Fish Traveler Guide Service, Eagle Lake Fishing Report for Sunday, July 22, 2012

Fish Traveler Guide Service Fishing Report for Eagle Lake, CA Post Date: Sunday, July 22, 2012 Howdy Folks, Well I didn’t write a report last week. In a way it is a good thing I didn’t because I would have said something I would have had to retract in this week’s report. Explanation: I would have reported that the “fish have finally moved to deeper water for the summer months.” The weather warmed up significantly the week of July 8. Both the day and night time temperatures were above normal. The surface water temperature warmed up to almost 70 degrees and the fish finally moved out of the “shallows”. We had been catching fish bobber fishing in 10 feet of water with night crawlers set at 6-7 feet deep on the west side of the lake. By Saturday, July 14, the fish had moved to deeper water on the east side of the lake. We followed them. Still bobber fishing, we began anchoring up in 55 feet of water and running our crawlers at 30 feet deep. The bite was fast and furious with most boats limiting within and hour of anchoring up. Then the weather cooled again. The deep bobber bite quit and we moved our boats and bobbers back to the west side; back into 10 feet of water with our crawlers set at 6-7 feet deep. Trolling: Very slow. I have switched over to bobber fishing until the trolling bite gets back in gear. The Tui Chub minnow hatch should improve the trolling bite. Normally this happens around the end of July. Fly Fishing: Very few anglers fly fishing. Still some fish being caught on flies nymphing in 10-11 feet of water. Average this last week was 3 hook ups per rod per outing. Bobber Fishing: Your best bet to catch fish right now is with crawlers under a bobber. As mentioned above, we have moved back to the west side of the lake. The surface temperature has dropped from almost 70 down to 67 degrees. Anchor up off points from Pelican Pt south to Wildcat Pt in 10 feet of water. We could be “shifting” back to the east side of the lake any day. Once the water warms up a couple of degrees, the fish will move again. On the east side, anchor up in 50-60 feet of water and set your crawlers at 30 feet deep. Best areas on the east side are from Miners Bay south to Eagle’s Nest. THE NUMBER ONE THING THAT WILL PREVENT YOU FROM CATCHING FISH WHILE BOBBER FISHING, IS NOT BEING ANCHORED UP, BAITED UP, AND CASTING YOUR LINES INTO THE WATER AS SOON AS IT IS LEGAL. (ONE HOUR BEFORE SUNRISE) This means you will be “running” your boat in the dark. If you are not familiar with Eagle Lake, hire a guide. Launching: We are still launching without a problem at the Spalding Launch Ramp. The lake level is receding but the channel from the launch ramp out to the main body of the lake is navigable. The Spalding Community Service District has marked a “channel” for leaving and returning to the docks. The lowest reading I am seeing on my depth finder while leaving and returning to the Spalding Boat Launch is 1.3 feet. There is a good launch ramp at the south end of the lake at Gallatin Marina that should be usable all season. Drive time from Spalding to this ramp is around 25 minutes. Good Luck. And, do not hesitate to contact me if you need help with anything here at Eagle Lake. Tim Noxon Fish Traveler Guide Service 530-825-3524 residence 916-201-4648 cell tnoxon@gmail.com www.fishtraveler.com

