East Fork Carson and Heenan over the weekend.

[switherby]

Fished Heenan on Saturday (28th) in the usual thick algae bloom for about 2.5hrs. Saw one guy catch two small ones and another catch one that went 20". I was told the usual "should have been here yesterday" by a fellow angler... thanks. Got blown off by steady wind and walked back to the parking lot with a goose egg.

Fished East Fork Carson Sunday (access via airport) in a hurricane, steady wind in the 20's with gusts that felt to hit 50's +. Tough day with only a few 12 - 14 inch rainbows. Water in low but totally fishable condition, without the wind I think it would have been the usually great time that the E.F.C. usually provides. Wish I was there now...

[Jed Peters]

Fished East Fork Carson Sunday (access via airport) in a hurricane, steady wind in the 20's with gusts that felt to hit 50's +. Tough day with only a few 12 - 14 inch rainbows. Water in low but totally fishable condition, without the wind I think it would have been the usually great time that the E.F.C. usually provides. Wish I was there now...

Man, how did you fish in that? Wow...I was in gardnerville at the house yesterday and the wind was HOWLING!

[SHigSpeed]

I can concur... We were at 10,500' south of CA108 and it blew all night and into the morning - so much so that we broke camp early and ran for the valley. The wind never let up though the skies did.

At least I got some decent fishing in the afternoon before and managed some fish out of the creek on the hoof out.

_SHig

[jbird1933]

Has anyone caught anthing near 18" on the EC, or are those fish gone? I fished it pretty hard a couple of years ago and never caught anything bigger than 14"....

[Fly Guy Dave]

Has anyone caught anthing near 18" on the EC, or are those fish gone? I fished it pretty hard a couple of years ago and never caught anything bigger than 14"....

There are still some in there from what I've seen. As always, it depends on the usual: water temp, hatch, location, luck, etc.

[tallguy]

There are still some in there from what I've seen. As always, it depends on the usual: water temp, hatch, location, luck, etc.

In my opinion, the EC has definitely declined over the last few years. definitely seeing smaller and fewer fish in my time there. Still some there for sure, but it doesn't get my blood pumping like it used to.

[jburge]

Has anyone caught anthing near 18" on the EC, or are those fish gone? I fished it pretty hard a couple of years ago and never caught anything bigger than 14"....

I never measured, but this was from the EC late last year:

7676

There are some good fishies in there. It was a lucky day.

John

[Fly Guy Dave]

In my opinion, the EC has definitely declined over the last few years. definitely seeing smaller and fewer fish in my time there. Still some there for sure, but it doesn't get my blood pumping like it used to.

From what I understand, they stock the catch and keep section with triploid rainbows, or rainbows that can't reproduce, so you have very few carry over rainbows that can grow to larger sizes. However, there are some large browns in there and they are now stocking it with lahontan cutts, since it is their native water, after all. I caught a small cutt way downstream from Hangman's a few years back and I thought I was really lucky, but I catch them all the time now and some are of a nice size (10" or larger). I think that the fishery is in a transition period from rainbows and browns, to cutts and browns, but I still have just as many good (or bad) days down there as I have in the past. It is still one of my favorite waters to fish.

[geowkasu]

Ive only been up twice this year and only caught a handful of fish each time. Last summer I was with a friend who caught an 18+ brown. I caught an 18+ rainbow three weeks later. Most of my fish up there now are probably 12-14 inches.

[Ben-doc]

I have fished the same stretch of the East Carson 7 of the last 8 Octobers, and one time in May. My favorite water in California. Two falls ago I had an 18 inch Rainbow on that I lost a few inches from the net. Last fall was easily the worst fishing I ever had there, with just one 12 inch rainbow to hand, though my buddy did better. One thing I have noticed is that the first few years I was there, I basically caught everything on size 14-16 micro mayflies, copper johns, etc. The last couple of years, the fish were much more into big stone fly nymphs. I haven't caught anything on a dry there since 2008 or 2009. Regardless of the fishing, It is a beautiful trip at the best time of year. We're headed up there soon.