Scotts Flat, located at 3100 feet in elevation 9 miles east of Nevada City, is best known for the huge browns that it produces every year. The lake record German brown, taken in 1995, weighed 17-1/2 pounds. However, in the fall of 1999, Scott Bartosh of Miner Moe's Guide Service caught and released a 15 pound, 10 ounce brown, the second largest brown trout recorded at the upper lake. The brown fell for an orange trolling fly.

Browns are taken year round at Scotts Flat, but the best action is usually in the middle of summer, when the fish are concentrated in deep water gorging on the kokanee salmon. "The browns are usually taken on Wee Tads, trolling flies and a variety of minnow imitation lures below the schools of kokanee," said Bartosh. "When the kokanee are concentrated in the thermocline, the browns pick off the kokanee one by one."

Another technique that Bartosh uses for browns, particularly in the winter and spring, is speed trolling with CD225 Rapalas with Sideplaners. A surprising amount of smallmouth bass, along with rainbow trout, are caught using this method.

Rainbows are taken year round by trollers and bank anglers at Scotts Flat Lake. The Department of Fish and Game stocks 5,000 pounds of catchable rainbows in the upper lake and 1,000 pounds in the lower lake every year, according to Dennis Redfern at the American River Fish Hatchery.

Although Bartosh's largest rainbow out of Scotts Flat was 3-1/2 pounds, he and his fishing partners saw a rainbow that they estimated to be 20 pounds swimming in the lake two years ago. Unfortunately, nobody ever caught the fish, in spite of trying virtually every lure and every method they could.

The best time for "quantity" fishing for rainbows is in the spring and early summer, when DFG plants are in full swing. Bank anglers regularly catch lots of rainbows while fishing around the main recreation area and the Cascade shores ramp. As the water warms, the fishing becomes increasingly good in the mouth of Deer Creek.

However, winter before plants is the time to catch quality holdover rainbows. Although the fishing is by no means fast and furious, this is when dedicated bank anglers like Gary Kilday of Cascade Shores stand like a sentinel along the banks, waiting for a bite.

"I didn't catch anything yesterday, but the day before I landed two holdover rainbows to 17 inches," said Gary Kilday when I fished next to him on January 17. Neither myself nor Kilday landed any fish that morning, but it was great to get out of the Sacramento Valley fog and to enjoy the 60 degree weather of the lower Sierra Nevada.

Kokanee salmon get big at Scotts Flat, but don't expect to catch a limit here. Although fish in the 15 to 16 inch class are taken on Wedding Rings, Needlefish and other kokanee lures, the lake's browns apparently make the fish skittish. The DFG stocks 50,000 kokanee fingerlings annually in the upper lake.

"Whenever the kokanee are bunched up in the thermocline during the summer, there are always a half dozen big arches on the graph - German browns - around them," said Bartosh. "The lake has good plankton populations, so I think the reason more kokanee aren't caught is because the browns feed so heavily on them. You actually have a better chance of landing kokanee in the spring when they're scattered and not schooled up."

Both smallmouth and largemouth bass thrive in Scotts Flat, but the smallmouth is the predominant species anglers catch on plastic worms, jigs, rip baits and crankbaits. "Any small minnow imitation lure will work off the rocky banks and rip rap throughout the lake," said Bartosh. Spring and early summer is the best time to purse smallmouths at the lake. Some anglers specifically target smallmouth while trolling with crawdad and shad pattern crankbaits off the rocky points.

When the water warms up in the summer and fall, evening fishing for brown bullhead catfish becomes popular at Scotts Flat. Anglers like local catfish enthusiast Matt Mitchell of Scotts Flat Lake Marina fish the coves with nightcrawlers, mackerel and other baits.

The spring and summer are good times to pursue bluegill sunfish in Scotts Flat. Fish the coves and around the boat ramps with meal worms, red worms and other baits.

Lower Scotts Flat, also called Deer Creek Reservoir, doesn't have an improved boat ramp, so it's best to fish with a 12 foot aluminum boat, a float tube or from the bank. Although rainbows are the most frequently caught fish here, you always have a chance of catching a trophy German brown, since browns over 10 pounds are found here. Although the lake has a self -sustaining population of kokanee, fish over 8 inches long are rare.

"You'll hardly ever see more than one boat fishing the lower lake," said Bartosh. "However, the only time I fished the lake in recent years we caught limits of rainbows."

Upper Scotts Flat, with a capacity of 48,547 acre feet of water, features 786 surface acres and 7 miles of shoreline. The Nevada Irrigation District (NID) completed the present dam in 1964 as part of the Yuba-Bear River Development Project, supplying hydroelectric power and water for irrigation and domestic demands in Nevada City, Grass Valley and surrounding communities.

The recreation area features a full service marina with boat rentals, bait and tackle, dry storage and boat mooring. The lake offers 200 campsites, in addition to 4 group sites.

The day use fee for a vehicle up to 4 persons is $5.00 and boat launching is $5.00. Two boat ramps are available. For camping and fishing information, call (530) 265-5302 or (530) 265-0413. Guided fishing trips are available with Miner Moe's Guide Service, (530) 478-1986.