You Fish Sniffer readers have been spoiled as well. Since I started writing for this site last May, I've fished and reported on different waters nearly every week, giving detailed accounts, including tackle, techniques, and more than a few "local secrets". Granted, spring and early summer are transitional periods in this area, with legal opening days, ice-out at high altitude lakes, and changing river flow rates requiring me to test each water as it comes due.

Well, the honeymoon is over, folks, and for the last few weeks I have been stuck in a pleasant rut, visiting just two Tahoe area fisheries, the East Carson River and Caples Lake. This is a killer combination though, providing me with a weekly dose of my two favorite forms of trout fishing: river fly fishing and lake trolling. Not only are both of these destinations less than an hour from my door; they also offer consistent fishing all summer, with the potential for trophy trout, and opportunities for anglers at every level of experience and ability.

This is the reason why these waters are worth writing about week after week, and I was reminded of this as I fished a backcountry section of the East Carson River last Sunday, August 20. I was releasing my fifth wild rainbow trout of the morning, remarking to my friend Jeff Keyser that they were all on the small side, less than twelve inches, and that if the trend continued, it wouldn't make for a very exciting Fish Sniffer article this week, when he replied "You're just spoiled!"

Besides giving me this report's opening line, he pointed out something very important- "There are plenty of people just getting into fly fishing who would love to catch so many beautiful little wild trout. We just come here so often and catch so many that you're losing your perspective." Either that or he just said "shut up", but the idea was the same. This was good fishing! So let me share the wealth.

First of all, the stretch of the river we fished is not the easiest to access, affording more solitude and a chance at larger wild trout than the first few miles of the wild trout section, which runs from Hangman's Bridge in Markleeville approximately eleven miles to the Nevada border. I had convinced Jeff to take us in his 1978 Toyota Landcruiser down the precipitous "hell-hole trail", off Diamond Valley Road, in the town of Woodfords. This is a nasty excuse for an access, and would have disemboweled my 4wd Tercel Wagon in the first quarter mile. At times the vehicle was at such an extreme angle that I found myself leaning hard uphill against my friend, with a white-knuckle grip on the "Jesus handles" on the dash and roll-bar, for fear of adding too much weight to the passenger side, which seemed to be hanging horizontally over the boulder-strewn gully below.

When we finally reached the flat area at the river's canyon at sunrise, we spotted another old-style Landcruiser (you'll never see more classic four wheel drive vehicles than in the Tahoe area) and having stirred the bleary-eyed owner from his nearby tent, we stopped to get the report. As we all strung up our fly rods, the gentleman named Howard told us he had a great time the previous day, fishing beadhead Prince Nymphs under a strike indicator. He also told us that he had chased off several poachers who came down to drown worms in the deep pools. They had professed ignorance of the zero-limit, artificial lures only regulation in this section, and had left when properly shamed. I hoped that we wouldn't run into any more such fools, as Jeff is the type to start a fight over this issue. I'm less confrontational, more likely to inadvertently step on and break the poacher's rod-tip, or stumble and accidentally kick his tackle box into the river.

We started downstream, Jeff bravely wet-wading in the morning chill, while I opted for the warmth of my neoprene chest waders. We started hooking fish right away, drifting nymphs under foam strike indicators. The river was quite low, flowing at only 75 cubic feet per second, but the water was still a bit green. The rocky bottom was visible in the shallow runs, but the canyon pools faded into black, with the actual depth impossible to determine visually.

Fish will come up from these depths to take dry-flies; hoppers, stoneflies and caddis, but for consistent action throughout the day and better numbers, here's what I recommend:

A 9 foot fly-rod, 4 to 7 weight, with a double-taper or weight forward floating line, and a 9 foot, tapered 3x leader with several feet of 4x tippet. Attach two small foam strike indicators, three inches apart, several feet up the leader from the terminal end. The indicators need to adjustable, able to be moved up or down the leader for different depth runs or pools. Jeff favors little balls that he threads up the line and pegs in place with toothpicks. I like the type that have a slot and a rubber-core, which you twist around your line to secure and untwist to adjust. Both are available at any good fly-shop, and the adjustment is critical. Trout don't wait for your offering at mid-depth- your flies need to be tapping bottom with your strike indicator at the surface to be effective. We slide our indicators down to within three feet of our flies for shallow runs, and as far as ten feet up for the deep pools. The two-indicator trick helps show not only strikes, but also the position of the fly as it drifts and swings in the current.

Tie on a small, beadhead Woolly Bugger, Prince Nymph, Zug Bug or stonefly pattern, and add a couple #4 split-shot 8 to 12 inches up the tippet. Keep a short line- this is not the fancy-flycasting you see in the movies. Simply lob this rig almost straight upstream and hold your rod high, following the drift down with your rod tip. If your strike indicator stops, twitches, or acts suspicious in any way, strike! If it does none of these things, you're not deep enough- add more split-shot or move your indicator further up the leader.

