'There's something out there': The enduring legend of Tahoe Tessie FacebookTwitterEmail Tahoe Tessie in her element. Photographer Ryan Salm stumbles upon one of the most mysterious creatures on the planet. While walking on the shores of Lake Tahoe, Salm noticed something strange emerge from the lake. Upon further glance, the creature was none other than Tahoe Tessie.Ryan Salm/Special to SFGATE One morning at dawn on Lake Tahoe, many years ago, a charter fishing boat named “Big Mack” roared across calm water. Mickey Daniels steered the boat about a half-mile offshore. A Placer County Sheriff’s officer who was later elected to county constable, Daniels served the law in Lake Tahoe for decades. He was also a lifelong fisher who spent his mornings watching the sun crest over Tahoe’s east shore mountains, while baiting a hook and casting a line into the dark blue.