The Bench along the Tahoe Rim Trail is a destination full of beauty. (Image: Kathryn Reed)
My chest tightened as oxygen seemed to be missing. It’s not a good sign when you feel the elevation just walking from the car to the trailhead sign.
Suddenly I doubted my ability to make the 11.2 miles.
At one point it’s like walking through a Christmas tree farm in the wild. (Image: Kathryn Reed)
This was a day after birthday hike last weekend. I wanted to see what I was still capable of. I wanted to go someplace I hadn’t been before. I wanted to be immersed in incredible scenery.
Goals all accomplished. Bonus was seeing a bear.
I finished with an elevation gain of 1,901 feet. Lowest elevation was 7,191 feet and highest was 8,816.
Gorgeous views of Lake Tahoe are the reason to make this hike. (Image: Kathryn Reed)
Destination was The Bench along the Tahoe Rim Trail. It can be accessed from Spooner Summit or Kingsbury Grade. I opted for Spooner because the round trip was shorter.
I ran into people doing a one-way, which would have been ideal if I could have handled added mileage. That would have required asking a friend to join me. On this day I wanted to enjoy Mother Nature on my own, going at my own pace.
I find out-and-backs interesting because terrain seldom looks the same going in both directions, so no biggie not to do a one-way.
Playing peek-a-boo with a bear. (Image: Kathryn Reed)
So expansive are the views of Lake Tahoe it’s almost like you can see all of the shores.
Glimpses of the lake come into view quickly, but the best is right before The Bench. In fact, The Bench doesn’t have the best scenery—it’s super good—but even better is before you reach it—at least from the Spooner side.
At one point it was like walking through a miniature Christmas tree farm. It made me wonder why the U.S. Forest Service doesn’t thin these pines before they grow so large they come a firefighters’ nightmare.
Even when Lake Tahoe isn’t in view, the scenery is beautiful. (Image: Kathryn Reed)
Much of the trail is compact dirt with some forest duff. There are rocky spots, but nothing horrible—as in it never crossed my mind to pull the poles out of my pack.
The destination is an actual bench. Two plaques are on the wooden bench that was erected by Kiwanis Club of Lake Tahoe. The bench was installed in 1988 by the service club in memory of Malcolm Winans. The other says: “Dedicated to the memory of George Wilson for 44 years of outstanding service” to the service club, dated 2008.
It was a mix of hikers and mountain bikers on the trail; all courteous as we shared this swath of Mother Nature doing our own thing.
While some of the foliage was changing color, especially at the trailhead, this isn’t one of those fall hikes where flora is the focus.
From the South Shore, Spooner South trailhead is on the right side of Highway 50. It’s at the top of Spooner Summit just past the intersection of Highway 28.
The steepest section is at the start.
You’ll cross a dirt road. Just keep an eye out for TRT signs.
Bees are often the first pollinators people name because they do the heavy lifting. However, hummingbirds are the most common pollinators in the Lake Tahoe Basin.
Other animals out there making the system work by going after a flower’s nectar or pollen include: beetles, butterflies, moths, wasps, ants and bats.
Will Richardson, executive director and co-founder of the Tahoe Institute for Natural Science, recently gave a talk titled “Tahoe’s high-altitude helpers: The secret lives of Sierra pollinators” at the behest of the Tahoe Environmental Research Center.
“Pollinators exist in large part due to a lot of constraints that plants have by being stuck in the ground. When you’re rooted to the ground, that means that there’s a lot of challenges that you may face trying to find mates and reproducing, trying to get away from competitors, trying to get away from things that want to eat you, herbivores, right?” Richardson said. “Pollination is one attempt to try to get around the challenges of finding mates and the reproducing part of that equation. And a lot of plants adopt the strategy of just cranking out a ton of pollen and casting their fate to the wind, literally.”
A butterfly searches for nectar in a flower. (Image: Kathryn Reed)
A plant like the yucca needs a specific pollinator—the yucca moth. Some pollinators need a certain plant. Others are generalists, meaning the plant doesn’t care who comes calling and the animal doesn’t care who provides the pollen.
