State Of The Union: Trout, Kokes, Macks Abound At Overlooked Sierra Fishery

The following appears in the November issue of California Sportsman:

By Cal Kellogg

Thick leaden clouds blocked out the sky and the lake was enveloped in the half light of an approaching fall storm. The greenish-blue surface was alive with wind chop, and I was filled with anticipation. The conditions were ideal, and I knew it wouldn’t be long

before the first trout came knocking. I was looking at a bald eagle in the distance – its snow-white head prominent against the green backdrop of pines as it sat silently on its perch – when the strike came. Maybe I heard the rod squeak in the holder or perhaps caught a flash of movement in my peripheral vision. At any rate, when I looked down the surface rod was bucking wildly; a nanosecond later, a thick, chrome-bright rainbow exploded out of the water behind the boat.

By the time I wrenched the rod from the holder, I was in the fight. The trout shook its head, dove violently and made another wild jump before surrendering to the net, with the bright-orange trolling fly embedded in the corner of its mouth.

This was my introduction to Union Valley Reservoir back in fall 2022. I caught and released 16 hard-fighting rainbows that day before thunder and lightning drove me off the water. On the drive home, I found it surprising I’d never visited the lake before since it’s less than two hours from my house. I knew I’d be visiting the impoundment regularly in the future!

Some of the folks reading these words know the virtues of Union Valley Reservoir and the outstanding fishing it offers already, but it’s a safe bet most of you have never heard of the lake. If this is the case, then keep reading because if you’re a Golden State angler, Union Valley should be on your fishing radar.

The fact Union Valley is unknown by many isn’t a huge surprise since the lake is located off the beaten path in the 85,000-acre Crystal Basin Recreation Area of the Eldorado National Forest.

As the crow flies, Union Valley is located approximately 20 miles from Placerville, which isn’t far from the hustle and bustle of downtown Sacramento. Yet it’s hidden in the huge swath of remote forest sandwiched between the Interstate 80 and Highway 50 corridors.

There are a number of streams, lakes and reservoirs in the Crystal Basin that provide excellent fishing, but Union Valley is the recreation area’s crown jewel, offering trophy fishing for browns and Mackinaw, big numbers of rainbows and kokanee, plus a sleeper smallmouth bass fishery.

Union Valley Reservoir was formed in 1963 and this year celebrated its 61st birthday. The lake was formed when the Sacramento Municipal Utility District impounded the waters of Silver Creek, a tributary of the American River, in order to generate electricity for Sacramento. Union Valley is the largest of a complex network of reservoirs that make up SMUD’s Upper American River Project.

When at full capacity, Union Valley retains 277,000 acre-feet of water. Sitting at 4,800 feet, the lake is high enough to remain cool all summer, while in winter frigid temperatures and heavy snow are the norm.

The lake has three boat ramps – Peninsula, Jones Fork and Westpoint. Typically, there is access to the Westpoint Ramp all year long. The other two ramps are seasonal and generally open from early spring through late fall. Now, let’s go fishing!

SPECIES, SEASONS AND TECHNIQUES

Rainbow trout are the most pursued game fish at Union Valley. There are wild rainbows in the lake that spawn in tributary streams, California Department of Fish and Wildlife planters that run 10 to 12 inches and larger stockers provided courtesy of SMUD that range up to 3 pounds. SMUD planted 10,000 pounds of quality rainbows into the lake in 2024. Planters that aren’t caught by anglers transition into sleek, hard-charging holdovers that grow strong and feed on a mix of insects, small crawfish and baitfish.

You can catch rainbows at Union Valley every month of the year, but the fastest fishing takes place from April through June and during October. In the dead of winter, the rainbows tend to become sluggish due to cold water. During the second half of summer, the rainbows drop down in the water column, where they are constantly surrounded by forage and can become quite finicky, as they only feed for short periods throughout the day.

For boaters, the No. 1 rainbow offering is a threaded nightcrawler trolled from 1.5 to 2 mph behind a set of willow leaf flashers. Most anglers go with chrome blades, but gold or brass blades tend to perform better on overcast days.

I’ve never been skunked whentargeting rainbows at Union Valley, regardless of the season, and I’ve never had to resort to nightcrawlers, although I always have a can or two of worms with me just in case.

During the spring and fall, spoons and trolling flies pulled from 1.8 to 3 mph in the top 20 feet of the water column have produced well. As spring gives way to summer and the fish drop down in the column, I’ve found soft plastics such as Trout Trix worms trolled from 1.5 to 2 mph to be very effective.

For spoons, I prefer gold or copper baits over chromes and silvers, but there are always exceptions. One day I did exceptionally well on frog patterns, so be ready to experiment.

Arctic Fox and Metalhead flies in bright pink, orange and chartreuse patterns have proven to be effective. Some days rainbows prefer natural-colored plastics, but more often than not they have a tough time passing up bright-orange or bubble-gum-pink offerings.

Bank anglers will find spring and fall the best times to work standard offerings such as PowerBait, Kastmaster spoons and small CountDown Rapalas. Gold is always a great color choice, but orange offerings can be highly effective at times.

