Mendo and Tahoe

Fished Mendo on Monday and Tuesday for a mixed bag of big Rockfish and a couple lings. Monday was a little rough, Tuesday was FAC!

Fished North Tahoe today (and will be again tomorrow) for the elusive Mackinaw..... Started at 05:30 stopped at 09:00. Found some piles of them on the machine, but no bites. A couple charter boats were nearby and didn’t see them catch anything either. Gonna try again in the early morning, hope to have more to say about it!

Thanks for the report and picture Dom.

Nice catch 

Do kayaks have to go through the boat inspection for Tahoe, how does that work? never done it, only heard about it.

Tahoe the bite is late afternoon. My buddy caught a Mack bank fishing over the weekend.

I was in Tahoe area last week.  Boat inspection station in Meyers said that my Outback didn't need an inspection or anything special for lake Tahoe.  There are already some aquatic invasive species (AIS) present in Tahoe.  The guy seemed pretty junior, so I can't promise he had his story straight.

I had him give my kayak a 140 degree washing since I was heading to Fallen Leaf lake which is AIS free.  Got a little slip of paper with my license plate number on it since the 'yak doesn't have a registration number.  The whole thing was pretty easy.

No fish for me on Tahoe (tried for kokes off of Kiva beach).  A few small trout on Fallen Leaf lake.

On Tuesday morning I went out again and fished 5:30-9:00 and actually hooked one! Had it on for about 30 seconds, enough to take good drag and pull my kayak around a bit. Figured that jigging through suspended marks on the sonar was maybe better than bouncing off the bottom. Fished between 140 feet and 300. Not sure if I gave it some slack or just didn’t have it hooked good but it came unbuttoned.
I’d love to try the afternoon/evening bite, but it was pretty windy Sunday and Monday afternoon so spent time with fam and friends instead... Next time!
As I loaded my boat on the truck and drove out at 9:30am saw a big (400 plus pound) bear coming out of a drainage culvert right at the east end of King’s Beach! 15 people around and they had no idea he was there. He sat there in the little bit of water and huffed at me as I passed by. It was awesome.
Kayak is stored for a bit now, next fishing trip for me is a long range San Diego trip at the end of the month.
Hope you all get some good stuff in the mean time!

Here’s the bear...

I was in Tahoe area last week.  Boat inspection station in Meyers said that my Outback didn't need an inspection or anything special for lake Tahoe.  There are already some aquatic invasive species (AIS) present in Tahoe.  The guy seemed pretty junior, so I can't promise he had his story straight.

I had him give my kayak a 140 degree washing since I was heading to Fallen Leaf lake which is AIS free.  Got a little slip of paper with my license plate number on it since the 'yak doesn't have a registration number.  The whole thing was pretty easy.

No fish for me on Tahoe (tried for kokes off of Kiva beach).  A few small trout on Fallen Leaf lake.

The AIS he was probably referring to were the bass and bluegills which thrive in Tahoe now. The bass are all spawning right now as no one was able to hook them on their beds in the keys.  My uncle said there were 5-6# bass bedding everywhere. FnG has no plans of getting rid of the bass n bluegills since they’ve already spread into the main lake.

Sounds like the fishing in Tahoe is tough.  I'll be there in a couple weeks with a campsite in by stateline. 

Where should I launch and fish from?

The AIS they are referring to for boat inspections are: Asian clams, Zebra and Quagga mussels, New Zealand Mudsnail, Eurasian watermilfoil and Curlyleaf pondweed. Tahoe has currently been affected by Asian clams, Eurasion watermilfoil, and curlyleaf pondweed and they want to prevent the further spread of those plus ensure the others will not be making an appearance. There is no inspection for Tahoe itself if launching from CA. They simply ask that you clean, drain and dry your kayak before launching. Fallen leaf lake is a pristine lake so they require a hot wash which is free and is provided at the fallen leaf boat launch or at the Meyers inspection station. If launching on the NV side you are required to have an AIS sticker.  Tahoe (keys mainly) does have bass, blue gill, crappie, and catfish which are invasive as stated above.
https://tahoeboatinspections.com/   http://www.ndow.org/Boat/Aquatic_Invasive_Species/Decal_Information/

FriedKalamari if you fish outside of Nevada beach, which I'm guessing where you are camping at, you will hook in to some good fish just off of the shelf, just remember to bring sonar. Cave rock also has great fishing. If you want to fish warm water species the keys is the spot.

The AIS they are referring to for boat inspections are: Asian clams, Zebra and Quagga mussels, New Zealand Mudsnail, Eurasian watermilfoil and Curlyleaf pondweed. Tahoe has currently been affected by Asian clams, Eurasion watermilfoil, and curlyleaf pondweed and they want to prevent the further spread of those plus ensure the others will not be making an appearance. There is no inspection for Tahoe itself if launching from CA. They simply ask that you clean, drain and dry your kayak before launching. Fallen leaf lake is a pristine lake so they require a hot wash which is free and is provided at the fallen leaf boat launch or at the Meyers inspection station. If launching on the NV side you are required to have an AIS sticker.  Tahoe (keys mainly) does have bass, blue gill, crappie, and catfish which are invasive as stated above.
https://tahoeboatinspections.com/   http://www.ndow.org/Boat/Aquatic_Invasive_Species/Decal_Information/

FriedKalamari if you fish outside of Nevada beach, which I'm guessing where you are camping at, you will hook in to some good fish just off of the shelf, just remember to bring sonar. Cave rock also has great fishing. If you want to fish warm water species the keys is the spot.

Thanks for the tips. 

I'll be at "Campground by the Lake".  I've nudged you in the past about info and finally am going to get to make it out.

Any suggestion for lures out of those spots?  I'm fine with Kokanee or Macks.

I'm thinking a flutter or diamond jig that I typically use for rockfish.  I don't have a reel counter though.

Thanks for the tips. 

I'll be at "Campground by the Lake".  I've nudged you in the past about info and finally am going to get to make it out.

Any suggestion for lures out of those spots?  I'm fine with Kokanee or Macks.

I'm thinking a flutter or diamond jig that I typically use for rockfish.  I don't have a reel counter though.
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From campground by the lake I'd head to the shelves off of Nevada beach to the east or the Tahoe Keys to the west.  We use small jigs usually 1-4oz for macks, tipped with a live minnow.  Most rockfish jigs will do fine or even kastmasters. Having the live minnow seems to be much more important than the jig itself.