By Dan Bacher

The weather is sizzling now in the Central Valley, where temperatures well past the hundred mark are taking place many days. However, if you go trout fishing at the higher elevation lakes, such as Blue Lakes in Alpine County, spring is just starting, with a profusion of native Sierra Nevada wildflowers, such as Indian Pink, Blue Gentian, and Wyethia, springing up in the wake of melting snow.

On a recent trip that I made to Blue Lakes, anglers were still encountering beautiful spring weather and fishing conditions. The road to the lake, Blue Lakes Road, had only just opened a week before on the 4th of the July weekend. When Tom Mulderrig and I arrived at Lower Blue Lake, large patches of snow were still on the ground throughout the lake's campgrounds.

Blue Lakes consists of Upper and Lower Blue lakes, which are connected by a small stream. Located at 8200 feet, these lakes feature a variety of trout, including brookies, rainbows and Lahontan cutthroats. The Lower Lake is planted annually with approximately 5600 pounds of catchable rainbows and 5000 brook trout fingerlings, according to Ron Hunerlach of the American River Fish Hatchery in Rancho Cordova. Upper Blue, the deeper and better lake for fishing, is planted with 4800 catchable rainbows and 10,000 Lahontan cutthroat fingerlings each year. Just above Upper Blue is Twin Lake, which is planted with 3,000 brook trout and 6,000 cutthroat.

Both lakes, managed by PG&E, offer great bank fishing access and camping facilities, since a good gravel road extends along the east shoreline of both lakes. Access from the road to the water is easy, with good trails going down to the shoreline.

The bank anglers and boaters I encountered at Lower Blue were finding tough fishing; I didn't see a fish caught by the dozen or so anglers there, so I decided to check out Upper Twin.

Fishing prospects were more promising at Upper Blue, where bait fishing from the bank seemed to be the top method. We saw Sandy Smith and Barron Neil of Sacramento loading a boat onto their trailer, who had caught two rainbows while bait fishing from the bank although they hadn't caught any from their boat. Frequent anglers at the lake, they reported catching a mixture of rainbows, cutthroats and brookies on previous trips while both bait fishing and trolling lures.

Two other anglers, Mike Raper of Plymouth and Dave Lane of Ione, had three trout to 13 inches on their stringer. "It's been a little slow today. Last week, just after the road to the lake had opened, we took our limits of trout - 9 rainbows and 1 brookie - in 1-1/2 hours," Lane said. "We caught them on everything - Power Bait, eggs and spinners."

I also talked to one of the lake's most knowledgeable anglers, Milo Walker, PG&E's campground supervisor, who fishes the lake just about every day. He regularly catches rainbow and some cutthroat trout while using an unusual method - tossing black Power Worms from the bank. "I target big rainbows - fish in the 14 to 15 inch class -using this method," he reported.

The largest fish caught in the lake each year are usually Lahontan cutthroats in the 2-1/2 to 3 pound range. "Some of the fish I've caught so far this year were spawning females full of eggs and males full with milt," said Walker. "The fish spawn in the creek that connects the two lakes."

The lakes are natural lakes that PGE raised by constructing dams in the 1940s to provide hydroelectricity at the Lower Blue Powerhouse, according to Walker.

There is a dirt, unimproved ramp at Upper Blue as well as shoreline boat access at the campgrounds on both lakes. However, car top boats and canoes predominate at both lakes.

The lake normally opens to camping in the first two weeks of July and closes around October 9 to 10, depending upon when the first major snows arrive. The lakes freeze solid during the winter, but virtually nobody fishes then because the lakes are usually covered with a thick blanket of snow.

Walker gave me and Mulderrig some advice on where to fish. "The northeast side of the lake is generally best because the shore line drops off to deeper water most dramatically," he tipped.

Mulderrig and I stopped at a likely-looking spot along the northeast shoreline and within minutes Mulderrig was fighting a scrappy native brook trout that he landed and put on the stringer. The beautifully-hued fish fell for a nightcrawler on a spinner/crawler rig. About 15 minutes later, he fooled another brook trout with the same bait.

In the next two hours, I managed to catch a gorgeously-colored holdover rainbow trout measuring 14-1/2 inches, as well as a 12 inch holdover and a smaller planter rainbow. We also had several other bites that we missed. However, a strong south wind made it tough increasingly tough to see the bites.

With the increasing wind waves, all of the boaters and bank anglers on Upper Blue left except for us. As a summer thunderstorm blew into the surrounding mountains, complete with thunder and lightning, we tried to fill out our limits, but the bite had completely shut off. We went home with three rainbows and two brookies for the frying pan.

Trolling can also be good as the water warms up. Anglers should use minnow imitation lures and nightcrawlers behind flashers. Since the primary forage fish in the lake are the native Lahontan redsides and Tui chub, anglers should use lures that imitate these bait fish. Both lakes also offer good fly fishing for anglers fishing from float tubes and canoes.

Camping is first come, first serve at Blue Lakes, according to Walker. There are five campgrounds: Lower Blue, 17 sites, Middle Creek, 5 sites, the dam, 110 sites, the dam site expansion, 15 sites and upper Blue, 32 sites. Lower Blue Campground has four handicapped accessible parking spots and four porta-potties. No phone is available, but clean modern rest rooms and fresh water are on tap.

Anglers can use Blue Lakes as a base camp for fishing trout in other lakes in the region, such as Twin, Rice, Tamarack and Lost Lakes, as well as the West Fork of the Carson River and the North Fork of the Mokelumne.

There was an enormous mosquito hatch when we were there, so bringing good insect repellent is highly advisable.

For more information about fishing Blue Lakes, contact Woodsford Station in Woodsford (530) 694-2930 or The Alpine County Chamber of Commerce in Markleeville (530) 694-2475. Lodging, groceries and gas are available in Woodsford, Markleeville, Minden and South Lake Tahoe. For camping and other facilities information, call PG&E (800)743-5000 or Toiyable National Forest (702) 882-2766.

September 13, 1999

Back to Map Index Page

Top of Page