Agave, and blue agave in particular, requires the long-nosed bat. That blue agave is what can become tequila.
Richardson said to attract beetles, plant corn lilies in your garden or a bowl shaped flower. Hummingbirds love the color red and tubular plants. July is when hummingbirds are most prolific in Tahoe.
“They get incredibly territorial. You see them fighting at a hummingbird feeder,” Richardson said. “Hummingbirds are crazy. They’re completely psychotic, fighting over this huge food source, but they cannot help it because they have evolved to vigorously defend these nectars during migration.”
Yarrow, he said, is great for one’s yard because an array of pollinators love it.
Even the somewhat odd looking snow plants have pollen to share. Hummingbirds love them because they are red. Big swallowtail butterflies also find these plants attractive.
Butterflies need something to hold on to—a platform of sorts—like lilies.
“Butterflies can see a ridiculous number of colors. Who knows what their visual world looks like, but it’s got to be something,” Richardson said.
That’s one reason colorful gardens often seem to be swarming with butterflies. Moths and butterflies are searching for nectar.
“If you go look at a group of manzanita flowers that’s been out for a while, you will see that they’re riddled with holes and that’s from nectar robbers,” Richardson said. “And there’s a lot of bugs, smaller bees, honey bees, even some big bumblebees, wasps, all kinds of stuff are basically chewing holes through the base of the thing to get to the nectar.”
Ants do minimal pollination. Richardson said they are better at moving seeds around.
“Bees will eat anything. They are the absolute champion pollinators. They do need the pollen. They are feeding their young pollen,” Richardson said. “I’ve seen a lot of estimates, but around 80 to 85 percent of all flowering plants recruit bees to do at least some, if not all, of their work.”
For Tahoe, honey bees are a nonnative pollinator.
“We are having a bit of a pollinator crisis. We’re having a legitimate insect crisis,” Richardson said. “A lot of that is due to habitat loss. We don’t fully understand what role pesticides have, but they are getting a lot of blame and probably rightly so.”
Richardson said the best thing people can do is grow native plants to attract native pollinators.
Some of the litter, including plastics, unearthed by the robot at Zephyr Cove Resort in Tahoe. (Image: ECO-CLEAN Solutions)
While it might not be obvious, chances are you are swimming with microplastics when you are in Lake Tahoe. Swallow a gulp of lake water? Yep, you may have just ingested particles of plastic. Plastics are in the sand you are walking and sitting on as well.
Tahoe Environmental Research Center hosted a talk by Monica Arienzo, associate research professor in hydrologic sciences at Desert Research Institute in Reno, titled “Plastic pollution in the Tahoe basin.”
Some plastics sink to the bottom of the lake, others float, and still others move within the water column. Some are easy to see; some require a microscope.
Macroplastics are what you can see. They include plastic bags, wrappers and any piece bigger than a pencil eraser. Microplastics are the small pieces measuring 5mm or smaller. Macroplastics can become microplastics as they breakdown.
The BEBOT unearths foreign matter at Zephyr Cove Resort with the direction of JB Harris, co-founder and CEO of ECO-CLEAN Solutions. (Image: ECO-CLEAN Solutions)
For many reasons alarm bells are going off because of these plastics, with a biggie being they are made from oil and natural gas. Harmful chemicals are released when plastics breakdown.
“My research group is interested in understanding what happens when that plastic leaks into the environment. Where does it go? What happens to it? How does it move in the environment? And what are some of those sources that we can start to tackle?” Arienzo said.
Arienzo pointed out even though many products are now BPA-free, meaning they don’t have Bisphenol A, there is still plenty to worry about.
PFAS, or what’s known as forever chemicals, is a “growing area of concern because it’s often added to plastics.”
She praised the federal government investing $144 million to better understand the health effects of plastics.
Humans are also wearing plastic because most synthetic materials contain plastics. “If your clothes stretch, they have plastic in it,” Arienzo said. Washing synthetic clothes less often keeps wastewater from being loaded with plastics. Air drying these clothes prevents plastic collected in lint from blowing into the environment.
