Martis

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I think it has not been good for the last 10 or 20 years.

Maybe it is making a come back?

[Ralph]

I think it has not been good for the last 10 or 20 years.

Maybe it is making a come back?

I think not. Martis is choked with milfoil that makes fishing nearly impossible by mid June. It teems with every imaginable "trash" fish. I remember the first time there was an algae bloom for a couple of days in August in the early 80's. We freaked out and DF&G and Lahontan Water Quality Control Board responded. Now the bloom starts in June and lasts until October. Simply the cost of "progress". It does support some big fish that don't see a lot of pressure and their food supply is endless.

[HSano]

I'm old enough to have fished Martis when it was a cutthroat fishery (in the 70's). I was new to flyfishing so catching 20 inch cutts was really exciting! I can remember the first time I approached the lake and seeing the dark shadow of a fish cruising around in the shallows.

[Ralph]

I'm old enough to have fished Martis when it was a cutthroat fishery (in the 70's). I was new to flyfishing so catching 20 inch cutts was really exciting! I can remember the first time I approached the lake and seeing the dark shadow of a fish cruising around in the shallows.

Martis has a long and twisted history. It used to support THE BEST callibaetis hatch in California. We had gulper fishing equal to that of Hebgen Lake in West Yellowstone. DF&G's failed rotenone treatment to rid the lake of fish in preparation for LCT introduction, killed all the callibaetis, but largely missed the browns which were safely hiding in the headwaters of Martis Creek preparing to spawn. To the ire of the Truckee Sportsman Club, catch and release regulations were instated to protect the cutthroat. Bud (of Bud's Sporting Goods) famously brought in a garbage can filled with sunfish and dumped them in the lake to foil the cutthroat introduction. I don't think they had much impact on the cutthroat, but they did a great job of eating the callibaetis nymphs and the one two punch of rotenone and sunfish was a fatal and permanent blow to the gulper fishing. The chironomid larvae safely hidden deep in the mud avoided predation from sunfish and took over from callibaetis as the predominant hatch. Meanwhile the browns grew fat on the sunfish and planted cutthroat. Wide scale development of Northstar and throughout Martis Valley, especially with the proliferation of golf courses, was the coffin that sealed Martis Creek Reservoir's fate and the introduction of milfoil was the nail in that coffin. Today there are several plans on the table for making the dam earthquake safe, and one of those proposals is to remove the dam altogether and allow Martis Creek Reservoir to return to it's wetland status. Only time will tell.

[bigfly]

When I used to sit in a fly shop.....guys would walk in with the "best waters" in CA. book..(god I hate those books....).
They had it open to Martis, and they wanted the beta....
I had to give them the sad story that Ralph just related......Talk about a bring down!
It is a fond distant memory, remembering stalking the shore with Ralph's "new" Blood Midge pattern...
Targeting cruisers nearby....
Now my best shore cast won't get past the green muck..
Early season is the best bet...before the milfoil appears again.