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Lake Tahoe Newsletter Dated: |
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Lake Tahoe Fishing - Tahoe Angler Sportfishing
Dan Bacher
Tahoe is a lake of superlatives, the deepest
lake in California, the third deepest in
North America and still one of the purest
anywhere. To the fisherman, it provides some
of the finest and most consistent fishing
for mackinaw available in the state.
Mackinaw trout, Salvelinus namaycush, are
the big predators of Lake Tahoe. After being
introduced into the Tahoe from the Great
Lakes in 1886, they rapidly displaced the
native, legendary Lahontan cutthroat,
leading to the extinction of the cutthroats
by the late 1920's. The mackinaw are now the
most popular sport fish species at Lake
Tahoe, since they provide good action for
anglers using the right methods year round.
Fred Bennett of Orangevale, the winner of
the Fish Sniffer Web Site Survey in August,
and I found outstanding mackinaw trout
action during a fishing adventure to Lake
Tahoe on October 29 while fishing with Tim
Hennessy of Tahoe Angler Sportfishing.
Fred and I arrived at the dock at the Tahoe
Keys Marina at 6:30 a.m. It was my second
trip of the season to Tahoe, and Fred's
first trip for mackinaw on the lake. The
wind was beginning to blow after Hennessy
drove his 28 foot boat out into the main
lake, but it looked fishable, at least for a
while.
We started trolling with J-Plugs, tipped
with live minnows (Lahontan Redsides) in the
Ski Run area of the south shore at around
165 feet deep. We were using downrigger rods
with 17 pound test Silver Thread line; Tim
prefers these over the heavier wire line
rods because they allow you to experience
the fight better.
"I'm fishing with the J-Plugs because you
get the larger fish on them," said
Hennessy. "There's a 'sea mount' here where
lots of quality fish are holding."
Brent and I agreed that we would alternate
on grabbing the rods when they were hit by a
hungry mackinaw, with him taking the first
fish and I taking the second. We were in the
water less than ten minutes when Fred hooked
up the first fish of the day at 6:16 a.m.
After a tough battle, Fred landed a 6-1/2
pound mackinaw.
The second fish hit at 6:25 a.m. I reeled in
the trout, a quality 5 pound mackinaw. As
the sun rose, clouds from an evil-looking
approaching weather front blocked most of
the sun's rays. The wind continued blowing,
although they didn't deter us from our
pursuit of mackinaw.
At 6:50 p.m., Fred hooked into the big fish
of the day, a 7 lb. 4 ounce mackinaw. We had
a lull in the action until a fish popped off
the line on the downrigger and I battled a
chunky 5.2 pound mackinaw to the boat. We
had caught four quality fish by 7:10 a.m.;
that's a pretty good fishing for anywhere.
Now we switched techniques, moving over to
the other side of the lake at Camp
Richardson to try our hand at jigging. "The
fish we catch jigging are generally smaller
than those you catch trolling," Tim noted.
We jigged for over one hour at Camp
Richardson; Tim hit several fish while using
a chartreuse silver Crippled Herring, but
all came unbuttoned. I also hooked a fish
with a silver/chartreuse Crippled Herring
for a few seconds.
However, it took Brent, the "jig king" for
the day, to actually boat the first jig
fish, a 4 pound mackinaw while working a
silver/blue Bomber Jig. He followed up 30
minutes later with another 3 pound
mackinaw. "The fish fight really hard on the
jigs," commented Fred after he landed the
second fish.
Tim finally landed a fish, a 1 pound
mackinaw, before we called it a day around
11:30 a.m. It was a fine day of fishing,
with Fred and I keeping our limits of two
fish each. On one of the fish that we
released, Captain Tim stuck a syringe in its
air bladder to allow it to revive, but the
other fish we released back into the lake
without need to put a needle in the air
bladder.
We were fishing at one of the tougher times
for mackinaw at Tahoe, when the mackinaw are
beginning to spawn, and still found fine
action on quality fish.
After we finished fishing, Fred and I made a
trip to Taylor Creek, where the U.S. Forest
Service operates a trail and underwater
viewing area, to see the kokanee salmon
spawn in progress. There were thousands of
colorful kokanee spawning throughout the
short stream, pointing to good kokanee
fishing in the lake in coming years.
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About the Author:
By Dan Bacher, Managing Editor
The Fish Sniffer Newspaper
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