Tires contain plastics. Carpooling and taking public transit can help with less tire debris entering the world.
Plastics are in paint and personal care products.
All plastics eventually breakdown, enter the environment and then have consequences downstream, literally and figuratively.
It’s not just humans who contend with the ill effects of plastics. Animals can eat plastics and get entangled in them; both with potentially lethal outcomes.
“What we know about microplastics in general and how they apply with the Tahoe basin is that we know plastics can be found in our rain and our snow,” Arienzo said.
Her group has been working with TERC to unearth how much plastic is in the moisture here, and what happens as it is transported into rivers, streams and the lake. Sediment also becomes a receptor for microplastics.
These particles also leave Lake Tahoe via the Truckee River in Tahoe City, winding up in Reno’s water supply. These researchers found plastics throughout the Truckee River and in Pyramid Lake. A student of Arienzo’s has found them in Incline Creek as well.
“I can tell you everywhere we have looked we have found plastics,” Arienzo said.
Much of her talk focused on the macro pieces of plastic that are found on the beaches of Lake Tahoe. For the last two summers college interns scoured Tahoe beaches for litter. This summer they are not out working, but hope to be again next summer if funding allows.
Students were at Mourelatos Resort in Tahoe Vista, Kings Beach, Camp Richardson and Tahoe Beach Club in Stateline. They chose these sites to study the differences and similarities between the North Shore and South Shore, and private vs. public beaches.
Items were collected by a BEBOT, a remote controlled device that collected the debris while sifting out the sand. The BEBOT, short for beach robot, is being used at beaches throughout Tahoe rid the sand of trash.
Litter for this study was defined as any item not native to the environment like plastic, Styrofoam, metal, paper, glass, personal hygiene and animal waste. These were broken into subcategories that were counted and weighed. Native items such as sticks and pine cones were left on the beach.
Results included:
Mourelatos—56 percent was other, 31 percent plastic, 6 percent paper.
Other included: Asian clams, other shells, fireworks/celebration items, nonnative nuts/shells, food items/bones, hair ties/rubber bands, non-plastic fabric and clothing, tobacco items that weren’t cigarette butts like wrappers, lighters and Zyn pouches, toys, construction and charcoal.
“We created a new category for nicotine pouches because this was a new kind of item that we were finding more and more prevalent in our litter. (And) a lot of nuts and shells were found,” Arienzo said. “Again, this is stuff that people are bringing to the beaches and not cleaning up.”
Across all four sites plastic made up 58 percent of the litter, food wrappers 13 percent, while cigarette butts and plastic clothing were 8 percent each.
The BEBOT, short for beach robot, leaves behind clean sand at Camp Richardson. (Image: ECO-CLEAN Solutions)
Kings Beach had the highest litter and plastic counts per meter squared, followed by Camp Rich, TBC and Mourelatos.
Arienzo was surprised to find the plastic content so high at Tahoe Beach Club. It was closer to Camp Rich than Mourelatos. Speculation is this might have to do with the bar serving drinks in plastic containers with plastic straws.
The trend is more litter accumulates on public beaches. This could be because more people are on the public beaches. It could also be that private beaches are better maintained.
“If we really wanted to do some messaging around plastic litter, we could really start to educate around these items in particular, and around cigarette butts,” Arienzo said. She noted how more and more beaches have cigarette butt disposal sites; so people need to be made aware of them and the importance of using them.
Other things people can do: don’t buy single use tea bags made with plastic, wear cotton, rinse and reuse plastic bags, bring to-go containers to restaurants, get reusable mesh bags for produce.
“My feeling is we are not recycling our way out of this problem. My feeling is if we want to stop plastic pollution, stop microplastics, we have to say we turn off the tap on plastics,” Arienzo said. “The only way we are going to stem the tide of all of this plastic in the environment, in our bodies, biota, the environment is we just have to stop using them.”
