Lake Tahoe

[leeccoll]

Wanted to change up the fishing routine. There is a mandatory vessel inspection for Lake Tahoe, and today was the first day for unscheduled appointments. So I knew there would be lots of peeps and showed up at 4:15 am. I was about 15 boats from the front of the line. By 6 am there were 200+ cars wrapped around the block, and police got involved. CRAZY!

Got sticker for Tahoe then headed to where I would launch at 11 am, paid for the season pass, and dunked the boat for a bit.

Stunning lake, color of the water was something special . Insanely deep. I marked 1,500 feet on the depth finder, and that is not the deepest part.

No fish pics, but coming soon I hope. I forgot my minnow trap at home, and this time of year it helps having live bait.

Attaching video of inspection station boats in queue.

 

[Bloodweiser]

wow...is that inspection a one day event? thats crazy

 

[leeccoll]

wow...is that inspection a one day event? thats crazy

Blood,
July 1-5 are first come first served, then by calendar appointment. I had a scheduled appointment on July 10, but they were not discounting the season launch permit, so I set my alarm for 2:30 am, and treated it like pulling an all niter for concert tickets.
6 boats ahead of me couple showed up at 11 pm and slept onboard. The guy in the first boat in line showed up at 6 pm, locked the keys in his car, and walked to a Hampton Inn around the corner, got a room and showed up at 7 am. Inspections started at 8:30 am. A memorable day to say the least. I'm sure there were heated arguments as the day progressed.

 

[leeccoll]

Feels better to be lucky than good.
5 Macs on Lake Tahoe today.
No sea monsters, but happy I was able to catch some minnows and put some meat on the deck.
Still lots to learn.
Boat launch was nuts, and they rent kayaks too, so it was threading the needle waiting for my buddy to get the trailer.

 

[Doc Stressor]

I used to fish Tahoe quite a bit during the summer when Pyramid was closed. The macs were mostly small and don't taste very good compared to other lakes in the area. But there are millions of them. They also pretty much shut down after 9:00 AM except for the few overcast days you might have in the summer.

The best areas I found were right off the shelf at South Shore when the kokanee start to stack up in August. I used to pick up 10-12 lb class macs there trolling red/silver flatfish at the same level as the koke schools. There would also be a few big browns mixed in. During the rest of the summer, I would mostly bounce metal jigs off the bottom in 100-120 ft of water just to the north of Cave Rock.

Fishing was better during cooler weather but I hated dealing with the wind that time of year.

 

[leeccoll]

I used to fish Tahoe quite a bit during the summer when Pyramid was closed. The macs were mostly small and don't taste very good compared to other lakes in the area. But there are millions of them. They also pretty much shut down after 9:00 AM except for the few overcast days you might have in the summer.

The best areas I found were right off the shelf at South Shore when the kokanee start to stack up in August. I used to pick up 10-12 lb class macs there trolling red/silver flatfish at the same level as the koke schools. There would also be a few big browns mixed in. During the rest of the summer, I would mostly bounce metal jigs off the bottom in 100-120 ft of water just to the north of Cave Rock.

Fishing was better during cooler weather but I hated dealing with the wind that time of year.

Thanks for your tips Doc.
I really appreciate the advice!

 

[leeccoll]

Over the rail and in the pail.
No monsters, but a 2 fish limit.
18 & 20" Mackinaw.
#dinner

 

[leeccoll]

Took my older son and his girlfriend out today.

They got a fish each. Happy campers.

 

[Shannon C.]

Lee, that's awesome. Looks like another beautiful California/Nevada day up there.. How deep were the Mac's?

 

[leeccoll]

Lee, that's awesome. Looks like another beautiful California/Nevada day up there.. How deep were the Mac's?

Thanks Shannon,

We were one ledge that was 120' deep, and another that was 145-170' deep. Baits were right on the bottom trolling for em.