Fish Traveler Guide Service Fishing Report for Eagle Lake, CA Post Date: Monday, July 9, 2012 Howdy Folks, Well the water is still warming and the fish are transitioning to the deeper sections in the southern basin. Surface water temperature is approaching 69 degrees and the moving fish are scattered. Trolling is tough and the areas where we have been catching them bobber fishing are “petering out”. Trolling: As mentioned above, the water is warming and the fish are on the move. There are still some fish on structure in shallow water (7-12 feet deep) south of Pelican Pt along the buoy line and down about ¼ mile past the Broccoli Tree. Troll night crawlers and watermelon and pumpkinseed grubs 6-7 feet deep. This bite is early and shuts down after the sun hits the water. With the fish on the move, it is hard to find a consistent area to troll. The following are the best I can offer at this time until the fish “get settled”.: Off Shrimp Island in around 50 feet of water troll the same offerings mentioned above and add red and gold or red and white spoons. Troll from 7-20 feet deep or wherever your fish finder locates schools of fish. Like I said, they are all over the place. Further south at Wildcat Pt, troll in 8-30 feet of water early. Move to deeper water as the sun gets higher. Same baits. At Miners Bay on the east side of the lake, troll the same baits. This is deeper water, 45-60 feet deep. Watch your fish finder, but I would start with baits set at 7-20 feet deep. Fly Fishing: Still some fish being caught on flies nymphing in 10-11 feet of water. Average this last week was 3-5 hook ups per rod. Bobber Fishing: Bobber fishing was still pretty good most of this past week anchored in 10 feet of water south of Pelican Pt on the west side. It did slow down somewhat over the weekend. This is an early bite, over by 6:30 A.M. Set your threaded night crawler 5-7 feet deep. Once the fish finish their transition to deeper water we will be “bobbering” in 50-60 feet of water with threaded night crawlers set at 25-30 feet deep. Historically the summer hot spots for bobber fishing have been south of Shrimp Is on the west side, and Eagle’s Nest, and Miner’s Bay on the east side. Launching: We are still launching without a problem at the Spalding Launch Ramp. The lake level is receding but the channel from the launch ramp out to the main body of the lake is navigable. The Spalding Community Service District has marked a “channel” for leaving and returning to the docks. The lowest reading I am seeing on my depth finder while leaving and returning to the Spalding Boat Launch is 1.6 feet. There is a good launch ramp at the south end of the lake at Gallatin Marina that should be usable all season. Drive time from Spalding to this ramp is around 25 minutes. Good Luck. And, do not hesitate to contact me if you need help with anything here at Eagle Lake. Tim Noxon Fish Traveler Guide Service 530-825-3524 residence 916-201-4648 cell tnoxon@gmail.com www.fishtraveler.com

Fish Traveler Guide Service Fishing Report for Eagle Lake, CA Post Date: Monday, July 2, 2012 Howdy Folks, No report last week and this week’s is late. I only fished Mon, Tues, and Wed last week then ran to Sacramento to play music. Back to the lake for fishing Wed, Thur, and Fri this past week. Then busy with the Project Eagle Lake Trout Fundraiser on June 30 held at the R.V. Park in Spalding. OK so now for the fishing: Pretty good fishing the past two weeks. Trolling, Bobber Fishing and Fly Fishing were all good. However, yesterday and today, were worrisome. The bobber fishing held up with limits the rule. You must launch around 4:30-4:45 AM and be fishing by 5AM. The bobber bite is over by 6:30AM. Yesterday and today the fly fishing and trolling fell flat on its face. I can only speculate that the rising water temps are starting to scatter the fish and moving them out of the shallow water where we have been catching them since the opener (May 26). We are also dealing with a full moon which can put a halt on things. Trolling: The surface water temperature has risen to 65-66 degrees. Trolling was good through last Sat (June 29). Pumpkinseed and watermelon grubs and Tui Chub flies were good trolling baits fished 5-6 feet deep from Pelican Pt down to Slough Pt on the west side. The same baits trolled in the same areas Sun and Mon produced slow results, (1-2 fish per boat). The trolling bite in deeper water, 48-52 feet between Slough Pt and Wildcat Pt on the west side has also slowed. Fly Fishing: We caught plenty of fish nymphing in 10-11 feet of water up until Sat. Sat and Sun this past weekend turned slow. We only had 5 fish to the boat, Sat and 2 on Sun. This shallow water nymphing will shut off once the water gets too warm. In years past we have caught plenty of fish using this method until mid July. Have to wait and see what happens over the next week. We could get some cooler weather and the fish could move back into the shallows. Bobber Fishing: Bobber fishing is still good in 10 feet of water south of Pelican Pt on the west side. This is an early bite, over by 6:30 A.M. Set your threaded night crawler 5-7 feet deep. Launching: I am estimating launching at the Spalding Ramp will be possible for another 3 weeks. The Spalding Community Service District has marked a “channel” for leaving and returning to the docks. The lowest reading I am seeing on my depth finder while leaving and returning to the Spalding Boat Launch is 1.6 feet. There is a good launch ramp at the south end of the lake at Gallatin Marina that should be usable all season. Drive time from Spalding to this ramp is around 25 minutes. If you are driving down there early in the dark, watch out for deer. One of my friends hit one this week. Good Luck. And do not hesitate to contact me if you need help with anything here at Eagle Lake. Tim Noxon Fish Traveler Guide Service 530-825-3524 residence 916-201-4648 cell tnoxon@gmail.com www.fishtraveler.com

