Fishing report for week of 09/19

Best five days at Convict

LAKE ALMANOR: No report.

LAKE ALPINE: No report.

BLUE LAKES (UPPER AND LOWER): No report.

BOCA RESERVOIR: No report.

BRIDGEPORT RESERVOIR: No report.

BURNSIDE LAKE: No report.

CAPLES LAKE: Dave Kirby of the Woodfords Station (530-694-2930) checked in with this report: "Fishing is getting stronger all the time due to the cooling temperatures. There was frost above 7,000 feet yesterday. Some limits last weekend but nothing real big. Was reported as better for shore fishermen with inflated nightcrawlers or Power Bait. The dam was the best area for the shore fishermen and boaters were trolling the area along the highway."

CARSON RIVERS (EAST AND WEST) IN CALIF.:

East Carson: Very low and crystal clear. No limits reported. Working deeper holes will produce results.

West Carson: Extremely low and crystal clear. No limits reported. One angler caught three rainbows on salmon eggs.

CATNIP RESERVOIR: No report.

Big Springs Reservoir, also in Northern Humboldt County: No report.

CRATER LAKE (Near Kit Carson Pass): No report.

CONVICT LAKE AND CONVICT CREEK: David DeSurra of the Convict Lake Resort (800-992-2260) sent in this report: "This was one of the best five days of fishing in the twelve years I have been here. On Wednesday, Calif. F&G stocked 1,900 pounds (over 500 brooder stock trout), all 3-6 pounds. All this in addition to the regular weekly stocking from Fish Springs Hatchery and Hot Creek Hatchery. We have pictures (check our website of www.convictlake.com) of 50+ fisherpersons who weighed in over 90 large fish (18 over 2 pounds, 24 over 3 pounds, 23 over four pounds, 11 over 5 pounds and 2 six-pounders)."

Convict Lake: The top trout were a 6.03 pounder on Power Nuggets at the outlet, a 6.0 pounder on nightcrawlers and Power Bait at the inlet, a 5.81 pounder on a Trout Teaser at the inlet, a 5.75 pounder on orange Power Bait on the north shore, a 5.72 pounder on an olive woolly bugger fly on the south shore, a 5.70 pounder on a red/white spinner at the outlet, a 5.66 pounder on a bass jig at the inlet and a 5.66 pounder on a Trout Teaser at the inlet.

Note: One angler used Power Bait to catch a limit of five F&G rainbows at the inlet including one that weighed in at 6 pounds. On angler had a 19 pound stringer of five F&G rainbows (5, 4, 4, 3, 2 pounds). Another angler had a 15.78 pound stringer with the largest at 4.95 pounds.

Convict Creek: The top trout was a 2.79 F&G rainbow taken on bait.

CROWLEY LAKE: No report.

DAVIS LAKE: No report.

EAGLE LAKE: Dave Meserve of the Eagle Lake Marina (530-825-3454) sent in this report: "Fishing remains good. Shore fishing is somewhat slow. Trolling with nightcrawlers and a wide variety of lures and trolling flies seems to be best at this time. Still fishing with worms is the most productive. Anglers are also using trout attractants on lures. Early to mid-morning times continue to show the best results. Camping reservations are no longer available or needed. Those with Golden Age Passports are eligible for one-half rate camping with no limit on stays."

FRENCHMAN RESERVOIR: Shirley and Richard Wiggin of Wiggin's Trading Post in Chilcoot (530-993-4683 or 530-993-4721) checked in with this report: "We have had many good reports on the fishing this week. Early morning fishing still seems to be the best. Nightcrawlers and Power Bait as usual. Lunker Point, The Narrows and the north end of the lake are producing limits for most."

FROG LAKE: No report.

HEENAN RESERVOIR: Had a good weekend due to the cooler temperatures. Some anglers reporting catching up to 10 fish in 3-4 hours. One fly fisherman caught several cutthroat in the 27 inch class.

HOBART RESERVOIR: No report.

HOOVER WILDERNESS AREA: No report.

INDIAN CREEK RESERVOIR: Has been quiet. Water is warm and murky. Best with inflated nightcrawlers or Power Bait.

Summit Lake, above Indian Creek Reservoir, continues to be good. Best in the deeper part of the lake in the late afternoon when the sun goes off the water. Best for fly fishermen with dry flies.

JUNE LAKE LOOP (GRANT-GULL-JUNE-SILVER LAKES-RUSH CREEK): No report.

KIRMAN (CARMEN) LAKE: No report.

KENNEY RESERVOIR: No report.

LAHONTAN RESERVOIR: No report.

LUNDY LAKE: No report.

MAMMOTH LAKES AREA: No report.

MARKLEEVILLE CREEK: No report.

NORTH POND: No report.

OWENS RIVER:

Benton Crossing (Upstream): No report.

Benton Crossing (Downstream): No report.

POORE-SECRET-ROOSEVELT-LANE LAKES: No report.

PYRAMID LAKE: The 2001-2002 Lahontan cutthroat trout fishing season will open on Oct. 1.

