northern california, nevada county, help.

[bdeemo]

Hi fellas, I just joined as a new member here. Within this past year I have really taken a lot of interest into fishing. I bought a new 12ft aluminum western 66" wide deep hull with a downrigger fish finder and 15hp johnson. I have spent a lot of money on an extensive amount of fishing tackle and I've had trouble catching fish so far. Whenever I go to a new lake I've never fished before, which happens a lot! I can't seem to find the good spots to fish and I always seem to either be using the wrong tackle or be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I often have outings with 0 bites while trolling the entire lake with 3 different things out. Id like to know what to generally try on a new lake, where to start. Time of day, time of year, time of moon cycle?, what to use, how to use it, what method to do first, what places to look for on the lake? Trees etc idk. I fish trout primarily but would be interested in lake bass or whatever a lake has to offer really. Please help thank you.

[Trout-Tuna-For.Me]

bdeemo,
What lakes have you fished? You'll be better off asking about a specific lake or a specific area or county.
How far north in California and what part of Nevada?
Also you can find info about lakes in the Report Sections.
I make an annual trout fishing trip up to Lassen County, sometimes twice a year. There are lakes and stream/rivers with plenty of trout in them and is never crowded.
Good luck in your search.
TTFM

[bdeemo]

bdeemo,
What lakes have you fished? You'll be better off asking about a specific lake or a specific area or county.
How far north in California and what part of Nevada?
Also you can find info about lakes in the Report Sections.
I make an annual trout fishing trip up to Lassen County, sometimes twice a year. There are lakes and stream/rivers with plenty of trout in them and is never crowded.
Good luck in your search.
TTFM

Thanks for the reply, I often try to fish all over my area, bowman lake area, gold lake area, bullards bar reservoir, englebright, scotts flat, all kinds of places. I've been doing ok at lakes I've been to before but I'm almost always getting skunked at a new lake I try so I was kind of looking for a basic strategy for fishing unknown territory