VOL. 37 • ISS. 15 |
MAP FEATURE |
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July 6- 20, 2018 |
23 |
Caples Lake Resort Facts |
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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 7806 ′ 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. |
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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.
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Campground: The USFS Caples Lake Campground is operated across Hwy 88 by Sierra Recreation Managers. |
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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 |
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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! |
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More information: Contact Caples Lake Resort by calling:( 209) 258-8888 or email us: reservations @ capleslakeresort. com. The website address is http:// capleslakeresort. com / |
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Mackinaws like this one provide a trophy fishery at Caples Lake. Photo by courtesy of CAPLES LAKE RESORT. boxes( ASBs) at Caples. One box was installed just below the lake’ s spillway, one at the E. I. D public
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 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 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.
Caples Dam is one of the better areas for shore anglers to catch trout on the lake. Photo by DAN BACHER, Fish Sniffer Staff.