Frigid Cold, Soaring Eagles And Big Rainbows…Almanor In the Winter   By: Cal Kellogg January 29, 2008 More Articles by Cal

I love Eagle Lake; in fact, it is my favorite trout lake. That is saying a lot in a state that boasts trout fishing cathedrals like Lake Shasta, Lake Tahoe and Lake Almanor to name only three. 

So what is it about Eagle that makes it my favorite? It's simple. The lake has a strong population of large, easy-to-catch rainbows. Now that part about Eagle's trout being easy to catch will inevitably raise a few eyebrows out there in Fish Sniffer Country. Yet, I'm confident the anglers reading this that have made multiple trips to Eagle will agree with me. 

Situated a few miles to the southwest of Eagle Lake sets Lake Almanor. Beyond the fact that these lakes both feature large populations of big healthy trout, they have little else in common. 

Eagle rests in a high desert setting while Almanor has an alpine feel with snow capped Mount Lassen standing sentinel beyond the lake's north end. As much as the lakes differ aesthetically, they differ even more in terms of the fishing they offer. 

While Eagle Lake's trout are free strikers that can be caught on most days, Almanor's trout are downright fickle. You can nail them one day, come back the next day using the same technique in the same area and draw a complete blank even though there has been no change in the conditions. At Almanor, more than at any other lake my motto is "catch when you can," because the bite could turn off without a moments notice. 

Eagle gets my nod as northern California's premier trout lake, because it is a place I can go and whack some big rainbows without too much trouble. However, when I want to challenge my fishing skills, in a awe inspiring setting where the rewards are broad bodied rainbows and browns I set a course for Lake Almanor. 

As near as I can recollect, I've never bagged a limit of trout at Almanor. All of the trout I've caught at the lake, I've had to work for, but nearly every fish I've landed has been exceptional in terms of size, beauty and fighting ability. 

Almanor is a large lake even in California terms. The lake has a surface area of 28,000 acres when at full capacity and the water managers that control the lake level seem focused on keeping Almanor's water level up. 

This year is a great example. While most of the north state's big lake's like Shasta, Oroville and Folsom have been drawn down aggressively, Almanor appears to be down little more than 25 or 30 feet.

Every fall for the past several Novembers, my father in law Gene Rush and I have made a trip up to Eagle Lake, but this year I've been pretty busy and I just didn't have a chance to get up to Eagle in November. By the time my schedule opened up a bit during the second week of December I was getting reports that fishing Eagle was a sketchy proposition due to ice forming around the shoreline. 

With time still at a premium, I suggested to Gene that we make a one day run up to Lake Almanor in hopes of catching some trout from the bank, despite the fact that my experience bank fishing at the lake was extremely limited.

Fully aware that a one day trip to Almanor would likely involve as much driving time as fishing time, I still wanted to take on the challenge of finding and fooling Almanor's big 'bows and browns. 

With clear, cold weather in the forecast, Gene and I drove out of Auburn at 3 o'clock on the morning of December 14. Three hours and fifteen minutes later we found ourselves cruising across Almanor's dam.

The first cove to the north west of the dam is known as Geritol Cove. The cove got its name because it is frequented by senior citizens that like to soak bait off the bank. Figuring if the cove was good enough for the seniors, it would be a good spot for us to begin the day. 

I knew it would be chilly at Almanor, since it is situated at over 4,000 feet in elevation, but the seriously cold air that confronted me when I opened the truck door prompted me to put on another layer of fleece. After grabbing our gear we made our way down the lakeshore's crystallized ground just as dawn was breaking in the east. As I fumbled to bait our spinning rods in the low light conditions, I was distracted by the sounds of trout jumping and splashing all about the cove. 

While I didn't set any speed records, a few minutes later our four rods were resting in rod holders spread out along a 40 yard swath of the bank. Two of the rods were baited with inflated night crawlers, one of them was baited with yellow Berkley Power Bait and the fourth rod's hook sported an orange Berkley Power egg, a Pautzke salmon egg and a one inch piece of worm. Two of the baits were dowsed with Pro Cure Super Gel in night crawler scent, while the other two received a shot of anise/krill Super Gel. 

The sun hadn't yet peaked over the mountains when the bobber hanging between guides on one of the worm rods began to twitch and quiver. I called Gene and trotted over to the rod. When I got to the rod the bobber was beginning to inch up toward the rod as the trout swam off on a slack line.

Taking the bobber off the line, I picked up the rod and moved down the bank toward the fish, feeding it even more slack. It took the trout about two minutes to swim to the end of the slack. When it did I used the reel to load the rod, slammed the hook home and passed the rod off to Gene. 

At first the trout put up a pretty sluggish fight and came easily toward the bank, but once it encountered shallow water, it woke up and bolted off, pulling line off the reel. Gene kept the rod's tip up and used the reel to keep pressure on the trout as it zipped back and forth about 20 feet offshore. 

When the trout tired, Gene was able to slide it up onto the narrow band of ice where the water met the bank and I picked it up. It was an awesome barrel chested rainbow that probably weighed about 2 pounds. That's the way I like to start a fishing trip!

As the morning progressed we enjoyed steady action, landing a fish every hour or so. The highlight of the morning for me came around 9 o'clock. While watching a big bald eagle soaring across the lake near the dam, I noticed the bobber on my ultra light Fenwick rod start to quiver out of the corner of my eye. A trout was fooling with the anise scented worm. As I picked up the rod, intending to feed the fish some line, it took off and I was forced set the hook before I wanted too. 

The trout obligingly came my way just like Gene's had until it was only a few yards from the bank. At that point it sparked to life and rocketed off, making the cold spinning reel groan as 4 pound P-Line streamed off the spool. Despite the cold water the trout put up a very determined battle and I had to follow it along the bank as it made series of short powerful runs. 

Ultimately, the trout was no match for the Fenwick and I was able to slide the exhausted battler onto the bank. The brightly marked Eagle Lake strain rainbow weighed in the neighborhood of three pounds.

By 11 o'clock we had 4 quality rainbows on the stringer and decided to check out another area in hopes of hooking a brown. We drove up the west shore a short distance and hiked out onto Rocky Point. The point was in the shade and we were much colder than we had been while standing in the sun at Geritol Cove. After soaking a variety of baits, without so much as a nibble we packed up our gear and headed for the truck at about 1 o'clock.

Even though we'd drawn a blank at Rocky Point it had been a wonderful trip. We faced bitterly cold conditions, found fish at an unfamiliar lake and were headed home with a quartet of handsome rainbows in our cooler. It had been a perfect day of wintertime trout fishing. If time allows I might just slip back up to the lake before ice makes bank fishing impossible.