Stream fishing closed down on November 15 here, so only lakes are fair game. The two best fall trout lakes are French Meadows and Hell Hole, and both are usually snowed in by December 1. These lakes provide excellent action for quality brown trout, plus holdover rainbows are available. If the roads are clear, and you can bring in a car topper, trolling with lures like Rapalas, Rebels, J-plugs and Tomics are good ways to get the bigger browns. For the rainbows, spoons like Needlefish and Sparklefish are better.
Flashers trailed by a nightcrawler is another standby for filling the stringer.
Shore anglers use inflated nightcrawlers or Power Bait. Casting from shore with a Rapala works at French Meadows, but the shore access is limited at Hell Hole. Another option is fishing lower elevation reservoirs like Folsom Lake, or south towards Jackson at Lake Amador, New Melones Lake or Camanche Lake. All have aggressive winter trout planting programs. Lake Tahoe seems like a long ways away over the snow covered Sierra, but the winter mackinaw fishing here is legendary.