I fished the lake a couple of times over the last few weeks. The first time, my better half, Renee, kicked my behind. But we did get 13 fish to the boat, kept a couple, and released the rest.

I went up last weekend with my good friend Matt Wicks. Now, I did not tell him that the NDOW had planted the lake with over 3,000 triploid trout. I figured we would be fighting to keep the little buggers off our lines. I could see fish all over the lake, right below us, but we could not buy a bite. We fished for 5 hours, and Matt did catch a nice 16-inch rainbow using an F5 perch Rapala while toplining. I tried every color and size on my lead-core lines with no success. It just was not my day.

But we met some nice anglers around the dock who told us they had not caught a thing all day either. We did notice a lot of green algae on the north side of the lake. The south end was a lot cleaner. Now, as a note, the NDOW will have a boat inspector up there for all boaters through the winter. They do not charge for the inspection or decontamination if needed. When you see them, say thank you for keeping Topaz clean. Now, the nice thing about Topaz Lake is that you can use either a CA or NV fishing license, and it is open all year long.