South Lake Tahoe- Mackinaw fishing is going strong for anglers that venture onto the water of Lake Tahoe.
“The macks are feeding heavily on shrimp, crawfish and small kokanee,” disclosed Captain Gene St. Denis of Blue Ribbon Charters. “I’ve been getting limits while trolling from 100 to 200 plus feet deep at Cal Neva Point, Sugar Pine Point and the Tahoe City Shelf. Most of the fish are 3 to 9 pounds, but larger models are showing too. Minnows have been producing most of the fish, but Flatfish are working too.”
High mountain adventurer and Fish Sniffer reader Josh Moreland has been trolling Lake Tahoe from his kayak and scoring both macks and browns near Cave Rock.
“I’ve been running two Vance’s trolling rods paired with Abu Garcia line counter reels. One rod I used for toppling is spooled with 8 pound fluorocarbon line. The other rod is spooled with Suffix leadcore with a fluoro leader. My lures of choice have been 3 inch Flatfish and Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnows. Over the past week, I’ve landed 4 macks to 9 pounds and two brown trout to 3 pounds. There hasn’t been a pattern to where the fish are holding. I’m just fast paddling along the edge of deep water and the hits come randomly,” said Moreland.
Mickey Daniels of Mickey’s Big Mack Charters has been hammering macks up at the north end of Tahoe. Daniels’s clients have been keeping a few fish in the 3 to 7 pound class for the table. The rest of the fish are tagged and released.
Daniels starts off the day trolling shallow water quickly and then slows down and probes deeper as the sun climbs in the sky.