Hello fellow anglers. It is that time of year again when we have turned our clocks back. My personal opinion, I wish we had daylight saving time all year long. Yes it is a darker in the morning. But the lighter evening time gives most people time to get home from work or wherever they may have traveled for the day and still have time for a family barbecue while it is still light out.
Plus it makes the drive home safer during commute hours. But we all have our own opinions. And of course, I would not be me if I did not add. It gives you one more hour to fish in the evening. Now with the time change, comes more changes. If you read your fishing regulations, you will see that many of our lakes and stream will have some regulation changes starting on Nov. 15.
The streams and rivers in California will change to artificial lures or flies only with barbless hooks. Some areas will be catch and release, while others may have a lower limit. Then again, there are a few rivers that will close until spring. Make sure you read your regulations for the waters that you plan to fish, before you go fishing.
But for all those anglers that want to toss an egg or a night crawler in the east or west Carson River in California, this will be your last weekend for that until spring.
Now I have been getting out a little here and there between cold fronts and rain storms. I have also spoke with a few anglers that have the fishing bug like I do. So lets check out your local fishing reports.
LAKE TAHOE: Fishing has been good when you can get out. Best action has still been jigging in 150 feet of water by Cal-Neva Point. Trollers have done fair to good out in front of the Camp Richardson area. Some of those big macs are hanging around the Taylor Creek area going after the late spawning salmon. Flashers and a live minnow or a silver Kastmaster has been successful around the Cave Rock area for macs and rainbows. for more information go to Rubyjeancharters.com.
CAPLES LAKE: The resort is closed until Dec. 17. There have been a couple anglers down by the spillway fishing. But I did not get any reports back from them. They got 4 inches of snow on that last storm and will be getting more this weekend. I personally will be waiting for 14 inches of ice before I venture back up to fish, which I hope many anglers will join me this year to experience ice fishing.
RED LAKE: No reports over the last few weeks, and I have not gone up lately. Here again, I will wait for 12 to 14 inches of ice to go ice fishing.
INDIAN CREEK RESERVOIR: The lake is open to fishing all year. If you can get into the lake, the gate off of Highway 89 was still open as of this week. The back way in off of Diamond Valley Road is usually open all year. But use caution as it is a dirt road and is not maintained. The lake still has some green on it, but the fishing this time of year can be very rewarding. Use either inflated night crawlers or salmon peach Powerbait. Last weekend a group of volunteers ventured up to plant sapling trees in the campground area. My Naw hat is off to all who participated. My only hope now is that they find away to reopen the campground.
WEST FORK CARSON RIVER ALPINE COUNTY CA: The fishing has been very slow. If you get out in the middle of Hope Valley there are a few nice deep holes to fish. But you need to be stealth about it. These fish spook very easily. On Nov. 16 the regs change to zero limit, artificial lures or flies only with barbless hooks.
EAST FORK CARSON RIVER ALPINE COUNTY CA: Fishing has still been good. Prepare yourself for a lot of walking from ripple to ripple and hole to hole. The fish are scattered, but there are still plenty of nice fish in there. My last trip I used a pinched night crawler in the deeper holes, and a Panther martin spinner across the ripples. I saw a nice 3 to 4 pound rainbow follow my spinner twice, but never a taker. On Nov. 16, the regs change to zero limit artificial lures or flies only with barbless hooks. The Carson River resort is open all year for tent or RV camping, they also have cabin rentals and fully stocked store with a very nice wood stove that never goes out. For more information call 530-694-2229 or go to https://carsonriverresorts.com.
TOPAZ LAKE: I fished the lake a couple times over the last few weeks. The first time my better half Renee kicked my behind. But we did get 13 fish to the boat, kept a couple and released the rest. I went up last weekend with my good friend Matt Wicks. Now I did not tell him that the NDOW had planted the lake with over 3,000 triploid trout. I figured we would be fighting to keep the little bugger off our lines. I could see the fish right below us all over the lake. But we could not buy a bite. We fished for five hours and Matt did catch a nice 16-inch rainbow using a F5 perch Rapala toplining.
I tried every color and size on my lead core lines with no success. It just was not my day. But we met some nice anglers around the dock that told us they had not caught a thing all day as well. We did notice a lot of green algae on the north side of the lake. The south end was a lot cleaner.
Now as a note, NDOW will be having a boat inspector up there for all boaters through the winter. They do not charge for the inspection or the decontamination if needed. When you see them, say thank you for keeping Topaz clean. Now the nice thing about Topaz Lake is you can use a California or Nevada license and it is open all year long.
BRIDGEPORT RESERVOIR: Nov. 15 is the last day to fish the lake. I had planned on going up this last week to fish before it closed. But I thought about 17 degree morning temps and wondered if I could even cast out without hitting ice along the shore. So I talked with the guys at Kens Sporting Goods and they said they haven’t talked to anyone fishing the Reservoir from boats lately so we don’t have much to report about that. As for the shore anglers, most are reporting 0 to 3 or 4 fish per day with bait. Some days seem better than others, not super great news but the silver lining is that most of the fish being caught are in the 3 to 5 pound range. Successful baits have been pinched crawlers, inflated crawlers, mice trails and garlic power bait. For more information call Kens Sporting Goods at 760-932-7707. Also ask them when there Christmas 20% off special is for that special angler.
BLUE LAKES: Due to weather, I have not been up to the lake for the last few weeks. I have not received any reports from my friends that frequently fish and camp at the lake. As of the 10th of this month, the road was still open. But will close at any time.
Tis’ the season when reports get a little short due to weather. But this angler does not stop for a little cold. I will continue to fish on. I hope to see you on the waters soon. If you get a picture of your catch, send it to editor@carsonnow.org Good fishin’ and tight lines.
