Joe’s Fishing Hole: Take a Kid Fishing at the Spring Creek Marina | Lifestyles

Registration starts at 8 a.m. At 11:30 a.m. all of the participants are invited to stick around for a free drawing for great prizes along with a free lunch. This is not a competitive event the prizes are given out randomly and generally there are enough prizes that most, if not all the kids, get to take something home.

A huge shoutout to all the great sponsors of this event: Spring Creek Association, Khoury’s, Brent Stokes State Farm, Spring Creek Ruby Mountain Lions Club, Nevada Department of Wildlife and Elko Fly Shop.

The Marina was recently stocked and has been closed to fishing until today’s event, so fishing should be fairly good. The forecast calls for partly cloudy on Saturday morning, but it may be windy. Still better than the rain or snow that seemed to accompany this event in years past.

Since it’s Mother’s Day weekend, Dads can give Mom Saturday morning off while they take their kids fishing. Then on Sunday, take Mom to breakfast. Lots of brownie points to be made with both the kids and Mom this weekend! So Happy Mother’s Day to all the great Moms out there.

Surface water temperatures are in the low 50s and fishing continues to be good with most anglers having good luck in both Penrod and Hendricks Arms. The wind also continues to make fishing difficult, especially for float tubers, but fishing has still been good from shore. Fishing in the coves as well as in the Hendricks and Penrod Arms from shore has been good for trout. Patterns are little changed over the past month as fly fishermen have been having good luck with wine colored leech patterns as well as wine or red chironomids with silver wire and a silver bead. Olive leeches and buggers have produced a few fish as well. For bait anglers try fishing an inflated worm a few feet off the bottom using a slip sinker in water that is four to 10 feet deep. Don’t fish it too far from the bank, 20 to 30 feet at most. Another option would be to roll some PowerBait to make a bell shape and fish it in a similar fashion to the inflated worm using a slip sinker and it will float up a couple of feet above the bottom. Make sure to dip the PowerBait in the water for a few seconds after it is on the hook to “gel” it up so it doesn’t come off the hook when casting. Wildhorse was stocked with 10,000 trout in early April. No black bass may be kept until July 1. Please return all black bass to the lake as soon as they are caught.

The wind continues to cause problems for anglers. The best bet is to fish on the west side of the lake so that the wind is at your back. Surface water temperatures are climbing into the low 50’s and fishing has been fair to good depending upon the day for spin, bait and fly rodders. The hot spots appear to be Jet Ski Beach, on the northeast side of the lake, near the spillway on the northwest side of the lake and by the dam on the east side of the lake. While not in great numbers, trout have moved up into the river above South Fork. In the lake bait anglers seem to be having the best luck with worms floated off of the bottom about 20-30 feet from shore in six to 10 feet of water. Spin anglers continue to report good luck with gold Kastmasters and gold colored spinners. Fly fishermen report that fishing has also been good for trout in the 15 to 20-inch range. Most are being caught with chironomid (midge larva) patterns fished under an indicator. Black snow cones with a white bead and red wire ribbing have been working well. Red snow cones are also producing fish. Black, olive or purple wooly buggers and leech patterns have are also catching fish. However, brown or root beer colored wooly buggers and leeches with some flash seem to be working the best for stripping. A few smallmouth, largemouth and wipers have shown up in the creel. Male bass are transitioning from the deeper water to the spawning beds hanging in about 15 to 20 feet of water and moving into warmer shallower water to feed. Use a thermometer to find the warmer water for bass. It may be a couple of weeks before they move into the beds. The wipers were caught near shore in shallow water as they are attempting to spawn even though they aren’t able to. If targeting these warm water fish, slow down the retrieve as the water is still well below their comfort zone and they are moving slower. Chartreuse was working for the wipers and chartreuse or light olive appeared to be working for black bass. South Fork was stocked with approximately 38,000 trout this spring. No black bass may be kept until July 1. Return them to the water as soon as they are caught.

Water levels are up a bit, but still not enough for the boat ramp to be useable. Fishing has been good for fly fishermen using leech, wooly buggers and chironomids. No report on any bass. Anglers should use the same presentations and techniques as are being used at South Fork Reservoir. Since the big question every spring is when will the lake spill, with the low water levels and lack of snow pack, it probably won’t spill this year as it appears the peak snowmelt runoff has already occurred. Wilson was planted with approximately 12,000 trout on April 1.

