The fish are still out there
Bucks Lake
There is no launching from the docks, just bank fishing up at Bucks. But there is good news from Rebecca Guereque up at Bucks Lake Lodge: “They are catching the larger fish, 6-pounders.”
Guereque said it has been really cold outside, so fisherfolk haven’t been staying out long.f “Just a few minutes at a time,” noted Guereque, “but they are catching fish.”
Frenchman Lake
Gary Blanchard said he has been having good luck up at Frenchman’s. “We are catching 10-pounders,” said Blanchard. The nice fish in the picture was caught on a pink and white Mouse Tail on 10-pound test with a 1/2-ounce sliding sinker on a 4-foot leader using a no. 8 barrel swivel and a no. 10 snelled single hook.
“Started out wearing Carhartts,” said Blanchard. “Too hot to wear at noon.” That’s some pretty good news. With temperatures in the teens in the morning, it’s nice to know that heavy clothing can come off in the afternoon, and that nice fish are in the mood to bite.
Gold Lake
All the docks are out of the water, but locals say you can still make the drive in to Salmon Lake. “There is still open water and there is still fishing,” said Mountain Hardware’s self-described “fishing guy,” Mark Tieslau.
Fishing folk are throwing big spoons, 3/8 to half-ounce, and “catching some browns up to 5 pounds off the points around the boat ramp,” added Tieslau.
Lake Almanor
Coming to us from Almanor Fishing Association on Dec. 10 we have picked up the following information.
Looks like we are in for another week of mild weather, high teens in the morning, giving way to sunny mid-40s in the afternoon. The high pressure has kept us cold and dry for more than a week now with no end in sight. Tough to fish the mornings, but the afternoons are comfortable until the sun goes down. The Lake North of the causeway off Highway 36 just East of Chester is beginning to ice over, if our current weather trend continues it could be frozen over early this year.
Last week’s super moon and breezy mornings made for tough conditions and light boat traffic. There were a few fish caught by trollers’ fast trolling hardware and I heard of a few fish caught slow trolling crawlers. Most of the fish caught were smaller (12- to 15-inch Rainbows). There continues to be lots of fishing pressure in and around the coves on the south end of the lake, with bank
and fly fishermen picking up fish. Bank fishermen are catching fish with suspended crawlers and/or Power Bait while fly fishermen are catching fish on a variety of flies, adjusting sizes and colors based upon weather conditions.
“I fished Geritol from shore this past Friday for an hour and picked up two Rainbows, both off a Green Wiggle tail,” said John Crotty of Almanor Fishing Association. “I was using a 9-foot, 6-inch 4 wt. rod with a floating line, fishing the shoreline.”
Crotty added, “A friend of mine was fishing from his pram and having a darn good time catching the smaller rainbows on every other cast.”
Roadways are clear and Canyon Dam is the only public boat launch available. There are patches of icy roadways and the boat ramp can be hazardous with icy conditions as the water from trailers freezes quickly and builds up a sheet of slippery ice.
Lake Davis
Efforts up at Camp Five and Mallard are producing fish is what Tieslau is hearing at Mountain Hardware in Blairsden. “Basically one to two fish per rod,” said Tieslau, and they are catching “3- to 5-pound rainbow trout.”
“It appears to be slowing down,” said Jeanne Graham on the lake at J & J Grizzly Store, “the fish are getting lethargic.”
There is about a quarter-inch of ice in the morning that is melting off during the day. There is still snow on the ground. “We thought it would be gone by now,” said Graham. Good news came to the store from a fisherman who told Graham, “I saw a fly fisherman catch two off of Mallard in a float tube.”
