CAPLES LAKE, CALIF: Doug Busey of Douglas County reported there is about 3 feet of ice on the lake, and fishing has been slow with very few fishermen.
DAVIS LAKE, CALIF: Frozen but thickness of ice is unknown.
FRENCHMAN RESERVOIR, CALIF: Wiggin's Trading Post at Chilcoot, Calif. (530-993-4683): The ice at the dam is about 8 inches thick. There is also some open water at the dam, so use caution. The best bait continues to be nightcrawlers. Lots of limits have been reported. Rainbows are averaging 18 inches.
INDIAN CREEK RESERVOIR, CALIF: Doug Busey reported that the reservoir is about 98 % frozen with thin ice. He strongly advises not to go out on that ice. He saw some muskrats playing on the ice near the open water.
PYRAMID LAKE, NEV: Linda at Crosby's Lodge at (775) 476-0400 reported: We have about 100 signed up for our two-weekend derby, which is normal for this soon. We will end up with about 500 entries.
The biggest fish last week was an 11-pound (31.5 inch) Cutt caught by Linda Schaurz of Reno/Sparks. She was trolling at Spider Point with a Kwikfish lure.
In addition, we had another nine fish weighed in that ran from 6 to 10 pounds. There has been some fly fishing action for nice-sized fish. The shore fishing is still slow but starting to pick up.
PYRAMID LAKE, NEV: Andy at the Gilly Sporting Goods Store in Sparks at 358-6113: I just got back home from fishing 7 days at that tourney at Lake Havasu last week. Tell your readers that fishing is really slow, down there. In the 7 days, I had 4 bites and caught 2 fish. I finished 4 places out of the money.
PYRAMID LAKE, NEV: Carla Molino of the Pyramid Lake Store at (775) 476-0555 reported: The fishing has been "medium," the shore fishermen are taking a beating (slow). It is probably due to the full moon, the water warming up and the nice weather.
We did weigh in some fish that were in the 5-9 pound class.
PYRAMID LAKE, NEV: Don Hettrick and Don Quilici, both of Carson City, and Rich Bachle of Fernley caught and released 6 cutthroat last Thursday. They were trolling Flatfish lures between Pelican Point and Spider Point. Hettrick caught three fish that measured 24.5, 23 and 21 inches. Quilici caught two: 23 and 22 inches. Bachle caught one: 18 inches.
RED LAKE, CALIF: Doug Busey fished there last Friday. There were 13 ice fishermen and about 3 feet of ice on the lake. He caught 4 small brook trout.
SACRAMENTO RIVER, CALIF: Dave Jacobs/Hank Mautz (Professional Guide Service) (800-355-3113): Trout and Steelhead fishing has been good this past week from Redding to Anderson for rainbows averaging 1-3 pounds and Steelhead to 10 pounds. Side drifting small Glo Bugs in various colors tipped with a small piece of roe have been best bet from both a drift boat or jet boat. Anglers should call ahead for current river conditions.
SMITH AND CHETCO RIVERS, CALIF: Dave Jacobs of Professional Guide Services (800) 355-3113: Steelhead fishing on both the Smith River and Chetco River have continued to be slow 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. 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 Shot 30, 35 or 40's in various color combos have 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. We have been trolling at 150-300 feet with silver Herring Dodger flasher blades and live minnows in a "Figure Eight" pattern. I've been fishing at Cal-Neva Point and Dollar Point. I've been locating the fish by starting shallow and then going deeper. Be patient and you'll catch fish.
We are catching 4-9 fish per trip and they run up to 15 pounds. We had a 15-pounder, three days ago. Yesterday (Sunday), we got a 10-pounder.
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. The Macks are running 2-7 pounds.
LAKE TAHOE - East Shore: Gene St. Denis: Toplining has been slow to good for mostly rainbows and some Macks (2-6 pounds). The Cave Rock shore fishermen are having good action for 10-20 inch rainbows with worms, Power Bait or minnows.
TOPAZ LAKE: Linda Fields at the Topaz Lake Marina (775) 266-3550 reported: It is really quiet here. We are still iced in at the Marina. The west side is still frozen. The north side is still frozen. The east side is opening up a little bit, but not much. It was super quiet on Super Bowl Sunday. There were a couple of shore fishermen but that was all.
WILDHORSE RESERVOIR, NEV: Mark at the Wild Horse Resort (775) 758-6472: The weather is beautiful and it is supposed to get up to 50 degrees today (Monday). We have more than 2 feet of ice. There were lots and lots of ice fishermen over the weekend.
Two guys caught 200 Perch a day, while they were here. Another group of 6 fishermen took home 390 Perch.
They are catching lots of Perch and a few trout. The perch are down on the bottom (18-25 feet) and the trout are shallow (about 6 feet under the ice). The best place is still by the island in front of the state boat ramp. The biggest Perch have been 11 inches, and the rainbows are running 14-20 inches.
Fish with small Kastmaster lures or 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.