A 10-pound rainbow trout in the West Carson River

By Don Quilici

• BISHOP CREEK AREA, CALIF:

Gary Olson of the Bishop Creek Resorts (760-873-4484):

Intake No. 2: Reports of good fishing with Power Bait or green Matuka flies. Stingers and Trout Traps are also doing well.

North Lake: Good success with Lemon Twist Power Bait or rainbow Sierra Gold. Some good action with worms.

South Lake: A 6-pound, 15-ounce rainbow on 2-pound test line with Power Bait.

A 6-pound 8-ounce rainbow on a green and cream Stinger behind the Island.

Bishop Creek: Fishing remains good with Power Bait or nightcrawlers.

Some success with Salmon eggs.

• BLUE LAKES, CALIF. AREA:

Dave Kirby of the Woodfords Station (530-694-2930) said:

Upper and Lower Blue Lakes: Were a little slow over the weekend, especially Upper Blue.

Tamarack Lake: Is not fishable. It has only a couple of small pools of water.

Meadow Lake: One angler caught "a ton" of Brookies in a very short period of time.

Wet Meadows Lake: Quite a few Brookies were caught and released.

• CAPLES LAKE, CALIF: Dave Kirby said the boat ramp at the Resort is unusable for larger boats but you can still launch small boats from the shoreline.

• EAST CARSON RIVER, CALIF: Brad Davis at the Carson River Resort (877-694-2229):

Last week, the State planted 750 pounds of rainbows and on Friday, Alpine County planted.

Wyatt, a youngster about 10 years old, caught a 7-pound, 5-ounce rainbow on Salmon eggs.

A mother and daughter (Katie and Denise Eastburn) each caught a 4-pound rainbow on Salmon eggs.

Krystan Hanson of Markleeville caught a 2-pound, 8-ounce rainbow on a red Copper John.

Lonnie Hathaway of South Lake Tahoe caught a 5-pound, 5-ounce rainbow on a Panther/Martin lure.

• WEST CARSON RIVER, CALIF: Dave Kirby reported the water is very low and crystal clear.

The last private plant of the year by Alpine County was made last Friday.

There were quite a few fish caught over the weekend in the 4-5 pound class.

One angler caught, weighed and released a 10-pound, 1-ounce rainbow on Saturday.

• DAVIS LAKE, CALIF: Sara at the Grizzly Store and Resort (530-832-0270): "It is really slow, up here.

Trolling is very slow.

Shore fishing is slow, but best in the mornings at Mallard and Honker Coves.

The water temp is 73 degrees at the surface."

• FEATHER RIVER AT OROVILLE, CALIF: Kirk Portocarrero reported 6,500 CFS is the water release on the Feather.

Fishing last week for Kings was fair to good.

When caught, chrome king salmon are bright fish, 12-25 lbs.

Back-trolling Flatfish lures, green & gold, T-50's or bouncing roe.

Fishing between Oroville and Gridley.

• FRENCHMAN RESERVOIR, CALIF: Wiggin's Trading Post at Chilcoot, Calif. (530-993-4683): Fishing is great at Snallygaster and Nightcrawler Bay with nightcrawlers and Mepps lures - 18 inch rainbows being caught there.

Troll the lake with Midge Wobblers. Nice sized rainbows being caught.

Also use Needlefish lures.

Fly fish off Big Cove with Sheep Creek or cinnamon Woolly Bugger flies.

• HEENAN LAKE, CALIF: Dave Kirby reported that the season opener was only fair due to low and murky water conditions.

Lots of float tubers. The lake looked like "Dunkin Donuts" with all of the float tubes on the opening day.

The float tubers did much better than the shore fishermen.

• INDIAN CREEK RESERVOIR. CALIF: Dave Kirby said, "The temp of the surface water is pretty high and there is lots of algae. Shore fishing is very slow. You need to fish deep."

• Summit Lake (above Indian Creek): There is hardly any water left. It has all evaporated.

• LAHONTAN RESERVOIR, NEV: Missy Swain at Burke's Market at Silver Springs (775-577-2750): Fishing is ideal right now. The water level is down, it's cooling off at night and the water temp is perfect.

Lots of catch and release fishing going on, which will make for bigger fish next year.

We had a real nice Labor Day weekend.

The water level at the reservoir is about 115,000 acre feet.

• PYRAMID LAKE, NEV: Is closed to cutthroat trout fishing until Oct. 1.

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

Redding to Anderson: Water flow is 9,000 CFS.

