twin Lakes and Bridgeport — are continuing to do the heavy lifting in delivering a quality opener, while the smaller, picturesque loop fisheries are increasingly dependent on transparent and well-publicised stocking schedules.
Mike has invited viewers to share their own opener experiences, particularly those who fished the June Lake Loop, in the hope of building a clearer picture of what happened across the region during the busiest weekend of the trout calendar.
