drive up 88

[bkobrin]

I'm headed to South Lake Tahoe for the weekend but would like to get a morning of fishing in on the the way up. I'm going to take 88 from Stockton on Saturday morning and would like some suggestions. If you guys had 3-4 hours to fish any spot along the highway, what would it be? Are my choices pretty much limited to Silver, Caples or Red Lakes? Any help would be much appreciated!

[FoothillFlyFisher]

Caples....

Early A.M. for the best luck, in this heat. You'll be surprised how warm it can get at 6,800 feet by ten-thirty or eleven in the morning up there....

[Darian]

I agree about Caples Lake. However, it's not as high as Woods Lake. The entrance road to Woods is located a short ways further up Hwy 88 on the south side. Keep an eye out for the sign. It's around a mile to this very pretty alpine lake. It has some Rainbow's, etc., in it. The outlet stream (if it's got a normal head of water in it) has some nice rainbows in it, too.

Great place to picnic, too.

[Mario]

I just got back from a week camping at Silver Lake. I fished Silver Lake, Red Lake, the West Fork of the Carson, and the Silver Fork of the American. I did well on Silver lakes north end....if you take Kay's resort turnoff and take that road until you cross over the first creek going into the lake. This is a couple of miles down the road. When you get to that bridge over the small creek, be sure to pull off as soon as you can and work your way down to where that creek enters the lake. I fished the channel going into the lake and some of the shallow water on the north side of the channel. I used a #16 teeny nymph trailing behind a burnt orange wooly bugger. I hooked into a nice 16inch+ brown, and caught a several rainbows too. I fished with some others who also hooked into lots of fish on green PT nymphs. We were all using floating lines and used a slow retrieve. I went up Red Lake, but I feel like its hard to fish from the shore unless you walk to the far shore...it is just too deep by the dam. I saw several people catch brookies on power bait....i hate to say that word... ahhh... Any how...this will drag on forever....Carson was good underneath the bridge where 89 heads towards lake tahoe....the ticket here was fishing from the north side of the bridge....PT nymphs in the sun and elk hair caddis up top underneath the bridge in the shadows. Silver fork of the american had a nice mayfly hatch at night, but the fish are spooky and not very large if that matters....hope this helps...let me know if you have any other questions!

[bolden]

Try the south end of caples with a large wooly bugger. Just walk the bank and spot cruising fish. i might be up
there this weekend also. i normally get there about an hour before sunrise and fish until about noon or so.

[bkobrin]

Thanks for so much help. After a bit of deliberation, I think I'm going to give Woods Lake a try. If I get there early enough I thought I'd even hike into Round Top Lake (rumor of golden trout)! Then on Sunday on my way back into town I may try Caples in the evening. Again, I appreciate the replies and the suggestions.

-Ben

[Ed Wahl]

In case you don't have enough options, the Upper Truckee has tons of pure strain lahontan Cutthroats in it. It's an easy walk over the ridge on the north side of the hwy. The p.c.t. takes you right to Meiss Meadows, the trailhead/parking lot is about a mile past the turn-off for Woods Lake. It's a fee to park.Bring lots of bug dope.

[bolden]

Unfortunately round top does not have goldens, at least i did not see or catch any. my dad and i heard
the same rumor and went in two years ago. don't let that discourage you though, because there are lots of
gorgeous lahontans, some big ones too. as i said, there may be goldens, i just couldn't catch them.