Fall Is Here And So Are Hungry Trout At NorCal Reservoirs

The following appears in the September issue of California Sportsman:

By Cal Kellogg

I’m on the water somewhere chasing trout just about every week of the year. Every season has its own set of attributes and challenges, but if I had to choose one time of the year to target trout, it would be during the fall.

With so much happening across the north state during the fall months, including deer, bear, waterfowl and turkey hunting, along with striper fishing in the Delta and lights-out rockfish and lingcod action along the coast, trout fishing can easily get lost in the shuffle. But that’s a mistake.

If you’re interested in trout, I strongly suggest you mark out some time on the calendar during the months of October and November, because the action can be incredible.

WHY TO MAKE A FALL TROUT CALL

You may be wondering, What makes fall trout fishing so special? In short, it’s the instincts of the fish combined with changing conditions.

As the days grow shorter, nights become colder and water temperatures dip down into the lower 60s and upper 50s, trout understand on an instinctive level that the lean, cold days of winter are right around the corner, and they react by feeding aggressively to build fat reserves to carry them through until the food chain sparks to life again in spring.

When water temperatures decline, trout that spent the summer in deep, cool water surrounded by baitfish and out of reach of a large percentage of the angling public move back to the surface, putting themselves in the crosshairs of near-surface trollers and bank anglers.

But as trout move shallow in the fall, much of the bait they spent the summer preying on scatters. Suddenly, trout that were surrounded by all the food they could possibly want find themselves actively hunting for scattered bait and other targets of opportunity.

Fall is the time of the year when basic tactics like topline trolling, fan casting from shore or soaking bait on shallow structure produce trout all day long. Generally, the biggest question for NorCal trouters in autumn isn’t whether the trout will be on the bite, but rather where to go to catch them.

Let’s face it: The north half of the state boasts several dozen great trout fisheries. Some of them are huge and well-known reservoirs, like Lake Shasta, and others are small and off the beaten path – think Little Grass Valley Reservoir or even Fallen Leaf Lake, in the shadow of Lake Tahoe.

If you’ve got a short list of destinations you’d like to try this fall, by all means work your plan, but if you’re uncertain, I thought I’d share a few of the slam-dunk spots I’ll be hitting in October and/or November to plant a few seeds in your mind.

NORCAL LAKES IN GOOD CONDITION

But before I get into specific waters, allow me to touch on the general condition of lakes and reservoirs across the north state region as of this writing.

Over the past couple months, I’ve done a good deal of traveling and trout fishing from both boats and kayaks, and I’ve been very pleased with the condition of our lakes. In general, our lakes are higher than they typically are at this time of the year. This means that there will be plenty of elbow room this fall, and boat launching won’t be an issue at most destinations.

Our lakes also seem to be exceptionally healthy in the wake of back-to-back robust winters. For example, I’ve been putting in a good deal of time guiding at Folsom Lake, and I don’t think I’ve ever marked as much bait as I’m seeing right now.

I was out in late August and marked a school of deep bait that was just short of 100 feet thick! And the rainbow trout I’ve been putting my clients on are taking full advantage of all the available feed. The trout are fat, football-shaped and when they hit the net, they often belch up a collection of freshly eaten pond smelt or threadfin shad.

And this isn’t just a Folsom Lake phenomenon. I’ve seen robust bait at a number of other Northern California impoundments too. Plentiful feed and cold water equals plentiful trout! Now, let’s start planning those road trips.

LAKE DON PEDRO

Don Pedro Reservoir on the Tuolumne River is the southernmost destination on my fall trout tour. With the more popular New Melones Reservoir right next door, Don Pedro gets overlooked by a lot of anglers, but I’ve always favored the latter.

I consider Don Pedro to be “Lake Shasta South” because of the diverse opportunities it offers. Like Shasta, Don Pedro is home to smallmouth, largemouth and spotted bass, king salmon, kokanee salmon, plus rainbow and brown trout.

In terms of its coldwater fishery, Don Pedro is first and foremost a rainbow factory, and it offers outstanding fishing for ’bows averaging 14 to 20 inches, and ranging to 6 pounds and above!

While the reservoir’s kokanee and king populations cycle up and down, offering great action some years and slower bites others, rainbow fishing is consistent year in and year out.

I was first introduced to Don Pedro by Captain Monte Smith of Gold Country Sportfishing (goldcountryfishingguide.wordpress .com) more than 20 years ago, and I’ve fished it with him many times.

Since the lake is about three hours from my home, Monte is my boots- on-the-ground source of Don Pedro intel, and I speak to him regularly.

“Pedro is in great shape, and we’ve hooked some really husky rainbows this summer,” Monte told me recently.

“I haven’t been devoting a lot of time to specifically targeting rainbows recently because there have been some really large kings on the bite, and we target the kings when the opportunity presents itself,” he added. “As we get into fall, I’ll be all in on the trout and I’m expecting really good fishing. When the water cools, the rainbows will return to the surface hunting shad and I’ll be fast- trolling for them with spoons.”

In terms of tactics, spoons such as Speedy Shiners and Speed Spoons are the top choice for hooking fall ’bows at Don Pedro. Early on, you’ll find the trout in the top 20 feet cruising open-water areas, but as fall advances the bait will move inshore. This is when power trolling spoons around shoreline structure in both Don Pedro’s main body and in the long river arm offers heart-pounding action!

If you don’t have a boat, you can still get your trout on at Don Pedro. Locals swear by tossing out live minnows and drifting them 4 to 8 feet beneath a slip bobber.

While bobber fishing is a relaxing way to spend a fall day, some folks prefer a more aggressive approach. These anglers actively hike the shoreline while tossing shad-imitating spoons and Countdown Rapalas in shad pattern finishes.

