Fish Reports

Crappie action is picking up, and the fish are taking Hare’s Ear Nymphs for fly fishers, while bait fishers are doing well with night crawlers suspended below a bobber. Trout fishing has been sluggish but should improve with cooler overnight temperatures. Rooster Tails and other spinners are catching trout as they slurp near the surface in the early mornings and again toward sunset. 

Rainbow trout have been hitting on combinations of night crawlers and mini-marshmallows. Spinners are fooling the fish during the early morning and evening hours. Crappie and bass action have been good with the fish taking spinning lures and small jigs.

Anglers continue to catch a variety of fish. Rainbow trout are hanging in the areas around docks and marshy coves. Rooster Tails and other spinners have been very productive. If you are getting bites but no hook ups, try switching to worms or Woolly Buggers below a bobber. For catfish and stripers, anchovies are the go-to bait.  Black bass are biting dark colored jigs below

Stripers and catfish are hitting baits throughout the lake. The line sides are taking crankbaits and trout imitations. Anchovies are working for catfish as well. Anglers have brought in a few stripers in the 5- to 10-pound class at Cottonwood Cove. They also are finding sunfish in coves above the marina. At Willow Beach, anglers are catching limits of stocked rainbow trout from the shoreline

Bluegill, green sunfish, and bass make up most of the catch at the ponds. Bass are hitting plastics and spinnerbaits. Catfish are hitting night crawlers and hotdog pieces. Small hooks with mealworms or chunks of nightcrawlers are working the best for bluegill and green sunfish.

 A big fish is the big news at this popular fishery. A pair of anglers from Southern California caught a large striper while fishing a boil in the Vegas Wash area. The fish tipped the scales at 28-pounds. Live shad are generally the bait of choice in this part of the lake and can be caught in the wash during the early morning hours. Striped

Coz Cusolito caught this 10 lb. wiper this weekend at South Fork Reservoir using Chatterbait.

The Truckee River is flowing around 350 to 400 CFS with some spikes due to recent storms. Water temps have dropped dramatically with cooler overnight temperatures. Fishing has been good, with a few slower days when the weather and air temperatures drop suddenly. Brown trout are getting into their pre-spawn agitation and are very territorial right now. Streamers have been moving these aggressive fish several feet.

Fishing rating: Good As of mid-August, the lake level was at 1,078 feet. This is about 3 feet lower than it was last year at this time. Fall often comes all at once on the Colorado River. One day it’s summer and 105 degrees and the next it’s 85 and windy. Look for the largemouth bass to stay in a summertime pattern until around Halloween. Between

Fishing rating: Good Flows fluctuate quickly in this stretch of the river.   Many anglers prefer not to navigate the river when two units or less are being released from Davis Dam.  Check the projected releases before your trip. Trout are stocked weekly by the USFWS Willow Beach National Fish Hatchery from October through March.  Additional trout will be stocked in September and April with funding from