"I got new rodholders and a new system for trolling," Pagani said enthusiastically as we began to set up the boat for trolling. "I'll work the downriggers on the bow and you fish the leadcore lines on the stern. Don't drop the leadcore line down until I put the first downrigger down."

We soon put all our lines into the water, with Goldeneyes on the downrigger rods at 25 feet and Sparklefish on the leadcore rods at 7 colors. After about 10 minutes of trolling, Pagani hooked a fish on his downrigger rod. As I netted his 11 inch rainbow, my portside leadcore rod started bouncing up and down and I landed a rainbow about 12 inches. Just after I put that fish in the boat, the other leadcore line hooked up and I landed another trout.

We trolled back through the area for 20 minutes, but didn't land any more fish until Pagani hooked another trout on the downrigger rod. "I think we better check our lines, since these other rods haven't been hit in a while," he stated.

Sure enough, all of the lures were loaded up with weeds and debris. Pagani then moved the boat over towards the dam. Here all hell broke loose, as we began hooking one trout after another. "We better start releasing fish or we're going to limit out too quick," I told Pagani.

By 9:30 a.m. we had already put 8 fish in the ice chest, including several gorgeous holdovers in the 12 to 14 inch class, along with releasing another 8 rainbows. Since the rainbow fishing was so easy for us, we decided to try for king salmon by trolling deeper on the downrigger rods, 40 to 50 feet deep. However, we couldn't get any kings to bite and then boated our last two rainbows of the day around noon. It was a great day of fishing, with over 20 trout hooked.

The DFG stocks McClure with both rainbow trout and king salmon. The Moccasin Creek Hatchery plants the lake with 22,000 pounds of rainbow trout from November through May, according to Tom Grove, hatchery manager. The Department stocked the reservoir with 50,000 chinook salmon last year and hopes to make another plant this year. Calaveras Fish Farm also plants brook trout in the reservoir.

Brown trout are also caught occasionally in Lake McClure, but these are mainly fish that originate from the Merced River above the lake. Biologists also believe there is some spawning recruitment of rainbow trout in the river.

Whether or not there is successful spawning by king salmon in Lake McClure is not known. "We have heard reports of salmon running from McClure into the Merced, but none of our biologists have documented it like we have at Lake Don Pedro," said Randy Kelly, DFG senior fishery biologist. "However, there is no reason the salmon can't run up the river and spawn in the fall."

The lake is a productive trout and salmon fishery, as Pagani and I witnessed, but it is the lake's abundant spotted bass populations that seem to draw the most anglers. On the day we fished, Ken Carper reported catching and releasing 17 spots to 4 pounds while pre-fishing for a tournament.

"Most of the fish were in the slot limit, 12 to 15 inches, with 3 over 15 inches," he stated. "I tossed out the 4 inch Magic Worms in the original color in 12 to 20 feet of water."

On the previous night, Carper had landed a 6 pound spotted bass, along with some smaller fish, while tossing out Bomber crawfish pattern crankbaits.

McClure vies with Pine Flat Lake as a lunker spotted bass factory. Stanley Webb caught a huge spotted bass, the standing McClure record, while soaking a live crawdad on July 7, 1993. The fish weighed 9 pounds, 15 ounces on a scale on which the certification had lapsed. However, after the scale was re-certified and corrected, the DFG determined that the fish would have actually weighed 9 pounds, 5 ounces.

In fact, the spotted bass population is so healthy that the DFG is now doing a study to determine whether the current slot limit - prohibiting retention of bass from 12 to 15 inches long - should be changed to a limit of five fish 12 inches and over.

"McClure has a really good population of spotted bass, along with some big largemouths," stated Randy Kelly. "We are conducting our study regarding simplifying the regulation in an effort to make it as easy as possible for anglers to fish at McClure."

The DFG introduced the Kentucky spotted bass into the lake from Millerton Lake in 1982. The Merced Irrigation District, (MID), which runs both McSwain and McClure lakes, has purchased and planted Florida-strain largemouth from Willow Creek Fish Hatchery nearly every year since the original introduction from Alabama in 1985.

Smallmouth bass occur naturally in the Merced River upstream from McClure where they become active in the deep pools and runs as the water warms up in the summer. Other species found in McClure include bluegill, crappie, channel catfish and threadfin shad, the lake's main forage fish.

McClure is located 27 miles northeast of Merced. The lake features 82 miles of shoreline and 7,100 surface acres and is 867 feet above sea level when full. The Exchequer Mining and Power Company built a dam just upstream of the present site in the late 1880's, but it washed out in 1911.The Merced Irrigation District build the original Exchequer Dam in 1926, followed by completion of New Lake McClure in 1967.

McClure has four recreation areas, McClure Point, Barrett Cove, Horseshoe Bend and Bagby, with full service marinas at Barrett Cove and McClure Point. Fishing boats and houseboats are available for rental at both marinas. Groceries, bait and tackle and boat parts are available at the two stores. For more information, call (209) 378-2441 or get online at lakemcclure.com. Over 600 campsites are available; call 800-468-8889.

Fishing information is available at Steve's Bait Shack in Merced (209) 722-0800 and A-1 Bait and Tackle in Snelling (209) 563-6505. For information on Sparklefish and Goldeneye lures, call the Sparklefish Lure Company (877)772-7676.