RED LAKE: No report.

SACRAMENTO RIVER: Kirk Portocarrero of Outdoor Adventures Sport Fishing in Redding, Calif. (800-670-4448) gave this report: "Anderson to Red Bluff: King salmon fishing is fair. Averaging a fish per rod. Water flow is at 8,000 CFS. They are using T-50 Flatfish lures or bouncing roe. The average size is 12-30 pounds. Starting to see larger fish, with a few in the 40 pound class. May take a good rain to push more fish up the river."

SILVER LAKE: No report.

SHASTA LAKE: No report.

SOUTH-NORTH-INTAKE 2-BISHOP CREEK (WEST OF BISHOP): The Bishop Creek Lodge (760-873-4484) checked in with this report: The weather is beautiful up here. Daytime temps are in the 70's with nighttimes in the low 40's. The colors are really beginning to change. Fall is definitely in the air. A long-sleeve shirt is needed when the sun is not out."

South: The top trout of the week were a 5-pound, 4-ounce rainbow with a Thomas Buoyant lure and a 5-pound, 2-ounce rainbow with Power Bait. The baits pretty much run the gamut with Power Bait at the top. A lot of trolling going on, with Needlefish or Rapala lures doing well. The deeper the better.

North: Was very good because of a large F&G stocking early in the week and a number of Alpers were put in on Friday. We had a lot of good reports with salmon eggs or Power Bait.

Intake No. 2: Was very busy this weekend with a lot of anglers and most of them were not disappointed with their catches. Power Bait seemed best.

Bishop Creek: The largest trout was a 3 pounder taken with a Thomas Special Spinner. Most anglers came out with nice stringers of fish, mostly using Power Bait or Trout Traps with a mealworm. Lures did well with Thomas Special Spinners or Roostertails topping the list.

Backcountry: A lot of hikers are reporting fantastic conditions and great fishing. It is cold but no bugs.

STAMPEDE RESERVOIR: No report.

LAKE TAHOE - North Shore: Mickey Daniels of Mickey's Big Mack Charters (800-877-1462) reported, "We have been catching about 10-12 Mackinaws per trip. Most of the Macks are in the 3-5 pound class, with the biggest checking in at about 7-8 pounds. I'm tagging and releasing the smaller ones. Still doing best in the first two hours of daylight, trolling 250-550 feet deep, right in front of the Carnelian Bay-King's Beach area. We are trolling silver flasher blades with live minnows or pearl colored Apex lures."

LAKE TAHOE - South Shore: No report.

LAKE TAHOE - East Shore: No report.

TOPAZ LAKE: Lake level is low. Fishing remains slow with not very many fishermen. Mostly speed boats, water skiers and jet skis. The season will close on Sept. 30.

TWIN LAKES (UPPER AND LOWER):

Upper Twin: No report.

Lower Twin: No report.

Robinson Creek: No report.

VIRGINIA LAKES AREA: No report.

WALKER LAKE: Bob Tompkins of the Gun and Tackle Store in Hawthorne (775-945-3266) reported, "Fishing is one hot son of a gun, right now. Two of us each limited out on Saturday and Sunday. We trolled at a depth of 25-35 feet from Sand Point to The Cliffs. The trout were average size, up to 3 pounds. We caught them trolling with silver Flatfish lures, hammered brass/orange stripe TOR-P-DO or chartreuse/red dot TOR-P-DO lures. There have been quite a few boats out lately. The biggest fish so far is a 7.5 pounder caught by Wilson Kaskie of Hawthorne. He was spincasting from shore with a Krocodile lure at Sand Point."

WALKER RIVERS (EAST-WEST-LITTLE):

East Walker (Nev.): Small rainbows and German browns in the 12-14 inch class are being caught on Panther-Martin or small, gold Phoebe lures in "The Elbow" area.

West Walker (Nev.): No report.

East Walker (Calif.): No report.

West Walker (Calif.): Very low and crystal clear. Difficult to fish.

Little Walker: Very low and crystal clear. Continues to produce easy limits of small brookies and rainbow trout on worms in the Willow Flat area.

WASHOE LAKE: No report.

WEBER RESERVOIR: Bob Tompkins of the Gun and Tackle Store in Hawthorne (775-945-3266) reported that Weber is still closed to fishing due to low water levels. All access roads remain roped off.

WILDHORSE RESERVOIR: Dennis Dunn of the Wildhorse Resort (775-758-6472) gave this report: "The weather is absolutely beautiful, up here. It's nice and warm with no clouds. It gets up to about 70 in the daytime and down to about 31 at night. An Idaho angler caught 4 rainbows in the 15-18 inch class, on orange Power Bait from shore. A couple of anglers caught a nice stringer of rainbows that were full of German brown eggs, that they had been eating."

Wilson Reservoir, about 30 miles northwest of Wildhorse, was reported to be red-hot for rainbows, up to 18 inches. The shore fishermen are using bait and the trollers are using flashers with nightcrawlers.

WINNEMUCCA LAKE: No report.

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK: No report.