Eagle Lake Fishing Report for Sunday, June 17, 2012

Fish Traveler Guide Service Fishing Report for Eagle Lake, CA Post Date: Sunday, June 17, 2012 Howdy Folks, Trolling picked back up this week. Most knowledgeable trollers caught limits if they started fishing early. Fly fishing continued to be outstanding, however we moved to different locations to find fish more often than last week. Bobber fishing continues to be HOT. Trolling: The surface water temperature has risen to 63-64 degrees. However, there are still many fish being taken by trollers in water from 7-15 feet with baits trolled at 2-6 feet deep. Trolling flies were hot this week in the Tui Chub and Cinnamon Leech patterns. Troll the west side of the lake south of Pelican Pt early in the morning. There is also a good bite trolling in 48-52 feet of water between Slough Pt and Wildcat Pt on the west side. Even though you are in deep water, the fish are biting best on trolled baits set from the surface down to 8 feet deep. The best baits trolling this area have been night crawlers, grubs, and red spoons. Fly Fishing: Same report as last week on the fly fishing. We are nymphing in 10-11 feet of water with the boat anchored over rocky structure. The fish we are catching and releasing are bigger than those we a hooking trolling. The average fish landed fly fishing is 2.5 lbs with a good number approaching 3 lbs. We did have to move more often to find willing fish this week. The whole west side of the lake, from Pelican Pt all the way down to Wildcat Pt holds the rocky structure and fairly shallow water that make this type of fishing productive. Keep moving until you find willing fish. Bobber Fishing: Bobber fishing is “hot” in 10 feet of water south of Pelican Pt on the west side and off the Youth Camp shoreline on the east side. This is an early bite, over by 6:30 A.M. Set your threaded night crawler 5-7 feet deep. Launching: Launching is no problem at the Spalding Ramp. The Spalding Community Service District has marked a “channel” for leaving and returning to the docks. The lowest reading I am seeing on my depth finder while leaving and returning to the Spalding Boat Launch is 2 feet. I was getting a lower reading opening weekend (about 1 foot). It seems that a lot of “silt” has been “blown out” of the channel by the boat traffic. There is a good launch ramp at the south end of the lake at Gallatin Marina that should be usable all season. Drive time from Spalding to this ramp is around 25 minutes. If you are driving down there early in the dark, watch out for deer. One of my friends hit one this week. Good Luck. And do not hesitate to contact me if you need help with anything here at Eagle Lake. Tim Noxon Fish Traveler Guide Service 530-825-3524 residence 916-201-4648 cell tnoxon@gmail.com www.fishtraveler.com

