A recent trip to one of my favorite lakes in the region, Frenchman Reservoir north of Incline Village, was an eye opener. When we last fished Frenchman in the fall, it was perhaps as low as I had ever seen the lake since I began fishing it in the 1980s.

I had been following the reports of just how full the lake was and knew that it was now 95 percent full. It will probably be full by next week. However, seeing the lake for the first time this year and the contrast between last fall was astounding.

According to the California Department of Water Resources Board, it has not been near this level since 2006, and prior to that in 2000 and the 1990s. I don't think I fished the lake in the spring of 2006, so that is probably why I thought it was much longer.

We typically fish Frenchman and other lakes from the shore during the spring and fall, but it became abundantly apparent that we should have brought some personal watercraft with us for this trip.

Most of the feeding activity that we could see was well out into the lake and we only saw an occasional rise close to shore. All the while, we stared in amazement at the lack of familiar places that we fished in the fall. They were all under water.

My partners had not fished the lake when it was high before, so I went ahead and gave them some ideas as to where to fish. I went to one of my favorite spots during high water and within the first half-hour had a fish on briefly and one other tug. One of my partners had about four take-downs with an indicator set-up, but did not touch a fish. The other two did not get a bite.

As a result, we had some lunch and moved to a different location. While it proved to be a bit better, it was still pretty slow.

In high-water conditions, the fish tend to spread out more. There is just more area for them to be. Think about the same number of fish in an area over twice the size it was the last time you fished it. While there was a lot of aquatic activity in the areas that we fished, the fish were just not there in numbers.

The key to fishing these high-water situations is having a watercraft and moving until you find a concentration of fish and staying with them. Even with favorable water temperatures such as the 56 degrees that we were fishing in, the fish are just spread out.

The good thing about high water is that it floods areas that have not been under water for some time, and this provides nutrients making for abundant aquatic life. This helps create large healthy fish populations.

I am sure you may face similar conditions on your favorite lake this year. Do not be discouraged if you do not have the success that you are accustomed to having. Just be prepared and have a boat, pontoon or float-tube to move until you find the fish.

— Bruce Ajari is a Truckee resident and regular fishing columnist for the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza and other area newspapers.