The average rainbow at Union Valley runs about 14 inches, with fish topping the 5-pound mark showing up every year.

MACKS AND BROWNS

Brown trout tend to be smart and difficult to hook, and the big browns residing in Union Valley aren’t an exception to this generalization. While browns show up all year long, early spring and late fall are the hands-down best times to target them.

Certainly browns are caught when the weather is good and the sky is blue, but stormy, blustery days tend to be best for a legitimate shot at trophy fish. During these times, browns move into shallow structures to hunt, and this is when they are most vulnerable to the efforts of anglers.

Large rainbow trout- and kokanee-colored minnow plugs trolled around 3 mph, combined with a thermos of coffee and plenty of patience, is the best approach to picking a fight with the brown trout of your dreams, but large flies and naked ’crawlers can pay dividends, too, when trolled in the 1- to 2-mph range.

For bank anglers hoping to score a big brown, soaking an inflated ’crawler on one rod and fan-casting a CountDown Rapala on a second rod is your best avenue to glory.

Mackinaw are the heavyweight champs at Union Valley, with fish in excess of 20 pounds landed annually. The period from February to June offers the best Mackinaw fishing, but you can find them lurking around kokanee schools all summer long.

Early-season Macks will grab a variety of trolled offerings, but large spoons, large plugs and whole threaded ’crawlers are best. When the water is cold, say, 50 degrees or less, you can find Macks in the top 20 feet of the water column, but once the temperature gets above 50, they tend to drop down.

Macks can be sluggish early on when the water is frigid, so slow-trolling anywhere from 1.5 to 2 mph with fluttering spoons and large FlatFish is the way to go. Adding a gel scent in a baitfish flavor to your lures can really help the cause. As the water warms, you can speed up your presentation with faster-performing spoons and minnow plugs, but continue using scent.

If you are fishing from a boat or kayak but want a break from trolling or are interested in a new challenge, consider jigging. To effectively jig, you’ll need to locate Macks holding along the bottom with your sonar unit. Once you have some potential targets in sight, yo-yoing metal jigs or soft plastics rigged on lead heads can provide thrills you’ll never experience when trolling.

If you favor metal jigs, Crippled Herring, P-Line Laser Minnows and Gibbs Minnows all work. Some anglers don’t think color matters when jigging, but I’ve had my best luck when using glow-white offerings.

In terms of soft plastics, Big Hammer swimbaits are a great choice, but my all-time favorites are the large white or pink Gulp! Grubs used by saltwater anglers targeting lingcod or rockfish. When fish grab Gulp! they tend to hang on.

KOKANEE

When it comes to fighting ability and table fare, kokanee are an angler’s favorite. If you visit Union Valley and plan on taking some fish home to eat, plan on spending an hour or two chasing the lake’s sockeye salmon.

You can catch kokanee at the lake from April to August, but the best action tends to take place in May and June. You can expect to find schools holding from 20 to 30 feet deep, perhaps shallower early in the day. The area around the dam provides consistent results, with the first couple hours of daylight usually featuring the fastest fishing.

When it comes to kokanee fishing it seems like most anglers employ dodgers these days, but that doesn’t mean naked lures and lures teamed with old-school metal flashers won’t work.

A lot of my friends who fish Union Valley rely on micro hoochies and bugs pulled behind traditional 4-inch skateboard-shaped dodgers. My favorite gear for targeting kokanee all over the Golden State consists of a variety of spinners, including the Mack’s Lure Wedding Ring and Uncle Larry’s Spinners. I’ve enjoyed solid results with these baits at Union Valley. Most of the time I team my spinners with Sling Blade-style 4-inch dodgers, but at times when the salmon are acting shy, I’ll run my spinners naked. This approach works well when the bite slacks off later in the morning.

Lure and blade color for kokanee fishing is always a moving target when kokanee fishing. Pink or orange lures generally work well, and glow patterns can be deadly just after dawn. As the sun hits the water and the surface goes glassy, kokanee action tends to slow down.

If you don’t already have your limit, shift away from bold, bright, high-flash offerings in favor of naked lures in mellow colors, and you’ll be able to scrape out a few more hookups most days.

Of course, kokanee and corn go together like peanut butter and jelly, so don’t forget to bring some. Many anglers like to treat their shoepeg corn with exotic concoctions and cures, so I’ll jump into the fray and share my favorite cure.

My approach is a big secret, so keep it to yourself. I open the can of corn and put 3 tablespoons of kernels into a zipper bag. Next, I shake in one teaspoon of non-iodized sea salt for toughness, one teaspoon of white sugar for sweetness and a dash of clear Karo Syrup for general stickiness.

I’ve relied on this concoction for over 30 years, and it seldom disappoints. If my scent doesn’t work, I break out a bottle of Pro-Cure Kokanee Magic Gel. Does Kokanee Magic work? Of course it does. It says “Kokanee Magic” right on the bottle!

As you can see, there’s no shortage of options to have a great day at Union Valley Reservoir. CS