Randy with his first Shasta Lake German Brown of the morning. This brown was caught trolling 2.5 mph on the surface with a Mack's Tackle 1/2 oz. Hum Dinger spoon.
Fishing for rainbow and German Brown trout on Shasta Lake continues to be productive most days. I think a lot of the browns are up the tributaries spawning, but its clear that they don't all spawn at the same time. We are catching a mix of pre spawn and post spawn browns in the McCloud arm near Hirz Bay. Trolling techniques vary, but trolling above 3.5 mph using 3"-4" spoons seem to be producing the best numbers of bigger browns. For rainbows, smaller spoons trolled at 20-2.5 mph has been productive. Almost all of our bites are coming near the surface, although running a few weight rods down 10-15' can produce strikes as well.
Shasta Lake rainbow trout caught on a recent trip this past week.
Most bites are coming early in the morning and late in the afternoon, with some pretty slow bite action late morning into mid day. Fishing the shorelines should be your first option, but if you are not getting bites, try fishing out in the open water and you'll sometimes find a few bites. Trout fishing on Shasta Lake is slower this time of the year so be patient and keep your lines wet. Cover lots of water and keep trying different lures. The trout will love a gold spoon one day and won't give it a second look the next. Chances are, if you put in some time on the water, you'll get into a bite at some point in the day. Tight lines!
Gold and red mack's Tackle Hum Dinger 1/2 oz spoon top line trolled at 2.5 mph! This color is my top big fish producer when the fish are looking for smaller presentations.
