Ocean-Sized Kings On Lake Don Pedro   By: Dan Bacher May 6, 2008 More Articles by Dan

If you want to catch a big king salmon this year, you’re going to have to go to the Klamath or Trinity rivers or fish northern California reservoirs where landlocked kings abound. Salmon fishing has already been closed on the California coast and chinook fishing on Central Valley rivers is also expected to be shut down for the first time ever.

One of the best reservoirs in the state for landlocked king salmon is Don Pedro, the only lake where successful spawning for landlocked kings has been documented. The lake produced the largest chinooks in the state last year and is already yielding ocean-size kings this year, as evidenced by a fishing adventure I made with Bruce Hamby of Sierra Sportfishing and Bill Passalaqua of Modesto on Thursday, April 3.

An angler fishing with Hamby took a 10 lb. 10 oz. king last year – the biggest landlocked salmon he ever put in his boat and one of the largest ever caught at Don Pedro. This year could yield even bigger kings.

Catching the big chinooks is different than fishing for smaller chinooks, rainbows and kokanee because of their solitary nature. “The big ones stay by themselves - they’re lone wolves,” Hamby told me the morning of our trip. “They don’t like the little salmon in front of them.”

When we arrived in the Jenkins Hill area after launching at the Blue Oaks Recreation Area, Hamby put out rolled threadfin shad on six ultra-light G. Loomis ultra light rods with Cannon digital downriggers at 80 to 90 feet deep. “I use the smaller shad for salmon, while the larger shad are better for stripers,” he advised.

The fishing started very slowly, since we caught and released only two small salmon in the 10 inch range during the first couple of hours. “The fishing will pick up when the breeze starts,” said Hamby on the warm, windless morning.

Finally the breeze picked up and, sure enough, the salmon began biting. Passalaqua saw a bite on one of the rods, popped the line off the downrigger clip, and set the hook.

Passalaqua slowly worked the big fish towards the boat and then the fish went on a long run. “The kings are very predictable – they won’t to get away from the boat as fast as they can,” Hamby said.

Hamby coached the angler to work the fish slowly and easily and to avoid getting it tangled up in the downriggers or propeller of his 22 foot Fish-Rite jet boat. On a previous trip, anglers fishing with him lost three big kings, including one right at the boat.

While Passalaqua was working his fish, I saw a bite on another rod, pulled the line free of the downrigger and set the hook. “This fish feels like a good one also,” I told Hamby.

My fish, much smaller than the other fish, went berserk and starting jumping near the boat. It was a real struggle to keep the fish on the port side of the boat, away from Passalaqua’s fish. Hamby finally netted his fish, a real beauty. After putting the big fish in the fish box, Hamby netted mine.

Although my salmon would have been a quality fish most days, my fat 18 inch chinook didn’t compare with Passalaqua’s monster chinook. It measured 25 inches long and weighed a solid 6 pounds.

Unlike the rainbows that generally pop the lure off the downrigger, the kings hit the bait deliberately and slowly, only rarely hitting the bait with such force that the bait comes off the downrigger clip.

“I believe that when you’re fishing as deep as I do for kings, the fish has been probably on the bait for a long time before you see the bite on your rod,” said Hamby. “Often they won’t start fighting until you get them out of their comfort zone as you work them up. They don’t realize they’re hooked until then.”

One of the great mysteries is where the chinooks hold until the start biting and feeding. “All of a sudden the bite starts and the fish finder screen is full of fish,” said Hamby.

“I believe that kings are very sensitive to light penetration,” observed Hamby. “They always want to stay below the bait. They want to skylight the bait – it’s like looking out the window of a dark house. I have seen salmon come up straight from 160 to 120 feet to hit the bait.”

Over the next 30 minutes, Passalaqua and I caught another two kings in the 16 to 18 inch range, followed by another double hook-up of 14 to 18 inch fish. We had six keepers in the boat, ranging from 14 inches to 25 inches, as well as releasing 3 salmon.

Then the bite just shut down. We didn’t hook any fish for two hours. “Do you guys want to call it a day?” Hamby asked.

“Let’s stay out a little longer,” I told Hamby. I had a hunch that we since had already caught one big fish, maybe we’d hook another.

About 20 minutes later rod #1 started to bounce, with the slow, steady bite of a salmon.

“This feels like a good fish,” I told Hamby as the fish pulled line off the reel. Hamby and Passalaqua reeled in the other lines so I could fight the fish unhindered.

I slowly walked from the port side to starboard side of the boat, keeping pressure on the fish and checking the drag. Just like the other big chinook, this one did everything, once it realized it was hooked, to get away from the boat.

The fish made a big jump and then ripped off lots of line. “It’s a big fish,” I told Hamby, who didn’t see the fish jump. I slowly worked the fish to the boat, careful not to make any jerky motions that would spook the fish.

I got the salmon to the side of the boat and Hamby finally saw it. “It’s bigger than Bill’s fish,” he shouted excitedly. The fish by this time was tired out and I led it to the net.

Hamby put the salmon in the boat and I couldn’t believe how big it was – 8-1/2 pounds and 28 inches long. It was my biggest ever-landlocked salmon and the largest Hamby has put in the boat to date this year.

Two monster chinooks in one day – it’s hard to beat that. All three of us were stoked and Bruce fired up the motor of his 22 foot North River jet boat and traveled back to the launch ramp.

We landed 10 salmon, releasing two and keeping seven throughout the trip. Though we put out a kokanee rod for a while, we didn’t hook any kokes. The bite was off from that of previous trips, but the relatively slow bite allowed us to get our baits in front of two hefty chinooks that didn’t get away.

Hamby expects the king salmon and kokanee bite to get even better as the kokanee school up. “The kings feed on the kokanee,” noted Hamby after one of the kings coughed up a small kokanee.

The kokanee in Don Pedro are self-sustaining, with small supplemental plants put in by the DFG. The department stocked 4,061 kokanee fingerlings in the reservoir in 2006 and 6,517 fingerlings in 2007. Until 2000 when the DFG began supplementing the wild population, all of the kokanee caught in the reservoir were naturally spawned.

The DFG stocked Don Pedro with 91,000 king salmon in 2007 – and is expected to plant a similar number this year.

For more information, contact Bruce Hamby of Sierra Sportfishing at 209-599-2023.

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