Donner Lake Fishing Report

The Mackinaw bite at Donner has been leaning more toward quality rather than quantity… that is, if you can get on the water. Recent storms buried the launch ramp in snow, with folks needing a shovel to get their boats on the water. Once out, good-sized macks are holding in 60 to 80 feet, hitting Flatfish and Rapalas trolled very slowly. Water temps are in the low 40s and will continue to drop, pushing fish into even deeper zones soon. The bite is anything but consistent, although most hookups have been good-sized fish, with a 15+ pounder reported last week.

The last CDFW rainbow plant was in early November, but both shore and boat anglers are still finding fish — mainly on small Rapalas or spinners early in the morning.

Donner Lake was on fire before 4th of July Weekend! We caught and released over 50 trout for 2.5 days! We were targeting mackinaw at first, fishing down deep, past 60'. They did not want to play. So we started targeting rainbow and brown trout and the rainbow trout were hungry or they might have just planted, because we couldn't stop catching them! We were trolling lures. My better half was trolling 1 rod and I was trolling 2. I had double hookups quite a bit! We fished from 7am to 10am on 7/2 and 7/3 - and caught and released about 50 fish :-) Good times!!!

Mackinaw are the main show right now at Donner, with trollers pulling big plugs… think Rapalas… down deep, around 100–110 feet. The east shore and the area near the main launch are producing best. Kokanee are just starting to wake up, holding at 35–40 feet. CDFW rainbow trout stocks are projected this week, which should boost action for shore casters. PowerBait and floating nightcrawlers remain top picks.

Surface temps start in the low 50s and climb a few degrees by afternoon. Water’s crystal clear, which is helping boat anglers spot depth transitions and structure. The best bite has been early, just before the sun pops.