Donner Lake Oct 21-25

Five day trip to Donner.  Going to be fishing each morning, maybe some evenings. First time on the lake so I'll be trying to cover as much "ground" as I can over my 5 day stay.  Goal of this trip is to CnR some Mackinaw, CnR a few trout, and CnC a few Kokanee. I'll be on the pleasure channel if you find yourself on the water. I'll post one report on the 26th.

Have you started fishing yet? I am going up to Reno this weekend and thinking of doing some fishing. I will be fishing out of a float tube, thinking where I should go?

Have you started fishing yet? I am going up to Reno this weekend and thinking of doing some fishing. I will be fishing out of a float tube, thinking where I should go?

Sorry I missed ya, didn't have a computer on me during this trip.

How was it, Andrew?

Wednesday and Friday (3hrs Sunrise); Mackinaw were stacked just above the drop offs on the north shore.  Was averaging about 2 fish to the boat per hour on the water.  lengths were between 19" and 22", healthy but nothing huge.  Lots on fun on the light tackle setup. Lost about half of the fish I hooked up with about halfway up.  Seemed to break off almost every time I did a quick and first hook set (hooked on the roof of the mouth with no through penetration). Rarely lost anything when I did a smooth and steady hookset by gently raising my rod tip and reeling at a steady pace (all hooked through the upper lip).

Thursday (3hrs Noon); Fish were a little less stacked on the drop offs, and my significant other decided to bring a banana with her to the beach (and we didn't get on the water until 12noon), so no fish were caught, lost two about midwater.  They didn't seem to want anything that I was giving to them.

Saturday; Rest day.

Sunday (2hrs Sunrise); Decided to bump up the size of my offerings to discourage the smaller mackinaw.  Had one fish throw the hook about midwater, didn't feel huge, but could have been the largest of the trip. Got one other strike, but couldn't get the hookup. Both of these were with treble hooks as opposed to single point like the rest of my fishing. Got blown off the water around 8:30! very windy for the rest of the day.

Largest fish of the trip was just over 22", tried to release it but it was too bloated to go down.  I donated it to another kayaker OTW who was very happy to have the donated fish, he was also doing very well himself and had a good stringer going. Decided to keep one for myself the next day and was pleasantly surprised by how good it tasted.

One more image.

Nicely done - sounds like a fun trip.   

Thanks for the trip report and pictures Andrew.

Sweet, I need to get up there with the gal and fish for Macs

Sounds like a fun trip!

When I took a mackinaw charter on Lake Tahoe, the captain had a needle to "deflate" the marks before sending them down.

Sounds like a fun trip!

When I took a mackinaw charter on Lake Tahoe, the captain had a needle to "deflate" the marks before sending them down.

Did he just poke them in the belly?

Cool report!  Mackinaw can be such fickle fish sometimes, which makes them a very intriguing target IMO.  Seems like you just need to stay on them until they choose to eat.  Makes sense: after slurping a 10 inch kokanee in cold water, it'd take a while to digest such a large meal so why chase down anything else?  I'm guessing you were using jigging spoons on these guys, right?

Cool report!  Mackinaw can be such fickle fish sometimes, which makes them a very intriguing target IMO.  Seems like you just need to stay on them until they choose to eat.  Makes sense: after slurping a 10 inch kokanee in cold water, it'd take a while to digest such a large meal so why chase down anything else?  I'm guessing you were using jigging spoons on these guys, right?

Plastics on each of the days except for the last;  Switched to a pLine on the last day.

Yeah, he more or less just poked them in the belly. It was a very thin, hollow needle, like for a syringe. And there was a certain spot he'd aim for (and at an angle to minimize skin/scale damage.

Here's an article about it (full disclosure, I haven't read it yet).

http://www.trophytrouthunter.com/id182.html

Read a little... Sounds like the fish don't do too well with the needle treatment... Recompressing (descending) is the better alternative.