The west fork of the Carson River will always hold a special place in my heart. This was where I honed my trout-fooling skills as a teenager, spending countless summer days exploring its many riffles and pools. With each summer, I learned more about the character of this varied body of water and grew to love it more. I went from being content casting for stocked trout under the highway bridges to feeling the need to search out the most remote pools in the steepest canyon stretches, where I would be sure to find willing wild fish with the brilliant colors and perfect fins grown only in nature. This river went from a place of personal learning and growth to one where I made some of my fondest memories teaching good buddies and high school girlfriends to cast and to catch their first fish. Years later now, each time I make it back, I am reminded of how special this stretch of water is by its natural beauty and the fish that live there.
The West Carson is really more a creek than a river. Running along Highway 88 for much of its length, it changes in character multiple times, from its tiny headwaters up Blue Lakes Road to its eventual drop into Nevada’s high desert. The highest reaches provide opportunities to break out the 2-weight and cast dries for spooky brookies, while the lowest stretches can kick out decent-sized browns from between sagebrush-covered banks, but the best fishing is found from where the stream first crosses under Highway 88 at the upper end of Hope Valley down to the sleepy town of Woodfords. This stretch of water provides a wide array of angling opportunities.
Meadows and Pockets
Through the expansive meadows of Hope Valley, technical fishing for wild rainbows and browns can be a thrilling challenge, even given the angling pressure that a roadside water like this receives. Without the advantages of cover provided by trees or heavy riffles, meadow fish are spooky and commonly tucked tight below deep undercut banks. It is often only in the evening, once the light is off the water and the bugs begin to pop, that these wary trout will venture out into the open and provide a good shot for fly anglers. During the heat of the summer, when grasshoppers become prolific in the meadow grasses, rare chances for fish under the midday sun do occur. Unless you can find a riser slurping hoppers, though, your best bet during morning and afternoon is to suspend nymphs deep under an indicator along cut banks in hopes that a trout will jut out from its hiding place to grab a meal.
Access is easy along the meadow stretch, because parking off the side of Highway 88 and hiking out to the river is pretty straightforward. The river meanders back and forth through a number of sharp S turns here, providing plenty of pools in which to try to coax a player to take a fly.
From the intersection with Highway 89 down to Woodfords, the West Carson’s gradient gradually steepens. Here, the river tumbles through giant boulders and canyon stretches, quickly transitioning from meadow stream to pocket water and plunge pools. Because of the riffly nature of this zone, the trout tend to be aggressive all day and can be taken on both dries and nymphs. The wild fish of the West Carson are rarely large, with a 12-incher being a big one, but they make up for their lack of size in beauty and spunk. The wild rainbows and browns of this river are special indeed. Though easier to fool in the pocket water than in the meadow, they are a lot more difficult to get to, because technical boulder hopping and climbing are often necessary to reach the best pools. The rewards for doing a little extra work to reach those hard-to-get-to spots can be great, because the chance of finding wild trout just waiting for a fly to drift by is relatively high. These canyon pocket-water fish are not selective, and just about any attractor dry with some sort of beadhead nymph suspended below will be effective. A neat aspect of the river is that anglers can target different sections of river depending on the experience they seek, making the West Carson a river of different flavors. While adventurous anglers looking for a day of rock hopping and pocket-water fishing can hit the steeper part of the river below Highway 89 for the less-educated wild fish, and those looking for more technical fishing with easier access can stick to the meadow above the Highway 89 bridge for the more wary wild targets, anglers looking to bend a rod without the difficulty of access or technical presentations can key in on the pools under bridges, when stocker trout are planted. These planters usually stick to the bridge pools and don’t spread out too far. Regular summer plantings often fill these spots with hatchery rainbows and sometimes Lahontan cutthroats, easy targets that are perfect for getting a child or newcomer into the sport with some success. Brutes up to six or eight pounds are sometimes stocked, making beefier tippets a wise accessory to bring along. Hot bridge spots, beginning upriver and moving down, are the Highway 88 bridge shortly after Blue Lakes Road, the Highway 89 bridge, the Sorensen’s Resort bridge, the Hope Valley Campground bridges, and the two white bridges found down in the canyon on the way to Woodfords off Highway 88. All are regularly planted during the summer months.
