What a short but sweet season this year on the East Carson! With the heavy snow pack we had last winter, this river was high and unfishable until late July, and now here we are with just over a month left until closing day on November 15. Like a dream that keeps repeating, I've been enjoying one epic trip after another in this brief window of opportunity, with the slowest fishing qualifying as 'good' and the best outings... well, just look at the photos.

It seems I can rarely get through a trip these days without my clients hooking at least one oversized trout. Many are lost, either on the strike or during the subsequent fight, but enough have come in and actually posed for a quick catch-and-release picture to give you an idea of what we're dealing with this year in the East Carson wild-trout section. My money technique has always been to bump weighted flies along the river bottom, and most of the big trout you see pictured here were taken deep, but this has also turned out to be one of the best dry-fly seasons we've seen in years. On overcast days, the trout seem willing to suck down any floating bug presented on a drag-free drift. I know this because one of my favorite ways to put clients onto surface feeding trout is to fish a two-fly team, with a big bushy fly tied on first, then the tiny dry I expect to actually match the hatch on a second tippet, tied to the bend of the first fly's hook. Sure, we're getting plenty of hits on the size 24 trailer fly, but we can't see the damn thing across the river, and that big stimulator or grasshopper fly in front not only makes a great strike indicator, but also provides a prime target for aggressive fish.

Double Team Dry Fly Drill: If the lead fly twitches, a trout has grabbed the little trailer fly, so set the hook! If you see a swirl a foot or two behind the big fly, set the hook! If the first fly shoots underwater and starts darting around furiously, god bless you; the trout has again grabbed your trailer fly, setting the hook on itself, and your only task is to bring it in, though you've lost the last half-dozen...

And while straining your eyes to see the subtle sip and delicate take on that miniscule trailer, brace yourself for a strain on the heart when a streaking surface bomb explodes on the front fly. Trout hitting a big target tend to commit, as if they know a fluttering hopper or October caddis needs a powerful takedown to preclude escape. Lately I've seen many fish take the large indicator flies, even though the natural bugs on the water are generally much smaller. Yes you need to pay attention to which insects are on the river and which ones the trout are targeting, but if you still can't get a bite, try something kooky!

On sunny days the trout can be quite selective though, inspecting and rejecting each fly you try in the slower sections. They'll even come up just a few inches away from your imitation to sip a natural, just to show you that they're still feeding and it's purely your fault you can't catch one. In this situation you have three options. The first is to keep changing flies and working on longer, drag-free drifts until the risers respond. This is what I did on a recent morning with client Paul Best. On my fourth fly choice and Paul's fiftieth cast, he missed a couple of strikes, but then had no more response, so we went to option two, dredging the bottom with nymphs in the head of the pool. Here he quickly caught several rainbows from 12 to 14 inches in length, then set the hook again when his strike indicator twitched, only to have his rod nearly yanked from his hand as a huge trout, six or seven pounds, launched out of the water repeatedly, quickly snapping Paul's 5x tippet. We retied and continued to fish, but that moment was tattooed on my client's brain, as he muttered "That was a pig" and "What a pig that was" many times over the course of the day.

After he worked the fast water thoroughly, I had Paul comb the slow middle and tail of the pool with his nymph rig to see if he could entice the one or two fish that were not feeding at the surface. No luck on the bottom, but several of those picky surface-sippers attacked the yellow, Styrofoam strike indicator with gusto. Go figure.

After working an even slower pool where the fish were just as picky, we drifted dry flies through riffles and shallow pockets, finding plenty of willing takers. The speed and turbulence of the water in these areas mean that the trout don't have much time or a clear view to critique the fly tier's art, so if they see your offering and are hungry, chances are they will chase it at full speed and nail it with authority. My client hooked several nice rainbows up to nineteen inches as we worked our way down a long shallow-water section toward the next big pool.