Fly fishing for rainbow trout is still great with 15-25 fish days. Great bug hatch in the afternoons. Catching and releasing wild, trophy rainbows, up to 6 pounds. Using Micro Mayfly and Fox's Pupahs.

Red Bluff: Worth the wait. The King Salmon are in!

Fishing for Kings is good,.

Catching nice bright Kings, 15-30 pounds, a few fish reaching up to 45 pounds already.

601 Kings passed over the Red Bluff Diversion Dam on Sunday.

Flatfish (T-50's), and bouncing roe are bringing in the catch.

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

• SILVER LAKE, CALIF: Dave Kirby reported that fishing was pretty good over the weekend.

An angler in a 2-man canoe caught and released 14 rainbows and brookies in 3 hours of fishing with Woolly Bugger flies in shallow water.

LAKE TAHOE - North Shore:

• Mickey Daniels of Mickey's Big Mack Charters (800-877-1462) said: "I spent Sunday and Monday at the Rib Cook-Off in Sparks and I think that I gained 30 pounds.

By the way, yesterday was Nora's and my 19th Wedding Anniversary.

I had a fishing charter last Saturday but we did not catch anything big.

We've been catching our Mackinaw trout early in the morning and I've been tagging and releasing the smaller ones.

The fishing has been very consistent, but nothing super big.

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."

• Gene St. Denis of Blue Ribbon Charters and Tahoe Trophy Trout at South Lake Tahoe, Calif. (530-544-6552) said he is trolling with a short leader, Herring Dodger flasher blades and live minnows.

Trolling at Dollar Point at 130-280 feet deep for Macks 3-11 pounds.

Trolling at Cal Neva Point at 120-240 feet deep for Macks 2-8 pounds.

Trolling at Agate Bay at 160-250 feet deep for Macks 5-10.5 pounds.

• LAKE TAHOE - South Shore:

Gene St. Denis of Blue Ribbon Charters and Tahoe Trophy Trout at South Lake Tahoe, Calif. (530-544-6552) said the fishing is very slow. Catching Macks 2-3 pounds and Kokanee Salmon (5-10 inches).

• LAKE TAHOE - East Shore:

Gene St. Denis said that Cave Rock Shelf has been producing mostly smaller Macks.

Jiggers are doing the best.

The Macks are small, running 1-3 pounds.

• TOPAZ LAKE: Chuck Fields of the Topaz Lake Marina (775-266-3550): No report.

Note: Topaz Lake closes for the 2004 fishing season on Sept. 30. It will re-open on Jan. 1.

• TWIN LAKES, CALIF. AREA:

• Lower Twin: Carey at the Twin Lakes Resort (760-932-7751): No report.

• Upper Twin: Mono Village (760-932-7071) reported:

A 9-pound, 3-ounce rainbow on a gold Kastmaster lure.

An 8.5 pound rainbow on a red/gold Kastmaster lure.

A 7-pound, 3-ounce rainbow on a red/gold Thomas Buoyant lure.

• Robinson Creek: Kokanee Salmon are now spawning in the creek.

• VIRGINIA LAKES, CALIF. AREA: Carolyn Webb of the Virginia Lakes Resort reported: "This has been the warmest Labor Day we've seen in about 6 years.

Last week the cold weather drove the fishermen to lower elevations to seek warmth and comfort, but the last four days have been great fishing weather.

Alpers, Sierra Trout Foundation and DFG all stocked making this holiday weekend one of the best we've had in many moons.

Gerald Takaki of La Palma took the "big" fish of the week at 6 lbs 1 oz on a crawler from Little Virginia.

About 12 of the many dozen Alpers and DFG "biggies" were taken after the temps rose to a nice comfort level.

Best bets were on yellow glitter and corn power bait, and the best lure was the newest red/blue Thomas Buoyant lure."

• WILDHORSE RESERVOIR NEV: Dennis Dunn at the Wild Horse Resort (775) 758-6472 said, "The weather is cooling off and we have had a little ice every night. It got down to 10 above the other night.

The reservoir is holding its water level better than last year.

The fishing picked up over the weekend with the trout, perch, bass and catfish, all biting well.

Paul Reynolds of Las Vegas and his party of four other anglers caught their limits of rainbows, up to 4.5 pounds. They were trolling from boats with blue Mepps spinners.

Another angler reported catching and releasing 35 Smallmouth Bass, up to 19 inches.

Norm Budden of Carson City reported getting his antelope last week, just south of the reservoir.