Fishing report for week of 12/20

Seasons' biggest at Walker and

17 below zero at Wildhorse

LAKE ALMANOR: No report.

LAKE ALPINE: No report.

BLUE LAKES (UPPER AND LOWER): Lakes are frozen but no report.

BOCA RESERVOIR: No report.

CAPLES LAKE: Lake is frozen but no report.

DAVIS LAKE: No report.

EAGLE LAKE: No report.

FRENCHMAN RESERVOIR: Shirley Wiggin of Wiggin's Trading Post of Chilcoot checked in and said. "No ice has formed on the lake yet. The road is open and all parts of the lake are accessible. Michael Espeland of Reno caught a limit of rainbows while bank fishing at Lunker Point last Friday. He was using worms. Fly fishermen are doing well using the cinnamon leech fly at the north end of the lake."

INDIAN CREEK RESERVOIR: Dave Kirby of the Woodfords Station said, "It's cold here. It was down to 12 degrees last night (Sunday). There is a good sheet of ice on the reservoir but it is still very thin. Another week of our cold weather should make it ok."

KENNEY RESERVOIR: Reservoir is frozen but no report.

LAHONTAN RESERVOIR: No report.

PYRAMID LAKE: Lawrence Quadrio of the Gilly's Sporting Goods Store in Sparks reported, "Fishing from shore has improved but it's still not that great. The boaters are definitely doing much better than shore fishermen. Primarily because the boats can cover more areas and troll at different depths. Don't be afraid to experiment with different lures at different depths. The fish are not holding shallow in the bays at the present time. For the boaters, the top lures are, as usual, Flatfish, Kiwkfish and Apex. Some of the best action, lately, has been on Rapala lures. We've had reports of lots of cutthroat in the 6-9 pound class. The fly fishermen are still doing best with dark colored flies at The Nets. Spincasters are staying with the standard colored TOR-P-DO lures."

RED LAKE:

Dave Kirby of the Woodfords Station said, "There haven't been too many ice fishermen. The few that have been fishing have been catching trout. Saturday, one angler caught three average-sized brookies. He told me that the ice is about 6-8 inches thick. With another week of cold weather, that ice should be more than thick enough."

Doug Busey of Douglas County checked in and reported, "Steve Lightfoot (Douglas County) and I fished on Saturday and caught some brookies, up to 12 inches. We were using worms."

SACRAMENTO RIVER: According to Kirk Portocarrero of Redding. Calif., "Fishing the Anderson - Balls Ferry area for king salmon is good at the present time. We are seeing some limits of nice-sized, bright fish. River is at 4,600 C.F.S. Salmon are ranging in size from 15 to 20 pounds with an occasional one over 30 pounds. Boaters are using Flatfish lures wrapped with sardines or bouncing roe. King salmon fishing is open until Jan. 14."

SILVER LAKE: Lake is frozen but no report.

SHASTA LAKE: No report.

STAMPEDE RESERVOIR: No report.

LAKE TAHOE - North Shore: Mickey Daniels of Mickey's Big Mack Charters reported, "My anglers are catching easy limits of Mackinaw trout with an occasional rainbow. Some of the Macks are running up to 10 pounds. We are tagging and releasing the smaller ones. I've been trolling 250-550 feet deep in the area in front of Carnelian Bay and King's Beach. We are using Herring Dodger flasher blades with either live minnows or pearl Apex lures."

Note: Last Sunday morning, Nevada Appeal Outdoors editor Don Quilici and his fishing party of nine anglers had to cancel their fishing trip due to high winds. That trip, which will be video-taped, will be re-scheduled sometime early next year.

LAKE TAHOE - SOUTH SHORE: Mike Nielsen of the Sportsmen's Sporting Goods Store at South Lake Tahoe said, "We're really nailing the Mackinaw trout right now. They have moved into the shallow waters on the east and south shores. The Macks have been hitting all different ways, top lining, downrigging, trolling and jigging. One guy caught and released five Mackinaw that each weighed 5 pounds. He was jigging with a live minnow. Trollers are scoring with silver flasher blades and live minnows. Some shore fishermen at Cave Rock Landing caught Macks with live minnows under a bobber."

WALKER LAKE: Bob Tompkins of the Walker Lake Guide Services said, "Last Thursday, one of my clients caught the bigest cutthroat of the season. It was a 9.33-pound beauty. Ken Kirbey of Hawthorne caught it on a Chartrese/red dot No. 3 TOR-P-DO lure. We were trolling right on the surface in the middle of the lake in front of Sportsmen's Beach.

My three fishermen caught a total of seven fish brought into the boat and also lost another six, right at the boat. They had a double hook-up on six different occasions.

They also caught fish with Chartreuse/black dot, red/black dot and hammered brass/with an orange stripe, No. 3 TOR-P-DO lures.

Shore fishing is still slow. The shore fishermen are using Power Bait and they are fishing anywhere from Sand Point all the way to The Cliffs."

WALKER RIVERS (EAST-WEST-LITTLE):

East Walker River (Nev.): Very low and crystal clear.

Bob Tompkins of the Walker Lake Guide Services reported, "The "Elbow" area continues to produce average size rainbows and an occasional German brown on Panther-Martin or Roostertail lures or with Power Eggs or nightcrawlers."

West Walker River (Nev.): No report.

WEBER RESERVOIR: Bob Tompkins of the Walker Lake Guide Services reported, "Access to the reservoir is open. Check on current fishing conditions and restrictions at the Schurz Smoke Shop on U.S. 95."

WILDHORSE RESERVOIR: Steve of the Wildhorse Resort said, "It's really winter, here, now. We have a foot of snow on the ground and it was down to 17 degrees below zero that night. The reservoir now has at least 10 inches of ice and snowmobiles have been running all over the lake. The ice fishermen are catching average-sized rainbows up to 2 pounds, German browns about 1-2 pounds and perch up to 10 inches. They are using worms with a piece of corn or party-sized marshmallows."