We could see two other anglers fishing this pool, so I told Paul to take his time casting to pockets behind midstream boulders. "Not a problem," he replied, "I love this kind of fishing. It's so much fun to fish skinny water that doesn't even look like it could hold a trout, then to have a nice one shoot out of nowhere and smack the fly!" Amen to that. When I saw that the other anglers had left the hole below us though, I told him to reel in so we could hustle down and take it over for the late-afternoon rise.

Such 'crowding' (seeing a few other anglers in the backcountry) is actually a positive thing on the wild trout section of the East Carson. Some might lament the current popularity of this river, but just a few years ago evidence of poacher camps was common- forked sticks planted in the riverbank for holding bait rods, empty night crawler and Powerbait containers, smashed beer bottles and cigarette butts strewn about; I can recall a few hairy encounters myself with methamphetamine-addled 'fishermen' back when the regulations were first changed to catch-and-release, and let me tell you that I prefer the presence of a dozen sensible, conservation-minded fly anglers over one such loose cannon.

It seems that the mere presence of so many respectable citizens has driven off the poachers and partiers, so if you visit the East Carson on a weekend morning and feel like complaining about a couple of guys working the pool you had planned to fish, you should thank rather than curse them. My point is also that with so many people adhering strictly to the no-kill regulation, and with anglers of every different ability level, employing a variety of techniques, I never worry that someone else has just 'fished out' a spot before I hit it. I can stand and watch other anglers working the hell out of a prime pool, even if they hook and release several fish, then still move in with confidence as soon as they leave. Sure, I take my time setting up, resting the fish as I discuss strategy with my clients, but when we finally wet a line, I know that there are many small trout and a few big ones still waiting to bite.

My client worked over a pod of delicate sippers at the tail of this hole, taking two on the size 24 trico, then he cast toward the cliff wall upstream and the moment his fly-team hit the water, a sixteen-incher exploded on the big stimulator, leaping several times before coming to the net to finish off our day. As air and water temperatures drop in the season's final weeks, dry fly fishing will slow down a bit, but bottom-bumping nymphs will still take numbers of fish and some of the biggest trout in the river! Don't put that fly rod away for the winter yet; get out there!

Fish Facts- East Carson River: Just east of Markleeville, California, Highway 89 crosses the East Carson at Hangman's Bridge. Upstream the highway follows the river, allowing for easy park-and-fish options. In this section bait fishing and barbed hooks are permitted, with a five-trout daily limit. It has not been stocked with hatchery fish since before Labor Day though, so pickings are getting slim on the roadside pools.

The wild trout section starts downstream of Hangman's Bridge, winding away from the highway and dropping into a desert canyon, providing eleven miles of wilderness fishing in California and eight more in Nevada before hitting Highway 395 south of Gardnerville, Nevada. The California section has a zero limit (all fish must be released), and bait is prohibited; only artificial flies and lures with barbless hooks are permitted. The trout are mostly rainbows, with an occasional brown or cutthroat caught as well. For the first few miles, holdover hatchery fish are more common than wild trout, since many drop down from the stocked section above. Wouldn't you? "Hey guys look, catch and release only- Let's go!" I once read a study claiming that most hatchery trout don't move more than a half-mile from where they're planted in a river, but that's just because they're all caught before they get that far! If they make it to the zero-limit stretch though, they have the rest of their natural lives to move about, and I've caught holdover hatchery trout quite a few miles down from Hangman's Bridge. The percentage of wild fish also increases the further back you go, and so does your chance to catch a large brown trout or whitefish.

This is rugged country, requiring a fair level of physical fitness to fish a few miles of river, and your cell phone will not work here. For safety's sake go with a buddy, or better yet a fishing guide, and watch for the occasional rattlesnake on the bank. Have I scared you off? Good! More pools for me!

Until Next Time!
Mark (Never Stand In A Canoe) Wiza
Pro Staff for AC Plugs

Email Me!

Mark is a licensed fishing guide offering trips on the East Carson and a variety of other spin, fly and trolling trips on Tahoe area waters. Fall fishing is heating up daily- get in your trip before the snow flies!
Email Mark or call Tahoe Fly Fishing Outfitters at (530) 541-8208 for details.