22 July 6- 20, 2018 VOL. 37 • ISS. 15

If you like gorgeous High Sierra scenery, it’ s hard to beat Caples Lake in the Highway 88 Corridor. Photo by DAN BACHER, Fish Sniffer Staff.

Caples features 620 surface acres and is situated at approximately 7,820 feet above sea level when the lake is full. It is located off Highway 88, roughly one mile west of the Carson Spur, and about 17 miles south of Lake Tahoe.

My latest trip to the lake on June 20 shows why I like fishing at Caples so much. I didn’ t see many people fishing on the lake- just a few at the spillway when I arrived there at 4:30 p. m.

I drove to the dam where I have a spot that almost always produces fish. I set up a Power Bait rod and then started casting another rod with a 2 / 5 ounce Little Cleo. Within a short time, I had battled five scrappy trout, keeping three rainbows for the table.

What was even better was that since I was there late in the day, I was the only fishing that area. I didn’ t see any other anglers as far as I could see, other than

a couple of guys trolling for several minutes near my fishing spot.

After fishing, I went over to the Caples Lake Resort to talk to Joe Voss, the son of long-time owner of resort owner John Voss, who passed away in 2016.

One of the last times I visited with John was when I caught a limit of holdover brown, brook and rainbow trout while fishing from shore nearly a decade ago.

The CDFW planted 2,000 pounds of rainbows at the lake in late May 2018 – and great fishing for the rainbows, along with holdover rainbows and a few browns and mackinaws, ensued.

“ The fishing has excellent this season since we opened in May,” said Voss.“ There are a fair number of rainbows out there from the CDFW trout plant this May and from a previous plant in the fall of 2017.

On the day I fished, Mary Lou Rossetto landed a 4-pound German brown. She and her husband, Tony, also landed two rainbow trout in the 13-inch range while soaking Power- Bait from their boat.

“ Her fish is the biggest brown I’ ve seen caught to date on the lake since May – the largest previous one weighed 3-1 / 2 pounds,” said Voss.

Big browns and mackinaw lurk in the clear, pristine waters of Caples. The lake mackinaw record is 26 pounds and 39 inches held by Norm Perini from Pine Grove. Jeff Walters from Kirkwood holds the brown trout record at 13 pounds and 31 inches.

Voss advises anglers in pursuit of rainbows to top-line troll with flashers and worms. For browns, he urges boaters troll with Kastmasters, Speedy Shiners and stickbaits including Rapalas early in the spring and late in fall before the lake ices over. Shore anglers find solid trout action at the dam, spillway, Woods Creek inlet and other areas on the lake while tossing out PowerBait, Power Eggs, crawlers and an array of Kastmasters, Rooster Tails, Panther Martin spinners, Little Cleos, Thomas Buoyant spoons and other lures.

I have fished Caples numerous times from the bank since 1999 and have done very well on a mixture of rainbow, brown and brook trout.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has stocked Caples with trout since 1930, according to Ben Ewing, CDFW Fisheries Biologist, in a report on Caples published this April.

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 nongame 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 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

Chris holds up a beautifully-colored brown trout typical of those caught at Caples Lake.

Photo by DAN KAFFER