A 24-pound, 12-ounce cutthroat caught on a fly at Pyramid Lake

By Don Quilici

BLUE LAKES, CALIF. AREA: Dave Kirby of the Woodfords Station (530-694-2930) said, "We had a real quiet weekend.

It's still wintertime, up here.

This morning (Monday), we got about 1.5 inches of snow here at the store.

S.R. 88 was closed for avalanche control at the Kit Carson Spur, this morning. They got over a foot of snow up there.

Next week, I'm going to be gone. Linda and I are going to take a vacation trip to Seattle."

CAPLES LAKE, CALIF: Dave Kirby reported that three fishermen fished on Saturday by the dam.

They said that there is more than six feet of ice on the lake.

They fished for 6 hours, had 2 bites and no catches.

On Sunday, a father and son from Gardnerville fished for 5 hours and caught one, 2-pound Mackinaw.

FRENCHMAN RESERVOIR, CALIF: Wiggin's Trading Post at Chilcoot, Calif. (530-993-4683): There is not a lot of change in conditions this week. We are waiting for the ice to go off. Call for updates.

HINKSON SLOUGH, NEV: Elmer Bull of the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) reported that Rich Ellington, retired from NDOW, fished at the slough last Thursday.

He caught and released 20 rainbow trout in five hours.

He was using a size No. 14, black, bead-head Midge fly.

The rainbows were in the 13 inch class.

LAHONTAN RESERVOIR, NEV: Shirley at Burke's Market at Silver Springs (775-577-2750) reported: " The fishing is beginning to pick up, a little.

They are catching some Walleye, up to 2 pounds.

There was a 3.5 pound Catfish caught on chicken liver at Beach 10, and I've got a picture of it."

PYRAMID LAKE, NEV: Doug Ouellette at the Gilly Sporting Goods Store in Sparks (358-6113) reported: "There have been a number of "Double Digit" (10+ pounds) fish taken by fly fishermen at both the "North Nets" and the "South Nets."

The fly fishermen are using purple or black Woolly Bugger, Woolly Worm or foam Beetle flies.

The spincasters are using the usual TOR-P-DO type lures.

The boaters are trolling with Lyman or U-20 lures.

The jiggers are jigging with Gibb's Minnows or Maribou Jigs."

PYRAMID LAKE, NEV: Eric and Karen Ingraham of Sutcliffe reported that a 24-pound, 12-ounce (33 1/2 inches long) Lahontan cutthroat trout was caught and released last Sunday.

That huge trophy was taken by a fly fisherman, Tim Bayles of Susanville, California.

He was fishing at the "North Nets" with a hand-tied, homemade, black, Woolly Bugger fly, being cast with an 8-weight, Reddington Fly Rod.

He had previously caught and released three smaller trout that day.

Bayles has been fishing at Pyramid Lake for the last 4 years.

Note: You can see a photo of that trophy fish at website www.crosbylodge.com.

PYRAMID LAKE, NEV: Crosby's Lodge at (775) 476-0400 reported that there was a 12-pounder, also taken on Sunday.

SACRAMENTO RIVER, CALIF: Kirk Portocarrero of Outdoor Adventures Sport Fishing, Redding, Calif. (800-670-4448) said:

Redding to Anderson: Water release is 3,700 CFS and steady.

Fly fishing for rainbows is good.

Catching and releasing 15-25 fish a day.

This river is producing some ice rainbows.

Drifting from Redding to Anderson.

Using No. 14 or No. 16 olive and brown Pheasant tail flies.

Also PT's, and Micro May Fly patterns working well.

Opening day of King Salmon fishing will be July 16.

SMITH RIVER, CALIF: Kirk Portocarrero reported that the Smith is really low and clear.

Catching Steelhead, here and there. Some days are better than others.

Hooking 2-4 fish on a good day, using Thunderballs and also bouncing roe.