Boiling water makes Lassen Volcanic National Park special. (Image: Kathryn Reed)
Hot water is one thing Lassen Volcanic National Park is well known for. Not water to soak in, but water to appreciate from a bit of distance. It’s scalding hot.
The visitors center has a wealth of information about all the bubbling, boiling and gurgling going on.
“As rainwater and snow seeps through porous volcanic soil it trickles down to rocks heated by a chamber of molten or partially molten magma. Once water becomes super-heated, under intense pressure it works its way back up to the earth’s surface as steam, a boiling pool of water or bubbling pots of mud,” a sign reads.
These hot spots are scattered throughout the park. The smell of sulfur is a tall-tell sign hot water is nearby.
I few years ago I had the opportunity to hike to Boiling Springs Lake. I would put this on your to-do list. I had never seen a boiling lake before. The water is a consistent 125 degrees.
Last month I toured the visitors center again with some friends. It’s chock full of interesting things about the park. It seems appropriate to have been there in August, which marked this park’s 100th birthday. President Woodrow Wilson designated Lassen as the country’s 15th national park.
Rocks are stained from the sulfuric water at Lassen Park. (Image: Kathryn Reed)
Not far from the center is an opportunity to walk close to these boiling pools of water. Sulphur Works is “named for sulfur-mining operations at the site in 1865, at one time Sulphur Works also offered hot mineral baths. In 1951 the National Park Service acquired Sulphur Works to protect one of the park’s most dynamic and accessible hydrothermal features.”
Steam vents, called fumaroles, are here as well as mudpots and boiling springs.
NASA even has in interest in all of this.
“Researchers from NASA and academia are working together in Lassen to study microorganisms that thrive in water too hot for humans to touch. They can tell us about the first organisms on Earth, as well as the potential for life to have existed on Mars or other bodies in our solar system. The science that explores for life elsewhere in the universe is called astrobiology,” a sign reads.
It’s relatively easy to get to remote Blue Lake on the outskirts of Lassen Volcanic National Park. (Image: Kathryn Reed)
I can tell you about hiking to Blue Lake, but I can’t tell you exactly how to get there.
The latter is partly because I wasn’t driving, I’d never been there and road signs seemed to be non-existent.
Good thing Sally was driving and had been there several times.
Sally, Eve, Sophie and Kae at Blue Lake in August. (Image: Kathryn Reed)
Sophie, Eve and I joined her for a girls weekend last month at her cabin in Mill Creek on the outskirts of Lassen National Volcanic Park, with one activity being a hike.
I know we drove by Wilson Lake and were on a road with the same name, made a left at a four-way without obvious signs to me, drove several miles on a dirt road before parking on the right in a cut out wide enough for about four vehicles. The trailhead started across the street where what looks like a homemade sign says Blue Lake.
With ferns being some of the first plant life, I knew water was nearby. It seemed like within seconds we came across a little waterfall. We stopped at it on the way back to admire its beauty.
The trail makes a steady climb up, but nothing strenuous. In fact, this hike is pretty darn easy. It was the perfect amount on this particular day.
At times we walked through tall, blonde grasses that could have been wild rye that seemed to reach my shoulders. Other times it was looming conifers that towered about us.
While fire can be devastating, it can leave behind what looks like art. (Image: Kathryn Reed)
We skirted by Duck Lake on the right, but it wasn’t inviting enough to have us take a detour.
While this wasn’t the time of year for much in the way of wildflowers, plenty of plant life abounded. Tiny white flowers could be seen on the Russethair saxifrage. Wild buckwheat, drooping brome and penstemon were some of the flora.
Fire has ravaged these woods in the last several years. So much of Lassen Park was torched by the Dixie Fire in 2021, while Sally’s cabin and all of Mill Creek narrowly escaped the flames of the 2024 Park Fire.
Little water spills from the falls at the start of the Blue Lake trail in late August. (Image: Kathryn Reed)
The lake was the perfect spot for lunch. Sally was the only one brave enough to go swimming. I’m wussy when it comes to cold water, though surprisingly this was warmer than Lake Tahoe and the Sierra lakes I am more accustomed to hiking to.