Fish Traveler Guide Service Fishing Report for Eagle Lake, CA Post Date: Sunday, June 3, 2012 Howdy Folks, Well the weather turned nice, very nice after opening weekend. When that happens there is little wind, bright, sunny skies and flat water with no chop. This makes for tough fishing conditions. By far, the best bite this week was early. Those folks that hit the water early found fish more willing to bite. After the sun hit the water, the bite got tough. Two thirds of the fish we caught this week were hooked early. Trolling: The surface water temperature was still below 60 degrees Mon, Tues, and Wed. (I did not fish this week after Wed.) Early, we caught fish on the west side of the lake, south of Pelican Pt over structure. Until the water warms to above 65 degrees surface temp, I will be in the “shallows” fishing the structure first thing every morning until the sun hits the water. After the sun is on the water, we have been moving further south to fill out our limits of Eagle Lake Trout. Further south, we are trolling the area between Slough Pt. and Wildcat Pt and fishing in water 20-50 feet deep. The fish seem to be scattered throughout the water column. We caught fish with our baits set from 5 to 19 feet deep. Our most productive trolling baits were watermelon, pumpkinseed, and orange grubs. We also caught fish trolling a tui chub fly pattern. These we trolled close to the surface. Although the trolling was not fast and furious, we limited every day out. The average size of the fish we are putting in the box is between 2.2 and 2.7 lbs. These are very nice Eagle Lake trout, many with fat bodies like small footballs. Fly Fishing: On Tuesday, we went fly fishing and had a great day with 30 hookups and 20 fish landed. We were nymphing with indicators on the west side of the lake over a rocky bottom. Bobber Fishing: Not many folks out bobber fishing, but the reports I got were that successful anglers fished off the Youth Camp and around Shrimp Island. If you are going bobber fishing, go early. The bite usually shuts off shortly after the sun hits the water. At the Youth Camp and at Shrimp Island, anchor in 12 feet of water and set your threaded night crawler at 6-8 feet deep. Go early and once the sun hits the water, if the bite shuts down, move out to deeper water and set your baits a little deeper. Launching: The Spalding Launch Ramp is fine but the water you have to cover on the way out to the main lake is very low. This ramp should be usable through June but due to the shallow depths, I believe we will have to launch at the south end thereafter. No one that I know of has NOT been able to launch from the Spalding ramp. Elevate your motor, or go in and out on your kicker motor. The launch ramp at the southern marina at Gallatin Beach is a blessing. We should be able to launch there all season. Access at the bottom of the ramp includes a turnaround so you can drive straight down and turn around at the bottom of the ramp and then back your boat in. There is a courtesy dock so you can launch, pull your boat around to the far side of the dock to get it out of the way for the next party ready to launch. There is also plenty of parking. From Spalding, the drive down to the southern launch ramp is about 25 minutes. Good Luck. And do not hesitate to contact me if you need help with anything here at Eagle Lake. Tim Noxon Fish Traveler Guide Service 530-825-3524 residence 916-201-4648 cell tnoxon@gmail.com www.fishtraveler.com

Fish Traveler Guide Service Fishing Report for Eagle Lake, CA Post Date: Sunday, May 27, 2012 Howdy Folks, Yesterday was opening day at Eagle Lake for 2012. The weather was lousy but the fishing was very good. We had a pretty stiff wind and a decent size chop on the water with overcast skis. The bite was good all morning. On my boat, as well as many other boats, limits were the rule. Today, Sunday, May 27 the weather was milder and, by late morning, there was very little to no chop on the water. Those who started fishing early got their fish. After the 8:00 A.M. bell, the bite got tough. We fished until 10:30 A.M. to fill our limits. This is a pretty normal pattern at Eagle Lake. If the skis are overcast and there is a chop on the water, there will usually be a pretty steady bite that will last into the late morning hours. If the weather report calls for bright sun and little wind, go early because the best bite will be during the first couple of hours of legal fishing time. (Legal start time is one hour before sunrise.) Trolling: The surface temperature is 56 and fish are being caught in many areas of the lake at this time. We were fishing the west side of the lake just south of Pelican Pt. We caught our fish on pumpkinseed and watermelon grubs trolling 4 feet deep in 6-10 feet of water. Saturday the bite lasted all morning in the “shallows”. Today, the fish had moved to deeper water by 8:00 A.M. Other trollers were working the west side of the lake further south from Slough Pt all the way down to Wildcat Pt. Most were trolling in deeper water 20-50 feet deep with baits set from the surface down to 15 feet. Baits included orange grubs, brown trolling flies, night crawlers, and hot orange spoons. The trout seem to be biting a variety of baits at this time. Find the fish and keep working the area. Bobber Fishing: Not many bobber fishing but the reports I got were that successful anglers fished off the Youth Camp and around Shrimp Island. If you are going bobber fishing, go early. The bite usually shuts off shortly after the sun hits the water. Good Luck. And do not hesitate to contact me if you need help with anything here at Eagle Lake. Tim Noxon Fish Traveler Guide Service 530-825-3524 residence 916-201-4648 cell tnoxon@gmail.com www.fishtraveler.com