Orange is the best color for trout at Topaz Lake

By Don Quilici

• BLUE LAKES, CALIF. AREA: Dave Kirby of the Woodfords Station (530-694-2930) said, "It's been quiet this past weekend, but we have had a few humans here. We are just staying inside where it is warm and safe."

• CAPLES LAKE, CALIF: Dave Kirby reported that there are a couple of feet of ice on the lake, under a lot of snow.

An ice fishermen on Saturday caught a 3-pound Mackinaw trout and three other small trout.

• DAVIS LAKE, CALIF: is reporting about 1-2 feet of ice.

• LAHONTAN RESERVOIR, NEV: Missy Swain at Burke's Market at Silver Springs (775-577-2750) reported: "It's foggy out here (Monday) and we told our Mom that she can't go anywhere in this kind of weather.

There are no fishermen doing anything out here.

It is usually pretty quiet at this time of the year, until the new licenses come out on March 1.

The water level is still coming, and the last time I checked it was at 115,000 acre feet."

• PYRAMID LAKE, NEV: Doug Ouellette of the Gilly Sporting Goods Store in Sparks (358-6113) reported: "This should be some of the best fishing that I've seen at Pyramid in about 30 years.

I think that we are going to see some 15-pounders caught out there, this season.

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

The boaters are trolling with Lyman, Apex, Flatfish and Kwikfish lures.

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

Fly fishermen are using black or purple Woolly Bugger, Woolly Worm or Pyramid Popcorn Beetle flies.

The fly fishing at "The Nets" has been slow but the ones being caught are nice fish.

Tom Harris of Reno caught a 13.5 pounder at The Nets on a fly.

They are catching about one fish for every two hours.

The fish are hitting very light.

One fly fishermen caught 5 Cutts in about 2.5 hours.

A couple of fly fishermen reported that they got "broken off," while using 10-pound test line.

There was a 28-incher caught at Popcorn about three days ago."

• RED LAKE CALIF: Dave Kirby reported that he doesn't know the thickness of the ice but it is under a lot of snow.

An ice fisherman from Markleeville caught a limit of Brook trout near the dam.

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

Redding to Anderson: As weather allows, fly fishing for rainbows is producing some nice catch and release trout in the Redding to Anderson area.

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

Red Bluff: King Salmon fishing is now closed.

• SMITH RIVER, CALIF: Kirk Portocarrero reported catching and releasing nice bright Steelhead trout.

Fishing from the Forks of The Smith down to Social.

Using Sparrone Steelhead eggs, first in the morning.

Bouncing roe is your best bet.

Steelhead are averaging 10-15 pounds.

We'll be fishing for Steelhead to March 30.

Also catching some action on the Chetco River.

• LAKE TAHOE - North Shore:

Mickey Daniels of Mickey's Big Mack Charters (800-877-1462) said: "Slick (Bob McCulloch of Carson City) and I were in San Francisco for the boat show all last week and then we will be in Sacramento, this week for their Sport Show.

The San Francisco Show was a little slow, attendance-wise, probably due to the NFL playoff games and the East-West Game being played here.

When I was going out fishing, we were catching our Mackinaw trout early in the morning and tagging and releasing the smaller ones.

I normally 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): "Dollar Point has been slow.

Cal Neva Point has been excellent.

We are trolling with silver Herring Dodger flasher blades and live minnows at a depth of 180-240 feet.

Yesterday (Monday), we caught a total of 12 Mackinaw and kept the four largest.

The biggest was 9 pounds (30 inches)."

• LAKE TAHOE - South Shore: Gene St. Denis: "Ski Run Shelf and Camp Richardson are both excellent for Macks.

We are trolling with silver Herring Dodger flasher blades and live minnows at a depth of 180-240 feet.

We are getting anywhere from 6 to15 fish per trip.

The largest last week was 9 pounds, 31 inches, taken by Len Feike of Carson City.

Ski Run Mound is decent for jiggers jigging with White Star Jigs tipped with a minnow, early in the morning."

• LAKE TAHOE - East Shore: Gene St. Denis: "I personally plowed, snow-blowed and hand-shoveled the boat launch ramp on the east side (the shallow side).

You can launch boats up to about 20 feet, but be very careful because of the rocks in the water and the ice on the ramp.

If you want to use the other ramp, you are going to have to dig it out yourself.

I've heard that some small Macks (2-4 pounds)) are being caught from shore with worms."

• TOPAZ LAKE: Chuck Fields at Topaz Lake Marina (775) 266-3550 reported, "I can't see the lake from the Marina due to the thick fog (Monday morning).

They had a pretty good weekend with some nice limits being reported.

The shore fishermen are using orange Power Bait and trollers are using orange Rapala lures.

There was a tagged, 4-pound, 5-ounce rainbow caught by a fisherman from Coleville, Calif. He was trolling in the center of the lake at a depth of about 8 feet.

There really haven't been a big crowd of fishermen out here, because we still have a lot of snow.

Our boat launch is open and you can launch all kinds of boats.

We had some 22-footers that launched yesterday (Sunday).

Just be careful early in the mornings because of the ice on the ramp"

• TOPAZ LAKE: Donna at the Topaz Lodge General Store at (775) 266-3337 reported that it's been kind of slow because of the weather.

The biggest fish was a 4-pound, 5-ounce, 21-inch rainbow with a pink tag that was worth $50.

There were a total of 22 fish checked in at the store, mostly about 15-20 inches.

The smallest fish, turned in, was 14 inches.

Most of the fish are being caught from shore with orange or rainbow Power Bait, also some on worms.

• WILDHORSE RESERVOIR NEV: Mike the Bartender at the Wild Horse Resort (775) 758-6472 said, "The ice on the reservoir is about 10 inches thick and the ice fishing has been great.

The trout and Perch fishing has been very good.

Lots of good sized rainbows have been caught.

The largest Perch are running up to 12 inches.

It's hit or miss on the fishing and you have to move around from hole to hole to find the schools.

They are jigging with white-colored, Crappie jigs with the hook tipped with a small piece of worm.

We had a bunch of snowmobiles up here, over the weekend, for the big Elko County Snowmobile Jamboree.

There were about 60-70 snowmobiles running all over the country, and our restaurant and bar were going full blast."