We did an out and back, having gone about halfway around the lake. It was about 3 miles round trip, with an elevation gain of 344 feet. The low point was 6,009 feet, with max elevation 6,355 feet.
Searching online it seems like it’s possible to do this as a round trip that would involve a trek to Spencer Meadows; that would have mileage closer to 7.5 miles. Parts of that trail are said to be sketchy in terms of some cross country/winging-it necessary.
If the road to hell really is paved with good intentions, it’s easy to surmise where those who thought it a good idea to introduce nonnative species to Lake Tahoe will end up.
Then again, with wildlife biologists and others working feverishly to re-establish Lahontan cutthroat trout (LCT) in the lake, maybe another road is being paved for those who committed the earlier misdeeds.
LCT are Tahoe’s only native trout. They are on the federal engendered species list.
Logging, overfishing, dams and other water diversions along with the introduction of nonnatives led to the demise of the Lahontan cutthroat in the 1930s.
Other native fish at Lake Tahoe include tui chub, Tahoe sucker, mountain whitefish, Lahontan reside shiners and speckled dace.
Mackinaw, also known as lake trout, were first introduced here in the late 1800s. To this day one of the things they dine on are the LCT.
Millions of dollars are being spent on re-establishing Lahontan cutthroat trout to Lake Tahoe and other nearby lakes. (Image: California Department of Fish and Wildlife)
This century the feds along with both states have been working to bring LCT back to Tahoe and its tributaries, as well as to Echo and Fallen Leaf lakes. Nevada Department of Wildlife since 2022 has stocked Tahoe with 100,000 LCT.
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service proposed the reintroduction of the native species to Fallen Leaf Lake in 1999, with the first stocking occurring in 2002.
The USFWS hatchery in the Carson Valley is the main source of LTC that are stocked at Tahoe and other Sierra lakes.
“In part we are trying to fix the problem we created,” Sam Sedillo, NDOW fisheries biologist, said.
The purpose to stock Tahoe, he said, is for sport fishing. The fish are tagged, with the hope people who catch them will report data back to his agency for their research purposes.
While Sedillo is optimistic about the studies going on at Incline and Third creeks in Incline Village, he said it’s too soon to know if LCT will be successfully re-established in the basin.
2012 was the first time Lahontan cutthroat reproduced naturally in the Lake Tahoe Basin in more than 70 years.
The goal is to have Third Creek be home to spawning cutthroat without rainbow trout able to make it up the same passage.
“We are not taking rainbow out of tributaries,” Sedillo explained. “What NDOW does with rainbow trout at the structure is we tag them. We will spawn fish onsite, take them to the hatchery, and release them back to Tahoe downstream so they are not moving into the tributary to spawn.”
Cross breeding of rainbow and LCT would eventually lead to the demise of the latter.
Lahontan cutthroat trout is Nevada’s state fish. The largest one to be reeled in—41 pounds—was in 1925 at Pyramid Lake.
Nevada and California’s wildlife departments are the main agencies working on LCT; however it’s a collaborative effort that includes the Washoe Tribe, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, USFWS and Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit.
“For TRPA, recovering this native species is both a goal of the environmental threshold standards for wildlife and a major project of the Lake Tahoe environmental improvement program,” Jeff Cowen, TRPA spokesperson, said. “The biggest challenges for the recovery effort include reconnecting habitat by removing fish passage barriers in streams and rivers like bridges and culverts installed during Tahoe’s development. Also, hybridization with rainbow trout which share spawning ground and predation by Mackinaw trout which sometimes feed on their eggs.”
A West Shore project could be good news for the LCT. Caltrans is replacing the bridge at Meeks Bay, which ties into the tribe’s restoration of Meeks Meadow, while the Forest Service is removing the historic marina and making improvements to the creek. A goal is LCT will spawn again in Meeks Creek.
Tens of millions of dollars have and are being spent on getting Lahontan cutthroat trout to call Lake Tahoe and its tributaries home again. It’s all for sportfishing and to restore the wrongs committed years ago.
