Fishing

Lake trout or mackinaw trout are cold water fish that are indigenous to the cold waters of Canada. Somebody a long time ago planted them in Tahoe where they grew to tremendous numbers and are now presenting to we anglers the best place in California to catch them.

"Macs" collect over pinnacles just like what we see on our depth finders in the ocean, but definitely more so. Our guide John Hinson metered us over a pinnacle which pictured large clouds of fish from 200 feet up to 150 feet They were so thick it reminded me of metering schools of Catalina squid. In fact I questioned whether they were fish.

My question was answered when a ten pounder nailed the bait. Some guides jig the schools by dropping a heavy jig (3 ounces) and yo-yoing up and down like we do for rock cod. John will do that only if you ask. Otherwise he trolls deep with down riggers because he catches more and bigger fish with down riggers.

His fishing attack is simple. Behind a series of blades he places a live Tahoe red side minnow on a hook 12 inches behind the blades. The down rigger balls are dropped 175 feet down directly into the middle of the clouds and trolled about 2 MPH. He trolls up and down the pinnacles until a line is pulled off the down rigger line. His two trolling rods are slow bend bass rods 6-7 feet long in the 6- 14 lb class.

The reels are Garcia Ambassador types full of 14 pound test Spectra line, and trailing a10 lb leader. There are many guides fishing the lake but John is the only one that uses such light tackle.

We caught lots of smaller fish that inflated at the surface like our rock cod do. John deflated each with a large hypodermic needle. It's an ingenious idea we didn't lose a fish. We fished and released until we had a limit of 7-10 pound fish. We were back at the dock 10:00 am.

If you are interested call John quickly because he is really booked solid. He thinks that the kokanee will bust loose next year and I'm thinking wouldn't that be a great trip ...to fish for both macs and kokanee with limits before noon?

Blue Ribbon Fishing Charters - Guide John Hinson
1262 Pine Valley Road South Lake Tahoe, CA 91650
Phone: (530) 541-8801