While the catch of fish in the smaller lakes of the region is exceedingly large the fish themselves are smaller, the opportunities for hiding and fattening and growing older being comparatively greater in the larger body of water.
| The Triumphant Angler, Lake Tahoe
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During the height of the season when there are a great many boats out it is common to hire a launch which will tow from four to a dozen boats over towards Emerald Bay on the California side, or towards Glenbrook on the Nevada side, where the fishing grounds are known to be of the best. The boatmen especially enjoy these days out—although the "fares" may not always suspect it—as it gives them a change from their ordinary routine and table fare. They enjoy trout as well as do the visitors, and of course, they are all expert cooks as well as boatmen. When noon-time comes, if there has been any luck, a camp-fire is built and the fish are fried, or broiled on the coals, or by experts, made into an excellent chowder. And never does one enjoy a fish dinner so much as under these circumstances. The exercise, the fresh air, the motion over the water, the deliciousness and delicate flavor of the fish, all conspire to tempt the most capricious appetite.
Once in a while a black bass will be caught, though it is not believed that this is a native fish. It does not seem to thrive in Tahoe though the boatmen tell me they occasionally see a few, especially off the docks at Tallac and other points at the south end of the Lake.
Now and again small bull-heads will be seen, and a very small rock-bass. But these never bite on hook and line, and are seldom found more than two or three inches long.
On the other hand big schools of suckers and chubs are seen. The former naturally are scorned by all true fishermen as they are regarded as hogs, or scavengers, and are thrown back whenever caught, or are taken and fed to the gulls or pelicans. The chubs occasionally are hooked and are from half a pound to a pound and a half in size. As a rule these are thrown back, though they make good eating to those who do not object to their excess of bones.
One of the most interesting of sights is to see one of the schools of minnows that fairly abound in Lake Tahoe. In the clear and pellucid water one can clearly see them swim along. As they pass a rocky place a trout will dart out and catch his prey. A flutter at once passes through the whole school. Yet, strange to say, the trout will sometimes swim around such a body and either stupify them with fear, or hypnotize them into forgetfulness of their presence, for they will float quietly in the center of the mass, catching the minnows one by one as they need them without exciting the least fear or attention. The minnows generally remain in fairly shallow water, and keep so closely together that a line of demarcation is made between where they are and outside, as if it had been cut with a knife along a straight edge, and in some mysterious way the fish dare not cross it, though it constantly moves along with their movements.
It will be obvious that necessarily there is much market-fishing in Lake Tahoe and its surrounding lakes. Indeed there are large numbers of fishermen—Indians and whites—who supply the various hotels both of the Lake region and in San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento and adjacent cities, and even as far as Denver and Salt Lake City, eastwards, and Los Angeles to the south. These fishermen are very persistent in their work, keeping at it from early morning until late at night, though their catches are supposed to be officially regulated.
The amount of fish caught and shipped by these market-fishermen is remarkable. In 1911 the report shows that over 22,000 pounds were sent out by express, over half of which were sent from Tallac alone. And this does not take any account of the amount caught and eaten by private residents around the Lake, by the visitors or by the hotels.
The fish that are to be shipped are not, as one might naturally suppose, packed in ice. Experience has demonstrated a better way which is now universally followed. At Tallac the hotel has a large place devoted to this process, which is practically as follows: Each boatman has a fish-box, numbered to correspond with his boat. These are kept in the water during the season, and if the catch of his "fare" for one day is not sufficient for a shipment it is placed in the box. When a sufficient number is on hand, they are taken out by the boatman, carefully cleaned and hung up to dry in fly-proof, open-air cages. When perfectly dry inside and out they are packed in sweet-smelling Tallac Meadow hay, and shipped by express.