Hey guys! Has anyone had experience with a rod on Wolf Creek at the confluence with the East Carson or up at Wolf Creek Meadows? Is it easy to get to without 4WD (dirt roads)? I hear there are lots of fish, though not big, they're wild and mighty pretty. Does snowmelt usually effect this creek? Also, any overnight car camping near the creek? Planning a trip up with a newbie in a couple of weeks and would be cool to get him on fish.
Sorry for the 20 travelogue questions. I am considering the Wolf Creek area over the Silver Fork of the American, since I haven't fished The Wolf yet.
Any recommendations or info would be much appreciated.
if i am not mistaken that is the one that you drive over on hwy 4 a few times, and there is also wolf creek rd right there. i am not 100% on this though. but from my experience in the east west and the tribs to the east carson which i believe is wolf creek, there are a crap load of fish in this lil creek, the farther you go up the more wild fish you will get, the stock the crap out of it the closer it gets to the east carson.
as far as camping, its FREE at wolf creek road, might want to double check that, but from what i have heard and been told most of the camping along the east carson is free.
__________________
Fishing isnt about catching fish, its not about who caught the most, or who caught the biggest, its about the experience that you have on the water, and the life long bonds you make with others on the journey to becoming a better person inside.
In a couple of weeks the runoff situation should be just about over, barring any freak snow storms like last saturday. I have not fished wolf creek or the carson, but have drivin through the area a few times. I would defenitly opt for the carson area rather then the silver fork. The silver fork is a very nice river but I would most defenitly head up to wolf creek and the east carson if it was me, Simply because its a more scenic area, more scenic drive and a bit more remote and that makes for a good trip as far as I'm concerned. As for camping, Its a national forest man, If you cant find a place to pitch a tent your not looking hard enough. Good luck and go get em !
Thanks Brian...thanks Captain! I'm sold, the Wolf it is.
Captain, I'm with you on the "scenic" element. BTW - the last time I was on the Silver Fork around the 15th of May, it was running high, though clear, and not a fish to be seen. Didn't have any way to gauge it but I can say the water was really cold from runoff. Saw no fish activity at all throughout the day and evening. Did see some huge may flys over the water early evening, but again, no fish activity. Got one bump on a dropper PT nymph.
Brian, see your posts often. Thanks for the info. There's a book I have been referencing called Fly Fishing the Tahoe Region by Stephen Haggert that mentions the Wolf Creek tributary to the Carson and sounds awesome. He talks highly of that whole Carson drainage area. Like you say, lots of fish. Did a Google Earth scan over the area and it looks pretty cool and accessible. No one ever talks about it though?
the carson is the first river that i learned to fly fish on, and its great, has some big fish over the 20" mark but most of them will be 12-16" average. the wild trophy section is great as well.
the do stock some big big bows up there from 3-12lbs on occasion, not from dfg but from alpine county, my buddy got into a few of these and told me they fought like crazy. the put 75% of them in markleeville creek the other into the carson, and silver fork of the carson. dfg also plants as well but are halfpounder size 10-16"s.
love the carson rivers love the area everything about it is awsome. i am always up for the carson. the flows are still high right now about 650, the recently was over 1000, you can fish the east carson right now, even though its at 650 if you hit that pocket water 2-3 ft deep you can get into some fish. but must be on your game, once the flows get under 450 or so, the fish will start coming out of the wood works. come july time stone flys are the ticket up there.
everyone laughs at me when i tell them this but walmart has some rubber made stone flies for 1.72$ and they work very well up there. thats what i used and wooly buggers before i really started to know about flies patterns matching hatches and what not.
hope this helps.
if you ever go up there or wanna hit it up let me know, i am always up for fishing the carson rivers, especially the trophy section of the east carson, there is a way to get back there before markleville
__________________
Fishing isnt about catching fish, its not about who caught the most, or who caught the biggest, its about the experience that you have on the water, and the life long bonds you make with others on the journey to becoming a better person inside.
Hey be careful up there. There are a lot of Bears running around there. Met one last year, when I was fishing Wolf Creek. Fish are spooked very easily. Use ultimate stealth.
Brian - thanks for the skinny on the Carson. All good info. Actually, now that you mention it, I was thinking about maybe floating Hangman Bridge to the NV border in my pontoon boat. Camp along the way, pull off and fish, you know. I believe its an 11-mile stretch. I'll definitely wait until after runoff. As you say, July might be the time for a float pitching stonefly patterns. I would imagine grasshopper patterns in that arid section of the Carson in July might be a good idea too.
Wolf Creek will be the next foray though and it looks like from what Robdogj says, were going to see plenty of bruins. I don't know about anyone else, but I have been running into more bears and bear sign than ever before in my years flyfishing. That is, on the water, along trails and in campgrounds. I almost expect it when I go fishing and camping anymore. There were bears at the Silver Fork Campground on the American two weeks ago. The camp host warned me about them when I came in. Thanks for the warning Robdogj. We will definitely keep our noses to the wind and eyes along the skyline when at Wolf Creek.
Robdogj, spooky fish, eh? Looks like the 3wt is coming out. Have you fished above Wolf Creek Meadows? I read that the fish get wild after that point and you start to see brookies too. BTW - what did that bear do, that you saw last year?
Brian, maybe head up some weekend to fish the Carson. I'm in Marin, so that's a weekend for me. I'll let you know. Sounds like you got that beat wired.
I would definitely give the Carson rivers some time, especially the east Carson. I was up there two weekends ago and the flows were very high. I started on the East Carson and it was just too high and to dirtied to fish. There was a consistent rain/snow when I was fishing and the water actually came up about a foot or two...so much that I couldn't cross back through and ended up making a pretty decent hike to get back to my car.
I did stop at the West Carson on the way back to my parent's place for about an hour. The flows were much more fishable and I was able to catch some fish: 2 planters 10"-12" and two little wild bows, 6"-10".
