Tahoe, Caples and Echo

Cruzed up to the mountains at the end of last month for some trouting and dadin' for three days.

First day we went to Bliss on the the east side of Lake Tahoe, what a spot. No yak because it was a day with the family. Man the trail heading twards Emerald Bay is something to see it travels along the cliffs sometimes with chain handrails to keep you from slippin off. There is some parking at the beach (at least there was on a Friday) and next time I will defenity bring the boats because the water is abot 30' from the parking lot.

Was a beautiful day and I tried out a new minnow trap with cat food for crawdads. My wife used the traditional bacon on string. Apparenty the traps should be soaked overnight because I got about five and bacon on a string got the remaining 25 or so. Also the catfood seemed to stink up the dads'.

Next day we headed over to Caples Lake and I finally cought my first trout from the yak. I don't know why but I seem to have more luck from shore (perhaps the giant yellow plastic boat scares the fish?). trolled around for several hours and it wasn't untill I was heading back to the car that I finally got one. Everyone says near the dam is the spot but when I have tryed there before I got nothing, this time we were on the other end.

Sunday came and we headed over to Echo Lake got the boat inspected for snails/alge at the launch and headed out. ended up with two more Brook trout  by the end of the day. All fish were cought trolling a Cast Master way back.

All in all not nearly as productive as the ocean but the color of the water and the quick swims were very nice, not sure what I can do to catch more fish but some thoughts are:

1) Start earlyer in the morning (perhaps dawn?).

2) Try a side trolling device that runs the lure away from the boat.

3) Try some other luers? Yarn? Feathers?


If anyone has any additional advice please let me know, defenity dont have this one figured out yet.

-Tsuri








 

Whoops missed a few more photos.... this should do it....?

-Tsuri

That wall at Bliss is really cool - it's like 600' deep a stone's throw from the rocks!  I hooked up a small Mack there in 200' of water on a 4 oz. Diamond Jig.  Thanks for the report and good luck.   

(That wall at Bliss is really cool - it's like 600' deep)

Looks deep.

I was wondering how deep it was, I kept casting out a lure and it didn't seem to touch down. Didn't catch any fish from shore there other than an accidentallly snaged minnow out of a school of them near the edge of the dorp off.

Definety thought about bringing the wetsuit and snorkel next time along with the kayak.

I might need to get some fins as well.


-Tsuri

Sweeet Trip brother! Next time you come up give me a shout. As far as catching more fish...on Tahoe, low light periods are better for trolling the shallows, trap live minnows and topline behind small flashers or dodgers over rocky bottom. If you have a depth finder locate Mack schools and jig. "The Sportsman" in South Tahoe sells a depth chart for Tahoe and is well worth the money. Slow trolling Kwikfish/flatfish also is productive. Also troll a long light line(300 feet of 6pound flouro) Caples and the other area lakes... crawlers behind flashers is always a good way to go. Good luck, Eric

Thanks for the report. And great info, Red.

Red,

Right on.... flashers and minnows. No depth finder (rely on others and intuition for that) but the depth chart will help.

Not familiar with Kwickfish/Flatfish or even a dodger for that matter.

I'll check in with you next time I am up in the area.

Thanks for the info,

-Tsuri

Beautiful lake and surrounding scenery!  Thanks for the report and pictures.

Would like to try out crawdad catching with the kids.  Can you tell me where would be good place (general vicinity)  to set traps in the Lake Tahoe area that you mentioned?

Would like to try out crawdad catching with the kids.  Can you tell me where would be good place (general vicinity)  to set traps in the Lake Tahoe area that you mentioned?

Just about ANYWHERE - seriously!  If you have access to a pier/dock (over a rocky bottom, which IS just about anywhere), try the bacon around a rock on a string method mentioned above - it keeps the kids busy for hours.  It is not well publicised, but there is a public pier on the west shore, about a mile south of Sunnyside just before the Kaspian camp ground (when heading south).  It is the only pier in that area that does NOT have a gate on it.

  When I used to fly fish the high sierra lakes, I found that the trout kept a pretty close eye on me.  When I approached the lake, the trout put their heads down.  I ended up hiding behind a small pine tree to conceal my presence.   Within ten minutes, I was catching fish.

   I suppose that if I was Yak fishing, I would try trolling with a line trailing behind the boat.