Hello fellow anglers. Not sure what to call this weather we have been having. beautiful in the morning, then 20 to 40 mph "W" in the afternoon and evening. And believe it or not, Snow in some higher ranges. 

As those who know me by now, I do not use the 4 letter word that starts with W.  Because if you say it, it will come and ruin your day.. But I was able to get out and fish last Sunday with my friend Matt Wicks. We started on Topaz Lake trolling about 7am to the mid afternoon. Right off the bat, Matt caught a nice 18 inch smallmouth bass, approx 2 to 3 lbs. Which was released. We fished on and only got a couple hits.

But I tell you, the fish were looking at us all morning long.. (literally). As we fished the south and and the east side, trout ranging from approx 3 to 6 lbs were peeking their heads up partially to half their length. It was beautiful and frustrating at the same time. We could not get them to hit anything we threw out. We tried various sized Rapalas, spinners, spoons and flies. 

After many hours of trying and enjoying the day. The "W" started to come up pretty good. So we found our way back to the boat ramp. Contemplating and discussing what we did not try. Then it hit us, it was a full moon on Saturday night.  

Fish feed all night on a full moon and that was the reason for the lethargic fish jumping and non-catching. That is our excuse and sticking to it. What we should have done was go cat fishing Saturday night. The next full moon you will find Matt and I starting at 7pm to fish one of my secret places for big catfish. 

And to back up my reasoning, look at the Topaz fishing report here.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE: The kokanee action has continued to be good on the south/west side of the lake. Best areas to fish have been from the Camp Richardson area  to the north. They are schooling up to start their annual spawn up Taylor Creek various creeks very soon. Some of them have even started their red color formation and hook jaw. But now the good thing about schooling kokanee is that the big macks will be in that same area feeding. The kokanee bite dies off about 8:30, but then the mackinaw bite starts. my recommendation for first time Tahoe anglers, try a charter first and get some inside info. For more information go to rubyjeancharters.com. 

SILVER LAKE: I fished the lake last week trolling with a blk/slvr F7 Rapala. I used a lead core line to get it right off the bottom and caught six small mackinaw about 16 to 18 inches. I was hoping for larger, but we can't always be choosy. I recommend keeping an eye on your depth. The lake can come up quickly if you're not familiar with it. Will have more info in the next report. This is a good time of year for big mackinaws.

CAPLES LAKE: The resort had a very successful weekend with the Kids fishing day, approx. 50 kids showed up. Fish n Game planted a stock of fish at the Marina morning of Kids Fishing Day.  Fishing has been good at the lake. Raplas or flashers and a half a nightcrawler. Now if you want a little one time secret here from "Mac The Naw"  Use a brown wooly bugger instead of a crawler behind those blades.  That works on the rainbows and the browns. If you are after Mac's, get a little deeper and use an F5 or F7 silver/black or a gold and black Rapala. But now this technique works toplining for rainbows and browns as well. Now some info on the resort. Closing day October 12th. After Sept 10th Restaurant and lounge open Thursday through Sunday until we close. Music Sunday September 14th, 28th and Oct 12th from 4pm to 7pm. For more info call the Caples Lake Resort at 206-258-8888 or go to capleslakeresort.com

RED LAKE: The fishing has been slow. But with the cooler temps the fishing should be picking up soon.

BLUE LAKES: With our recent weather, make sure you take in a few extra supplies for warmth. It has been getting a little cooler that way. The road is still open with some mud now mixed in. Fishing has been fair for shore anglers on the lower lake. Average rainbow has been 9 to 14 inches. The lake was recently planted by CDFW and is scheduled to be planted next week with catchable rainbow trout.

CARSON RIVER WEST FORK ALPINE COUNTY:  The river is running very low right now. You will have to do some hiking in Hope valley to get to the deeper pools with some water flows. The Woods Canyon area has been doing a little better in the faster waters. Most anglers have been doing well with one power egg or half a crawler with a pinch weight. The CDFW has a plant truck scheduled for next week of catchable rainbow trout. 

CARSON RIVER EAST FORK ALPINE COUNTY:  The river is running well, a little low in areas. The fishing has been good to fair. The CDFW is scheduled to plant catchable rains next week. For more information call the Carson River resort at 209-694-2229.

BRIDGEPORT RESERVOIR: It sounds like the only real good area on the Reservoir is still up in the East Walker channel fishing with bait. There's only been a limited number of anglers fishing out there as most are waiting for the water to cool, the algae/weed to start going away and for the fish to spread out so they can troll and get over to Rainbow Point for some action. This shouldn't be too long now as we've been getting some air temps in the 30's at night now. 

TWINS LAKE CA:  The lake started off a little slow early this week but the last couple days they picked up a lot. A few anglers we spoke with struggled early in the week but Friday and yesterday things seemed to have changed and they were able to get into some good action. Bait fishing seemed to be the best with pinched crawlers, mice tails and power bait though we did talk to a couple anglers who did fairly well trolling small Rapalas and Kastmasters. 

TOPAZ LAKE: The lake has recently been planted by the NDOW with almost 6000 catchable rainbow trout. You have read my report for this area in the intro. I recommend not to fish the day after a full moon. But I will be out there this weekend if the "W" is stable enough. I won't be after the plant trout. I want those fish that were looking and laughing at us.

Good luck on your next fishing adventure. If you get a photo of your catch. Send it to sports@receordcourier.com. Hope to see you on the waters soon. Maybe catfishing on the next full moon. Good fishin' and tight lines.