Lake Tahoe Fishing Report

Lake Tahoe is in its late summer pattern, with Mackinaw pushed deep and holding around 100–120 feet while kokanee school between 60–80 feet. Best action is first light through about 10 AM before boat traffic and sun push fish down. Troll flashers with a wedding ring or hoochie tipped with white corn for kokanee, and expect bonus macks holding underneath the salmon schools. Anglers targeting lake trout specifically are doing better bouncing live bait on the bottom, with most fish 3–6 pounds and a decent number in the 9–15 pound range. Kokanee will color up and stage toward Taylor Creek over the next few weeks, so fish them now... everything within 300 feet of Tahoe's tributaries closes October 1.

Mackinaw season is in full swing at Tahoe, and the big fish are showing up. Guides and locals have been consistently putting giant macks in the net over the past month, targeting 120–150 feet of water with 1–2 oz. minnow-style jigs or trolling live minnows / flashers.

On the east side, the rainbow and brown trout bite has been very good as well... in the top 30 feet. Boat anglers and shore casters alike are working Rapalas along rocky structure and finding quality fish. NDOW also stocked cutthroat last week. Look for the Kokanee bite to pick up in another few weeks.

Tahoe is set for some snow next week, but it shouldn’t put a damper on what’s been a good bite for both Mackinaw and rainbows. Over the last few weeks, Macks were holding very deep during spawn (250 ft), but that’s just about wrapped now. They’re starting to move up shallow, chasing schools of minnows. Rainbows are cruising high in the water column, too. Trolling is still the go-to, but shore casters are finding both Macks and rainbows as well. Brown trout action has been quiet, but the occasional cutthroat is being caught. Hopefully, the kokanee spawn fires up soon, though flows out of Taylor Creek are looking low... next week's weather pattern could help.