Shasta Lake crested at around 12' below full pool this week and is now slowly dropping after a very successful water storage year. The spring water releases from Shasta Lake have begun and the lake is in great shape for the summer fishing season. Trout and bass fishing is excellent and we've started to see good numbers of adult rainbows back in the system after the spring spawn in the Shasta Lake tributaries. The bass are staging and with water temps rising above 63 degrees every day now, the bass will be spawning through this month. Brown trout fishing remains good, but we're now averaging two to three hook ups a day. The trout are feeding on shad so any sort of lure representing a shad has a good shot at getting bit. I've been finding most of the rainbows and browns in the 20'-30' range most frequently.
Keswick Reservoir is now getting flows from Shasta lake and has kicked into action for some excellent big trout fishing opportunities. The upper section fished like a river where back trolling steelhead plugs or drifting small spoons works quite well. As the water slows its flow and enters wider/deeper sections of Keswick, trolling becomes the best method for taking trout on conventional trolling gear. Because Keswick maintains cool water temps year round, the trout are always near the surface and deep trolling isn't really required.
Whiskeytown Lake is almost to full pool, but has a foot or so to go. Its fishing ok some days, but its far from the lights out Kokanee fishing we are often used to this time of the year. Its 63 degrees on the surface though and after it settles down during its fill stage, the Kokanee fishing should really pick up. I expect great fishing to begin around June after the thermocline in the lake develops. We're still catching fish every trip, but if our hook to loss ratio is lopsided, some days fall short of limits. Right now most Kokanee are being caught around 20-25' because those Kokanee tend to be the biters. The Kokanee are still scattered, but will be schooling up as the water temps increase making them easier to catch.
Trinity Lake is warming up as well, but its known for its best start in another month or so. The Kokanee and King salmon fishing will come to life when the anglers start to drop more and more line in around the Memorial Day weekend. I'm headed up next week to find some Kings so I'll have better information for the readers next week.
Way to go Susie!! Great brown trout!
As another point of possible point of interest, lake Britton off of hwy 89 near Cayton, is producing fast action Crappie fishing. Anglers are getting easy limits and its a great place for families to get the kids out on the water and onto some really, really good fishing!
