A 12-pound and a 15-pound Mackinaw at North Lake Tahoe

By Don Quilici

BLUE LAKES, CALIF. AREA: Dave Kirby of the Woodfords Station (530-694-2930) said, "We got a few snow flurries this morning (Monday). It was quiet this weekend. Super Bowl weekend is always quiet."

CAPLES LAKE, CALIF: Dave Kirby reported that it was quiet over the weekend due to the Super Bowl.

DAVIS LAKE, CALIF: Three fishermen were out on the ice near the dam on Saturday morning but there was no sign of any fish being caught. The thickness of the ice is unknown.

INDIAN CREEK RESERVOIR. CALIF: Dave Kirby reported the road department told him the road is not plowed to the reservoir. The reservoir is iced over, but thickness is unknown.

Use extreme caution if venturing out on the ice.

LAHONTAN RESERVOIR, NEV: Missy Swain at Burke's Market at Silver Springs (775-577-2750) reported: "There has been a bunch of people fishing but no one has come back to tell us how they did.

The reservoir is still coming up. The boat ramps are useable, but call State Parks at (775) 577-2226 to be sure.

We saw some small boats out on the water yesterday, and some shore fishermen were down by the dam."

PYRAMID LAKE, NEV: Doug Ouellette at the Gilly Sporting Goods Store in Sparks (358-6113) reported: "It's the same as last week.

The fly fishermen have been doing OK with either dark Woolly Bugger or foam Beetle flies. A few guys reported that the purple color was working good.

The spincasters have using the usual TOR-P-DO type lures. The boaters are trolling with Lyman or U-20 lures. The jiggers are jigging with Gibb's Minnows or Maribou Jigs.

One fly fisherman caught an 9-pounder last week.

The water is still cold. We need for it to warm up. The fishing should be real good in the month of April."

RED LAKE CALIF: Dave Kirby reported it was quiet over the weekend due to the Super Bowl. There are about 3 feet of ice on the lake.

LAKE TAHOE - North Shore: Mickey Daniels of Mickey's Big Mack Charters (800-877-1462) said: "We've been catching our Mackinaw trout early in the morning and tagging and releasing the smaller ones.

We're catching nice fish but we're not catching anything super big.

I troll in the deep-water area in front of Carnelian Bay and King's Beach with silver Herring Dodger flasher blades with live minnows or large Apex lures."

LAKE TAHOE - North Shore: Gene St. Denis of Blue Ribbon Charters and Tahoe Trophy Trout at South Lake Tahoe, Calif. (530-544-6552): " Cal Neva Point has been good to excellent for Mackinaw trout.

Our biggest Mackinaw trout last week were a 12-pounder and a 15-ponder.

We are trolling with silver Herring Dodger flasher blades and live minnows at depths of 90-260 feet, along the edges of the drop-offs.

In the early mornings, we are using white or frog- pattern Flatfish lures."

LAKE TAHOE - South Shore: Gene St. Denis: "Ski Run Shelf and Camp Richardson have both been excellent for Macks.

We are trolling with silver Herring Dodger flasher blades and live minnows at a depth of 160-280 feet."

LAKE TAHOE - East Shore: Gene St. Denis: "The local guys are toplining at the Cave Rock Shelf for Macks and rainbows. They are trolling in 20-40 feet of water with silver/black, No. 11 Rapala lures or No. 9 Count Down Rapala lures.

Fishing as been good for Macks 2-7 pounds, when trolling silver Herring Dodger flasher blades and live minnows at a depth of 150-240 feet.

Tell the fishermen that the Cave Rock Ramp will closed on Friday as they will be working on it."

TOPAZ LAKE: Chuck Fields at Topaz Lake Marina (775) 266-3550 reported, "There is no one out fishing this morning (Tuesday). It was slow this last weekend. There were not five boats on the lake, but people did catch fish.

On couple from Reno caught a total of 11 fish on Needlefish lures trolled in the top 10 feet of water."

TOPAZ LAKE: Chuck Haltom of Carson City reported that he and his partner caught a total of six trout on Saturday while trolling at a depth of about 15 feet with silver/black Rapala lures.

Dick Biggs reported that he and Wally Hesse, both of Carson City, caught a total of 5 trout while trolling Fire Tiger Rapala lures last Friday.

WILDHORSE RESERVOIR NEV: Mike at the Wild Horse Resort (775) 758-6472 said, "We have had some good fishing up here for Perch and Rainbow trout.

The ice is about 15-18 inches thick.

The Perch are running about 5-6 inches. However, we had one turned in last week that was 1/4 inch short of the state record.

The are catching lots of nice rainbows 3-4.5 pounds.

They are jigging for Perch with white-colored, Crappie jigs with the hook tipped with a small piece of worm.

The are using nightcrawlers for the rainbows.

The best fishing is just off the island by the State boat ramp.

Last night (Sunday), Spring Creek got about 7 inches of snow while we only got about 1/4 inch."