Spooner Lake is a man-made reservoir located just north of the intersection of Highway 50 and Highway 28 near Spooner Summit, a pass in the

Carson Range The Carson Range is a spur of the Sierra Nevada in eastern California and western Nevada that starts at Carson Pass and stretches north to the Truckee River near Verdi, Nevada. Geography The mountain range is about 50 miles (80 km) long a ...

of the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

leading to

Carson City, Nevada Carson City is an independent city and the capital of the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 58,639, making it the sixth largest city in Nevada. The majority of the city's population lives in Eagle Valley, on th ...

from

Lake Tahoe Lake Tahoe (; was, Dáʔaw, meaning "the lake") is a freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. Lying at , it straddles the state line between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake ...

. It is located in Lake Tahoe – Nevada State Park.

History

There are historical references to an "M. E. Spooner" and "Spooner & Co.'s House" in the area but the first documented eponymous reference was "a strip of productive land extends back from the lake for a distance of 2 miles, where it is called Spooner's Meadow". A dam constructed in 1927 to store irrigation water converted the eastern part of Spooner Meadow into a small lake. Since the 1930s Spooner Lake has also been used for recreational fishing.

Watershed and Geographical characteristics

The Spooner Lake watershed is approximately but peak flows from the lake are limited by Spooner Dam. The dam was re-built in 1982 due to leakage. Spooner Lake is at above sea level. It is fed by numerous seeps and snowmelt and its outflow below Spooner Dam is to North Canyon Creek in Spooner Meadow. North Canyon Creek then heads west and then northwest along Highway 28 before turning to the southwest and flowing down Slaughterhouse Canyon to Glenbook and Lake Tahoe. The creek flows through the Toiyabe National Forest on its journey to Lake Tahoe. The reservoir covers approximately 100 surface acres and has a maximum depth of .

Recreation

In 1973, the

Nevada Department of Wildlife The Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) is the state agency responsible for the restoration and management of fish and wildlife resources, and the promotion of boating safety on Nevada’s waters. NDOW has responsibility for the wildlife reso ...

began stocking the Spooner Lake with trout. Trout species include the native Lahontan cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii henshawi''), as well as multiple non-native species and hybrids including

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coast ...

(''Oncorhynchus mykiss''),

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morp ...

(''Salmo trutta''), bowcutt trout (rainbow x cutthroat), brook trout (''Salvenlinus fontinalis''), and tiger trout (brown x brook). However, the lake's shallowness has made trout overwintering difficult and native Lahontan tui chub (''Gila bicolor'') have come to dominate the lake's fish species. Regulations changed from general (allowing harvest) to zero-harvest in 1982 and then to a 5 fish limit in 2006. Spooner Lake is also the start of a 5-mile hiking trail to

Marlette Lake The Marlette Lake Water System was created to provide water for the silver mining boom in Virginia City, Nevada. These structures are now listed as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers, and ar ...

via North Canyon and the

Tahoe Rim Trail The Tahoe Rim Trail is a 170-mile (274 km) long-distance hiking trail that forms a loop around the Lake Tahoe Basin in the Sierra Nevada and ranges of Nevada and California in the United States.Hauserman, Tim ''The Tahoe Rim Trail'' The trail ...

References

External links

*
Nevada State Parks - Spooner Lake
{{authority control Reservoirs in Nevada Carson City, Nevada Douglas County, Nevada Lake Tahoe 1927 establishments in Nevada

History

Watershed and Geographical characteristics

Recreation

See also

References

External links