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Thread: Martis Lake Stories

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Placer County
    Posts
    1,135

    Default Martis Lake Stories

    Recently visited Martis "Pond" and spent time thinking about "what if"........ Basically driving around on the lake's bottom. Sad.

    Maybe Mr. Frank P. could chime in and share some of the lake's history as a fishery. There are times when it would be nice to just be able to go someplace like the former Martis Lake and fish. There isn't always time to venture further to Almanor, Crowley, Eagle, et. al. especially in the Spring and Fall when days are shorter, etc.

    Thoughts?

    When was the best time of year to fish? Best trout species? What would be the best combination of elements for the lake to succeed as a nice FF destination?

    There are some interesting aerial photos if you search for them...........

    BTW, is the dam really seismically unreliable? Or did the water just get siphoned off or cutoff? Boca Dam is getting an uplift as I assume it is to create greater storage capacity for Reno. Wouldn't Martis do the same?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Sebastian, FL, USA, Earth
    Posts
    23,836

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    Way back when many were fishing Martis Creek Reservoir I heard it had a leak in the dam?

    At one time they poisoned the lake and put in Cutthroats.

    There use to be a perch in there and in the spring people would use a small perch fry imitation.

    It had a big Callibaetis emergence in the day time.........1970s.
    Bill Kiene (Boca Grande)

    567 Barber Street
    Sebastian, Florida 32958

    Fly Fishing Travel Consultant
    Certified FFF Casting Instructor

    Email: billkiene63@gmail.com
    Cell: 530/753-5267
    Web: www.billkiene.com

    Contact me for any reason........
    ______________________________________

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    fernley Nevada
    Posts
    31

    Default Martis Lake Stories -

    Quote Originally Posted by OceanSunfish View Post
    Recently visited Martis "Pond" and spent time thinking about "what if"........ Basically driving around on the lake's bottom. Sad.

    Maybe Mr. Frank P. could chime in and share some of the lake's history as a fishery. There are times when it would be nice to just be able to go someplace like the former Martis Lake and fish. There isn't always time to venture further to Almanor, Crowley, Eagle, et. al. especially in the Spring and Fall when days are shorter, etc.

    Thoughts?

    When was the best time of year to fish? Best trout species? What would be the best combination of elements for the lake to succeed as a nice FF destination?

    There are some interesting aerial photos if you search for them...........

    BTW, is the dam really seismically unreliable? Or did the water just get siphoned off or cutoff? Boca Dam is getting an uplift as I assume it is to create greater storage capacity for Reno. Wouldn't Martis do the same?
    In the 80's the corp of engineers attempted to fill Martis lake . When full it started leaking and holes formed midway up the dam , exposing tree root balls left in the earth fill dam . It was then decided to lower the level and keep it that way .

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    The Bend-Red Bluff, CA
    Posts
    71

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    The campground host there would lock the gate in the evening during the blood midge hatch. Anyone ever get locked in overnight?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2015
    Location
    Sacramento
    Posts
    94

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    Martis Lake Memories

    From the my Trout Chaser's Journal for three evening sessions in July 1989. Shows the diversity of the fish in the lake back then.

    7/14, 7/15, & 7/16
    - 7 browns (1 - 19", 3 - 18"), 2 Rainbows (1 - 13", 1 - 18"), 1 Cutt (22"), 1 Brookie (15")

    22" Cutt (Lahontan) in late eve on small black woolly worm. 3 fish total on woolly worm, 3 on the Dreaded Pink & Black, 4 on callibaetis, and one on a muddler.

    Subsequent entries, kept up the journal for 3 years, show a steady decline in numbers and size. They tried many different types of trout, but the lake never has returned to what it was in the late 80's and very early 90's. Those were the "good old days."

    Dan

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Tejas !!
    Posts
    792

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    Just started fly fishing and was there only because I’d been humbled by the truckee all morning.

    Got to the water, saw some bluegill and figured why not, flipped the nymph rig over and he ate it right off. While I had the bluegill on, the biggest trout I’d ever seen came up and just “ate” him.

    Had it on for a few seconds and he spit the fish out.

    Couldn’t stop shaking for 10 minutes...

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    orangevale ca.
    Posts
    319

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    There are some nice size browns and bows in there. Haven’t seen any cuts in a couple of years.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    the Lost Sierra
    Posts
    750

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    The King of Martis, about 1985. When golf course effluent killed the lake, he moved to Montana to become the King of Hebgen. No one I've ever met can fish a lake better than Phil.

    Click image for larger version. 

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  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    The OV
    Posts
    490

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    I moved here In January of ‘86 from New England, and later that spring a couple of the “old guys” from CFFU (thanks Dave Ford and Guy Deaner) took me up to Martis. It was a high water year, and the lake actually extended across the highway (pre-leaks, I guess). There were green sunfish swimming around the flooded sagebrush, and HUGE browns occasionally crashing through them. We had nothing like that in Maine.

    one chilly spring morning I hiked up Martis Creek above the lake, and spooked a mama mallard and her little ones on the opposite bank. They ran down the steep 2’ bank into the creek, and the third duckling tripped at the top and somersaulted all the way down into the water. Love seeing animals being as clumsy as us hoomins. I’ve forgotten most of the fish I’ve caught but can remember every detail of that moment.

    used to be one heck of a fishery, pre-development and golf course.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Placer County
    Posts
    1,135

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    Golf Course Agronomist have access to less harmful fertilizers today, however, not sure if there is enough regulation at the nearby courses.... Yup, not just one, but several up the valley now. Do the developments make it a moot point that Martis will ever be 50% of its original self, let alone 100%, given a repaired dam?

    I think it's Schaeffer Mill development that boosts a "flyfishing" pond as part of the amenities. Sad.

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