Zach Gordon, a boat captain and guide for Tahoe Sportfishing, calls the efforts wasteful and unsuccessful.
For years there has been a concern that LCT will decimate the rainbow trout population, which would impact the sport fishing industry.
Common nonnatives in addition to Mackinaw and rainbow trout include brown trout and Kokanee salmon.
Other fish seen and caught in the lake that are obviously are not native include goldfish being dumped from personal aquariums. Some have grown to 15 inches long. Largemouth bass, bluegill and crappies are other species the natives have to compete against.
What no one plans to do is remove the nonnative trout and salmon.
“We are not going to permit or go out and haphazardly remove sport fish in the lake for something that isn’t guaranteed,” Sedillo said. “An effort to remove nonnative fish is not worth it any shape or form, and it would not be successful either.”
Grape vines in Chico look more like fall than summer in August. (Image: Kathryn Reed)
Hints of yellow are appearing sooner than usual. (Image: Kathryn Reed)
Fall is in the air, or at least on the leaves, and it’s only August. November seems to be peak foliage season in Chico, but it might be earlier this year based on seeing hints of color in the last couple weeks.
Chico is spectacular in the fall with all the trees aglow. With it being known as the City of Trees, it really is magical in autumn.
I couldn’t find anything online as to why the color change might be coming earlier this year in Chico. It could have to do with the spring being warmer than usual and the winter rainfall sporadic.
I know most all of the harvests in Northern California have been sooner, so why not the deciduous trees getting in on this as well?
The small vineyard near one of the tennis courts where I play looks like fall. Tippy tops of some trees are changing to yellow and orange.
While the daytime temperatures still scream summer, the evenings seem to be cooler than years past. This must play into the trees thinking the seasons are changing.
Autumn is my favorite time of year, so no complaints if it lasts longer this year.
Jack Johnson, from left, Mike Behrens and Scott Olson start the day fishing before the sun is barely up. (Image: Kathryn Reed)
Music. It’s what makes a fish bite. Just ask Tyler Chia.
While everyone else had dinner chilling on ice, he didn’t have so much as a nibble.
Then Capt. Zach Gordon asked Chia what tunes he wanted to listen to. The country got eighty-sixed, as it wasn’t helping anyone. Drake was Chia’s answer and the solution to his fish drought. Within minutes Chia was working two lines. A massive grin filled his boyish face as he stood on deck on this cool June morning with a Mackinaw in each hand.
Fifteen Mackinaw, also known as lake trout, were hauled in that day by the six men aboard Tahoe Sportfishing’s largest boat, the Prophet. Most of these weighed less than 6 pounds, but still plenty of meat for dinner. Everyone was planning to take their catch to MacDuff’s Pub for the restaurant to prepare three ways—beer-battered, blackened and sautéed.
Lake Tahoe doesn’t have a minimum weight for fish pulled from its water. The main rule is no more than five total per person. It can become catch-and-release if people have more than they can consume.
On this excursion only Mackinaw were biting—no Kokanee salmon, no brown or rainbow trout.
Robert Aronsen, who was a resident of South Lake Tahoe at the time, still holds the record—37.6 pounds—for the largest Mackinaw from Lake Tahoe. This was back in 1974.
Tyler Chia of Southern California shows off his nearly simultaneous haul. (Image: Kathryn Reed)
Destination fishing
Mergansers dart in the shallow water, making the only ripple on the glassy waters.
Capt. Gordon keeps the mood light on his vessel that departs from Ski Run Marina at the break of dawn. With how the sun dips behind the various ridges on the East Shore, it was like experiencing multiple sunrises in one morning.
Then the top of Mount Tallac comes out of the dark. Soon it is completely awash in sunlight. Only fishing boats are out at this hour. That changes as the air temperature rises.
Daylight awakens the vocal chords of those onboard. Introductions. Pleasantries. A few light-hearted jokes. Building comradery for what will become a collaborative effort to land fish after fish after fish.
