FISHING

Mackinaw are not native to Lake Tahoe. They were introduced into the lake in the late 1800s and have flourished ever since. “Fifty percent or more of the fish caught at the lake annually are Mackinaw,” author Cal Kellogg writes. (MIKE NIELSEN/TAHOE TOPLINERS) age. Fish become conditioned to avoid lures and baits over time. At a location like the Susanville area’s Eagle Lake, large trout can be simple to fool because they grow quickly and attain a large size at a young age. acre-feet of water, covering a surface area of more than 193 square miles, all while boasting a maximum depth of 1,637 feet, making it the 10th deepest lake in the world.

Lake Tahoe’s water has a very high level of purity and an extremely low level of nutrients. The nutrient deficiency results in a poor forage base and slow growth among the lake’s gamefish. By the time Tahoe’s trout reach trophy proportions they’ve accumulated a great deal of experience avoiding the efforts of anglers.

The 39 trillion gallons of water found in Tahoe represents more water than the volume contained in the United States’ 10 largest reservoirs combined. If this water were unleashed and spread evenly across California, every square foot of ground would be under 1 foot of water.

And Tahoe is clear; it is the clearest lake in the world, so clear that you can see a 12-inch white dinner plate suspended 80 feet beneath the surface.

SO,

WHAT DOES THIS big lake offer

anglers? Well, it provides fishing for Mackinaw, rainbow trout, brown trout and kokanee salmon, but the real attraction is the size of the Mackinaw and trout it produces. Tahoe holds Mackinaw in excess of 30 pounds, brown trout in the midteens with the promise of fish beyond 20 pounds and double-digit rainbows.

Mackinaw are the dominant fish at Tahoe, but like browns and rainbows, they are not native to the lake. Tahoe’s first recorded plant took place in 1889 when the Nevada Fish and Game Commission released Mackinaw into

Meeks Bay. By the 1920s, large Macks started falling to anglers – the largest of that period being a 32-pounder boated by John Pomin.

Fifty percent or more of the fish caught at the lake annually are Mackinaw, while browns, rainbows and kokanee make up the rest of the catch.

Studies show that brown trout outnumber rainbows, yet in terms of the number of rainbows and browns landed by anglers, the number is very similar, illustrating how difficult it is to fool browns on a consistent basis.

SUCCESSFULLY FISHING LAKE TAHOE is a challenging proposition. While the lake does hold big numbers of fish, its huge size makes the trout and Macks difficult to locate. We’ve all heard the old assertion that only 10 percent of the water in a given lake holds 90 percent of the fish. The equation holds true at Tahoe.

It is likely the thousands of trout and Macks hidden beneath Tahoe’s surface only reside in 4 or 5 percent of the lake’s total volume. This means that unless an angler has a pretty good idea where the fish are holding, chances are they’ll waste their fishing time probing waters that simply hold no fish.

Another thing that makes catching Tahoe’s trophies difficult is their

TOP LINING AND DEEP-WATER trolling are the two basic approaches to catching trout at Lake Tahoe. In the classical sense, top lining refers to pulling lures without the use of downriggers or added weight.

When discussing Lake Tahoe, let’s expand the definition to include any trolling approach aimed at working the top 50 feet of the water column. Most of the trout caught by top liners are Mackinaw, but it is the top liners who also pick up most of the browns

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Deepwater trollers spend their time exploring water that ranges from 100 to 400 feet deep or deeper. These specialized anglers utilize downriggers or steel line combined with heavy weights to reach these depths. The catch of deepwater trollers is made up almost exclusively of Macks.

Top lining Tahoe style is as unique as it is exciting. Two major food sources for the lake’s large predators are kokanee salmon and small trout, so it comes as no surprise that large 6- to 8-inch minnow plugs are the standby baits of most top liners.

These big plugs are typically top lined from 400 to 600 feet behind the boat on 8- or 10-pound fluorocarbon line.

The shoreline near the South Shore casinos, the area to the north and south of the Cave Rock Launch ramp and the western shoreline in the area where the Truckee River leaves the lake, are just a few of the areas top liners successfully ply. These areas are characterized by

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