Planning Your Winter Fishing Excursion? South End of Lake Tahoe Holds Big Winter Trout

huge brown trout — Gene St. Denis displays the giant brown trout – 15 pounds, 9 ounces – he caught last January near Cave Rock. Photo: Courtesy Eric St. Denis as printed in the San Francisco Chronicle.

One of the biggest brown trout in history at Lake Tahoe, just 5 ounces from the lake record, was landed last January amid a proliferation of giant fish at the south end of Lake Tahoe.

The giant trout was 33 inches long and weighed 15 pounds, 9 ounces. The lucky angler was Gene St. Denis, who landed the fish after what he called “a hellacious 40-minute battle.” It was netted at the boat by son Eric, who caught a 28-pound, 9-ounce mackinaw trout fishing two weeks prior in the same area.