Whiskeytown: Plying The Waters Of California’s Best Kokanee Lake   By: Cal Kellogg June 27, 2007 More Articles by Cal

Whiskeytown Reservoir is one of my favorite lakes. It is a true northern California jewel, with clear blue water, ample wildlife and exceptional fishing. Best of all, with nearby Lake Shasta drawing the lion’s share of the crowds, Whiskeytown seldom becomes crowded and congested allowing visitors to relax and enjoy its attributes without distraction.

The lake is located about 7 miles west of Redding where the Klamath Mountains give way to the Sacramento Valley. Whiskeytown boasts 36 miles of shoreline and 3,200 surface acres of water. While some small tributaries do flow into the reservoir, it gets most of its water from the Trinity River via tunnels and pipes that divert the water through the Judge Carr Powerhouse before delivering it into the lake.

Whiskeytown Reservoir is the scene of an interesting, albeit sad, historical footnote. The lake was formed as part of the Central Valley Water Project in order to create power and provide water for agriculture. President John F. Kennedy traveled to Whiskeytown Dam and dedicated the lake in 1963. Less than 3 months later he was assassinated in Dallas.

While swimming, kayaking, sailing and scuba diving are all popular activities at Whiskeytown, I think its anglers that derive the most enjoyment from the lake. Both trout and bass provide productive action, yet it is Whiskeytown’s big abundant kokanee that capture the attention of most visiting fisher folks.

For a chance a 3 plus pound trophy class kokanee the later half of July and August provide the best opportunity. However, when I got a call from Steve Huber of Steve Huber’s Guide Service this May and he recounted how he was catching quick limits of sockeyes averaging 15 inches I wasted no time setting up a trip for my wife Gena and I on May 21st.

After spending Sunday night in Redding, Gena and I grabbed a quick breakfast and met Steve at the Whiskey Creek launch ramp at 6:30. Steve already had his 22 foot Willie jet boat in the water, so it only took us a few minutes to transfer gear and we were off in search of salmon. We only moved a short distance down the cove that emanates from Whiskey Creek, when Steve shut down the main motor, deployed his electric motor and started dropping lines on the downriggers.

“This week the hot combination has been a 4/0 Sep’s gold Starlight dodger with a corn tipped orange Kokanee Kandy lure rigged behind it. Most of the fish have been hitting at 53 feet,” Steve related as he applied a big dollop of Pro-Cure Predator Super Gel to the back of a dodger.

Steve’s strategy was to troll at a slow 1 mile per hour. When he spotted fish on his Hummingbird sonar unitm he would work them by maneuvering in tight circles. Within 15 minutes his strategy paid off with our first hookup of the day, but I promptly lost the salmon before it got near the boat. Minutes later I hooked and lost a second fish. At that moment Steve deadpanned, “The next fish is Gena’s, we’ve got to get one of them into the boat.”

Well as disturbing as it is for me to relate, Steve was right. Minutes later a rod on the starboard side popped off the downrigger and Gena reeled the hard fighting 16 inch ‘koke right up to the waiting net like there was nothing to it! My turn was up again and I quickly lost two more fish.

“I can tell you are in the FFA,” Steve commented. When I asked him what the FFA was, he replied, “You know, the Future Farmers of America. The way you are farming out the fish this morning I figured you must be a member.”

At this point I feel compelled to enter into the official record that the fishing gods were smiling on me when I hooked my fifth salmon of the day and I was able to maneuver the 15 inch fish, our smallest of the day, into the net!

With a nearly constant stream of heckling coming from Steve and Gena we proceeded down the cove to the Highway 299 Bridge. Steve wanted to go under the bridge and work the point on the north side, but the stiff wind kept us bottled up in the cove. Moving back and forth around the mouth of the cove, hookups came in spurts. With a little experimenting, it didn’t take us long to figure out that a 4/0 blue and gold Sep’s dodger teamed with an orange spoon was the hot combo.

Finally around noon the wind let up. Steve steered us under the bridge and we made a pass offshore of the point that resulted in a quick double hookup. Gena followed up a minute or two later with another fat kokanee that somehow wrapped itself around one of the downrigger cables. Steve stayed cool, grabbed the line, brought the fish in hand over hand and I scooped it into the net.

Just as the wind started to pick up again one of our portside rods popped out of clip and the fish immediately started pulling drag. “That’s a big fish,” Steve exclaimed as he passed me the rod. Despite it’s making several twisting leaps I took my time and slowly worked the heavy sockeye to within net range.

After removing the hook, the tape revealed that the football shaped kokanee was 17 inches long. After putting the fish in the cooler Steve commented that it was the biggest kokanee caught on his boat so far in the season. That’s not too bad for an FFA member, right?