The River, Stretch by Stretch

About forty-seven miles of the East Fork lie in California, from the headwaters on Sonora Peak down to the Nevada line. Four stretches, three sets of rules — and the boundaries are not signposted on the water. The one that catches people is Hangman's Bridge, a mile below the resort: above it you are on stocked water under the statewide rules, and below it you are on unstocked canyon water where the limit is two fish over fourteen inches on artificial lures.

That line is a point on a map, not a sign on the bank, and guests get it wrong all the time. So here is the map saying where it actually is, drawn from the hydrography rather than by hand. Load it before you leave the pavement, or print it — there is no cell signal at the resort or in the canyon, and the current CDFW booklet, not this page, is the law.

Take it with you

There is no cell signal at the resort or anywhere in the canyon. Download the reaches before you leave the pavement — each file carries the rules for every stretch, not just the lines.

On iPhone the file lands in Files → Downloads: long-press it, Share, then pick your app. Or just print this page — the stretches and their rules print without the map.

carsonriverresorts.com/downloads/east-fork-carson-reaches.gpx
carsonriverresorts.com/downloads/east-fork-carson-reaches.kml

The four stretches, upstream to downstream

Above Carson Falls — closed11.6 miles: Closed to all fishing, all year — the East Fork and its tributaries above the falls. This is the refugium where the river's original-strain Lahontan cutthroat survive. The mainstem here lies inside the Wild Trout designation that runs upstream from Wolf Creek, which excludes tributaries.
Carson Falls down to Wolf Creek — the fishable Wild Trout water15.9 miles: The East Fork's surviving Wild Trout designation runs about 27 miles upstream of Wolf Creek; everything above Carson Falls is closed, so this is its fishable part. It was in the state's original 1972 group. Walk-in, roadless, reached from the Wolf Creek road. Silver King Creek joins along the way; its eleven miles and three small tributaries are the Paiute cutthroat's entire native range, and above the Snodgrass Creek confluence the creek and its tributaries are closed to all fishing, all year — CDFW's closure for the Paiute cutthroat's recovery. Carry the current CDFW booklet: the printed table gives this reach no entry of its own.
Wolf Creek down to Hangman's Bridge — the resort's stretch8.5 miles: Stocked put-and-take under statewide general regulations. CDFW plants catchable rainbow and super-catchable Lahontan cutthroat May through October; Alpine County adds larger trout from private hatcheries. Wild trout live here too.
Hangman's Bridge to the Nevada line — the canyon10.7 miles: All year, artificial lures only, 14-inch minimum, two trout daily and in possession. Nothing is planted. Roadless, undammed, State Wild & Scenic since 1989.

River centreline from the USGS National Hydrography Dataset. Reach boundaries: Carson Falls from the USGS gazetteer; the Wolf Creek confluence from the hydrography network itself; Hangman's Bridge from the single crossing of State Route 89; the Nevada line from the state boundary. Rules are summarised from the codified regulations — the current CDFW booklet is the law, and this map is not it.