BLUE LAKES AREA, CALIF: Dave Kirby of the Woodfords Station (530-694-2930): It's been cold and windy in the mornings. The wind has really been bad on the ridge tops.
CAPLES LAKE, CALIF: Dave Kirby reported there have been ice fishermen, but not a lot of reports due to cold and windy conditions.
FRENCHMAN RESERVOIR, CALIF: Wiggin's Trading Post at Chilcoot, Calif. (530-993-4683): The north end is completely frozen. We have had reports the ice is several inches thick at the dam and that some people are ice fishing there. Use nightcrawlers for best results. Road around the reservoir is accessible but icy.
INDIAN CREEK RESERVOIR, CALIF: Dave Kirby reported that the ice comes and goes. In the late afternoons, you might find some open water. Do not go out on the ice, it is too thin.
LAHONTAN RESERVOIR, NEV: Missy at Burke's Market at Silver Springs (775-577-2750): There is ice all around the edges but don't venture out on it. That would be a death sentence. Stay inside where it is warm.
PYRAMID LAKE, NEV: Linda at Crosby's Lodge at (775) 476-0400 reported: Victor Gomez of Reno caught a 9-pound, 2-ounce (28 3/4 inches) Cutthroat on a frog-colored Flatfish lure from a boat at the North Nets on Jan. 6.
Yesterday (Jan. 7), Courtney Serve, age 11, of Reno caught a 7-pound, 9-ounce (27 inches) Cutthroat from shore. She was casting with a green spoon.
PYRAMID LAKE, NEV: Andy at the Gilly Sporting Goods Store in Sparks at 358-6113: Shore fishing has been spotty, the water is still high.
The fly fishermen at the North Nets are doing absolutely nothing because they can not reach the "Shelf," which is about 130 yards out. The best fly fishing has been at Warrior Point and Popcorn.
The boats are trolling with U-20 Flatfish or Apex lures. They have had the best success down on the south end.
PYRAMID LAKE, NEV: Carla Molino of the Pyramid Lake Store at (775) 476-0555 reported: The shore fishing has been slow. Shore fishermen are having a hard time finding deep water.
Fly fishermen are taking a beating because they can not get out to the deeper water.
The boaters have been getting good numbers of fish, just about every day, by going deep. The biggest fish have been running about 9 pounds.
RED LAKE, CALIF: Dave Kirby reported that the ice fishing is better at Red Lake than at Caples Lake, because it is more protected from the wind. There have been limits, mostly small brook trout.
RED LAKE, CALIF: Doug Busey of Douglas County reported 26 ice fishermen on Saturday. The lake has 18 inches of ice under 12 inches of snow. Jonathan Guy, age, 8, of Minden caught his first limit of fish, while ice fishing. Busey was jigging with nightcrawlers and Kastmaster lures.
LAKE TAHOE - North Shore: Gene St. Denis of Blue Ribbon Charters and Tahoe Trophy Trout at South Lake Tahoe, Calif. (530-544-6552): Fishing has been good to excellent dependent on the day. We have been trolling at 150-340 feet with flasher blades and minnows. I've been fishing at Cal-Neva Point, Dollar Point and Sugar Pine Point. I've been locating the fish and then trolling in "figure eights." We've been catching 2-10 fish per trip.
On Monday, Tim Vlach of Colorado Springs caught a 20-pound, 3-ounce (36 inches) Mackinaw at a depth of 304 feet at Dollar Point. It took him 30 minutes to bring it in.
All three anglers on the boat limited out, with the second largest fish being 10 pounds. That trip was the best bite in six months.
TOPAZ LAKE: Chuck Fields at the Topaz Lake Marina (775) 266-3550 reported: Everybody is still talking about the guy who won all that money while trolling backwards on the Opening Day.
Fishing, this week, was slower, probably due to the full moon. They were catching limits but not right away like last week. Largest fish was a tagged, 6-pounder.
Shore fishing was slower, there were some limits but not everybody caught fish. Most of the action was on the north shore, with no limits reported from the south end.
The trollers were working the northeast or north sides with either flashers and worms or Rapala lures. The best success was when the trollers did not go more than 10 feet deep.
WILDHORSE RESERVOIR, NEV: Linda at the Wild Horse Resort (775) 758-6472:It was -10 yesterday (Sunday). On Friday, it was -8 at 10 p.m., and got down to -19. We've got lots of ice on the reservoir and they are catching lots of Perch and some rainbow trout.
The biggest Perch has been 11 inches. The rainbows are running 16-20 inches.
The perch are down about 15-20 feet and the trout are shallow (about 6 feet).
Fish with small, white-colored, lead-head jigs with a plastic tail, together with a tiny piece of worm, mealworm or cocktail shrimp on the hook. Drop that combination down to the bottom, bring it up about 1-2 turns on the reel handle and slowly jig, up and down.
There have been lots of ice fishermen out there.