Loon lake near Tahoe

I'm going to loon Lake in a few weeks. Anybody been there recently? I have been there a few times but never with my kayak.
Thanks for any info you can share!

Idont know much about loon but icehouse and union valley on the way in are good for macs

....caught my first brown trout at loon (years back) I trolled a shad rapala right next huge boulders that you could see because the water was so clear  . Love that place - watch out for bears....

Good luck and looking forward to the report!

Dude hit me up when you get here! As you can see from Joel, nice browns lurk there. I have actually never fished Loon

Loon can get windy as a mo fo so don't get too complacent if you find yourself on the back side in decent conditions.
Lots of boulders in the lake and right under the surface.
If the screen is up there is a tunnel on the back side. It goes from I think Bucks lake to Loon.
I've paddled 3/4 of the way through, but never all the way.
The screen isn't usually up.
Pretty much textbook fishing for brown and bows. A local uide likes to use micro flashers and a watermelon Sepps grub on a siwash hook. Claims to kill 'em, and I've seen pics, but I've never had any luck with it.
Give Diroblo and I a holler when you go (as long as it's not during Albion). 
Here's a link to a map showing the general location of the tunnel.
http://hydrorelicensing.smud.org/project/proj_map.pdf

Give Diroblo and I a holler when you go (as long as it's not during Albion). 

You guys were probably the first 2 I thought of when I started researching Loon recently. But yeah, busted...it's the same wknd as Albion...we rented the Loon lake chalet week of Aug 5-11...multi family vacation. It's near the first dam so I'll remember to avoid the long paddle back against the wind if when it comes up.

And Mooch, I totally read some of your old reports about Loon. Good info from back in da day.
Thanks for the info guys!

Hey Pat, I would also suggest dropping a night crawler in between the sunken boulders (especially around the islands). I hear browns are like bass....they like hiding in structure

I'll be up in North Tahoe with Omar and a Nephew from the 5th thru the 9th.  I've got Captain Bob chartered for the 8th.

I don't know where Loon lake is relative to North Tahoe but we'll be floating down the Truckee or swimming in the lake most of the time. 

On Wednesday night they have movie night at Commons Beach...the kids really liked that last year.  http://www.gotahoenorth.com/winter/events/tahoe-city-movie-night-inkheart-pg-2009-07-29.html

Loon Lake was cool. The Chalet was "interesting." No rooms or beds; just a big open area to sleep on the floor. We brought air mattresses but they weren't necessary because the sleeping pads they provided were pretty comfy.
I decided to leave my kayaks at home, but I brought my inflatable kayak. Inronically/karmically, it's a nice Sevlor kayak that Joe Bloodbath hooked me up with. And we used it for the first time at Loon Lake...while he was busy winning the Albion Tourney. Thanks again Joe--me & the kids had a great time paddling around in that thing.

The fishing was super slow. And we even got up at the crack of dawn once! Lots of people fishing; not a lot catching. I only saw a handful of planter rainbows during our trip. This is a good crawdad lake btw! Bringing my trap next time, for sure. Although, I'm not sure if we'll rent the Chalet again. One of the major downsides to the Chalet is that it's right next to the trailhead for some offroad trail. So dudes in ATVs, motorcycles, pickups, jeeps, crawlers, and general hillbillies were ripping through there all day & night! It almost made me resent off roading all together. (but part of it was probably just jealousy for these guys with crazy expensive rigs and no kids LOL) Plus, I know the Jeepers Jamboree was the previous wknd, so there was probably more traffic than usual.

You can camp right on the lake wherever you want. Or in the small campground on the north shore w/bathrooms. Or the surprisingly-nice campground on the south shore w/very nice facilities. 

Here's a few pics from Loon Lake.















This is MY marshmallow!




Firewood was easy to find!

Sounds like a good family trip, sorry the fish were not biting.

Lots of cool islands to explore. And you can camp on them too.

Boy that lake sure does look nice!  I'm still hoping to do a kayak camping trip before it gets too cold out.