More ice than water at Topaz Lake

BLUE LAKES AREA, CALIF: Dave Kirby of the Woodfords Station (530-694-2930): It is beautiful up here, (Monday morning) but we did not have very many humans over the weekend.

CAPLES LAKE, CALIF: Doug Busey of Douglas County reported there is about 2.5 feet of ice.

On Saturday, fishing at the dam was slow, while fishermen at the spillway were catching some rainbow and brook trout.

LAHONTAN RESERVOIR, NEV: Missy at Burke's Market at Silver Springs (775-577-2750): There is ice around the edges and it is really cold out here. Be patient and wait for warmer weather.

PYRAMID LAKE, NEV: Linda at Crosby's Lodge at (775) 476-0400 reported: It has been colder than heck and a little slow out here. The biggest fish of the week was a 9-pound, 8.8 ounce (28 inches) Cutt caught by Jim Parent of Reno, spincasting from shore with a orange/black dot spoon at Anderson Bay.

Yesterday (Sunday), Sean Williams, age 11, of Reno caught a 5-pound, 8-ounce (26 inches) Cutt on a spoon from a boat at Pelican Point.

PYRAMID LAKE, NEV: Andy at the Gilly Sporting Goods Store in Sparks at 358-6113: It was a pretty quiet weekend. The fishing has been spotty, in fact it has been slow. The fly fishermen are catching 1-2 fish, here and there. Nothing to report for the spincasters or the boaters.

PYRAMID LAKE, NEV: George Molino of the Pyramid Lake Store at (775) 476-0555 reported: We (Pyramid Lake Charters) haven't been out since last Wednesday. The fishing has been slow due to the cold water and the cold weather, especially for the shore fishermen: A typical January. Not many fishermen. The ones fishing are catching some fish but not great numbers. The biggest last week was a 10-pound, 9-ounce Cutt caught by Steve Stensland of Reno from a boat.

RED LAKE, CALIF: Doug Busey reported that there is plenty of ice on the lake (a little over 2 feet) for ice fishing.

SACRAMENTO RIVER: Kirk Portocarrero of Outdoor Adventures Sport Fishing, Redding, Calif. (800-670-4448): Water flow is 5,000 CFS. Fly fishing, drifting from Redding to Anderson, currently awesome. Catching wild rainbow trout on the Sac, out of Redding, 20 fish days. Using Fox's Poophas No. 14 , Micro Mayflies No. 18, standard flies for this water .

SMITH RIVER, CALIF: Kirk Portocarrero: The report for fishing on the Smith River is good, catching nice, chrome Steelhead. Water is clear.

Chetco River Steelhead fishing is going well.

SMITH RIVER, CALIF: Hank Mautz of Professional Guide Services (800) 355-3113: Steelhead fishing on both the Smith River and Chetco River gradually slowed this past week due to low and clear water conditions. With the lack of rain and cold temp's, clear and cold river conditions have slowed the bite. More rain is needed for more favorable boating and fishing conditions. This past week produced Smith River fish 8-12 pounds on average with the occasional Steelhead in the mid-to-high teens.

Chetco river Steelhead averaged 6-9 pounds with the occasional Steelhead in the low-to-mid teens. Best bets this past week were side-drifting a small piece of roe with a Quickie puffball from a drift boat or the bank.

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. It has been the best in months, with limits for everyone this last week.

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 and Dollar Point.

I've been locating the fish by starting shallow and then getting deeper by trolling in "figure eights." Be patient and stay in the area where you get bites. The Macks are running 3-15 pounds.

LAKE TAHOE - South Shore: Gene St. Denis: Fishing has been poor to excellent. 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 feet deep with Crippled Herring Jigs, tipped with a live minnow.

LAKE TAHOE - East Shore: Gene St. Denis: Toplining has been poor to good for mostly Macks, some rainbows and browns in 15-40 feet of water at Deadman's Point, Zephyr Point and Cave Rock. Using silver/black or rainbow Countdown Rapala lures. Both shore fishermen and boaters are picking up fish at Cave Rock with worms or live minnows.

TOPAZ LAKE: Linda Fields at the Topaz Lake Marina (775) 266-3550 reported: Fishing is absolutely nil for both boats and shore fishermen because of the ice. It is almost out to the center of the lake. The ice has the Marina completely shut down until it melts. We can not launch any boats. Boats can launch at the Douglas County boat ramp but they have to wait until about mid-morning for the ice to open up. Then they don't have too big of an area of open water to fish.

Plus, it is too darn cold and the fish are dormant.

WILDHORSE RESERVOIR, NEV: Scott at the Wild Horse Resort (775) 758-6472: It has been cold. We have been getting down -12 to -15 degrees every night. It is -5 right now (Tuesday at 10 a.m.) but gorgeous.

We've got lots of ice on the reservoir and they are catching lots of Perch and trout.

The perch are down about 15-20 feet and the trout are shallow (about 6 feet).

The biggest Perch has been 11 inches, and the rainbows are 16-20 inches.

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.