I fished the Carbon for the first time ever today from 6-9:30 am. I know people who fish it regularly are probably used to it, but I thought it was a total kick in the pants! I only caught pinks, and I saw no kings or cohos caught anywhere on the river. I did see one dark king pushing its way through the rapids. I used mainly pink and orange corkies, and landed about a dozen pinks (most were caught between 6:30-7:30). I kept the four brightest that weren't foul-hooked (4-5 of them were foul-hooked). The pinks ranged from humpbacked monsters to pretty bright, but most were in the olive phase. I fished a little ways downstream from the rope swing hole, where there's a gravel bar that divides the river (forcing the fish through narrow channels). The pinks were packed like sardines under a partially fallen tree.

I'd like to say I've never ran into such a friendly group of anglers. Three different anglers gave me advice about the river, and two told me exactly where to fish. One of the gentlemen wasn't even there fishing. He was salavaging gear people had left on the bank (usually pulled-up snags).Which is pretty smart, he probably saved himself $20-$30 in an hour. I'd also like to thank everybody on WALakes.com who posted a Carbon report this year. It was through your information that I was pointed in the right direction.

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