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Home › Waters › Nevada › Marlette Lake
Lake · Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park backcountry above the east shore of Tahoe, on the Carson City and Washoe county line · Nevada

Marlette Lake Fishing Guides

A hike-in trophy-managed trout lake above Tahoe's east shore, open only from mid-July to the end of September, catch and release with single barbless artificials.

Desert country running down to open water in the Southwest
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Marlette Lake

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About the Marlette Lake

Marlette Lake sits in the backcountry of Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park, high above the east shore of Tahoe on the line between Carson City and Washoe counties. It covers about three hundred and eighty surface acres behind a forty-five foot dam and is around the same depth at its deepest point. There is no road to it. Everything about how this lake fishes follows from that single fact.

Access is on foot, by mountain bike or on horseback, most commonly from the Spooner Lake trailhead up North Canyon, a walk of roughly five miles each way. Backcountry camping is available at Marlette Peak Campground, which has water, toilets, tables and bear boxes, but there are no services and no camping at the lake itself. Anglers who want to fish it properly pack a float tube in, and the weight of that tube over ten miles is the real reason the lake never feels crowded.

The regulations are strict and they are the point. The season runs only from the fifteenth of July to the thirtieth of September. Fishing is catch and release with a zero limit, and only artificial lures with single barbless hooks are permitted. Hours run from an hour before sunrise to two hours after sunset, and the rules apply to the lake, its tributaries and the outlet stream in both counties.

Rainbow trout make up the large majority of the catch, generally eight to twelve inches, and the Nevada department stocks them in quantity. Brook trout are self-sustaining here and run larger, commonly ten to sixteen inches. Lahontan cutthroat, the native fish of this basin, are also stocked but make up only a small fraction of what anglers land. The combination of restrictive rules and a hard walk makes this one of the few genuinely protected trout fisheries in the state.

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The photo at the top of this page is not Marlette Lake.

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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.

Pool right now

18.33ft
  • 24 hours-0.01 ft → steady
  • Storage4,956 acre-ft

Reading taken 2h ago at USGS 10336710, MARLETTE LAKE NR CARSON CITY, NV. Elevation is the surface of the lake above the survey datum, not depth. Source.

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

Posting to Marlette Lake.

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.

Lake level alert

Tell me when the pool at Marlette Lake ft

Now: 18.33 ft pool elevation, read 4:15 pm CDT, Sun Oct 18, 2026 (USGS 10336710, MARLETTE LAKE NR CARSON CITY, NV).

We never use this address for anything else and never share it. See the privacy policy.

Access

Spooner Lake trailhead - the standard start, with parking and the North Canyon route up to the lake.
North Canyon Road - the trail and bike route covering roughly five miles each way to the lake.
Marlette Peak Campground - backcountry camping with water, toilets and bear boxes, the nearest overnight option.
Tahoe Rim Trail - the long distance trail passing above the lake, used by walkers coming in from other directions.
Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park - the managing park, and the source for current backcountry conditions.
Incline Village - the nearest town on the north east shore, with lodging, food and tackle.
Carson City - the larger town east over the range, with full services and fishing licences.

Seasons

Spring: closed. The lake does not open until the middle of July and snow often lingers on the route well into June.
Summer: the season opens on the fifteenth of July, and late July and August give the most reliable fishing and the easiest walking.
Fall: September is the best month, with cooler water, active fish and the season closing on the thirtieth.
Winter: closed and effectively inaccessible, with the access road and trails under snow.

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Questions

What species can you catch on the Marlette Lake?

Anglers target Brook Trout, Lahontan Cutthroat Trout, Rainbow Trout on the Marlette Lake in Nevada.

Where can you access the Marlette Lake?

Spooner Lake trailhead - the standard start, with parking and the North Canyon route up to the lake. North Canyon Road - the trail and bike route covering roughly five miles each way to the lake. Marlette Peak Campground - backcountry camping with water, toilets and bear boxes, the nearest overnight option. Tahoe Rim Trail - the long distance trail passing above the lake, used by walkers coming in from other directions. Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park - the managing park, and the source for current backcountry conditions. Incline Village - the nearest town on the north east shore, with lodging, f...

When is the best time to fish the Marlette Lake?

Spring: closed. The lake does not open until the middle of July and snow often lingers on the route well into June. Summer: the season opens on the fifteenth of July, and late July and August give the most reliable fishing and the easiest walking. Fall: September is the best month, with cooler water, active fish and the season closing on the thirtieth. Winter: closed and effectively inaccessible, with the access road and trails under snow.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Marlette Lake?

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