12-02-2004, 04:45 AM
Fishing for mackinaw trout on Lake Tahoe [url "mailto:thomascreek@worldnet.att.net"]![[Image: 16410.jpg]](http://www.rgj.com/news/files/2002/09/24/16410.jpg)
[/url] [url "mailto:thomascreek@worldnet.att.net"]DAVE RICE[/url] SPECIAL TO THE RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
12/1/2004 12:15 am
I once heard that a person may be too busy to do a variety of things, but should never be too busy to go fishing. Seems like a pretty good philosophy to me. Throughout the years, I have tried to follow this rule especially when it comes to fishing Lake Tahoe, until this fall anyway. I have mentioned before that the fishing season for many mackinaw trout anglers runs approximately from the middle of September until early June of the following year. As luck would have it, this is the time when recreational boaters — most notably those on skis, wake boards and high-powered personal water craft (aka jet skis) — are off doing something else. OK, luck has nothing to do with it — they have their time, we have ours.
Of course, fishing is legal and continues throughout the year at Tahoe, it’s just that it is a whole lot nicer when we have the lake to ourselves, exactly how Bill Ronchetti and I found it on Nov. 18, my first mackinaw fishing trip of the season. Being retired, it is impossible to get any sympathy when I tell someone who works at a regular job that I have been too busy to get out on Lake Tahoe. Too busy, yes, but a month-long vacation in Oregon in September and early October also took a toll on my early season lake fishing. I suspect that that fact will not get me much sympathy either.
We left Reno at 5:45 a.m., which got us on the water about an hour later. The sun was still behind the mountains so it was a bit cool. In fact, there was a pretty good stretch of ice on Highway 50 just over Spooner Summit. The driver of an older Ford Bronco had apparently hit the slippery stuff, spun out, and ended up, for the most part, on top of the guard rail in the opposite direction he had been traveling — better than down the steep cliff the driver had to be looking down as he came to rest on the rail. It appeared that the ice resulted from a fog bank that was hanging over the road, probably all night.
We were the second boat on the lake that day, and until later that afternoon, the only boat fishing off Cave Rock. With the water as low as it is, there are not too many places left to launch at the lake. Launching at CR is still easy for most boats as long as you choose the left launch pad, not the right. The launch fee is currently $8. It has jumped around the last few years, ranging from $7 to $10. It appears that Nevada State Parks has decided to keep it at $8. Still a bit steep since nothing has been done to improve the dock, and the repairs to the launch ramps during the last drought was paid for by Nevada Department of Wildlife through boater fuel tax fees and boating federal aid.
Bait, in the form of minnows — tui chub and redside shiners — is quite plentiful now in 15-25 feet of water. The 2-3-inch fish are easily caught with a minnow trap baited with dry dog food. The rock piles in the lake just south of CR sill offer up all the bait needed for a day’s fishing. We take a couple dozen home in baggies for freezing after each trip so that we have bait to start with on the next trip. It usually takes about an hour to trap enough fresh minnows for a day of fishing.
Mackinaw trout spawn in October and November in the lake, and little is know about where they go to lay their eggs. It seems to me that they must go somewhere other than the area off CR since this time of year most of our catch consists of sub-adult fish. It takes these fish six to seven years for mackinaw to mature before their first attempts at spawning. Once the spawning is over, we start picking up larger, thus older fish.
Fishing can be slow this time of year and Ronchetti and I did not catch our first fish until after 10 a.m., but then things really picked up, at least for those of us using minnows. Ronchetti stuck with lures throughout most of the day, but finally turned to minnows after I caught my fourth fish. Last spring Ronchetti caught a 16-pound mackinaw on one of his Dynamite Lures and I believe that has a lot to do with his interest in lures.
Our catch that day ranged from 19-to-25 inches. However, there was that fish that got away. From the manner in which it nearly pulled the rod out of the rod holder, it looked like it was as big as I want it to be, so we settled on a weight of more than 20 pounds — maybe 25. We’ll never know.
According to the depth finder, which the manufacturer claims is able to spot fish and graphically show them on the screen, the best concentrations of fish that day ranged in depths from 110-to-285-feet of water. Although some Lake Tahoe fishing guides tell their clients that the best fish-catching time extends from about sunrise until 10 or 11 a.m., we have found that the mackinaw can be caught throughout the day. Due to the pure and clean nature of Lake Tahoe, fish food (minnows, crayfish and mysis shrimp) is never in abundance, so mackinaw are probably on the prowl throughout the day and night.
In the 32 years I have fished the lake, it doesn’t seem that the number of anglers has appreciably increased. In fact, after the last drought, followed by the implementation of the two-cycle outboard motor ban a few years back, I believe the number of anglers has actually dropped, at least during the winter months. That’s hard for me to believe after the day Bill and I had in late November. Even on those days when we fail to find the fish, it’s just nice to be there to enjoy the scenery and the solitude.