Jeff fishes this stretch more often than me, and he knew each pool and run, courteously offering me first drift in some of the best spots. After two hours and several small fish each, I hooked something bigger in one mid-depth run. It never leaped, but zig-zagged crazily from the head to the tail of the channel, coming perilously close to a tangle of exposed tree roots coming out of the far cut-bank. We debated what it was- "Big whitefish!" Jeff claimed. "I saw it. Solid gray."

"I think it's a brown!" I replied- "I saw a buttery yellow flash!" The fish finally thrashed at the surface, proving us both wrong as it showed a brilliant crimson slash down its side. "Big rainbow!" We said in unison. Moments later it was in my net, squirming and spitting out the #10 olive beadhead Krystal Bugger it had taken. Jeff readied the camera, but as I lifted the twenty inch fish for "the money shot", it instantly squirted like a bar of soap, out of my fingers and into the river. Jeff got a great shot of my empty hands and gaping mouth. Catch and release photography is a bit more challenging than "stringer pictures" of dead fish. Oh, well.

Once again, I had been spoiled! Jeff's big fish was a whitefish of at least three pounds that slammed his stonefly pattern in a fast run, put up a dogged fight, and also refused to be photographed, flopping out of the net and off the hook as I brought out my camera. We fished until noon, hooking more small trout, including some beautiful little browns. In one deep pool, I connected with another large fish, but this one hugged the bottom and shot to the pool's tail, spitting out my fly without ever showing itself. "Probably one of those mac-daddy browns." Jeff said. "All our rainbows are coming from the fast water, and the whitefish don't much like the slow pools either." Sounded good to me!

My eight year old son Joseph was not yet spoiled, and had never caught a really big rainbow, so on Wednesday, August 23, I took him for a canoe-trolling trip to Caples Lake. My local newspaper reported a recent stocking of trophy rainbows, up to six pounds, in both Caples and Lake Alpine, and I figured this was the perfect opportunity to get Joe his first big 'bow. First we trolled near the marina's boat ramp, where fish are stocked. Two small rainbows came in on the #5 rainbow Rapala Joe was using, then nothing for an hour, so we changed tactics, slow-trolling silver Sep's dodgers, trailing nightcrawlers on 18 inch, four pound leaders. We circled half the lake without a bite, but as we approached the dam, My rod bent over hard and my drag started buzzing as line peeled off the reel. Joe's eyes bugged out as he watched how much line the fish was taking, but then it was all over, as my rod straightened and I reeled in the dodger and an empty hook. "Probably a mackinaw." I said, then rebaited and let line out again, handing the rod to my son. A moment later, the rod bent over again and he told me he thought he was hooked on the lake bottom. Bottom doesn't kick, though, and that's what his rod tip started doing. Another good fish! This one stayed on the hook, and when it was boatside several minutes later, I netted the fat, 18 inch rainbow. Its tattered fins and rounded tail told us it was probably one of the trophy planter rainbows we had heard about, the very fish we had come to catch. Another pass through the area brought us another rainbow, this one 16 inches. It was now 10 am, and the wind had come up, making boat-handling difficult. We trolled back to our launch area at the dam, picking up one more fish, a nice brook trout, on the way. Thank you Caples, for spoiling my son!

If reports on the Carson and Caples aren't enough for you, here's a sampling of other area waters. Get out there and spoil yourself!

Lake Tahoe: Kokanee are running up to 18 inches now, still coming on the troll (flashers with a small spoon or kernel of white corn, 60 to 90 feet deep), from Ski Run to Camp Richardson. Fish will be schooling up off the mouth of Taylor Creek in the next few weeks, and vertical jigging will become productive. Chris Ziegler of Mile High Fishing Charters told me that his clients are filling out their limits with these big kokes, after he starts them off with a mackinaw or two in the 4 to 7 pound range, caught trolling plugs. That's one dandy combination trip!

Fallen Leaf Lake: A bit slow, but some 1 to 3 pound mackinaw are coming in on flashers with a minnow, trolled 80 to 130 feet deep.

Silver, Red Lakes: Both slow, best fished from a boat. Hit Caples instead! Some shore anglers have been doing well there with inflated nightcrawlers.

West Carson River: Extremely low and clear. Slow for baitdunkers with big hooks on 20 lb. test snelled leaders, good for finesse-fishermen. One Fish Sniffer reader wrote me about doing well for rainbows in the Woodfords area, fly fishing with orange Stimulator dries and beadhead Prince Nymphs. Thanks, Bob!

Blue Lakes: Slow from shore, decent from a boat, trolling flashers and a worm for rainbows. I recommend Lower Blue- try the shelf at the north end, where the depth comes from over 60 feet up to about 20.

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