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LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. – Lake Tahoe natural resource and law enforcement agencies remind residents and visitors to practice proper food storage and trash disposal at all times while in bear country. Intentional or unintentional feeding of bears can result in unwanted bear behaviors, increased human-bear conflicts, and public safety issues, as well as fines and possible jail time for violators. Each year law enforcement and state wildlife officers respond to hundreds of calls in which bears may pose a public safety threat or are damaging property. In some cases, the bear must be euthanized.

Hello fellow anglers, it is that time of year to celebrate the new year and the Topaz Lake opening day fishing season. On Monday, Jan. 1, 2018 at precisely 6:46 a.m. will be the official starting time for anglers to begin fishing on Topaz Lake.

For those of you driving out that morning, be careful and mindful of other drivers on the road that have might celebrated to much the night before.

Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District christened Marine 24 Monday, giving Lake Tahoe its first year-round firefighting boat.

At a cost of almost $500,000, Marine 24 is able to fight fire from hoses on board as well as hooking up to pipes along lakefront homes in Douglas County and piping water from the lake into water tenders. The boat can send water 300 feet, but their main function will be to pump water into pipes at the shore that water tenders will hook up to.

In 2015, the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) spent more than $250,000 to remove illegally stocked northern pike that had decimated the trout fishery at Comins Lake, and now that work, time and money were for naught.

The voracious predator has again been illegally planted in the lake south of Ely, Nevada.

With recent water tragedies in Lake Tahoe we are republishing this 2016 article.

The most common misunderstanding about swimming in Lake Tahoe is that people can suffer from hypothermia, which leads to death. The real truth is that "cold water shock" will kill much quicker than hypothermia ever will.

"The sudden lowering of skin temperature on immersion in cold water represents one of the most profound stimuli that the body can encounter." Golden and Tipton in Essentials of Sea Survival

A three-year-old female bear was hit by a vehicle early Wednesday morning on SR-28 in the Memorial Point area south of Sand Harbor near Incline Village.

Washoe County Sheriff's Office (WCSO) received a call at 12:40 a.m. by a passing motorist on May 31 of an injured bear lying in the roadway. When deputies responded they found the badly injured bear who was breathing but unable to move.

A Washoe County Sheriff's deputy trying to scare off a group of bears in Incline Village Saturday morning shot the mother bear with a live round instead of a rubber round.

At approximately 10:45 a.m. on Saturday, May 6, 2017, deputies responded to a report of a group of bears near residences in the area of Driver Way and Village Boulevard in Incline Village.

On arrival, deputies encountered a mother bear and three cubs. This group of bears had been previously identified as food aggressive and deputies have had numerous encounters with this group in recent weeks.

Nevada wildlife biologists released a three-plus year old male black bear back into the forest near the top of Mt. Rose Summit on Monday morning after capturing him Sunday in Incline Village at Lake Tahoe.

Nevada Department of Wildlife trapped the young bear while attempting to trap another bear that had caused damage to a building, according to wildlife biologist Carl Lackey. The bear that was captured and then later released Monday wasn't the bear Lackey was looking for.

Lackey says that NDOW had handled the released bear once before in the mountains east of the Lake Tahoe Basin.

"Swim Smart, Swim Safe: know the dangers of cold water" is the message coming from agencies responsible for boating and water safety on Lake Tahoe, especially after the recent deaths in the lake of two healthy men.

Drowning incidents from boating, paddling and swimming often share the same cause, "cold water shock," an involuntary gasp reflex caused by sudden immersion in cold water. Swimmers and boaters suddenly exposed to the cold waters of Lake Tahoe may experience rapid breathing, gasping, fainting, muscle failure and immediate risk of drowning.

Nevada Department of Wildlife officials killed a two-year-old bear after it made repeated forays into the Sand Harbor area of Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park.

According to department spokesman Chris Healy the bear displayed troubling behavior that prompted officials to capture and euthanize it.

“It is a tough situation,” Healy said. “Outwardly it looked healthy but the behavior was troubling.”

According to NDOW, the bear entered the parking area at Sand Harbor late Thursday morning. It raided a cooler that was in the back of an open-top Jeep.

Are some bears just born to be bad? Or do they learn from other bears that raid garbage cans, break into cars and homes and eventually have to be killed because they’ve lost their fear of humans?

Scientists have researched this classic debate over “nature” and “nurture” among black bears for decades, from Yosemite National Park in the Sierra to central Florida and the Adirondacks in upstate New York.

Here is this week's fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in the Sierra, Northern California and Nevada. This report is for the week of Aug. 28 through Labor Day. Don't forget, California's second free day of fishing without a license will be Saturday, Sept. 7.

Here is this week's fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada, Northern California and the Sierra. This report is for the week of Aug. 1-6.

Here is the Memorial Day weekend fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada, Northern California and the Sierra. This report is for the week of May 22-28. Pack plenty of sunscreen, fill your cooler full of cold beverages and enjoy the long holiday weekend.

Here is this week's fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada, Northern California, Lake Tahoe and the Sierra. This report is for the week of Jan. 2-9:

Below is this week's fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada, Northern California, Lake Tahoe and the Sierra. This report is for the week of Dec. 12-18. We want to note a big fish caught by Eric St. Denis of South Lake Tahoe, Calif., pictured above. Eric caught a 28-pound, 9-ounce Mackinaw trout at Lake Tahoe on Dec. 9, at 10:30 a.m. Photos courtesy of Gene St. Denis of Blue Ribbon Charters.
The Lake Tahoe record for Mackinaw Trout is a 37-pound, 6-ounce (44 inches in length) trophy caught by Robert Aronsen, way back in 1974. To date, only a handful of Macks have been caught that have weighed 30 pounds or more.

Here is this week's fishing report covering rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada, Northern California and the Sierra. This report is for the week of Oct. 31 through Nov. 6.

Here is this week's fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada, Northern California and the Sierra. This report is for the week of Oct. 17-24.

Here is this week's fall fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada, Northern California and the Sierra. This report is for the week of Oct. 4-10.

Here is this week's fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada, Northern California and the Sierra. This report is for the week of September 19-25.

ALMANOR LAKE, CALIF:
Shasta Cascade Wonderland Association (530-365-7500) (www.shastacascade.com) reports:

Here is this week's fishing report for Northern California, Nevada, Lake Tahoe and the Sierra-area rivers, lakes and streams. Fall colors are around the corner for the Sierra and Lake Tahoe region. Enjoy the fishing while the weather is still good and don't forget to pack your sunscreen and fishing license. This report is for the week of Sept. 5-11.

ADOBE POND, CALIF:
Tom Loe of Sierra Drifters Fly Fishing Guide Service (760-935-4250) (www.sierradrifters.com) reports:

Here is this week's fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams for Northern California, the Sierra and across Nevada. This report is for the week of August 16.

Here is this week's fishing report for rivers, lakes and streams in Nevada, Northern California and the Sierra. This fishing report is for Aug. 1-7.

Warm weather and cool fishing is expected this week along the many lakes, rivers and streams in Nevada, Northern California and the Sierra. Here is this week's fishing report for the week of July 25. As always, pack plenty of sunscreen, abide all regulations and have your fishing license with you.