Walker Lake Fishing Report - Fri Jan 9th, 2004

[southernman]

I left my place in vegas at 3 am, to set out to one of the rarest occurences on earth - a deepwater desert lake. It was a 5 hr trip there, but i had a full moon and AM radio to keep me company thru the desert . . .finally the sun came up and I was still over 20 miles away but I saw it, finally Walker Lake ! Here's a little background . .

Walker Lake's existence spans millions of years. Along with Pyramid Lake in northwest Nevada and Mono Lake in eastern California, Walker is a remnant of the Pleistocene Lake Lahontan, which covered much of central and northern Nevada during the last Ice Age. As the climate dried, Lake Lahontan receded and many closed valleys became isolated dry lake beds. The Walker River is one of three major rivers draining the east slopes of the Sierra Nevada, supporting riparian, wetland and desert lake ecosystems

[url "http://www.walkerlake.org"]http://www.walkerlake.org[/url]

It was unbelievable to see this blue lake in the middle of this barren desert . .

I was gonna fish from shore, so i looked for easy access, i had a few maps downloaded from the net, and some tips from some bft'ers! I wanted to go as far north as possible, after a few miscues, i arrived at sportsman's beach . . [center][/center]

i parked 50 feet from shore on the concrete next to the boat ramp, gathered my stuff, and walked down about 50 yards . .

weatherman said it would be 55 sun and clouds - it never hit 50, and that wind from the north [center][/center]

it slowed down though at times, never more than 15 mph really, i guess i was lucky . . [center][/center] [center][/center] [left]heres some video:[/left] [left]modems -download - [url "http://getyourwebsite.biz/walker.rm"]http://getyourwebsite.biz/walker.rm[/url][/left] [left]DSL & Cable - streaming - [url "http://getyourwebsite.biz/walker.ram"]http://getyourwebsite.biz/walker.ram[/url][/left] [left]i put some bait on my spare rod, and started casting a kastmaster, then tried a jig . . . after 20 minutes the backup pole started diving . . pow got one, great fight, left to right, and back again, and really trying to go straight back, twisting, no jumps . .got him! My first Lahontan Cutthroat, a 20 inch 3+ pounder[/left] [center][/center]



man these are some big fat fish, they are awesome! put on some more rainbow glitter pb and power worm (dont ask) , and stated casting a panther martin, as some more guys arrived in waders to fish . . they all had tube jigs and spoons . .bam, got another on the power bait ! an 18 incher this time, same nice fight . . big and fat . . [center][/center]







both these went back to mamma, they still catch 12-15 pounders every year here! wow! mainly with boats and downriggers . . I hear its pretty useless to fish the bank here during the summer, they're all deep, deep, deep . . .

i got two more hesitant bites, and never figured out the lure to entice them . . they feed mainly on TUI Chubs (?) - another rare fish only found here and pyramid i think ??? oh well,, this was mainly a fact-finding mission - 10 hrs driving . .4-1/2 hrs fishing . . .got home to watch the 6 o'clock news . . .

Everybody needs to write a letter and support the efforts to ease the water taken from the walker river which supports this great and rare lake . .the salts are now so concentrated the fish cant spawn anymore! They're used to be a Lahontan spawing run, right up the river, like salmon! As you go down the road to the water, its a long switchback, over and over back and forth; and each spot has a sign that reads "lake level in 1938, lake level in 1952, ect. and its just unbelievable!

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[url "http://www.walkerlakenevada.com/"]http://www.walkerlakenevada.com/[/url]
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[BigE]

[cool]Nice looking fish there southernman! One of these days I'm going to have to fish that lake. How were the road conditions on the way up? Is there camping allowed at the lake? It looks like a good side trip to hit on the way back from Tahoe.
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[southernman]

thanks BigE ! yah theres tons of camping there, rv and tent . . kinda primitive . . plenty of motels there for under $35 - they all have signs out, hawthorne looked empty, very few anglers today . . road conditions were great, a little snow at the passes . . tonopah, goldmine

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[nighthawk]

Great report SM. Glad you were able to catch some fish. diffinitly a long drive there. What did you think of Tonopah? I lived there once. I bet you didn't know that.
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[southernman]

oh man, makes me respect you all that much more!

hahahaha

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[Nu2Fishagain]

Glad you had a good trip, next time I may be able to go.
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[southernman]

we should stay overnight if the little woman will let you . . .then we can fish the first day all day, get a good nights sleep, fish the next morning till noon and be home by suppertime . . 10 hrs round trip driving doenst leave enough time to fish!

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[hedgesd]

Only two fish and two bites for a 10 hour drive, man that must be tough. Nice looking fish and I do wish I could of been there. I've heard that Mohave, Walker or Pyramid lake has some killer bass fishing as well as monster trout.

I thought you'ld of got a guide for one of those 30+" cuts. Maybe this summer we'll have to do that and of course another Fish lake adventure.
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