Fishing report for week of 01/16

Large rainbow trout at Indian Creek

LAKE ALMANOR: No report.

LAKE ALPINE: Ebbett's Pass is closed for the winter.

BLUE LAKES (UPPER AND LOWER): No report.

BOCA RESERVOIR: No report.

BURNSIDE LAKE: No report.

CAPLES LAKE: Doug Busey and Steve Lightfoot, both of Douglas County, caught a total of seven Mackinaw trout on Friday. He reported that there is small amount of hard, compacted snow on about three feet of ice. They were fishing in front of the dam, nearest to Carson City, using small jiggs with nightcrawlers in about 30 feet of water. The Macks were in the 1.5-2 pound class.

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

DAVIS LAKE: No report.

FRENCHMAN RESERVOIR: Wiggin's Trading Post (530-993-4683) reported, "As of this report, most of Frenchman is iced over. However, reports on the thickness of the ice vary. So, use extreme caution. We do not recommend ice fishing at this time. The dam is accessible but if you want to get to other areas of the lake, you will need a snowmobile or a 4WD vehicle with chains. Conditions this time of the year are ever-changing, so come prepared for anything. Call ahead for current information."

FROG LAKE: No report.

INDIAN CREEK RESERVOIR: Dave Kirby of the Woodfords Station (530-694-2930) said, "I've got a great report for you today. Early this morning (Monday), Mike Dinkfeld of South Lake Tahoe, Calif, caught a 7-pound, 10-ounce rainbow. He picked it up on orange glitter Power Bait while fishing from shore. It's one of the biggest, if not the biggest, that I can remember being caught at Indian Creek. The ice is mostly off the reservoir with lots of open water by the dam. On Jan. 10, Robert and Nancy Winter of Gardnerville caught their limits that included a 5-pound, 6-ounce rainbow. They were also fishing from shore with Power Bait."

KINNEY RESERVOIR: Ebbett's Pass is closed for the winter.

LAHONTAN RESERVOIR: No report.

NORTH POND: Closed.

PYRAMID LAKE: No report.

RED LAKE: Dave Kirby of the Woodfords Station said that the ice fishing at Red Lake continues to be good with some nice trout being taken last week. The fishermen are catching mostly Eastern brook trout with some rainbows and cutthroat. The fish are being caught on worms, Power Bait or by jigging small lures. The ice is plenty thick and there are a good nubmer of fishing holes already dug. Kirby reported that his store has 2002 California sport fishing licenses for sale if anyone needs one.

SACRAMENTO RIVER: Kirk Portocarrero of Outdoor Adventures Sport Fishing in Redding, Calif. (800) 670-4448 checked in with this report:

Anderson to Red Bluff: "The water flows are decreasing from 7,000 to 6,500 C.F.S. The king salmon fishing is now closed until July.

Redding to Anderson: Fishing for rainbow trout has been steady. Great weather this week. We have been fishing with spinning gear, Flatfish lures and Glo Bugs from the Posse Grounds to Anderson River Park.

SILVER LAKE: No report.

SHASTA LAKE: Kirk Portocarrero checked in with this report: Fishing is fair for King Salmon. We are trolling with downriggers. Great for spotted bass with plastic worms.

STAMPEDE RESERVOIR: No report.

LAKE TAHOE - North Shore:

Mickey Daniels of Mickey's Big Mack Charters (800-877-1462) reported, "Same basic report as usual. When we can get out, the fishing has been good. We've been catching 10-12 Mackinaws per trip. Most of the Macks are small (3-5 pounds) with the biggest checking in at about 6-9 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 Herring Dodger flasher blades with live minnows or pearl colored Apex lures. I'll be gone this week, Wednesday through Sunday night, at the Sacramento Sport Show."

Gene St. Denis of Tahoe Trophy Trout at South Lake Tahoe, Calif. (530-544-6552): "The Mackinaw fishing is excellent when the weather will let us get up to that end of the lake. We are trolling deep (150-300 feet) at Cal-Neva Point. We were up there several times last week and caught 6-19 Macks per trip. The largest fish last week was 10.5 pounds. Our best action has been with silver Herring Dodger blades with live minnows. The Macks have been biting gingerly, so either shorten your leader or increase your boat speed."

LAKE TAHOE - South Shore: Gene St. Denis said: "We got a couple of nice German browns (3 & 5 pounds) off Edgewood Golf Course. We were using No. 18 silver/black Rapala lures. The browns have also been hitting in Emerald Bay and at Eagle Point Flat on No. 11 & No. 13, floating, silver/black Rapala lures. The Eldorado Boat Launch is closed due to weeds and low water."

LAKE TAHOE -- East Shore: Gene St. Denis said: "Saturday, we caught another large-sized Mackinaw in front of Cave Rock Landing. It was our third big one in three weeks (15 pounds, 20 pounds and now, 18 pounds). The Mack weighed in at 18 pounds and measured 35 inches. It was caught by Troy Callahan of Carson City. We were trolling at a depth of 190 feet with silver Herring Dodger flasher blades and live minnows. The bite has been off for numbers of fish but the fishing has been unbelievable for big trout in that area.

At Deadman Point, we are picking up rainbows, up to 4 pounds, on 2-3 inch Penn Minnows and 2-3 inch Yuzori lures, trolled about 150 feet behind the boat."

TOPAZ LAKE: Chuck Fields of the Topaz Marina (775-266-3550) checked in with his first report of the year and said: "No real big fish last week but there were a lot of trout being caught. Shore fishing has slowed down a little bit. The best fishing from shore has been on the north end of the lake with nightcrawlers. Trollers are using silver flasher blades with nightcrawlers or black/silver Rapala lures for the best results. They are trolling about 5-10 feet deep about 1,000 feet off shore. The weather has been super, with very little wind and lots of sunshine. Come on out and enjoy some good fishing for rainbows."

WALKER LAKE: Don Quilici, Norm Budden and Bob "Slick" McCulloch, all of Carson City, fished at Walker on Friday. The weather was very nice but the fishing was slow, slow, slow. They trolled until mid-afternoon at a depth of 40 feet between Sand Point and Sportsman's Beach. They caught and released one small cutthroat. They saw only, one, other small fish caught. There were 14 other boats on the lake and a few shore fishermen at Sand Point.

WALKER RIVERS (EAST-WEST-LITTLE):

East Walker (Nev.): No report.

West Walker (Nev.): No report.

WASHOE LAKE: No report.

WEBER RESERVOIR: No report.

WILDHORSE RESERVOIR: Dennis Dunn of the Wildhorse Resort (775-758-6472) gave this report: "It's a beautiful day (Monday). No wind and lots of sunshine but it's cold. The temperature got down to 1 degree last night. We've got plenty of ice, at least 14 inches, with some snow on top. We are also getting more and more parking areas plowed out, along the edge of the reservoir. For those who need one, we now have Nevada fishing licenses for sale at the resort. The fishing has been steady and good. They have been catching some very nice rainbows and lots of perch. The best action for rainbows is on a worm with a kernel of corn or a worm with salmon eggs. The best action for perch is on white jigs/red eye with a piece of worm."

WINNEMUCCA LAKE: No report.