7/10 Tahoe -Union Valley -IceHouse ???

I am going to be spending this weekend in the Placerville area; specifically Pollock Pines.  My wife and I agreed to hike one day and kayak fish another day. She is deciding where we will hike, and I get to decide where to fish. 

I am leaning toward Tahoe as it is a reasonable day trip and such a beautiful lake. I have only been to Tahoe once and I didn’t fish, but it looks to be a challenging lake to fish due to its size and super clear water. Lake trout are kind of a long shot target I presume, and for this reason figured I’d be targeting browns and rainbows. I'm not asking for any secret intel, but some general guidance would be greatly appreciated.  What depth would you focus on? Would you imitate small fish, or invertebrates? Trolling or “trooching”? Downrigger necessary?

Using my own intuition, I would start by trolling 3 to 4 inch Rapalas and inline spinners, in water just too deep to clearly see the bottom (which in this lake is pretty deep I think?). Also, marabou jigs on a slow drift has worked well for me in other locations. I don’t usually use live bait for trout because they seem to just swallow the hook and die.
Anybody mind sharing some suggestions on other tactics, or expand on these tactics.  I'm even open to other lakes all together.

Thanks in advance. 

Tahoe's awesome - no two ways about it.  I've only had luck early in the morning, and I don't think you'll find water just hazy enough to not see bottom until you're in over 100'!  I've caught a couple of mackinaw jigging big irons at 200', and quite a few kokanee trolling a wedding ring behind a little dodger or ford fender.  My inlaws have a place near South Lake, so my fishing is usually at Bliss off the rock wall for macks or out in front of Baldwin and a little south/east toward Stateline for early morning kokes.  I've also heard of trolling along shore, but the hours I've put into that haven't yielded a hookup yet.  Enjoy the magnificence that is Tahoe.   

I have had luck around Meeks Bay.  Easy lauch and then go south close to to the honeymoon cottage.  If you follow the edge where it goes from 35 to 100plus your ff will locate herds (schools) of kokanee.    Early morning in fairly shallow, 90 and down, a minnow from the lake will usually nail a Mac. 

Thanks for the advise Raydon and Eric.  Honestly, the more I research it, Im starting to consider Union Valley or Icehouse instead.  I really want to catch some fish, and smallmouth is a novelty I've not enjoyed since before I moved to SC.  While Tahoe is beautiful, it seems to be a very tough lake to fish; especially with only a single day to fish.  My buddy who's house I'm staying at wants some fish for dinner.  I don't really have to decide until the last minuet.

I actually think Tahoe is an easy lake to fish if you know where and how.  I've never not caught my limit of Macks there, although size has been lacking recently.  Meeks bay is my go to spot, jigging deep water like rockfishing.  A decent GPS should be able to show you where the humps come up, the macks are always right on or around the tops of humps. 200' surrounded by 300' of water.  Electronics are key though.

Well, if ya want smallies they have em in Jenkinson Res...in Pollock Pines. Same goes for lake trout, browns, and planter bows. But it's more of a waterski lake this time of year. UVR can be busy too. Same goes for Icehouse. Loon Lake is up that way and it's beautiful...with less boat traffic, but the fishing seems mediocre. Wrights Lake is a small little lake with decent fishing and no skiboats.
I would probably hit Fallen Leaf before Tahoe--have caught a good variety of trout there.
Also consider (yes, MORE options haha) taking Morman Emigrant Gap across to the 88 to fish Silver or Caples.

I think any of those lakes are a pain on weekends in the summer due to jet skis and water skiing. 

There are a couple lakes I can recommend though;
Gerle Reservoir.  It's between Union Valley and Loon Lake.  No power motors allowed.  It's not stocked.  It hold some HUGE german browns though and if you know how to fish, you'll get 'em.  (Hint; no power bait or salmon eggs. Ha!)  Fly fish the evening and you'll be BUSY!  There's a shallow area that is just great for swimming and sight fishing.  The canal that leaves this lake holds lots of fish as well.  Use an ant artificial and you will find 'em. 

Brush Creek Reservoir.  Right out of Pollock Pines on Forebay Rd. down to the S. Fork American, cross and take the road up and over Poho Ridge.  It's a tiny lake that is loaded with rainbows and german browns.  I've never seen more than a 5hp aluminum boat on that lake.

Slab Creek Reservoir.  Off North Canyon, it's a bit bigger than Brush, but there are times when jet skis are on the water.  Not often.  It's deep at the dam end.  Lots of trout there too.  Upstream is the bridge that crosses the river that takes you to Brush Creek Reservoir. 

Pull out a map or google those lake names.  For shear beauty, you just can not beat Gerle.  It would be my first choice.  Brush is my second choice simply because it's so isolated and I've never seen another person when I've fished it.  Slab is gonna get you fish.  Troll a night crawler behind a spinner and you'll get hit often. 

I have one no one's mentioned yet.
I'll tell ya when you get here. 
Not crowded either.

I have one no one's mentioned yet.
I'll tell ya when you get here. 
Not crowded either.

Looking forward to it

Gerle is a great place. Might just head out Friday myself.

I agree with all of the above regarding Tahoe. It's beautiful, it's huge, it's full of fish, and it can be very tough to fish. Like any body of water, you have to put your time in her. Additionally, in the summer it's a madhouse of boats. Even on a light/variable day, the swells will be 1'-2' by lunchtime just based on all the constructive/destructive interference of all the boat wakes. If it's windy, 2'-3' on the downwind shore of the lake is not out of the question.

They're a bit out of the way for your current trip, but if you're interested in catching Smallies, both Prosser and Stampede have considerable populations of them (Stampede is festooned with kokanee as well). Soft plastics that imitate crawfish are lethal in the creek arms.

This chunk of copper came out of Stampede in June...

I just read in the newspaper that SMUD stocked Ice House, Union Valley and Loon with 25,000 pounds of 1 to 2 pound trout.  That is being matched by FNG for another 25,000 pounds this summer.