Pardee Lake Opens For Fishing Business With New Owner

My mom passed away in 2007, and it still feels like yesterday. But it’s comforting to know that we have memories of a lifetime. One year when I was probably in eighth or ninth grade, we had heard about all these Mother Lode lakes in the Sierra foothills about two hours or so from our Bay Area home.  So purely winging it, we drove out to Stockton in our rickety 70s-era station wagon – it broke down on another trip to the Gold Country, stayed at a Motel 6 in Stockton and the next day we checked out Pardee Lake, one of four productive fisheries that make up the Mother Lode lakes (later on I’d camp and fish at  nearby Camanche Lake).

I really didn’t know what I was doing but I do remember landing a monster – well, 12 inches felt like a monster for me – squawfish when I was throwing a Rapala with seemingly no luck. So thanks, Mom for putting me with me in dragging you out there. We did have on those adventures to there and Yosemite.

Anyway, I bring this up because Pardee Lake, which does have some pretty great trout and kokanee fishing, will open its 2018 fishing season this Friday with a new concession running the show. Here’s the Stockton Record with more:

One of the most eagerly awaited events of the fishing year is the opening of Lake Pardee every February. The popular recreation area will open to fishing Friday under a new concessionaire, the Rocky Mountain Recreation Company. Pardee will open to camping Thursday.

Bank anglers and boaters can both expect great fishing – and a big crowd – due to the large numbers of trout that will be available to anglers. The lake management will plant a total of 13,000 pounds of rainbow trout before opening day. In addition, there will be many thousands of beautiful holdover trout from the heavy plants last year still in the lake.

Bank anglers can expect to find the top action while tossing out Kastmasters, nightcrawlers and doughbaits in the main recreation area. Boaters can find solid fishing in the Narrows, near the dam and in the Mokelumne River arm while trolling an array of lures.

“I am watching trout jumping outside of the marina every day,” Brad Hoyt said at the marina. Information: (209)772-1472.