The lake level  is slowly rising at about 3-6 inches a week. The Douglas County boat ramp is open and has only the middle dock in right now. Use a little patience and courtesy launching and coming back in. Shore angling was slow this last week. Most anglers were fishing the south end with powerbait or night crawlers. Trollers were using flashers and worms or Rapalas.

I experienced this last week at Topaz lake while fishing with my better half, Renee. We did get a few fish on, but were gone within a short time of reeling. The two trout Renee got to the boat were barely hooked in the bottom lip. As with all lakes, even frozen ones. The fishing, or should I say "the biting" during the day tends to go slow to nil. By this weekend, the fishing biting should pick up. I spoke with a few anglers that were not as productive as we were last week. Here are a few tips for lake winter fishing. We trolled in 8 to 12 feet of water, versus 15 to 30 feet of water we do in the spring and summer months. I slow my trolling down to 1.8 mph and use a J5 or and J7 jointed Rapala. I have also had good success trolling a cinnamon leach wooly bugger fly. For shore anglers, try various lengths on your leaders. Start off with a 12 inch,  then go up to an 18 or 24 inch leader. Inflate your night crawler to get it off the bottom. I also like to use a little trout juice for either trolling or bait fishing. But the best advice I can give is, know your bottom when trolling. Learn the lake and find where the brush line or drop offs start and end. As most anglers know, on Topaz Lake there is a large willow bed on the south end of the lake. If you find it by accident, you will lose hardware. But it can also become your friend if you learn how to use it. I also must admit, this last trip to Topaz. I was out-fished by a 4 to 1 ratio. What can I say, I taught her well.