A 7-pound catfish reported taken at Lahontan Reservoir

By Don Quilici

• BIG SPRINGS RESERVOIR, NEV: No report. Will close on Feb. 28.

• BLUE LAKES, CALIF. AREA: Dave Kirby of the Woodfords Station (530-694-2930) said, "It is pretty quiet, up here at Woodfords.

Last weekend was one of the worst we have had, we had no business and need a change in weather.

It was chilly and windy this last weekend.

It is 19 degrees this morning (Monday).

It is beautiful with no wind."

• CAPLES LAKE, CALIF: Dave Kirby said that the lake is getting more ice along the edges.

If you are interested in fishing from shore, cast a lure out over the ice to the water, as the fish seem to be hanging around at the edge of the ice.

• DAVIS LAKE, CALIF: Two die-hard tent campers were spotted, very late Saturday afternoon, camping at the U.S.F.S. Lightning Tree Campground.

They were both huddled over a small campfire as the temperatures were dropping and an arctic wind was blowing.

• INDIAN CREEK RESERVOIR. CALIF: Dave Kirby reported: "It was chilly and windy over the weekend. The wind was a killer.

The reservoir is still fishable and I would rate fishing, last weekend, as only fair.

Believe it or not, there was a guy camping at the reservoir and he was catching 2-3 fish per day. He was fishing from shore with orange Power Bait."

• LAHONTAN RESERVOIR, NEV: Missy Swain at Burke's Market at Silver Springs (775-577-2750) reported: "If anyone is out there fishing this morning (Monday), more power to them. They would have to be die hard or gung ho, because it got down to 18 degrees last night.

November is supposed to be the perfect month for Walleye, and we have been selling minnows like crazy to lots of fishermen.

We had a report of a 7-pound catfish caught from shore at Beach No. 10, which is amazing because I didn't know that anyone caught catfish at this time of the year, out here."

• PYRAMID LAKE, NEV:

George Molino (Pyramid Lake Charters) of the Pyramid Lake Store (775-476-0555) said that he has not been out for several weeks as his boat motor is being worked on.

He said that, over-all, the fishing is not bad, however, now that the water is cooling off, the fishermen are not catching as many Cutthroat as they did when it was warmer.

On Nov. 16, a 5-pound, 9-ounce Cutt from shore with a lure.

On Nov. 17, a 7-pound, 1-ounce Cutt from a boat.

On Nov. 18, a 7-pound, 5-ounce Cutt on a fly.

On Nov. 20, a 8-pound, 6-ounce Cutt from shore with a lure.

In addition, Don Hettrick of Carson City checked in and said that he, his brother Bob of Sacramento and Norm Budden of Carson City took Don's brand-new, sport fishing boat to Pyramid Lake to check it out, late Friday.

The three anglers trolled in the Pelican Point and the boat ran fine with no problems.

The two Hettricks each caught and released about a dozen cutthroat, while Budden caught one small fish.

• RED LAKE CALIF: Dave Kirby said that the lake is getting more ice along the edges.

If you are interested in fishing from shore, cast a lure out over the ice to the water, as the fish seem to be hanging around at the edge of the ice.

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

Redding to Anderson: Water flow is 4,000 CFS.

Fly fishing for rainbow trout is on hold for now as winter weather approaches.

Picking up a few fish spincasting.

Practicing catch and release.

Red Bluff: Fishing for Kings is now, up and down.

Still catching a few nice King Salmon, 8-12 pounds.

Occasional 30-40 pound Salmon.

Fishing has been slow this week and getting tough.

Brought in a 56.5 pound Salmon on Friday (Stephen Giossi of Nevada was the luck angler).

Flatfish (T-50's & T-55's) and bouncing roe are best bet, both producing King Salmon.

Watch for December to produce even larger Kings.

Any rain will be welcomed and bring more fish into the area.

King salmon season will remain open until January 14, 2005.

• SILVER LAKE, CALIF: Dave Kirby said that the lake is getting more ice along the edges.

If you are interested in fishing from shore, cast a lure out over the ice to the water, as the fish seem to be hanging around at the edge of the ice.

• 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 I've been tagging and releasing the smaller ones.

The weather was cold and windy over the weekend.

I troll 250-550 feet deep in the deep-water area in front of Carnelian Bay and King's Beach.

We are using 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) said: "The weather has been cold (10-18 degrees at night).

Saturday afternoon and Sunday were very windy.

The larger Mackinaw are at a depth of 200-300 feet.

They are just finishing their spawning and feeding heavily on the shrimp."

He is trolling at Cal Neva Point and Dollar Point.

He trolls 120-250 feet deep with a short leader, silver Herring Dodger flasher blades and live minnows.

• LAKE TAHOE - South Shore: Gene St. Denis reported that the best fishing is off Ski Run Shelf.

On Saturday, his client, Chris Wick of Placerville, Calif. caught an 11-pound (33 inch) Mackinaw trout in 220 feet of water on the Ski Run Shelf.

He was trolling with silver Herring Dodger flasher blades and live minnows.

• LAKE TAHOE - East Shore: Gene St. Denis reported that the Mackinaw trout are small to medium-sized in this area, with nothing big being caught.

He is trolling at a depth of 180-220 with silver Herring Dodger flasher blades and live minnows.

Some small rainbows and an occasional small Mack are being caught by shore fishermen from the Cave Rock boat landing.

• WILDHORSE RESERVOIR NEV: Dennis Dunn at the Wild Horse Resort (775) 758-6472 said, "I've been sick with the flu, but am slowly getting better.

It is plenty cold here.

We got down to zero degrees last night (Sunday) but the fishing is great!

We've got ice all around the edges of the reservoir but the whole north side is wide open.

Your best fishing success is still to just flip Power Bait or a nightcrawler with a shrimp or garlic-flavored marshmallow (Mike's Marshmallows) over the edge of the ice. That is right where the trout are located.

On Nov. 18, two fishermen from Nevada City, Calif. caught ten rainbow trout that weighed a total of 22-23 pounds.

On Nov. 20. a fisherman from Madison, Calif. caught two rainbows that weighed 3 pounds and 3.5 pounds, after being cleaned."