Heading North - Donner Lake / Tahoe

[TheWhizzle]

Im leaving in three days to go stay at a nice cabin up in Soda Springs, CA, about 30 minutes or so from the northwest side of Lake Tahoe.

There are lots of little lakes and streams in the area that I will be fishing, but I'm really interested in the fishing at Donner lake. Its a relatively small lake (3 miles long, half a mile wide) but it reportedly has a good population of kokes and mackinaw. They also stock it with something like 75,000 rainbows annually, so I should be able to put a hurtin' on the rainbows.

Kokes and Macks are a new one for me. I'll take a koke if I get one, cause I hear they are mighty tasty, but I'm really interested in catching a big Mack. There is a canoe at the cabin, so I will be able to get out to deep water, but I think I might be limited to deep water jigging, seeing that there is no downrigger attached to that canoe.

I'll have to use my jig as a depthfinder, so this one's really gonna be a crap-shoot.

Anybody have any experience out there? Or any tips on koke and mack fishing?

I'll be taking plenty of pictures, and I'll come back with a solid report for you guys.
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[lvfishingdude]

If you can get a portable fishfinder, that will help big time for a chance at a big lake trout. I know humingbird makes them.
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[BigE]

[cool]You will love it up there. I love going to Tahoe. Back when I lived in calif.,I would go there once a year. I didn't fish much then but I did try Fallen leaf lake(I think that was what is was called) once. It too has macks in it. I didn't catch anything but had fun. Check out fishsniffer.com for some info. They used to post reports from that area.
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[wolfs4evr]

Chances of catching a Koke is essentially zero. I did read about a person catching one jigging not too long ago but extremely rare. They are zooplankton/small aquatic organisms eaters thus bait fishing, etc is 100% out for one. The mainstream tackle for one is a Dodger and something behind it. The theory is that set-up mimicks something being chased and the Kokes take it on defensively minded not belly minded.

At least the little I know of Kokes. I did a lot of research on how to catch one before I went and chased them (successfully) back in June in Utah for the first time.

The Mack can be caught just like you said. Jigging in deep waters. Something that shows the bottom would be key. Finding a hump down deep then jigging it on the sides of the hump working to near the top then down the other side type of dealio. Large white tubes are fairly standard tipped with chub meat or something along that line. Essentially zero personal info. I've caught them in the waaaay past but always on downriggers and trolling.

One might benefit from a post on the Utah forum... Plenty up there go to the Flaming Gorge and Fish Lake for Macks.

Tom
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[wolfs4evr]

If you don't have it already IMO your best bet is the Navionics download for smart phones. At least one will be able to see where they are at GPS wise on the map verse depth, contours, etc. being portrayed.

I think the download for a smart phone is somewhere in the $10 buck range (once on the phone and the needed areas/maps are downloaded you don't have to have cell coverage for it to work). I downloaded it back when they first released it and I think I paid $2 bucks for it back then. I've since added the sonarchart function for more detailed views if I remember right. Regardless of the price it would be a invaluable tool IMO for this particular situation.

I didn't check to see if the lake you are going to is available/charted already so something to check out before purchasing. You can go to the Navionics website and click on the Web App and check out where you are going. If it is listed there then it is avaible for the phone app.

Tom
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