Mac-the-Naw: Stellar opening weekend

Hello fellow anglers.

Just a small report on how the local stream opener unfolded.

I have to say, I told you so. At 5:30 a.m. Saturday morning the temperature was 25 degrees on the East Carson River along with a covering of quarter-inch of snow.

Fishing was fridged, but the action was good to fair.

The largest fish weighed in on that day at the Carson river Resort was Michael Teel from Washoe Valley with a nice 7-pound 15-ounce rainbow caught on salmon eggs.

Right behind him was Greg Askew 7 pounds, Betty Turner 6 pounds, Rob Luttrell 5 pound, 15 ounces, Kyle Teel 4 pounds, 12 ounces and Colby Young with a 4-pound rainbow.

Many other anglers caught nice 1-1/2 to 2-pound rainbows along with many limits of catchables. I am here to tell you though, There is a 10-pound-plus rainbow in the West Carson that was caught and released. Reason I know this is because I had the pleasure of fighting the fish for 15 minutes or more. As I pulled him close to a rock I was standing on, I knew there was no way to keep this fish. But I did have the honor of cradling this beautiful Rainbow for about a minute before I watched him swim away. What a great feeling to cradle a fish with a girth bigger than my hand capacity.

As a note: there are bigger fish in the East and West Carson rivers to be caught. The water was high and a little stained but very fishable. Many anglers had to adapt their way of fishing. Most anglers I spoke with started off with heavy weights to keep their bait in the deep holes and close to the bottom. As the day went on, I saw more anglers going to a couple pinchie weights and a number 12 hook with power bait, salmon eggs or 1/2 a worm. The funny part is , then they were casting 4 feet from the shore and catching more fish than in the deeper pools. Fly anglers were doing good with black bead head wooly buggers with a sinking line casting upstream and letting the fly drag across the bottom. All in all a great day. For more information call the Carson River Resort at 877-694-2229.

Now for our local waters and what's going on.

CAPLES LAKE: The lake now is unstable to walk on for ice fishing. The lake has risen 12 feet since January and is at 4,000 acre feet as of last Monday. Spring fishing will be awesome.

For more information, call the Caples Lake Resort at 209-258-8888.

RED LAKE: Also unstable and thawing very quickly. The first two weeks of clear and open waters are the best of the year.

For more information, call the Tahoe Fly Fishing Outfitters at (530) 541-8208.

INDIAN CREEK: The water level is rising day by day due to the pumps that bring water from Snow shoe Thompson Ditch. Last Friday a six-pound rainbow was caught on the west shore of the lake. Due to the clarity of the water the fishing this spring and into the summer should continue to be productive. Many anglers have asked why the water is so clear. That my friends will be answered in my next column. And I must add, we have the South Tahoe Public Utility to thank for this project. I also herd that the Carson Fly Fishing Club was out last weekend and had great success from float tubes as well as from the shore.

SPECIAL NOTE: The Lahontan Fish hatchery located two miles south of Gardnerville on 395 will have an open house on May 16. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. you can sign up your kids for the Lampe Park Kids fishing derby.

They will also be accepting volunteer sign ups for this great event. If you would like to make a monetary or any type of donation you can contact Brain Woods at 901-2066 or email him at randall1.wood@ge.com or email Chris Smithen at reno7330@yahoo.com. All donations are greatly appreciated. Come volumteer to see for yourself.

Good luck on your next outing. If you have a photo of your catch you can send it to jcrandall@recordcourier.com or drop it off at The Record-Courier. If you have any questions in our local fishing world you can call the Naw line at 775-267-9722. Good fishin' and tight lines.