Harrison pass is drivable. Not much has changed as far as fishing conditions as fishing has been fair to good for 13 to 18-inch fish depending upon the day and location on the ditch. The wind is also playing a part in the fishing. Best days seem to be when there are light to moderate winds to break the surface up. Chironomid patterns such as zebra midges, Yankee buzzers, chromies and ice cream cones should work. Other flies such as leech patterns, balanced leeches, crystal buggers, #14-16 hare’s ears, and #16-18 PT nymphs fished under an indicator are recommended. Very small dry flies have also been effective on these warmer afternoons. Size 16 to 20 elk hair caddis, blue winged olives, ants and Griffith’s gnats should all be effective. Spin anglers should be using small spinners in black or olive with contrasting yellow or red colors. A few fish are being caught near the main boat ramp and in Unit 21. It is still a bit cold for bass. Approximately 1,800 trout have been stocked at the main boat ramp and 6,100 trout in the collection ditch.

JAKES CREEK/BOIES RESERVOIR

The lake is full, surface water temperatures are in the mid-50s, and anglers are catching trout. The surface water temperatures are still in the mid 40’s due to the precipitation and colder air temperatures. Worms seem to be the presentation of choice, though small spinners should also work for those who want to throw some hardware. Fly rodders should be using chironomids, PT nymphs, hare’s ears, small black or olive buggers and leeches.

This winter repairs to the outlet structure and the reservoir bottom were completed, thanks to Kinross Gold. The reservoir is filling nicely and has been stocked with almost 6,500 trout so far this spring. Expect good fishing for 10 to 12-inch fish using the same techniques and presentations as at South Fork. NDOW will begin rebuilding the Largemouth Bass fishery with augmentations this summer.

Cave Lake is lowered to minimum and unfishable. Fish stocking will resume once the dam repairs are completed. Cave Lake is closed to fishing due to shorelines that are very soft and dangerous due to the complete saturation of the soil as the lake is drained. By draining the lake, it should shave a couple of years off the re-building of the dam and cut costs tremendously. It will also make the project much safer for those performing the work. For more information on Cave Lake, please contact the NDOW Ely Field Office.

The new boat dock is in the water and ready for boaters. Surface water temperatures have moved into the mid 50’s and fishing continues to be good. The lake was stocked with approximately 5,500 rainbow trout the last week of March. Nightcrawlers have been working though anglers have also been doing well using PowerBait. For fly rodders, this time of year chironomid patterns are recommended as they can make up as much as 80% of the trout’s diet in the spring in our high desert reservoirs. Black or olive wooly buggers and black, olive or wine-colored leech patterns may also entice trout. Pike anglers have had some success using artificial minnows or spoons for 12-to-18-inch fish. Anglers, please note that NDOW has placed radio tags in several Northern Pike. These pike will have an orange Floy tag near their dorsal fin and a small antenna (~ 7 inches long) coming from their stomach. Please return these fish to the water for research purposes. All other pike should be humanely dispatched. There is no limit on the pike.

Surface water temperatures have risen to around 50 degrees and fishing has been fair to good. Water levels continue to slowly improve. Anglers will do well with a variety of night crawlers, PowerBait, and spinners. For bait anglers nightcrawlers and rainbow PowerBait are the best bet. Small spinners, spoons and Kastmasters in gold for those throwing hardware should work. For fly rodders, this time of year chironomid patterns (midge larva) are recommended as they can make up as much as 80% of the trout’s diet in the spring in our high desert reservoirs. Black or olive wooly buggers and black, olive or wine-colored leech patterns should also catch trout. Illipah has been stocked with approximately 2,500 trout so far this spring.

NDOT has been busy the past couple of weeks and opened the road all the way to Angel Lake. However, the lake is completely ice covered except for a very small sliver of water at the outflow by the spillway. It will probably be a couple of weeks before there is enough open water to wet a line.

Alpine lakes are frozen over and there will be no more fishing reports until late spring or early summer depending upon snowfall. Travel into the high mountains at this time is not recommended due to avalanche conditions.

Stream flows have increased over the past week with the precipitation and snowmelt due to warm weather. Anglers can access the Bruneau over the Gold Creek Road. The East Fork of the Owyhee immediately below Wildhorse Dam is flowing at a trickle as little water is coming out of the dam. However, this is normal for this time of year when the reservoir has plenty of capacity and the snow pack is below average. As you go further downstream flows pick up considerably and by the time you get close to Mountain City it is greatly improved though still half of median. It becomes fishable about a mile below the dam. As of May 5, the East Fork of the Owyhee near Mountain City gauging station was flowing at 139 cfs with the Gold Creek Station (right below the dam) still showing .2 cfs. The Bruneau River flowing was at 121 cfs, the Jarbidge was flowing at 66.6 cfs, Salmon Falls Creek at 185 cfs, Lamoille Creek at 53.9 cfs, the South Fork of the Humboldt at a very fishable 35 to 40 cfs but well below the median of 225 cfs for this time of year, Cleve Creek at 5.1 cfs, Steptoe Creek at 2.2 cfs and Kingston Creek at 2.7 cfs.