"Okay so, you go get some stuff for sandwiches, and some drinks, and chips but not those cheap Safeway chips, and you make the lunch because I need to go shopping for some shorts. None of my shorts fit me right, I must have gained weight over the winter. Wait... okay, look at my butt in these shorts. Do these shorts make me look fat?" (I don't need to tell you the answer to this question, do I men?) "Oh! My legs look like cactus; I need to shave my legs too, but I don't feel like it tonight. I'll do it in the morning- you didn't want to go too early, did you? Maybe I'll just wear sweatpants. No, I want to look nice... will it be too cold for shorts? Because if it's too cold for shorts I don't want to go."

This is the drill for a family picnic at my house; you'd think we were preparing to launch the space shuttle rather than taking a half-hour drive from South Lake Tahoe to a pretty little trout pond in Alpine County. My wife invited our friend Michelle Quinn and her son Zach to join us, and although adding another family to one of our picnics is usually as simple as adding a rendezvous with the Russian space station to the shuttle mission, Michelle and Zach arrived early, and Michelle volunteered to make the sandwiches so I could finish loading the fishing and canoeing gear in my truck. I still had to prod my wife along to get out the door, though- "Yes, your new shorts look fine honey, let's go. No, just put your hair in a ponytail, you don't need to blow dry it to go on a picnic. I packed the sunscreen already. I packed the paper towels. Arielle already went to the bathroom. Can we go now?"

When we finally arrived at Red Lake at ten a.m. on May second, I tried to drive to the unpaved, rock-strewn 'ramp' where I usually launch my canoe, but found that just off Highway 88 there was a deep snow-drift on the dirt road, blocking my way. Within a week or two, four-wheel drive vehicles should have no trouble accessing the lake this way, but we opted to play it safe by driving in the paved road to the dam instead.

The lake was calm but for a slight ripple, and I was eager to get in some trolling time before the predicted afternoon winds made boat control difficult. As my wife and her friend spread a blanket over the flat top of the earthen dam to commence picnicking, I slid my canoe into the water and quickly prepared two rods for trolling. Then as I held the bow steady, Zach, 13, my son Joe, 12, and my daughter Arielle, 6, all climbed aboard and I pushed us off then turned on my electric trolling motor. Arielle dipped her hand in the water and shrieked "Cold!"

"That's right." I told her. "This whole lake was covered with ice a few days ago; it just melted, and the fishing should be really good right now." A few shore anglers were trying their luck from the dam, and some backcountry snowboarders were taking advantage of Red Lake's 8,200 foot elevation to access some steep, hike-in terrain. On light spinning rods, I trolled two favorite offerings, a Rebel Teeny-Wee Crawfish crank bait and a Sep's Sidekick dodger trailing a threaded night crawler on a short leader. We passed along the face of the dam for ten minutes without a bite, then as I turned the canoe to travel down the shoreline, Joe hooked our first fish, on the Rebel Crawfish. He reeled in and netted the 13-inch Lahontan cutthroat trout without help, then held it up for a quick photo and released it. As he was letting his line back out to start trolling again, another fish struck the Rebel and Joe brought in and released a nearly identical cutthroat.

"Okay, you're done." I told him- "Give the rod to Zach now so he can get one." But then the other rod bent over in the holder next to me. "Here Arielle!" My little daughter worked hard to reel in fifty yards of line with a good trout on the other end, and by the time she had it within sight, she was exhausted. Zach netted the 14 inch cutthroat for her, and she demanded that I keep it, so I did. I put a fresh night crawler on the hook and let the small dodger out again behind the canoe. In the next twenty-minutes, we had two more bites on this rig, but the fish didn't stay hooked, and I reeled in after each bite to find a mangled night crawler, which I replaced. "Third time's a charm." I remarked as I once again let the dodger out behind the canoe while we moved forward. This time I placed the rod in Zach's hands and told him to reel fast if he felt a bite, and a few minutes later, he did so, pulling tight to our best fish yet. After an extended battle where I helped Zach adjust his reel's drag and the trout made several hard runs, Joe netted a cutthroat nearly seventeen-inches in length. Zach opted to release it, but as he held it for a photograph it slipped like a bar of wet soap out of his hands and onto the floor of the canoe, where it thrashed wildly, shedding scales.

