Smith Valley fisherman cleans up at Topaz Lake

By Don Quilici

• BLUE LAKES, CALIF. AREA: Dave Kirby of the Woodfords Station (530-694-2930) said, "We've been blessed. The weather is gorgeous with no wind. We are up above the fog and it's been pretty nice. One day, I had 52 degrees, here at the store."

• CAPLES LAKE, CALIF: Dave Kirby reported that the ice fishing has been good. There are about 4.5 feet of ice on the lake.

Father and son, David and David Neisess of Minden caught two 3-pound Macks and one 2-pound brown on Sunday with yellow Crappie jigs.

In addition, Doug Busey of Douglas County reported catching three Mackinaw trout.

• INDIAN CREEK RESERVOIR. CALIF: The road is not plowed to the reservoir. The reservoir is iced over, but the 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: "It's been bitter cold for the last 6-7 days and there is so much Pogonip fog on everything that I'm worried about the power lines and tree branches.

There are some areas of ice on the reservoir, and believe it or not, there have been some die-hard fishermen out there. This last week, they were catching some small Wipers by the dam.

We are staying inside, burning firewood and trying to stay warm.

Have a good week, and hopefully, when I talk to you next week, the sun will be shining."

• PYRAMID LAKE, NEV: The Gilly Sporting Goods Store in Sparks (358-6113) reported: "The shore fly fishermen have been doing good with either dark Woolly Bugger or foam Bettle flies.

The spincasters have using the usual TOR-P-DO type lures.

The boaters are trolling a little deeper with Lyman or U-20 lures.

The jiggers are jigging with Gibb's Minnows or Maribou Jigs.

The fishermen are catching some good, solid, "Slot" fish, but nothing spectacular."

• RED LAKE CALIF: Dave Kirby reported that the ice fishing has been good.

There are about 3-3.5 feet of ice on the lake.

Father and son, David and David Neisess of Minden caught their limits of Eastern brook trout on Saturday.

In addition, Doug Busey of Douglas County reported catching a number of Brook trout through the ice.

• SACRAMENTO RIVER, CALIF: Kirk Portocarrero of Outdoor Adventures Sport Fishing, Redding, Calif. (800-670-4448) said: "Same report as last week."

Redding to Anderson: As weather allows, fly fishing for rainbows is producing some nice catch and release trout in the Redding to Anderson area.

PT's, and Micro May Fly patterns were working well.

• SMITH RIVER, CALIF: Kirk Portocarrero reported catching and releasing nice bright Steelhead trout.

Fishing from the Forks of The Smith down to Social.

Using Sparrone Steelhead eggs, first in the morning.

Bouncing roe is your best bet.

Steelhead are averaging 10-15 pounds.

• LAKE TAHOE - North Shore:

Mickey Daniels of Mickey's Big Mack Charters (800-877-1462) said: "Slick (Bob McCulloch of Carson City) and I were in Sacramento all week for their Sport Show.

When I was going out fishing, we were catching our Mackinaw trout early in the morning and tagging and releasing the smaller ones.

I normally 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 excellent.

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

The biggest Mack was 9 pounds."

• 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.

We are getting 10-25 fish per trip.

They are stuffed full of shrimp or Kokanee Salmon, up to 11 inches.

The largest last week was just under 11 pounds (32 inches).

Ski Run Mound has also been good for jigging with White Star Jigs tipped with a minnow, early in the morning."

• LAKE TAHOE - East Shore: Gene St. Denis: "The boat launch ramp on the east side (the shallow side) is plowed open, the other side is still covered with snow.

You can launch boats up to about 20 feet, but be very careful because of the rocks in the water and the ice on the ramp.

The local guys are toplining at the Logan Shoal buoys for Macks and rainbows.

They are trolling in 20-25 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 150-220 feet.

• TOPAZ LAKE: Chuck Fields at Topaz Lake Marina (775) 266-3550 reported, "We've had thick fog all week and it is really bad, right now (Monday morning).

We had ice in the middle of the lake and there have not been a lot of fishermen.

Yesterday, there was a 4-pound, 11-ounce trout caught from shore on some kind of orange-colored Power Bait.

Yesterday, two guys came in and rented a boat for three hours of fishing and they caught a 5-pound, 2.5-ounce rainbow on a gold/red spot Jake's Spinner.

There were about five other boats on the lake and three of them caught some little, teeny fish.

Be careful if you go out in a boat because of that ice in the middle."

• TOPAZ LAKE: Vicki at the Topaz Lodge General Store at (775) 266-3337 reported "People need to come out here, it is foggy in the mornings, sunny in the afternoons and the fishing has been great.

Joe Capps of Smith Valley has really cleaned up, fishing from shore with pink Power Bait.

On Saturday, he caught two tagged fish.

One was worth $500 and it was 4-pounds, 11 1/4-ounces (22-inches long).

The other was worth $250 and it was 3-pounds, 8 ounces (19.5-inches long.)

Yesterday (Sunday), he caught four more fish, including the longest fish of the week (22-inches) (5-pounds, 7 1/2-ounces).

Another fisherman from Smith Valley (not with Capps) caught a 6-pound, 2 1/2-ounce rainbow (21-inches) from shore.

• WILDHORSE RESERVOIR NEV: Mike the Bartender at the Wild Horse Resort (775) 758-6472 said, "The ice on the reservoir is about 15-20 inches thick and the ice fishing has been great.

Trout and Perch fishing has been very good.

Lots of good sized rainbows have been caught.

The largest Perch are running up to 12 inches.

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