Alpine County offers incredible trout fishing

 

By Frank Galusha

 

Alpine County, population about 1100 with only 832 registered voters is the place to fish for trout until the season ends thanks to extensive planting, including planting of very large rainbow, brook and brown trout, according to Dave Zellmer, Chairman of the Alpine County Fish and Game Commission.

 

Duncan Dylan, age 14, of Shingletown, holds convincing evidence in this photo, which shows a 6.25 pound rainbow he caught in the West Carson in the second week of August, but according to Zellmer, while the season so far in his county has been the best of all time, the best is yet to come.

 

“The months of September, October and November are going to be spectacular because we have planted and will continue to plant lots of fish in the 6, 7, 8 and 10 pound class. Anyone who fishes here is going to go away grinning,” Zellmer told MyOutdoorBuddy.

 

Alpine County has its own private license to plant fish, Zellmer explained, and has planted 15,000 pounds of trout. In addition, the Department of Fish and Game has planted somewhere around 100,000 pounds, everything from fingerlings on up to trophy fish. And earlier this spring, when Caples Lake was drained, the other Alpine County waters, all of which drain to eastern side of the Sierra’s got the fish that were set to go into Caples.

 

In June and July, Zellmer said, “Alpine County planted 8000 pounds of German Browns in the 3, 4, and 5 pound class, plus thousands of fingerlings. Trophy brook trout have also been seeded into streams and lakes. Zellmer says Alpine gets all the trophy fish from Dave McFarland’s American Trout & Salmon hatchery in Susanville. “Dave produces some very fine fish,” Zellmer said.

 

Planting is far from over, however, Zellmer explained, “It is getting hard to find streams with enough running water but he expects that will improve as fall season nears and storms arrive in the High Sierras.”

 

Zellmer had high praise for Stafford Lear, DFG Regional Manager, and his staff. ‘They have done everything they possibly could to help us make Alpine County a world-class destination for trout anglers. We’ve had anglers from New Zealand, Europe, China and from all over the world as a result,” Zellmer said.

 

Alpine County waters include: Alpine Lake, Blue Lake – Lower, Blue Lake – Upper, Burnside Lake, Caples Lake, Carson River - East Fork, Carson River - West Fork, Evergreen Lake, Granite Lake, Heenan Lake, Indian Creek Reservoir, Kinney Reservoir, Markleeville Creek, Mosquito Lake – Lower, Mosquito Lake – Upper, Red Lake, Silver Creek, Spicer Meadows Reservoir, Twin Lake, Union Reservoir and Woods Lake

 

Don Weirauch of The Anglers Edge in Gardnerville, NV and MyOutdoorBuddy reporter Pat Patterson contributed to this story. Many of the waters mentioned here are very close to Gardnerville and Minden NV and to Topaz Lake, Coleman, Woodfords and Markeleeville, CA. Markeleeville is the Alpine County seat.

This article was published in 2010 but certainly applies to this year.

Merrill's Carson River Guest House sits right on the Carson River 1/2 mile west of Woodfords. Last year on opening day we caught limits of 18 to 20 inchers weighing 4 to 6 lbs. Make you reservations for opening day, April 30, 2011.