BLUE LAKES AREA, CALIF: Dave Kirby of the Woodfords Station (530-694-2930): It's been quiet and the weather has been gorgeous.
CAPLES LAKE, CALIF: Dave Kirby reported: Lots of ice! A local fisherman caught a 6-pound Mackinaw on a Maribou jig. He was jigging about 20 feet deep over by the dam.
DAVIS LAKE, CALIF: Frozen but thickness of ice is unknown.
FRENCHMAN RESERVOIR, CALIF: Wiggin's Trading Post at Chilcoot, Calif. (530-993-4683): We have had reports of open water on the northwest side. Many people are still ice fishing at the dam where the ice is 8-12 inches thick. Use nightcrawlers or Power Bait. Rainbows are averaging about 18 inches.
INDIAN CREEK RESERVOIR, CALIF: Dave Kirby reported that there have been both ice fishermen and ice skaters out there.
PYRAMID LAKE, NEV: Linda at Crosby's Lodge at (775) 476-0400 reported: It is still cold and still a little slow out here (Monday). The biggest fish last week was a 11-pound, 8.8 ounce (31 inches) Cutt caught by Chris Grellman of Hog Charters (775) 358-5199. He was trolling a black Apex lure at Warrior Point on Friday. In addition, last week, there were a couple of 77-pounder caught.
PYRAMID LAKE, NEV: Jeannette at the Gilly Sporting Goods Store in Sparks at 358-6113: My husband Andy is fishing in a big tournament at Lake Havasu. I've only had one report for Pyramid Lake and that fisherman said that it is still slow because of the cold weather.
PYRAMID LAKE, NEV: Carla Molino of the Pyramid Lake Store at (775) 476-0555 reported: The fishing has been OK, not a lot of fish but the ones being caught are good sized. The boaters are doing much better than the shore fishermen and float tubers. The boats are averaging about 6-10 fish per trip. The biggest fish of the week were Chris' 11-pounder and there was another 9-pounder. There was a 33-incher and a 30-incher that were caught and released.
RED LAKE, CALIF: Doug Busey of Douglas County reported 20-24 inches of ice on the lake and that fishing was slow last weekend.
SACRAMENTO RIVER: Kirk Portocarrero of Outdoor Adventures Sport Fishing, Redding, Calif. (800-670-4448): Same as last week: Fly fishing, drifting from Redding to Anderson, currently awesome. Catching wild rainbow trout on the Sac, out of Redding, 20 fish days . Enjoy this beautiful weather. Using Fox's Poophas No. 14 , Micro Mayflies No. 18, standard flies for this water .
SMITH AND CHETCO RIVERS, CALIF: Kirk Portocarrero: Same as last week: Fishing is good. Catching nice, chrome Steelhead. Water is clear. Chetco River Steelhead fishing is going well too.. NNice Steelhead being caught.
SMITH AND CHETCO RIVERS, CALIF: Dave Jacobs of Professional Guide Services (800) 355-3113: Steelhead fishing on both the Smith River and Chetco River has slowed this past week due to low and clear water conditions. With the lack of rain, clear river conditions have slowed the bite. More rain is needed for more favorable boating and fishing conditions. Angler's looking for other Steelhead fishing options should try moving down the coast and fishing other systems south of the Smith and Chetco Rivers. 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 6-99 pounds with the occasional Steelhead in the low to mid teens. Once again very little rain is forecasted for this upcoming week. Both river's are still dropping and very clear. Best bets this past week were side drifting a small piece of roe with a Quickie puffball from a drift boat or the bank. Backtrolling Hot Shots 30, 35 or 40's in various color combos has also produced some nice Steelhead on both systems.
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 Mackinaw 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: The only place you can fish is the east side. The rest is frozen over. The ice has our Marina completely shut down until it melts. Boats can launch at the Douglas County boat ramp but they have to wait until about mid-morning for the ice to open up. There were a couple of boats out, yesterday (Sunday). A $250 tagged fish was caught yesterday. It was a 7-pound, 7-ounce (24 inches) rainbow caught by Raymond Clark of Coleville, Calif.
WALKER LAKE, NEV: Gene Phelps of Carson City reported: We went fishing at Walker, Friday. Perfect weather, perfect water conditions, no wind, no "fishys." Four "expert" fishermen, not a bite amongst them. Mostly casting lures, two poles bait fishing with Power Bait and inflated worms....El Skunko.
WILDHORSE RESERVOIR, NEV: Dennis Dunn at the Wild Horse Resort (775) 758-6472: We've got 30-36 inches of good, hard ice. It been getting down to about -3 at night and in the mid-30's in the daytime. We have had lots of ice fishermen: 75 yesterday (Sunday) and about 100 on Saturday.
They are catching lots of Perch and trout.
The perch are down on the bottom and the trout are shallow (about 6 feet under the ice).
The biggest Perch have been 11 inches, and the rainbows are running 14-20 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.