MAP FEATURE
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 Lake Yields Abundant Rainbows , Trophy Browns & Mackinaws
Caples Lake , an El Dorado Irrigation District ( EID ) managed reservoir in Alpine County , is one of my favorite lakes to fish in the Sierra Nevada because of both its majestic alpine scenery and fine trout fishing . The lake currently hosts brown , rainbow , brook and mackinaw trout , although rainbows are the most populous species .
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