|
|
Send This Page to a Friend!
Late spring is prime time for targeting rainbow trout and king salmon on
Lake Shasta and judging from the latest reports, things are ready to bust
loose as we go to press.
Lake Shasta is the largest man made lake in the state of California covering
an immense 370 miles of shoreline with over 29,500 surface acres of water at
maximum pool. The Lake consists of four major river arms, the Sacramento,
McCloud, Squaw Creek and the Pit. Each of these river arms has their own
unique features and personalities. Visit several arms in a single day and
you will find a wide array of water temperatures, water clarity, terrain and
fish species.
While the entire lake holds huge populations of rainbow trout and king
salmon, the Pit River Arm is home to a unique substrain of rainbow trout
known as the Pit River Rainbow. The spectacular colors of these football
shaped rainbows make them easy to distinguish from the typical planted bow.
Huge black dots cover the entire head and body and their sides are bright
red like that of a late season steelhead.
"I spent two days near Arbuckle Flat up in the Pit Arm this week and we tore
em' up," reported Gary Miralles Of Shasta Tackle and Sportfishing. "The Pit
is absolutely stuffed with fish right now and the bite is going to break
wide open as soon as the plankton starts to bloom."
|
|||
|
According to Miralles, plankton blooms occur every spring in the Pit River Arm when water temperatures reach the 60 degree mark and the Pit River rainbows go on a feeding spree in the huge balls of plankton. "The fish we kept this week were fat as can be and full of plankton," he explained. "The water temperature is 56 degrees right now and as soon as it hits 60, we'll see the blooms on the surface and they'll be loaded with fish." On his last two trips, Miralles boated 30 fish on the first and 25 fish on the second trip. "Right now, most of the fish are running about 15 inches with a few larger fish up to 18 inches,"he explained. "As soon as the blooms begin, we'll start seeing the larger fish, 3 and 4 pounders starting to feed." So what does a plankton bloom look like? "They're easy to spot," said Miralles. "They look like massive balls of brown murky water, usually under floating debris of some type of shade. The rainbows feed on the stuff like crazy and all we do is troll right through the middle of it. I like to use an orange or gold Humdinger behind a copper/ orange Sling Blade. We put the lures down 5 to 18 feet deep and it's not uncommon to hit double and triple hook-ups when the lures pass through the blooms." While late spring provides some of the top trout action of the year at Shasta, this is also prime time for king salmon. "Dry Creek is loaded with small king salmon right now and we should start to see good numbers of 3 to 4 pound fish as soon as we get a few gays of stable weather," said Miralles. "We stopped there for about an hour this morning and hit four salmon in the 12 to 13 inch class before we started fishing for trout." King salmon can be found in big concentrations throughout Dry Creek and most of the main body. "We're fishing deep water from 36 to 110 feet right now for the salmon," said Miralles. "I like to fish a Kok-A-Nut behind a Sling Blade or a purple/ white Humdinger behind a purple bow dodger for the salmon." Miralles also had to mention that the scenery is absolutely spectacular at Lake Shasta this time of year and that alone is worth the trip. "Up on the Pit yesterday, there were waterfall flowing off the hillsides, the lake is brim full and we're seeing bald eagles and deer all over the place." For more information on trout and salmon fishing at Lake Shasta, feel free to give Gary a call at 530-275-2278. Also try Kirk Portocarrero of Outdoor Adventures Guide Service |
|
Copyright © 1997 - 2003 The Fish Sniffer. All rights reserved. |