Whiskeytown, The North State’s Sleeper Kokanee And Brook Trout Fishery   By: Dan Bacher August 10, 2006 More Articles by Dan

Whiskeytown Reservoir, a premier Redding area kokanee salmon and rainbow trout fishery, doesn’t receive the boating or fishing pressure that nearby Lake Shasta gets, so you can expect to fish in relative solitude when you hit this lake. While known best for its big kokanee, Whiskeytown also yields great year round brook and rainbow trout action for shore anglers.

The lake is unique because it receives the majority of its water from the Trinity River, the Klamath River’s largest tributary, even though it is located on a tributary of the Sacramento River, Clear Creek. The cold Trinity River water arrives via a 10-1/2 mile long, 17-1/2 foot diameter tunnel though solid granite that empties into the lake at the Carr Powerhouse. The Trinity water ensures a year round cold water fishery at the lake, in addition to a good population of bass, bluegill and other warm water species.

Kokanee salmon provide a self-sustaining fishery at the reservoir, since thousands of kokanee congregate to spawn every fall in the Clear, Whiskey and Brandy Creek inlets of the lake. These fish grow fat and sassy in the lake’s plankton-rich waters, growing into the 3 to 3-1/2 pound class some years.

The kokanee fishing this season got a late start because all of the late season rain and snow, but the summer action is now in full swing at the lake, as evidenced by a recent trolling adventure that I made to Whiskeytown with Gary Miralles of Shasta Tackle Company. On the previous day, Miralles' two clients caught full limits by 10 a.m.

I arrived at the Oak Bottom launch ramp, located on the lake’s north end, at 6:45 am on July 12. There were only a few other boat trailers other than Miralles’ in the parking lot. Just before we took off, two friends of Miralles, Ruben Sanchez and Steve Mancebo, and another angler launched a boat in pursuit of kokanee.

The water was calm and the conifer-lined shoreline was gorgeous in the bright morning light. Whiskeytown was brim full; the lake fluctuates relatively little most years.

As we sped across the water in Miralles’ Duckworth boat, we could see kokanee jumping on the surface, even though the surface water temperature was in the seventies. Miralles arrived at the spot where he caught fish the day before – near the water temperature “curtain” that cools water going down Clear Creek into the Sacramento River to help maintain salmon populations in the river and creek.

We put down a variety of lures, including Cripplures, pink Scorpion spinners and Pee Wee hoochies at from 55 to 60 feet deep. Within the first 5 minutes, I hooked the first fish of the day on a nickel/pink Cripplure with a glow red head.

As the fish ripped off line off the reel, Miralles said, “That looks like a good fish.” Miralles soon netted the hard-fighting fish, a fat 17 inch kokanee.

Several minutes later, I hooked and landed another kokanee about the same size on the Cripplure, quickly followed by a feisty rainbow trout. In the next hour, we caught three more kokanee and two brook trout on the “bruised ego” Pee Wee hoochies.

Then the bite shut off and Miralles drove his boat over to the dam. On his graph, we could see large numbers of fish down around 95 feet.

“Those are probably trout,” said Miralles.

“No, I think they’re kokanee,” I countered.

I was right, surprisingly. We quickly got into our second bite of the day and we limited out with kokanee averaging by 11 a.m. I hooked and landed one particularly spirited kokanee that measured 17-1/2 inches.

Our typical fish was around 17 inches long; we only landed two smaller kokanee in the 14 inch range. “My largest kokanee to date this season went 18 inches,” said Miralles.

For a short morning at Whiskeytown, fishing was fantastic, particularly when you consider that we were in the midst of a full moon.

Meanwhile, Gary’s three buddies also reported catching eight quality kokanee while trolling near the temperature curtain.

“I didn’t fish the lake for kokanee this year until June because the plankton bite for rainbows in the Pit River arm kept me at Shasta,” said Miralles, referring to the hot bite that Shasta rainbows go on during the big plankton blooms in the spring. “The kokanee bite at Whiskeytown normally picks up in May and continues all of the way through September.”

