Toplining for Elusive Lake Tahoe Brown Trout

Introduction: Lake Tahoe’s natural beauty is matched by its excellent trout fishery and while many anglers are content to catch the lake’s resident rainbows or big lake trout there are others that come here solely to pursue the elusive big Brown Trout. We target these hard to catch fish in the shallow water with help from AC Plugs and one of Lake Tahoe’s top trout guides, Captain Mike Nielsen of Tahoe Topliners.

When it comes to beautiful fish, trout are among the most striking, and when it comes to trout, Browns are among the most tricky to catch. Lake Tahoe is a world class fishery for Browns, Mackinaws (Lake Trout), Rainbows, and land locked Kokanee Salmon. It has long been known for the quality of fish over the quantity caught per day. Typically, a five fish day on the lake is considered good and a ten fish day on the lake is downright exceptional. But the sad truth is, that in most cases, if you don’t know what you’re doing, it is unlikely anglers will catch a Brown Trout let alone find one in the giant lake.

Driving into South Lake Tahoe we encounter a late season storm

We have long wanted to fish Tahoe and specifically target brown trout and we got our opportunity when Mark Knoch, co-owner of AC Plugs, asked if we were interested in hitting the lake with some of his newest lure patterns. We decided to hit the lake for a single day on April 24^th and see if we could land a quality Brown.

Soon chains are mandatory on all vehicles other than 4-wheel drive trucks with snow tires 

The challenge was set and on the morning of the 24^th Cal and I head out of the Bay Area to meet up with Mark and fish for only five hours, a small window but we had an extra edge, our guide for the day would be none other than Captain Mike Nielsen of Tahoe Topliners fishing charters.

Finally we make it to the marina

Mike grew up right on the lake has spent 35 years fishing on Tahoe with 13 years of guiding experience and his specialty is fishing for the trout in shallow water using light tackle. This was perfect for our undertaking as many of the large Mackinaw inhabit the deeper water of the lake and we hoped that fishing in the shallows would provide a better opportunity to get into the Brownies.

The clouds part and the storm moves by to reveal beautiful Lake Tahoe

About Lake Tahoe: Lake Tahoe was formed two million years ago with the lake as we know it really taking shape around the time of the last ice age. This ancient lake is a major attraction for outdoor enthusiasts of all sorts ranging from anglers to snow skiers that enjoy the scenic view from the nearby slopes. Tahoe is located along the border between California and Nevada and is the largest alpine lake in North America. Tahoe is known for the clarity of its water and has a maximum depth of 1,645 feet making it the second deepest lake in America, just behind Crater Lake in Oregon which is 1945 feet deep. Approximately two thirds of the 72 miles of shoreline lies within California and the lake is fed from sixty three tributaries with the Truckee River as the only outlet. While some trout can be caught from shore, due to the rapid depth changes the lake is best fished from a boat.

We meet up with Captain Mike Nielsen, one of the top guides on Lake Tahoe