Ending the Season at Independence Lake, CA.

Denis Peirce ·

Closing the Season at Independence Lake

First printed in “The Union” newspaper October 9, 2021.

Throughout the DF&W regulations there are many open/closed seasons. Usually the closures are timed to protect spawning or otherwise vulnerable fish. It is axiomatic that the opening and closing dates can feature some of the best fishing on these waters. The same is true on Independence Lake at 7,000’ in the Sierra, managed by the Nature Conservancy. Independence is only open from Memorial Day Weekend through the end of September, the warm weather months.

Trout like cool water. Our best chances of finding them near the surface are the beginning and the end of the season. During the hottest months the fish tend to be down at the 50' level. I wanted to close out the season at Independence hoping to find cool water and the fish on top.

Bill McCrea joined me for the day. We got an early start for the couple of hour drive. As we were going over Donner Pass the air temp was in the high 50's, not very promising for cooling down a lake. As we headed north on Hwy 89 out of Truckee the temps had dropped into the low 30's, conditions were looking better.

We arrived at 8:00am and were on the water and fishing by 9:00. Not the typical dawn start anglers are supposed to do. One night before was the full moon. According to fishing lore, a bad day to be fishing. The theory is that the fish feed all night and are not interested in what we would be offering.

There is another theory that the fish will feed when the moon is directly overhead, midnight, and again 12 hours later when the moon is directly under your feet. I was banking on the second scenario and it proved correct that day.

The water temp was just above 60 degrees. All morning we tried a variety of depths, colors and speeds all to no avail. I was beginning to doubt my angling ability or the theory. But at 1:00pm, 12 hours after the moon's high for the night, the fish began to bite. Bill and I had really good fishing for a couple of hours until we headed in after 3:00.

The cutthroat trout were indeed feeding near the surface. Dave, the lake manager, had commented early in the day that gold/red lures were good producers. The flies that the fish bit consistently had red bodies with a dark wing. Left and center image is Jay Fair “Fiery Rust”. The right hand image is the “Original Jay Fair Special”

We were trolling flies 150' behind the boat in the top five feet of the water column, using the Jay Fair Top-line. The most consistent location for hooking up was that course around the perimeter of the lake where you can see the bottom on one side of the boat and the blue-gray of deep water on the other. Years ago in a conversation with John Hiscox, retired fisheries biologist, he explained that this transition line on the lake allowed the fish to hide out of view in the depths adjacent to the shallows where most of the food is.

The best cutthroat of the afternoon was a hand length longer than the net was wide. I would like to say it was 24” but the reality was closer to 20”. The rest of the trout ran 10” to 16” with a small kokanee thrown in. The kokanee in the photos below is typical of the adults in the lake, small 6 inch size with an olive back. These kokanee are one of the prime bait fish for the cutthroats.

Another baitfish in the lake is the Lahontan Redside Minnow. It is found throughout the Truckee River drainage from Lake Tahoe downstream. Independence Lake feeds Independence Creek which flows into the Little Truckee River and then into Stampede Reservoir. The redside is native to the lake.

From L to R:

Independence is my favorite lake in the Sierra. I have been fishing it since 1978. My best fish was a 26” cutthroat caught on a Tandem Arctic Fox Tui Chub. In good water years the lake remains full during the summer and is only drawn down in the fall. Make plans now to go early June next year. You will have a great trip.

For directions, boat availability or other information go to the lake website.

Independence Lake Preserve | The Nature Conservancy in CA and NV