Become one with the chum
Fishing Reports
If you are going to fish it, might as well as tell us how it was
A quick trip to the West Carson — River off-color and cold
2 years ago
Spent a short hour on the West Carson with a good friend of mine. It was pretty brutal fishing. River was running high, off-color and cold. The only fish I saw, flashed one of my nymphs and then hit the deck. A fishless day, but a very serene day with the mist and clouds swirling around the mountains.
I met one of my buddies at the bridge at Picketts junction. On the drive up the canyon, not only did I notice that the water was chocolate milk colored, but the slight drizzle had not deterred any of the weekend crowding. At least the wind was slight.
I strung up my 5-wt XP for some power in case the wind whipped up. We decided to hit the meadow right there at the bridge. First order of business for me was to take the water temp and turn over some rocks to see what kinds of nymphs I could find. First reading registered 39 degrees….hmmm…that could not be correct, the water was 46 degrees earlier in the week. I submerged my hand and held the thermometer about a foot below for about 30 seconds. Hand was frozen after that exercise. OK. The new reading was 38 degrees. Note to self – trust the thermometer. The fishing was most likely going to be s-l-o-w. With warmer water temps and clearer flows, I would have been ecstatic about an overcast day. As to turning over rocks, it seemed pointless as the water was raging pretty good. Plan of attack – pound the banks and no sense in wasting time hitting anything but the slack water.
You have to give us credit for trying. We walked from Picketts to first bridge, made about 200 hundred drifts, saw a total of two fish, and had a great time talking and catching up. More to come later this week.
CA opening weekend 09 – West Carson River
2 years ago
Headed out Sunday morning to fish the West Carson. Been since closing day in November, so I was curious to see how the river weathered the winter. The weather cooperated and the flows were high, but the water was running only slightly off-c0lor. I have seen it much worse, and as runoff starts up, it will get worse. The West Carson in one of the Alpine County waters that the DFG has been instructed NOT to stock until further notice. Even though Alpine County will most likely take stocking into their own hands, I was doubly curious to see what kinds of numbers of fish are in the water, and will be keeping an eye out for numbers of fish as the summer progresses. I know this is a put and take river, but I plead with anyone that will listen to PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE practice catch and release until fish plantings resume.
In a nutshell, I spent 2 hours fishing, caught 2 dinks and missed a very nice Rainbow. Since the water clarity was about 6-8″ it was easy to see fish moving about in the shallower sections. I was very please with the numbers of fish that I spotted.
I stopped at gauging station and there was already someone there. I strung up and got ready to fish while observing the river. I then hit the car and drove downstream to the parking area at the bottom of the meadow. I proceeded to walk into one of my favorite hike-in spots. Some serious bushwacking and two ticks later, I am staring at a beautiful greened out stretch of water. In this section, the river splits out and creates a nice island that allows you to fish both river channels while also sneaking up on trout. Normally this works, but not today.
One observation is that there is a ton of downed timber in the river right now. Hope that when the river blows out in the next few weeks, that some of that timber gets blown out as well. I lost 6 flies, all to branches and logs in the river.
I also did a driving reconn of the river starting about Woodfords and turning around at Pickett’s Junction. There were 12 cars at the bridge at Pickett’s, and cars lining the highway all the way down to Sorenson’s. That mile or so took the brunt of the fishing pressure. As I drove down canyon, it was evident that no one wanted to brave the raging river in its element – the canyon. There was one car and one fisherman at gauging station, but anyone who reads my posts knows that I only fish there if I am the sole person. There is just too much good water requiring light hiking.
With everything open for the season, I hope to have more excuses to get out and fish!
East Walker River (03/27/09)
2 years ago
Did a quick morning session on the EW Rosachi section today. Temps were in the mid-50′s, light to moderate winds and definitely less crowding then last week. I drove straight to my favorite starting spot and there was one car there, but no anglers in sight.
A short hike later and I am in the water. The flows were also noticeably higher than the previous week and a look at the flow reports that evening showed they were at 125 cfs…perfect! Water temps were still pretty cool…but no specifics. I forgot my thermometer (again). There was no evidence of any hatch activity on the water at 9AM when I arrived. Throughout the morning, I kept vigilant watch for noses and hatches, but they remained elusive, at least to my observations.
I fished my favorite spots pretty hard and was able to hook into two nice browns on a #18 Copper John. I was also getting some hits, but could not set up quick enough. Guess that I am still rusty with the reaction times, but getting better versus the previous week.
East Walker 03/18/09 – A new season begins!
2 years ago
First I need to clarify what I mean by a new season. NV fishing licenses run march 1 through the last day of February. This is my first trip on my new license, not 2009. The few trips I have made this year have all been winter fishing trips more about solitude and freezing my ass off, then about catching fish.
Today was a beautiful pre-spring day. Temps on the EW were in the mid-60′s, slightly overcast, little to no wind, and a flows that have been steady for several days. The reports trickling in from friends fishing the EW have all been good. The downside was that every angler much have been suffering from the fishing jones as there were cars and fishermen at every corner – it was pretty crowded for this section of the river. I could only guess at how crowded the Miracle Mile section would be if the ranch was this pressured.
I drove past the first 3 likely parking spots as they were all stuffed with cars. I decided to drive down to Red Wash and was the second car there…rats! No matter. I suited up and headed toward the fence that demarks the special regs from the put and take sections. I will admit that I almost never fish this section, always going in the opposite direction (as does everyone else when they start at Red Wash) and I am happy to say that I discovered some new water that will get more attention from me this spring and fall. In fact, one of my found spots produced the only two fish that I caught the entire day.
Yup…you read that right…only two fish. And I had such high expectations because I have been hearing about “20 fish days” and “fish on every other cast” stories all week. I tried a handful of flies, but the one that got the job done was an olive streamer that I call the green goblin. Pretty sure that is not this fly’s official name, but it’s what I call it. It is an evil fly that has caught some of my biggest fish.
I did fish all the way up river to my usual favorite spots. I only saw one of the three people that were in the other car, so we were all spaced out pretty well. Back at the parking area, the other crew was getting ready to split, but the word from them was that they had a tough day as well with a total of 4 fish netted between 3 angles.
Make no bones about it though, it is time to start fishing and I will start hitting the water with some frequency before spring runoff starts.