"That one's a keeper now." I told him as I explained the basics of catch-and-release- "Trout are kind of delicate, and that one just took quite a beating; it might just die now if you let it go." Zach looked horrified, so I reassured him. "It's all good in the great circle of life my friend, and it's really good baked with my shrimp stuffing, so don't worry about it."

We had been fishing for just over an hour, and had caught four trout, with each kid enjoying some action. I figured it was time to head in, before my wife figured out that this was really a fishing trip, not a picnic after all.

"But what about you daddy? You didn't catch one." Said Arielle, and then the rod trolling the Rebel Crayfish bent over and Joe graciously handed it to me so I could reel in a thirteen-inch brook trout. Perfect! Time for sandwiches, chips and a happy wife.

Guide Tips: In the bright sun of late-morning, I added two-large lead split-shot weights to the line ahead of the Rebel Crayfish, so that it would run ten to fifteen feet deep on a slow-troll. The Sidekick dodger runs fifteen feet down on its own, and I trolled over water seventeen to twenty-five feet deep. This year I'm field-testing products for Pro-Cure (www.pro-cure.com), a company that makes excellent fish-attractants and bait oils for anglers. Trout are more like catfish than people like to admit, and I use fish-attractant whenever possible to help draw them in by their sense of smell. In off-color water scent is especially useful in helping the fish find your bait or lure, and Red Lake has green, murky water. I used my secret mixture of Pro-Cure scents on my Rebel Crayfish lure, and injected it into my trolled night crawlers using a Pro-Cure bait oil injector.

Red Lake has recovered very well since it was drained by the California Department of Fish and Game in the fall of 2002 (See my article 'The Return Of Red Lake'), and while brook trout were the most commonly caught species last year, so far this season Lahontan Cutthroat trout seem to be most abundant. Trolling with light spinning gear is my favorite way to fish this lake, but fly anglers pulling woolly buggers and beadhead nymphs on full-sinking line will also score here. Shore fishers do well with the usual assortment of baits and lures; I saw one guy catch a cutthroat while tossing out a silver-and-blue Kastmaster spoon from the dam. Red is on Highway 88 in Alpine County, California, East of Carson Pass and Kirkwood Ski Resort.

This season I will again be offering guided fishing trips on Red Lake, as well as a number of other great Tahoe area trout waters. All my trips are highly educational and on Red, I offer any combination of canoe trolling, fly fishing, shore fishing, and family-style trips. Want to see your son or daughter reel in that first trout? Want to learn some cutting-edge techniques to try from your own boat or float-tube? I can even arrange a gourmet picnic, but I will not answer anyone else's wife when she asks how she looks in shorts.

For information on guided trips, email me or contact Tahoe Fly Fishing Outfitters at (530) 541-8208. Owner Victor Babbitt has just moved into his new, custom built shop at 2705 Lake Tahoe Boulevard- stop in and see the extensive selection of top-grade fly fishing gear, the wildlife art gallery, and my handpicked selection of conventional fishing tackle. The shop now carries a variety of hot lures for fishing Lake Tahoe, Pro-Cure bait oils, and even the lures mentioned in this article! Join us for our Grand Opening and 10 Year Anniversary celebration on Saturday, June fifth, from 2 to 6 p.m. I'll be there as will all the shop's other guides, so stop in to say hello and get the best trout fishing information straight from the source.

Finally, Victor Babbitt and Joby Cefalu of Mile High Fishing Charters have a new radio show on fishing and outdoor recreation in the Tahoe area- The Sierra Outdoors Show, and I will be a frequent call-in guest with the latest trout-fishing report, so tune in to KTHO, AM 590, Saturday mornings at seven a.m.! You can also call in to the station and pose your burning fishing questions to two local experts; the number is (530) 544-8255.

Until next time,
Mark (never stand in a canoe) Wiza
Email Me!

More Articles & Reports by Mark Wiza