It's the first lake I learned to fish when I moved to the area in 1994, and as such it holds a special place in my heart. Initially, I tossed out only bait, and caught very few fish. I kept returning, though, and slowly began to understand this strange, improbable fishery. Eventually, baitfishing became so consistent for me that I would often catch my limit in less than an hour, so I began to prolong my trips by switching to lures and flies. This was a bit more work than soaking nightcrawlers, but as I honed my skills I also found that I enjoyed the challenge, and the thrill of releasing a trout to fight again.

So Indian Creek became my practice lake; here I worked out techniques on willing trout before trying on bigger, more famous waters. It also became my confidence spot, where I could always go to redeem myself after failing elsewhere, or where I could bring a friend and be sure to hook him a fish or two. Ironically, Indian Creek has taught me so much over the years that I now seldom visit anymore, choosing instead to fish more difficult waters. I had the afternoon free last Monday, April 22, though, and had spent my last two trips working hard for very few fish on one of the most difficult waters of all, Lake Tahoe. The usual early-spring reports of good action at Indian Creek were circulating, the weather was sunny and mild, and it had been too long since I've seen this old friend. Time for some redemption.

Setting: Windy afternoon, 4:30 p.m., late April. Dirt road is dry, passable without four-wheel-drive. Surly free-range cattle crowd my car and give me dirty looks. The reservoir is quite low, and I drive down to the locals' dirt launch ramp at the northeast corner, by the dam. Fishing pressure from humans is light; six parked vehicles, four shore anglers, three float tubes and a rubber raft. There's a bald eagle perched in a dead tree though, and quite a few big pelicans on the water, with beak-pouches that could easily hold 10 inch trout. I called my friend Ward Nimmo before leaving the house and he said he would try and meet me here, but I don't see him. I wait for half an hour, watching windlines move across the water. Eventually there is a lull in the stronger gusts, and still no Ward, so I launch my canoe and turn on the electric trolling motor. He'll just have to find me.

Water: Murky green, visibility no more than five feet, temperature around 50 degrees at the surface. No algae blobs, but some free-floating aquatic weeds. My Fishin' Buddy sonar shows depths to 33 feet near the dam, but most of the lake is less than 20 feet deep.

Technique: I try trolling flies along the dam and the northwest shore drop-off, but the wind keeps shifting, sideswiping me into the shallows. Switching strategies, I anchor up and try casting flies off one of the lake's main points. Again, too windy, and my best line-shooting attempts with my seven-weight rod and sinking line are thwarted by the rushing air, allowing me to send my woolly bugger fly only 40 feet out, to land in a tangle of line and leader.

So I switch again, setting up a spinning rod to cast out bait. I feel somewhat guilty, as I had planned to work on fly fishing techniques today. I recently had a conversation with Victor Babbit, owner of Tahoe Fly Fishing Outfitters, about my articles for this website, and I agreed to feature more fly fishing and catch and release trips, to help educate my readers to the enjoyment of these worthy pursuits. Victor has always been very helpful to me as I've delved deeper over the years into the world of feathered hooks, so I felt it was appropriate to give something back. I suppose if I was really committed to this noble cause, though, I wouldn't have brought along the tub of nightcrawlers. Sorry, Victor.

Tackle: This is not your drunken uncle's baitfishing. Rod- 9'6" light action steelhead rod, for long casts into the wind and sensitivity to light bites. Reel- Shimano 2000 series front-drag spinning reel, freshly loaded with six-pound Berkley Trilene XL. Terminal Rigging: half-ounce egg sinker, red plastic bead, #16 swivel, two feet of Orvis 5X flyfishing tippet, and a #10 baitholder hook for nightcrawlers, or a # 12 treble hook for Powerbait.

Bait: I often catch the greatest number of fish here on Powerbait, but the biggest ones always seem to come on nightcrawlers. Today I'm using a wormthreader (www.wormthreader.com) to secure the crawlers, allowing me to cast long without tearing them off. I also inflate each one with a mixture of air and Pro-Cure salmon egg oil, so that they float up off the bottom and emit a trail of scent to draw in trout.

Fishery: The quality and quantity of fish here rival that in any bay area pay-to-play lake. Alpine County makes heavy plants of trophy-size fish, and smaller trout stocked by the California Department of Fish and Game hold over and grow quite rapidly, due to the lake's fertile water and rich food-chain. A variety of species have been stocked over the years, but currently rainbow trout dominate.

Results: I have half a dozen spots at this lake that I like to drop anchor and soak bait, but it just so happens that the first one I try produces immediately. First fish is a fat 14 inch rainbow, then with each cast, they grow larger- 16 inches, then 18. I release two that are hooked in the mouth, but most fish will swallow the hook with this method, and in just over an hour, I have four rainbows on the stringer. As the howling wind begins to ease, I hear a car-horn honking in the distance, and I look back toward the dirt-launch area to see my friend Ward waving frantically. Just then, a fish picks up my bait, and as I set the hook it jets out of the water. Not just once, but five times it leaps, each time a bit closer to the canoe, and each time causing me to revise my opinion of its size. "Dang, that's a good two pounder." Splash! "Or maybe three." Splash! "More like three-and-a-half!" Splash! And so it goes for five minutes, until it lies thrashing in my net, 21 inches long and around five pounds. I now have my limit, so I pull anchor and motor back toward the car, where my friend is waiting to yell at me.

"I've been here for an hour, trying to get your attention and watching you catch fish, and now you're telling me you're done?" Though it's close to sunset, I take pity on Ward, who has been shorefishing unsuccessfully, and tell him to jump in the canoe. We head back to my hotspot, and as the sun dips behind the western mountains, I coach him on distance casting with my noodle-rod. After a few botched attempts, he manages to lob a bait into the general area I suggest, and immediately hooks up a trout. Once his 16 incher is in the net, I take the rod back and pull anchor, much to his dismay.

"It'll be dark in 20 minutes, and I didn't bring my flashlight." I tell him. "If you had showed up at 4:30 like you said, you'd have a limit now too."

"I'll just come back tomorrow," Ward replies. "A guy shorefishing from the dam caught one that looked to be about six pounds. He was using a long rod, too. Where do you buy those?"

Fly Fishing: Though I gave it up due to the wind, fly casting can be very productive here. You can heave-it-and-leave-it, with a floating line, foam strike indicator, and midge larvae or any small attractor nymph, or you can throw woolly buggers on a full sink line. One technique popular on trout waters in Britain also works very well in Indian Creek and other weedy lakes. A very short leader (three feet or so) is attached to a full sink line, and a special floating fly is used, so that it rides up on the leader, just above the weeds, much like an inflated nightcrawler or a gob of floating Powerbait. I tie a woolly bugger with a closed-cell foam head for this purpose- it's not available in stores, but if you email me and offer me a ridiculous amount of money, I'll tie some up for you.

If you want on-the-water instruction, though, Tahoe Fly Fishing Outfitters has an exclusive permit to provide guide services here, and Victor's guides can clue you into the best areas and techniques for fly rodding from a float tube on Indian Creek. Click on the banner at the top of this page for more information. How was that Victor? Do you forgive me now for promoting bait fishing on your lake?

Really, with the number of trout stocked here, there's enough for everyone, and this is one of the few places where bait-dunkers and dry-fly men coexist peacefully. The time to hit the lake with either method is now, before weeds and algae take over for the summer. The fish will still be here then, but they'll be hiding in the green goop, laughing at your slime-covered offerings.

Until next time, remember, never stand in a canoe!
Mark Wiza
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