A sleeper method for bank casting is teaming a 1-inch water-filled clear casting bubble with a light-colored fly like a No. 6 white Woolly Bugger. The weight of the bubble allows you to cast long distances and the light-colored fly looks like a bait fish lolling along just under the surface. You can imagine what happens to the fly when a hefty rainbow hunting for bait comes along!

LAKE BERRYESSA

This Napa County impoundment wasn’t on my must-fish list of trout lakes for a long while, but I’m happy to report that Lake Berryessa is back in the trout fishing limelight, offering some of the best rainbow trout action in the state.

The lake is bustling with a strong population of fast-growing, hard- fighting Eagle Lake-strain rainbows that nourish their muscles on a diet of threadfin shad. Last fall, the trout bite at Berryessa came on strong and the bite held up right on through winter and spring.

I fished the reservoir several times from both boats and my kayak dating back to last November and was never disappointed. I caught dozens of rainbows ranging from 2 to 3 pounds, with my top fish over 5.

I got the 5-pounder trolling a Trigger Spoon Jr. 8 feet deep from my kayak using a hybrid leadcore setup. On the strike, the trout buried the rod with so much force that I had trouble extracting it from the rodholder. When I did free the rod, it was game on as the trout tried every possible tactic to shake the hook, from hard-slashing runs to jumps and power dives.

The hook was in a good spot and luck was on my side, or that big battler would have never seen the inside of the net. After admiring the big trout for a few seconds, I revived it and released it back into the lake.

Being close to both the Sacramento Valley and the Bay Area, a lot of talented trout anglers have visited Lake Berryessa this year and they’ve caught fish using a diverse array of offerings, including spoons, plugs, Apex Lures and soft plastics.

For me, the best options were Trigger Spoons, Trigger Spoon Jrs. and Metal Head Trolling Flies. Knowing the trout feed on shad, I stuck mainly to light over dark baitfish patterns and metallic patterns, and I enjoyed solid results every time I paid Berryessa a visit.

EAGLE LAKE

No list of fall trout destinations would be complete without a mention of Eagle Lake. For many hardcore trouters, including this correspondent, Eagle tops the list. As exciting as fall action at this Lassen County trout fishing cathedral can be, I’ve got some intel that indicates fall 2024 will be extra special.

One of the most knowledgeable and successful guides currently plying Eagle Lake’s waters is Tim Noxon of Fish Traveler Guide Service (fishtravelerguideserviceeaglelake. com). He was reporting October-sized rainbows ranging up to 4.5 pounds showing in catches at the time of this writing in late August.

“This is the best fishing of the season so far,” Noxon said. “The fish are gaining weight rapidly feeding on minnows. If this pattern continues, I expect 5- to 6-pound fish to start showing up.”

Say you’ve just hooked one of those 6-pound Eagle Lake rainbows – now what? Your drag better be light and your line fresh, because you’ll have an epic bulldog battle on your hands!

I’ll visit Eagle multiple times from late October into November and suggest you do the same if you have the opportunity. Late in the season, everything from threaded nightcrawlers to orange and gold Rapalas will work, but if you see me on the water, you can bet my rods will be armed with trolling flies. For tempting big, bad Eagle ’bows in fall, trolling flies will seldom let you down. I like to have flies in a variety of colors, but orange, olive and brown are proven producers.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

I’m just getting started and I’m nearly out of space. Problems like this crop up because we live in one of the most trout-rich regions of the world! I’ll wrap things up by tossing out an extra three-pack of must-visit lakes.

The first is Collins Lake in the foothills northeast of Marysville/ Yuba City. Collins’ management team annually plants more than 30,000 pounds of trout, many of them 5- to 12-pound trophies, into the relatively small, 1,200-acre reservoir.

For the past two years, Collins has retained a lot of water, and a lot of the trout that evaded anglers dropped down into the main channel and spent the hot summer months dining on the lake’s plentiful shad.

I hit Collins in early August and smacked several quality trout while probing the depths with Trout Trix Worms. Just as the holdovers start returning to the surface around the end of October, trout plants will kick in again and things will get exciting fast for anglers pulling Metal Head Trolling Flies, Trout Trix Worms, Rapalas, and Kastmaster spoons.

Trophy-size planters, muscular holdovers and a cup of Collins Lake’s famous ice cream? Count me in!

The second honorable mention fishery is Prosser Reservoir near Truckee. True, Prosser is small, but it is absolutely jam-packed with cutthroat to 18 inches and rainbows that flirt with the 4-pound mark.

In October, both species will be on the rampage, and they love to hammer spoons, whether tossed from the shore or trolled behind a watercraft.

For some reason, few people take the time to fish Prosser, so it’s possible that you’ll have the lake to yourself. If you see a big man and a yellow Labrador retriever grinding circles in a kayak out in front of the dam, it will probably be me!

We’ll end with Lake Camanche, east of Stockton. The lake is heavily planted from fall through spring, just like Collins Lake, so fall planters mingle with big numbers of holdovers that have been on a shad diet all summer.

Last fall and winter, I enjoyed great fishing at Camanche pulling Trigger Spoons and Trout Trix Minnows. White was the hot color for me, but other colors worked too. The trout I caught averaged 3 pounds and ranged up to 8.

I’m expecting a repeat performance this fall, and since the water level was relatively high this summer, the holdover action this fall may be even better than it was in 2023! CS

Editor’s note: Cal Kellogg is a longtime Northern California outdoors writer. Subscribe to his YouTube channel Fish Hunt Shoot Productions at youtube.com/ user/KelloggOutdoors.