Outdoors with Don Q: Indian Creek Reservoir in the Springtime

If you have a 2013 California fishing license and if you are looking for somewhere to fish that is fairly close to the Carson City area, look no further than Indian Creek Reservoir (ICR) in nearby Alpine County.
You just might want to seriously consider ICR as it contains cutthroat, brown and rainbow trout, plus even some bass.

That trout-filled reservoir is a mere 39 miles from our front door and it is easily reached from here by two different directions:

— Just take U.S. 395 south to the intersection of that highway and Nevada S.R. 88, then take a combination of Nevada S.R. 88 and California S.R. 88 to Woodfords. In Woodfords turn left onto California S.R. 89 and take that highway to the signed road on the left that leads to the county airport. Drive on that road toward the airport. At the edge of the air strip, take the paved road on the left to the reservoir.

— The reservoir can also be reached from another direction: A dirt road from Diamond Valley. That road is corduroyed and in other places, it is rocky and bumpy. It is a good dirt road that you can drive with any 2WD vehicle, just take it slow and easy in the corduroyed and rocky areas.
On Sunday, March 24, Elaine and I drove to ICR, via the paved airport road, to take some photos for future use and to do a little bit of fishing before returning back home.

When we arrived in late morning, the weather was gorgeous (warm, no clouds, bright sunshine and no wind). However, about mid-day the wind came up and it was definitely a jacket-wearing time of day.
We parked by the locked gate on the road to the BLM campground, loaded up all of our gear (extra clothing, camera, snacks, water bottles, fishing gear, fishing vest and folding chairs), and hiked to near the boat launch ramp.

Once there, we set up our folding chairs, put some bait on our hooks (Elaine was using a nightcrawler and I had two orange Power Nuggets on mine) and tossed out our lines.
I sat in my chair, enjoying the warm sunshine and working a crossword puzzle, while Elaine took a number of photos of the lake and some other fishermen, who were close to us.
Surprisingly, to us, there were lots of fishermen (we saw two car top boats, one canoe, about 8-10 float tubers and a whole bunch of shore anglers).

Lots of fishermen but not much catching for the time that we were there.
The only real action of any kind was by the two shore fishermen who were just on the other side of the boat ramp.

They each had two poles, they were fishing with bait, and they caught and kept a number of dinky-sized fish. 
It could have been interesting if a hard-nosed game warden had checked their one stringer of fish because there were more than five trout on it.

It is my understanding that it is a big "NO NO" to have more than one limit on one stringer. Whenever we catch and keep fish, Elaine and I each have a stringer for whatever fish that person catches.
We did watch and photograph a fly guy who caught and released about a 15-inch rainbow that took a yellow-colored fly.

How did we do? Well, Elaine caught and released a couple of small rainbows, and I worked my crossword puzzles!
We left for home about 1:30 p.m., and on the spur of the moment, we dropped in to say hi to our longtime friend Gloria Washam who lives in Woodfords and who is also the publisher of the annual newspaper "Fishing The California Alps."
It was a fun visit and it was a great way to end another outdoor outing.

Bet Your Favorite Pigeon
Bet your favorite pigeon that he can't name the two small lakes that are the closest to Indian Creek Reservoir.
If he grins and says, "Heck that is easy, those two small lakes are Curtz Lake next to the paved airport highway and Summit Lake, which is a short hike from Curtz Lake," he is familiar with that area.

— Don Quilici is the Outdoor editor for Carson Now and www.SouthTahoeNow.com. He can be reached at donquilici@hotmail.com