VOL.39 • ISS. 14
MAP FEATURE
June 26, 2020
13
Caples Lake Resort Facts
Location: Caples Lake Resort Is located in the historic
Carson Pass Area of the Northern California Sierra
on the north shoreline of the 600 acre Caples Lake
at 7806ft elevation. It is 1 mile east of the Kirkwood
Mountain Resort, at 1111 California State Highway 88.
The resort is 30 miles from South Lake Tahoe, California,
within the El Dorado National Forest, under a
USFS Special Use Permit.
Features:
• 9 Cozy housekeeping Cabins overlooking Caples
Lake and the High Sierra Mountains.
• A 2 story Lodge with 6 B&B Lodge Rooms, on the
shore of Caples Lake.
• A Marina with boat rentals, boat launch, a bait &
snacks store, and trophy trout fishing.
• Area Activities: camping, hiking, biking, boating,
fishing, solitude photography.
• An unparalleled view of scenery, nature, wildflowers,
& 4 seasons of colors.
• Renewable Energy – Off the Grid and Green.
Campground: The USFS Caples Lake Campground
is operated across Hwy 88 by Sierra Recreation
Managers.
Season: The resort is are from Memorial Day through
October and from Christmas until April. Fishing
is open year round for rainbow, brook, brown and
mackinaw trout. Caples Lake usually freezes over
by early December and becomes a playground for
ice fishermen, cross country skiers, and snowshoe
trekkers
Wildflowers: The volcanic ridges left behind as the
glaciers receded from the Carson Pass area form a
perfect habitat for wild flowers. In addition, because
plant environments range from scree to open pasture
and from seep to bog, a variety of species flourish.
Peak bloom here is usually in mid-July, with flowers
so dense and so various that a walk, even a short,
easy one, can take the better part of a day. Bring your
camera!
More information: Contact Caples Lake Resort by
calling: (209) 258-8888 or email us: reservations@
capleslakeresort.com. The website address is http://
capleslakeresort.com/
has stocked Caples with trout since 1930,
according to Ewing in a report on Caples
published in April 2018.
Historically, Caples has been planted
with rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)
(RT), brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis)
(BK), brown trout (Salmo trutta) (BN),
and lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush)
(LT).
“Currently only rainbows and browns
are being stocked in Caples by CDFW and
EID. Along with current and past CDFW
stocking, Caples currently supports populations
of non-game fish such as Lahontan
redsides (Richardsonius egregius) and
tui chub (Gila bicolor). There is also a
self-sustaining lake trout sport fishery,”
said Ewing.
Woods Creek and Emigrant Creek are
GREAT FISHING
AT CAPLES LAKE!
on Highway 88 at Carson Pass
• Cabins and
Lodge Rooms
• Fishing Tackle
• Camping
Supplies
• Marina
• Boat Rentals
Ken Salvi caught this 4 lb, 24 inch German brown near Emigrant Creek.
For information, call (209)-258-8888
CAPLES LAKE RESORT
P.O. Box 88, Kirkwood, Ca 95646
www.capleslakeresort.com
the main sources of inflow to Caples.
Caples drains into Caples Creek, which
flows into the South Fork American River.
In order to assess the fishery, CDFW
installed three angler survey boxes (ASBs)
at Caples.
A total of 78 anglers responded to the
survey in 2016, an increase from 67
respondents in 2015. Cumulatively, these
anglers reported 154 fish landed in 2016
compared to 48 in 2015. The average catch
per angler and hours per angler was 1.97
and 4.0, respectively in 2016.
Average catch per angler in 2016
increased more than two-fold from 2015
(0.72), while the hours per angler in 2016
was almost identical to 2015 (3.9).
“Anglers reported using bait, lures, and
flies while fishing at Caples. Five anglers
(6%) used flies and
3813
had a 3.0 catch/
angler average in
2016. This was the
highest identifiable
gear used to take
fish in 2016. In
2015, the one fly
angler caught no
fish, which had the
lowest catch per
angler as well,”
said Ewing.
Approximately
90% (138) and 96%
(46) of fish landed
were rainbows in
2016 and in 2015,
correspondingly.
“Lake trout
comprised approximately
six percent
of fish landed in
2016 and approximately
four percent
in 2015. Brook
trout and brown
trout combined to
be less than five
percent of the total
catch in 2016. Seventy percent of the
rainbow trout that were measured were
less than 14.0 inches in total length in
2016, which is consistent with 2015 at
76%” Ewing stated.
Anglers reported landing seven (5%
of total fish landed) fish greater than
20.0 inches in 2016, consisting of three
rainbows, two lake trout and two browns.
Anglers reported landing five (10% of
total fish landed) fish greater than 20.0
inches, which included three RT and two
LT in 2015.
Data gathered from the Caples Lake
surveys indicates anglers had caught
less than one fish on average per day in
2015 (0.72), but in 2016 catch per angler
increased to almost two fish per day
(1.97).
“The increase in catch rate and total fish
caught may be due to the high number of
fingerling-size RT stocked in 2014 and
2015, which have grown to catchable
size. The number of respondents in 2016
was 78, an increase from 67 in 2015,”
said Ewing.”
Historically, the Washoe Indian Tribe
from Carson Valley would hunt, fish and
forage in the summer around Caples Lake,
originally known as Twin Lakes, because
the original meadows had two shallow
lakes, approximately six feet deep.
The dam on the Northwest side and the
spillway on the West side of the lake were
constructed in 1922 and raised in 1952.
In 1982 the late John Voss bought the
resort and in the El Niño winter of 1983
endured 800 inches of snow blowing
through the walls, windows, doors and
roofs, frozen pipes, broken well, burnt up
power lines, blown up lodge heater, and so
on. In the summer of 1983 the lake thawed
on a record late July 2nd.
The Voss’s have kept the resort open
every winter since 1982 except for closing
in the winter of 1991 due to the drought
years.
For more information, contact Caples
Lake Resort, (209) 258-8888, www.
capleslakeresort.com.
Big brown trout like this one are the reward for anglers trolling stickbaits along the Caples
shoreline early and late in the day, particularly during the spring and fall.
Photo courtesy of CDFW, Sacramento.