The West Carson, like much of the Sierra high country, has a limited season. Depending on any given year’s snowpack, the river will drop into shape between early May and late June. July and August are my favorite months to fish it, because there are consistent flows, terrestrial action is abundant, and evening caddis and mayfly hatches are common. September and October can also be fruitful months on the West Carson, but by the fall, flows usually have dropped very low, and fishing gets more technical than during the summer months. The highlight of fishing the West Carson in the fall is the display of colors in Hope Valley’s aspen groves. The walls of the valley light up in yellow, orange, and red as the leaves change color. A trip to this area just to admire the fall colors is well worth the effort. Having the opportunity to cast a fly to wild trout in this phenomenal scenery makes for one heck of a bonus. Once the leaves begin to fall and the weather turns, the time is limited before the West Carson is snowed in for another season.
Flies and Tackle
My Carson fly box is composed of terrestrials, caddisflies, mayflies, and stoneflies, for dry flies, and an assortment of nymphs. During the daytime, I usually fish a hopper-dropper setup, with a grasshopper imitation or Chernobyl Ant above a Copper John, Prince Nymph, or Pheasant Tail Nymph. Just about any beadhead nymph from size 12 to 18 will entice trout here. I keep a few small Corky indicators on hand for fishing double nymph rigs in the deeper pools.
Once the light is off the water in the evening, I get into dry-fly mode. My top picks are Elk Hair Caddises, Adams Parachutes, and Yellow Sallies. For the most part, the fish in the West Carson are not too selective regarding fly size and color, unlike their East Carson counterparts. Presentation is far more important than fly choice, because these fish can be spooky when exposed to a splashy line or human shadow.
On occasional headwaters explorations, I break out the ultralight gear, usually picking a 2-weight or 3-weight in the 7-to-8-foot range. For the rest of the river, I prefer an 8-1/2-foot 4-weight. A 9-foot 5-weight will certainly suffice, but it is overkill for everything in the West Carson except throwing double nymph rigs in the deep bridge pools for stocked brutes. Because of the river’s small size and relatively shallow streambed, I almost never turn to streamers or sink-tip lines. A floating weight-forward line appropriately matched to your rod will cover 99 percent of the opportunities found here. Short tapered leaders approximately 7-1/2 feet in length do the job for pocket-water stretches, while 9footers are the ticket for the meadow and deeper pools. Tippets of 4X and 5X will cover most situations, with the occasional need for 6X with small dries.
Other Options
Another attraction when visiting the West Carson is the proximity of a number of exciting stillwater fisheries. Within a short distance, you can be casting flies on lakes such as Crater, Woods, Upper and Lower Blue, Caples, and Silver. That is just a sampling of the options within a 30-minute drive. This opens up the possibility of doing split days and spending the morning on one of the lakes before the wind comes up, then spending the late afternoon and evening on the West Carson, enjoying the best surface action of the day when hatches are most likely to occur. With so many lakes close by to keep the itinerary interesting, it would be easy to stay busy for a full week exploring the greater Hope Valley area. It would take three or four days just to get a good sense of the best sections of the West Carson.
With ample opportunity to chase beautiful wild trout in challenging water as well as easy access to novice-friendly stocked trout fishing, the West Carson has something for everyone. The beautiful scenery of the upper section’s sprawling meadows and the lower portion’s dramatic canyon walls only enhance the great fishing. With the presence of brookies, rainbows, browns, and cutthroats, you never know what might take your fly next. Whether you’re a novice looking to catch your first trout with a fly rod or a seasoned Sierra angler hoping to add another challenging piece of water to your list, there is a section of the “WC” that will be a thrill for every angler. Give this freestone a try. You can be sure it will be worth the effort.
If You Go…
There are a number of options for a home base out of Hope Valley if planning a fishing adventure to the area. Sorensen’s Resort (
), located in the heart of the valley on Highway 88, offers cabin rentals within a five-minute walk of some of the best stretches of the river. The resort also offers summer fly-fishing classes and guided instruction. A bit farther down the road, the Hope Valley Resort and Campground (http://www.hopevalleyresort.com) makes for a great place to tent camp, hook up an RV, or even rent their classic silverbullet 1947 trailer. They also provide family-style accommodations in the Hope Valley House, which has three bedrooms and makes for a good option for a large group or family. If you would prefer to camp, the U.S. Forest Service operates several public campgrounds in the area.
Many lodging options are also available in the community of South Lake Tahoe, which is a short drive north on Highway 89 over Luther Pass. Although this puts an angler a bit farther from the fishing, it can be a good compromise if traveling with nonanglers, because South Lake provides amenities and entertainment not found in the much more rural Hope Valley. Make a point to stop by Tahoe Fly Fishing Outfitters (2705 Lake Tahoe Boulevard; http://www.tahoeflyfishing.com) while you are in South Lake Tahoe to ask what has been hatching and pick up some flies.
Loren Elliott
