thanks theo, here i just assumed everyone knew what a "mack" was. great link. i've heard true what it says about the macks dominating the fishery and wiping out the rest of the "indigenous" cutthroats back around 1900. the cutthroats first suffered uncontrolled fishing combined with impacts from clear cutting the region in the late 1800's, then came the macks and mysis shrimp which changed the whole ecosystem. its a heck of a lake trout fishery now though, and rainbows and browns are in there as well. bows and browns well over 10 lbs are occassionally caught by the few anglers that now how.
teehjaeh57, yer welcome...it was only my second time to fish tahoe. i have a ways to go before i could be productive by myself up there. the color and clarity of that water is truly stunning. the light bites translate into a very distinct almost undetectable motion on the rod. all the bites we had were mere nibbles, VERY TOUGH to identify over the motion translated by the large dodgers, occassional bottom bumping, and kicker motor vibration.
mr. hemmingway is a tahoe native and has been running guide service for nearly 30 years, and he is a REAL character. the type of guy that straps on snow shoes, hikes 10 miles back into remote high country lakes just to go ice fishin for an afternoon. sleeps overnight in a snow shelter and hikes back out the next day.
you got it bruce.
the limit on macks is 2/day. from what i've heard, in the past when doing C&R, the guides would puncture the air sack w/ a needle prior to releasing figuring it would heal and fish were fine, but some recent studies showed high morts as a result of this. some new methods use the downrigger to slowly put the fish back down to depth w/out the pithing. so i guess its good i only caught 2 cause i prefer to eat em anyways
