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Home › Waters › Nevada › Lahontan Reservoir
Reservoir · Churchill and Lyon counties on the Carson River between Silver Springs and Fallon · Nevada

Lahontan Reservoir Fishing Guides

A high-desert irrigation reservoir on the Carson River east of Reno, and the most productive walleye and white bass water in Nevada.

Green river water in a deep sandstone canyon in northern Arizona
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Lahontan Reservoir

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About the Lahontan Reservoir

Lahontan Reservoir was built in 1915 as part of the Newlands Project, one of the first federal reclamation schemes in the country, and it still does exactly what it was built to do: store Carson River and diverted Truckee River water for the irrigated farmland around Fallon. It sits in open high desert about an hour east of Reno, covers something over ten thousand acres at full pool, and is surrounded by Lahontan State Recreation Area. For a state with very little standing water, it is an outsized fishery.

Walleye are the primary guided species and the reservoir supports the strongest population in Nevada. White bass are the other defining fish here, schooling in enormous numbers and providing fast, simple fishing that works extremely well for beginners and for children. Wipers add size to the same schooling program. Largemouth bass hold in the flooded brush and rock along the shoreline, channel catfish are abundant, and crappie fish well in spring around submerged cover.

The thing that governs everything is the drawdown. This is an irrigation reservoir in a desert basin, and it is emptied hard through the growing season. The pool can fall dramatically between spring and late summer, exposing enormous flats, stranding ramps and completely rearranging where fish hold. In dry years the reservoir can drop to a fraction of capacity. That volatility is why the current gauge reading matters more here than on most waters in this directory, and why local guides work from the elevation number before they work from anything else. Wind is the other constant, funneling down the Carson corridor most afternoons. Anglers should also be aware that the reservoir sits within the historic Lahontan basin and that boat inspection requirements for invasive mussels apply, so allowing time at the launch is part of planning any trip here.

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Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

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We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

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5. What we may do

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6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

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Pool right now

4,132.67ft NAVD88
  • 24 hours-0.24 ft ↓ falling
  • Storage89,730 acre-ft

Reading taken 2h ago at USGS 10312100, LAHONTAN RES NR FALLON, NV. Elevation is the surface of the lake above the survey datum, not depth. Source.

Fished this water? Add a photo

Reviewed by hand before it appears. Pick the water, not the spot — we never publish exact locations.

Never published. We use it only if we need to ask about the photo.

Posting to Lahontan Reservoir.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Access

Silver Springs Beach - the west end access with a ramp, the closest launch to Reno.
Beach Road and Churchill Beach - the main state recreation area accesses on the north shore.
The dam at the east end - the deepest water and the most reliable holding area during drawdown.
The Carson River inlet at the west end - current and turbid water, productive in spring.
Submerged brush and rock along the north shore - largemouth bass and crappie cover.
Fallon, about twenty minutes east - the nearest town for lodging, tackle and licenses.
Lahontan State Recreation Area - the managing agency for all ramps, camping and current pool information.

Seasons

Spring: the strongest window of the year, with walleye and crappie shallow on a full or filling pool and white bass schooling.
Summer: irrigation drawdown begins, fish pull toward the dam and deeper water, and afternoon wind is a daily factor.
Fall: a low pool concentrates fish tightly, which makes for excellent walleye fishing if the ramps are still usable.
Winter: the reservoir refills, fishing slows, and access is limited though shore fishing for catfish continues.

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Questions

What species can you catch on the Lahontan Reservoir?

Anglers target Black Crappie, Channel Catfish, Largemouth Bass, Walleye, White Bass, Wiper on the Lahontan Reservoir in Nevada.

Where can you access the Lahontan Reservoir?

Silver Springs Beach - the west end access with a ramp, the closest launch to Reno. Beach Road and Churchill Beach - the main state recreation area accesses on the north shore. The dam at the east end - the deepest water and the most reliable holding area during drawdown. The Carson River inlet at the west end - current and turbid water, productive in spring. Submerged brush and rock along the north shore - largemouth bass and crappie cover. Fallon, about twenty minutes east - the nearest town for lodging, tackle and licenses. Lahontan State Recreation Area - the managing agency for all ramps,...

When is the best time to fish the Lahontan Reservoir?

Spring: the strongest window of the year, with walleye and crappie shallow on a full or filling pool and white bass schooling. Summer: irrigation drawdown begins, fish pull toward the dam and deeper water, and afternoon wind is a daily factor. Fall: a low pool concentrates fish tightly, which makes for excellent walleye fishing if the ramps are still usable. Winter: the reservoir refills, fishing slows, and access is limited though shore fishing for catfish continues.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Lahontan Reservoir?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Nevada agency site: https://www.ndow.org/rules-regulations/