Due to the lack of water, Kirk has moved to the Sacramento River for wild rainbows, until getting much needed rain on the Smith.

LAKE TAHOE - North Shore:

Mickey Daniels of Mickey's Big Mack Charters (800-877-1462) said: "We've been catching our Mackinaw trout early in the morning and tagging and releasing the smaller ones.

We're catching nice fish but we're not catching anything super big.

I troll in the deep-water area in front of Carnelian Bay and King's Beach with silver Herring Dodger flasher blades with live minnows or large Apex lures."

LAKE TAHOE - North Shore:

Gene St. Denis of Blue Ribbon Charters and Tahoe Trophy Trout at South Lake Tahoe, Calif. (530-544-6552): " Cal Neva Point and Agate Bay have both been medium-to-good for Mackinaw trout.

The Macks are averaging 4-6 pounds, with our largest being a 7 pounder.

We are trolling with silver Herring Dodger flasher blades and live minnows at depths of 250-300 feet, along the edges of the drop-offs."

LAKE TAHOE - South Shore: Gene St. Denis: "We got about 4 inches of snow last night (Sunday), and I've been busy shoveling snow rather than going fishing, today.

Ski Run Shelf continues to be good-to-excellent for Macks.

We are trolling with silver Herring Dodger flasher blades and live minnows at a depth of 200-300 feet.

Our largest Mackinaw last week was 10 pounds, with most of the fish running 3-6 pounds.

The Mackinaw that you catch at the south end of the lake are stuffed full of shrimp.

Ski Run Mound has also been good for jigging with 2-ounce White Star or Squid Jigs tipped with a minnow, early in the morning."

LAKE TAHOE - East Shore: Gene St. Denis: "The boat ramp is clear of snow on both sides.

Toplining has been medium-to-excellent, dependent on the day, for mostly Mackinaw and a few rainbows.

They are toplining in 20-40 feet of water with silver/black, No. 11 Rapala lures or No. 9 Count Down Rapala lures.

We got 9 Mackinaw in one day, and then the next, we only got 3.

Yesterday, (Sunday), there were about 25 boats in the Cave Rock area.

Two kids had a very nice 3.5 pound rainbow that they caught while shore fishing at the Cave Rock Landing."

Fishing has been good for Macks on the Cave Rock Shelf, when trolling silver Herring Dodger flasher blades and live minnows at a depth of 160-280 feet."

TOPAZ LAKE: Chuck Fields at Topaz Lake Marina (775) 266-3550 reported, "About the same report as last week.

We had some fishermen but not very big numbers.

The boaters have been doing OK, some limits of fish. The fish are about 13 inches long.

The boaters are mostly trolling with gold-colored Needlefish, Kastmaster and Jake's Spinner lures, plus black/gold Rapala lures."

The shore fishing is slow and the fishermen are not staying very long.

TOPAZ LAKE: Vicki at the Topaz Lodge General Store at (775) 266-3337: We had a 4-pound, 4-ounce (20 inches) rainbow caught by James Nesmith on the 25th.

Larry Ramirez caught a 3-pound, 6-ounce (19 inches).

The weekly winner was William Voltin of Oregon with a 2-pound, 3 1/2 ounce (20 3/4 inches).

WALKER LAKE, NEV: The fishing is reported to be good on the east side of the lake in the shallow water along the shoreline.

WILDHORSE RESERVOIR NEV: Dennis Dunn at the Wild Horse Resort (775) 758-6472 said, "The weather is trying to snow right now (Monday morning).

We have more than 2 feet of ice on the reservoir and it is rock hard.

We had about 30 fishermen out on the ice over the weekend.

The ice fishermen are catching some nice rainbows and lots of perch.

Two guys caught 9 rainbows the other day that had a total weight of 21 pounds. That's an average of more than 2 pounds, each. They are fat and sassy.

One guy had an underwater camera and he watched a school of perch frantically swim by with a big trout right behind them."