Fly Fish Nevada

I had planned to go fishing this week for quite a while.  Jen and the boys are up at Lake Tahoe at 4H camp and I am playing bachelor.  I figured I would take advantage and go fishing, which I did.  Twice actually.  I originally planned on an all day outing, but it didn’t turn out that way.  I got up early and drove the hour or so up to Virginia Lakes.  There is a lot of good fishing in that chain of lakes.  Unfortunately, there are a lot of people too.

First cast!

I arrived at about 7:45 am and after checking out Little Virginia Lake ($5.00 launching fee and I didn’t bother asking if a float tube was a “water craft”) I ended up at Virginia Lake (I don’t think it’s officially called Big Virginia, but who knows – or cares?).  The lake was glass and some fish were rising.  One boat, a couple of tubers and a handful of shore fishermen were all that were there.  I glided out just off shore, cast and BAM!  First cast I had a beautiful brookie of about 11 inches. Then nothing for an hour.  Seems to be the way its been working lately for me.

The back side of Virginia Lake.

The inlet from Red Lake.

Anyway, I cruised around casting and stripping, changing flies and enjoying the quiet, cool morning.  Then the flotilla of Fat Cats showed up.  I must be behind the times.  I have a mid-90′s vintage Caddis U-tube.  Everyone, maybe a dozen other guys and they didn’t appear to be together, had a Fat Cat or something similar.  They look nice, but damn I love my Caddis.  In fact, I have two.  Hunted every Longs drugstore in western Nevada to find the second one.  If I could find a stash, I’d by ‘em all.

My Caddis float tubes. One over a decade old, the other almost two and still serviceable and used on a regular basis.

Morning sun filtered through some pines. Makes you get all misty, doesn't it?

Finally, I caught another fish.  This time a fat, planted rainbow.  It wasn’t the prettiest fish but it cleared the water three times as we did battle.  I got a few more tugs, but no hook ups.  There were now so many float tubes in the lake, navigation was nearly impossible (I may be exaggerating slightly) and one of the hike to lakes was calling my name.  I debated as to whether or not to reveal the lake, but there are only two lakes within a short hike and while neither gets hammered now, I doubt my massive readership will cause them to be fished out any time soon.  So, I went to Blue Lake.

A parting shot of Virginia toward the Red Lake cirque.

Headed into the wilderness...a few hundred yards anyway.

There was a reason I was hesitant to reveal the lake.  Last time I was there, maybe 4 or 5 years back, the fish were all in the 7-9 inch range.  My first fish, a brookie on a humpy no less, went 11 inches and was so insanely colorful I was dumbstruck.  My next fish, a rainbow was of equal size and equally beautiful, but after that the dinks took over and the fishing slowed.  I switched back to a prince nymph and caught a few more, but nothing like that first fish.  Then a couple of older guys (one was like 65, the other about 85) and their out of control dog showed up and inquired about the fishing from shore.  I figured they were gonna move on, but nope!  They camped out right there.

A shot from blue lake towards Virginia Pass...hey, doesn't that look familiar?

My biggest fish from Blue Lake. What a beauty.

Now, I am on a 50 acre lake or so, but they began fishing so close I could have dropped a cast on their nose.  I moved a bit, but between the really old guy falling in, the dog barking and throwing it’s toy in the water and the younger old guy yelling at both of them, I decided it was time to move on.  Christ!  Nothing bugs me more than being crowded out by oblivious dolts like these two, especially when there is no one else there and plenty of lake to go around.  The fact that they were older should have meant they had learned better by now.  Still, the fishing was dying, so what the hell.

A nice rainbow from Blue Lake.

I moved down to the outlet were a couple of shallow pond are situated.  The first has a nice riffle where the stream pours in from Blue Lake.  I fished the humpy again and caught a few smallish brooks.  One was as brightly colored as the one from the lake.  Honestly, they give goldens a run for the money.  That petered out quickly, though.  The riffle is maybe 20 feet long, so it doesn’t take to many hooked and darting fish to spook the rest.  I wasn’t ready for lunch, so I hiked back down and plopped my tube in Virginia Lake again.

Now the banks were lined with bait fishermen.  Still, they were the quiet, respectful type, so it was nice…for a while.  I hooked and executed three perfect long distance releases on some nice trout, probably rainbows by the way they fought.  I spent maybe an hour there.  I watched a few other guys in tubes catch fish and then the family from hell showed up.  Crying toddler, older brother throwing rocks in the lake, mom and dad letting them go to town.  Then the barking dog people showed up.  Since I couldn’t keep a fish hooked and I was getting hungry, that settled that.  Out I went.

Since I couldn't land a fish, here's some anonymous guy catching one.

All in all a good day, inconsiderate jerks not withstanding.  Caught some nice fish, was done at 2:00 and home to eat dinner and watch a movie (The Incredibles).  Next week, I should have my new adjustable force fins (see sad story here) and I think the boys and I will head back unless I hear about something better.  Despite all the people, it is a nice place to be.

Oh, and this is why that picture above looked so familiar.  the same basic shot from 2001.  Not much has changed in 9 years.

Filed under: On the Water Tagged: | Blue Lake, brook trout, float tube, rainbow trout, Virginia Lakes