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[/url] [url "mailto:thomascreek@worldnet.att.net"]DAVE RICE[/url] SPECIAL TO THE RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL12/1/2004 12:15 am
I once heard that a person may be too busy to do a variety of things, but should never be too busy to go fishing. Seems like a pretty good philosophy to me. Throughout the years, I have tried to follow this rule especially when it comes to fishing Lake Tahoe, until this fall anyway. I have mentioned before that the fishing season for many mackinaw trout anglers runs approximately from the middle of September until early June of the following year. As luck would have it, this is the time when recreational boaters — most notably those on skis, wake boards and high-powered personal water craft (aka jet skis) — are off doing something else. OK, luck has nothing to do with it — they have their time, we have ours.
Of course, fishing is legal and continues throughout the year at Tahoe, it’s just that it is a whole lot nicer when we have the lake to ourselves, exactly how Bill Ronchetti and I found it on Nov. 18, my first mackinaw fishing trip of the season. Being retired, it is impossible to get any sympathy when I tell someone who works at a regular job that I have been too busy to get out on Lake Tahoe. Too busy, yes, but a month-long vacation in Oregon in September and early October also took a toll on my early season lake fishing. I suspect that that fact will not get me much sympathy either.
We left Reno at 5:45 a.m., which got us on the water about an hour later. The sun was still behind the mountains so it was a bit cool. In fact, there was a pretty good stretch of ice on Highway 50 just over Spooner Summit. The driver of an older Ford Bronco had apparently hit the slippery stuff, spun out, and ended up, for the most part, on top of the guard rail in the opposite direction he had been traveling — better than down the steep cliff the driver had to be looking down as he came to rest on the rail. It appeared that the ice resulted from a fog bank that was hanging over the road, probably all night.
We were the second boat on the lake that day, and until later that afternoon, the only boat fishing off Cave Rock. With the water as low as it is, there are not too many places left to launch at the lake. Launching at CR is still easy for most boats as long as you choose the left launch pad, not the right. The launch fee is currently $8. It has jumped around the last few years, ranging from $7 to $10. It appears that Nevada State Parks has decided to keep it at $8. Still a bit steep since nothing has been done to improve the dock, and the repairs to the launch ramps during the last drought was paid for by Nevada Department of Wildlife through boater fuel tax fees and boating federal aid.
Bait, in the form of minnows — tui chub and redside shiners — is quite plentiful now in 15-25 feet of water. The 2-3-inch fish are easily caught with a minnow trap baited with dry dog food. The rock piles in the lake just south of CR sill offer up all the bait needed for a day’s fishing. We take a couple dozen home in baggies for freezing after each trip so that we have bait to start with on the next trip. It usually takes about an hour to trap enough fresh minnows for a day of fishing.
Mackinaw trout spawn in October and November in the lake, and little is know about where they go to lay their eggs. It seems to me that they must go somewhere other than the area off CR since this time of year most of our catch consists of sub-adult fish. It takes these fish six to seven years for mackinaw to mature before their first attempts at spawning. Once the spawning is over, we start picking up larger, thus older fish.
Fishing can be slow this time of year and Ronchetti and I did not catch our first fish until after 10 a.m., but then things really picked up, at least for those of us using minnows. Ronchetti stuck with lures throughout most of the day, but finally turned to minnows after I caught my fourth fish. Last spring Ronchetti caught a 16-pound mackinaw on one of his Dynamite Lures and I believe that has a lot to do with his interest in lures.
Our catch that day ranged from 19-to-25 inches. However, there was that fish that got away. From the manner in which it nearly pulled the rod out of the rod holder, it looked like it was as big as I want it to be, so we settled on a weight of more than 20 pounds — maybe 25. We’ll never know.
According to the depth finder, which the manufacturer claims is able to spot fish and graphically show them on the screen, the best concentrations of fish that day ranged in depths from 110-to-285-feet of water. Although some Lake Tahoe fishing guides tell their clients that the best fish-catching time extends from about sunrise until 10 or 11 a.m., we have found that the mackinaw can be caught throughout the day. Due to the pure and clean nature of Lake Tahoe, fish food (minnows, crayfish and mysis shrimp) is never in abundance, so mackinaw are probably on the prowl throughout the day and night.
In the 32 years I have fished the lake, it doesn’t seem that the number of anglers has appreciably increased. In fact, after the last drought, followed by the implementation of the two-cycle outboard motor ban a few years back, I believe the number of anglers has actually dropped, at least during the winter months. That’s hard for me to believe after the day Bill and I had in late November. Even on those days when we fail to find the fish, it’s just nice to be there to enjoy the scenery and the solitude.
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