Though we experienced great fishing while trolling, the shore fishing at Whiskeytown can be excellent. I saw young anglers at the handicapped accessible dock at Oak Bottom catching bluegill. Whiskeytown has a large, lightly harvested population of bluegill that offer lots of light tackle fun for kids and adults alike during the summer and fall.

I also drove over to the Carr Powerhouse to check out the shore trout action. I ran into Curtis Bradford of Redding, who was getting ready to take off with his limit of brookies in the 11 to 14 inch range.

“Yesterday I caught rainbows, but today I bagged only brook trout,” he explained. “All of them hit nightcrawlers.”

Since I already caught my kokanee limit, I couldn’t shore fish for trout at the Powerhouse area. However, the last time I shore fished here, I quickly landed a limit of chunky orange-meated brookies while casting out threaded nightcrawlers behind a split shot and slowly working it across the bottom through the schools of brookies. If you don’t have a boat or prefer to fish from shore, the Carr Powerhouse area offers top-notch year round fishing for brook and rainbow trout.

The Department of Fish and Game stocked only brook trout in Whiskeytown in 2003, 2004 and 2005 to curb an outbreak of parasites (lernia) in the rainbow trout and kokanee. “The brook trout (a char) feed on the lernia and aren’t impacted by the parasite like the salmon and trout,” said Larry Hanson, DFG senior fishery biologist. The DFG is stocking 18,500 pounds of catchable brook trout in the lake this season.

“This year we also stocked 2,000 catchable rainbows, all with $10.00 tags, to see if the cycle of the parasite is being broken,” said Hansen.

The DFG stocked chinook salmon in the lake periodically until this year, but the Department has decided to stop planting these fish. “They didn’t do very well in the lake, based on our tag returns, due to lack of enough forage,” Hansen explained.

Whiskeytown, with its relatively stable water level and good spring spawning conditions, also harbors a substantial population of spotted, largemouth and spotted bass. The Alabama spotted bass are now dominating Whiskeytown, just like they have at other northern and Central California lakes where they have been introduced.

“One local caught an 8 lb. 2 oz. spotted bass the lake this spring,” said Ken Smith, owner of the Oakbottom Marina. “The spots have taken over the bass fishery at Shasta and other lakes, though we still see some largemouth and smallmouth bass. This spring produced excellent spotted bass fishing – the fishing is only now beginning to taper off.”

For more information about kokanee fishing at Whiskeytown Lake, call Gary Miralles of Shasta Company, (530) 275-2278.

Whiskeytown Lake Facts

Location and Size: Whiskeytown Lake, located east of Redding off Highway 299 in the Trinity Mountains, offers 36 miles of shoreline and 3,200 surface acres of water. Of the three parts of the Whiskeytown - Shasta - Trinity National Recreation Area, the Whiskeytown Unit (authorized Nov. 8, 1965 and established October 21,1972), is the only unit administered by the National Park Service.

Fishing Season: Anglers can fish at Whiskeytown year round for kokanee salmon, brook trout, rainbow trout, brown trout, bluegill, and spotted, largemouth and spotted bass. There is plenty of shore access for anglers at Whiskeytown, with a handicapped accessible fishing pier located in the Oak Bottom Recreation Area.

Boating: Launch ramps are available at Whiskey Creek, Oak Bottom and the Brandy Creek areas. Brandy Creek and Oak Bottom have snack bars and small stores (summer only). Oak Bottom Marina, 530-359-2269, also has boat rentals. The lake allows kayaking, swimming, boating, waterskiing, scuba diving, sailing and canoeing, but personal watercraft are prohibited.

Camping: The Oak Bottom tent campground has five grates and central restrooms. Oak Bottom RV campground includes a central restroom, dump station and water but no hookups. Hot showers (fee) are at Oak Bottom beach restrooms. Brandy Creek has RV camping for self-contained units only – a dump station and water are provided; no hookups or restrooms. A 14-day limit applies for all camping from May 15 to September 15; a 30-day limit applies for the rest of the year.

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