Tommy Chia is with his sons, Tyler and Ryan. The Orange County trio are in town while their wife/mom is at a conference. Mike Behrens of Arizona is on his first visit to Tahoe, with catching a Mackinaw a primary goal—which he did more than once. He was celebrating his 47th wedding anniversary. Part of the fun included this fishing expedition with his childhood buddy Jack Johnson of Wisconsin. Scott Olson traveled from Sonoma. He says he only catches fish on guided trips. All were fishing Lake Tahoe for the first time.
Deck hand Nate Mitchell cleans one of the Mackinaw. (Image: Kathryn Reed)
After deck hand Nate Mitchell threaded live red-sided bass minnows onto the hooks and the lines were dispatched to a depth of a couple hundred feet, Gordon surveyed his brood. He pointed to Olson. “He looks fishy.” That’s a compliment, meaning he’s the one to watch, the one who is going to reel in multiple fish and likely be the one to feed everyone onboard.
Gordon, who has been a captain since 2007, was spot on. Within minutes Olson’s pole arced. He brought in about at 2.5 pound Mackinaw.
“When I had him it felt like 10 pounds,” Olson said. “I need to rest my arm.”
Gordon is full of clever quips: “Come on, we put three in the lake last night so there are two left.”
Fish No. 2 went to Olson. He was definitely “fishy” the entire trip.
When lines hit the bottom, Gordon chimed: “We don’t want to catch the plug to the lake and drain the whole thing.”
Hook, line and sinker
Lake Tahoe and its tributaries have been fishing meccas for eons. Fish were a staple of the Washoe Indians who lived at the lake during the summer.
Now recreational fishing charters ply the water year-round, with more than a dozen outfitters working all ends of the lake. Commercial fishing, where the haul is sold off, is not allowed at Lake Tahoe.
South Lake Tahoe government officials were not able to quantify the economic impact of fishing charters; and Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority doesn’t market fishing as an activity. Even so, fishing is big business for those with the boats and poles.
“It’s not like being on the ocean and trying to fill your freezer. It really is about the experience—going on Lake Tahoe, fishing Tahoe, the scenic views, and the opportunity to catch fish and eat it that same night,” Zach Shearer, operations manager with Tahoe Sportfishing, said. “It’s a really, really cool experience that not many places in the world are offering.”
Shearer grew up fishing; he almost had to. In 1997, the year before he was born, his dad, John, bought the South Lake Tahoe outfitter from Dean Lockwood. Lockwood opened the business in 1953.
Tahoe Sportfishing has been taking people out on Lake Tahoe since 1953. (Image: Kathryn Reed)
The Prophet, one of the first boats Shearer purchased, was overhauled last year—with this being the first full season back on Tahoe. The 43-foot Delta has new, quieter engines that are better for the environment.
Tahoe Sportfishing with its six boats has the largest fleet of fishing vessels on Lake Tahoe. All boats are Coast Guard certified. All are also ocean-worthy, which is a good thing considering Lake Tahoe gets plenty rough.
“Lake trout is what we fish for most of the year. They are always moving, doing different things,” Shearer said. “A big benefit of fishing year-round is consistently knowing where they are because the hot spots always change.”
Captains tap into the Tahoe Environmental Research Center’s website to get information about the currents in the lake. They are forecasted from data collected via the buoys in the water. Currents can move 100 feet a minute.
Sonar also helps locate fish along the various shelves.
While fishing licenses from California and Nevada work for individuals in both states, captains need to be certified by each state if they want to take the boat anywhere on the lake. Gordon is the only captain with Tahoe Sportfishing who has a Nevada captain’s license. Two captains with other outfitters also have a Nevada license.
About 50 percent of Tahoe Sportfishing’s customers are repeat clientele. For others, this is a bucket list item. Still others want a day on the lake. Afternoon charters tend to be more about hanging out than hauling in one’s limit.
And it might not just be fish you catch. Gordon joked with one of the guys who had a piece of wood on the line: “Bring it in. It might be the only thing you catch.” Then Gordon offered to take the man’s picture with the wood, which made everyone on board laugh.
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