BLUE LAKES AREA, CALIF: Dave Kirby of the Woodfords Station (530-694-2930): It is a balmy +5 today (Monday morning), but a bit windy.
Last Saturday morning, it was -5 here at the store and -17 over at Hope Valley.
CAPLES LAKE, CALIF: Doug Busey of Douglas County reported that the lake has 20-24 inches of ice by the dam. The ice fishermen are catching some Mackinaw, some rainbows and a few brookies.
DAVIS LAKE, CALIF: It is frozen but thickness of ice is unknown.
If you are not sure, do not venture out on the ice.
FRENCHMAN RESERVOIR, CALIF: Wiggin's Trading Post at Chilcoot, Calif. (530-993-4683): Temperatures have been well below freezing lately and there have been quite a few people ice fishing.
The back side has ice about 6 inches thick.
Limits are being taken there with nightcrawlers and rainbow Power Bait.
The road around the reservoir is pretty muddy in some area and icy in others, so a 4WD vehicle is advised.
INDIAN CREEK RESERVOIR, CALIF: Dave Kirby reported the reservoir has ice but he does not know how thick. His advice is not to go out on the ice.
PYRAMID LAKE, NEV: Linda at Crosby's Lodge at (775) 476-0400 reported: It was very windy for a while on Saturday.
The biggest fish checked in was 10-pounds, 4-ounces (30 inches) caught from a boat by John Krueger of Reno.
Next largest was 9-pounds, 1-ounce caught by a Northern California spincaster at the North Nets with a Lyman lure.
PYRAMID LAKE, NEV: Andy at the Gilly Sporting Goods Store in Sparks at 358-6113: The fishermen are doing OK. The hot item for spincasters is the color Chartreuse and the hot item for trollers is J-plugs or Lyman lures.
PYRAMID LAKE, NEV: George Molino of the Pyramid Lake Store at (775) 476-0555 reported: Yesterday (Monday), at 9 a.m., the water temperature was 38 degrees, I don't remember it ever being that cold.
Fishing has been slow, both from shore and from boats, with nothing big being caught.
The biggest last week, that I know of, was a 9 pounder.
The shore fishermen are having a hard time.
We (Pyramid Lake Charters) caught 8-9 fish yesterday, but many of the boats are catching less than that.
PYRAMID LAKE, NEV: Rich Bachle of Fernley learned the hard way to be careful when fishing in your chest waders, especially when the water is very rough with large waves. Last Saturday, a giant wave knocked him over, while he was spincasting south of the Pelican Point boat ramp. He got soaking wet, but nothing got hurt except his pride. In addition, he got skunked.
RED LAKE, CALIF: Doug Busey reported that the ice fishing is rated as fair in the mornings and then the success drops off.
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 silver Herring Dodger flasher blades and live 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.
LAKE TAHOE - South Shore: Gene St. Denis: Same as last week: I've been trolling at Ski Run Shelf at 180-340 feet with silver Herring Dodger flasher blades and live minnows. The jiggers are jigging in water 160-240 feet deep, with White Star jigs or Squid jigs (tipped with a live minnow) at both Ski Run Mound and Camp Richardson Shelf.
LAKE TAHOE - East Shore: Gene St. Denis: Same as last week: Toplining has been good for mostly Macks, some rainbows and browns in 15-60 feet of water at Sand Harbor, Deadman's Point, Logan Shoals, Cave Rock, and Elk Point. Using silver/black or rainbow Rapala lures. The Countdown lures have been working the best.
TOPAZ LAKE: Linda Fields at the Topaz Lake Marina (775) 266-3550 reported: It is bitter cold today (Monday morning). We have ice in the Marina, no one has launched their boat, there is not a soul out on the lake, and the fog is just beginning to lift.
There were a couple of boats out Friday and about six yesterday, until it got choppy. They caught fish but nothing gigantic.
TOPAZ LAKE: Linda Fields reported: It is really foggy this morning (Tuesday). Some of the boaters are waiting for the fog to lift so they can launch their boats. Yesterday, Frank McConnell of Topaz Lake caught a 5-pound, 10-ounce rainbow from shore with a nightcrawler.
TRUCKEE RIVER, NEV: Andy at The Gilly Sporting Goods Store: Fishing has been very tough because of the cold and ice.
WALKER LAKE, NEV: Gene Phelps of Carson City reported that two of his fishing partners were spincasting last week at the south end. They got skunked.
WILDHORSE RESERVOIR, NEV: Mark at the Wild Horse Resort (775) 758-6472: It has been bitter cold. We have been getting down to -20 degrees every night.
Last Friday, it was -21 degrees at 7:30 a.m., and the wind was blowing. It was really cold.
We've got 16 inches ice on the reservoir and they are catching lots of Perch and some trout.
The perch are down about 15-20 feet and the trout are shallow (about 6 feet).
The biggest Perch have been running 11 inches, and the rainbows are running 16-20 inches.
One group of 4 fishermen caught 159 perch one day and 240 the next. That's 399 fish! They were fishing in front of the boat ramp.
Another fishermen caught 6 trout and 70 perch at the first point on the south end.
When fishing, 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 all the way down to the bottom, bring it up about 1-2 turns on the reel handle and slowly jig, up and down.