An event record 291 anglers descended on Lake Pardee on Saturday May 14 to participate in the 13th Annual Lake Pardee Mike Carrington Memorial Kokanee and Trout Fishing Derby, presented by CIFFI-Project Kokanee. The event was promoted as "a fabulous day of fishing, feasting, raffles, awards and fun," and I found it to be all that and more.

I've been an avid trout angler for my entire life, but I'd never competed in any sort of trout derby. Naturally, when the folks at Project Kokanee cordially invited me to compete in their annual Lake Pardee derby, I literally jumped at the opportunity.

The event was slated to kick off at 6:00 a.m., however I didn't arrive until about 6:30 a.m. because I got lost while trying to navigate through the tiny hamlet of Ione. I knew the event would be well attended, but when I pulled into the parking lot, I was unprepared for the number of trucks and trailers I encountered. Despite the big number of competitors, the event was well organized and the facility had provided personnel to direct traffic at the ramp. Within half an hour I had my boat in the water.

Having never visited Lake Pardee before and not being a big kokanee angler, I decided to concentrate on catching trout. Dan Bacher, the Fish Sniffer Managing Editor, has fished Lake Pardee a great deal, so I listened when he advised me to focus my trolling efforts from the cove at the launch ramp to the mouth of the narrows.

As soon as I cleared the launch ramp, I set my speed for 1.9 miles per hour and put out two rods. The first rod was rigged with a orange Hum Dinger behind an orange and silver Sling Blade. The second rod sported an orange and brass Cripplure.

My rods had only been in the water for about 2 minutes when a feisty 12 inch rainbow rushed the Cripplure. Minutes later, two fish hit my lures simultaneously and I had my hands full with a double hook up.

While I fought the trout on the Hum Dinger, the fish on the other rod jumped four or five times and ultimately threw the hook. By the time I reached the mouth of the narrows I'd caught 7 rainbows in addition to loosing several more. The bite was so hot that I quickly lost track of how many trout I'd caught.

At one point I looked around and counted six different people fighting and netting fish in nearby boats. By 11:30 a.m. I estimate that I'd landed around 30 'bows in the 10 to 13 inch range and decided to head for the dock in preparation for the weigh in and BBQ.

After squaring away the boat, stowing gear, and cleaning fish, I headed straight for the weigh in area to check out the catches. While at the weigh in station, I observed Department of Fish and Game representative Adam Myer screening kokanee for imbedded nose tags. When it was determined that a fish was adorned with a tag, Myers removed the fish's snout for transportation back to the lab where the miniscule tags would be extracted for data collection.

Once I'd visited the weigh in area, it was definitely time to head for the BBQ buffet prepared by O'Connor's Smoked Meat and Catering of Carmichael. Let me tell you, while the fishing at the event was great, the chicken, ribs, potato salad and garlic bread were even better!

With lunch out of the way, I took a seat in the shade for the raffle and awards ceremony with guide Rene Villanueva of Steelie Dan's Guide Service and his two granddaughters. The derby was supported by Sep's Pro Fishing, Cannon/Bottom-line, Sunny's Electric Marine, Pro-Troll, St. Croix, Pepsi, Sacramento Fire Extinguisher, San Joaquin Cry Wall, The Fish Sniffer, Rapid Angler, G. Loomis, Buck's Outboards, Scotty Downriggers, Pflueger, Shakespeare, Davey Tree Service, Uncle Larry's, Auburn CHP and Quail Point Hunt Club. As a result, an impressive array of prizes were given away to both the winners in the fishing divisions and to winners in the raffle.

In the adult kokanee division, Mark Damon took top honors and won $500. Behind him were George McKinnon $300, Doug Poore $200, David Enos $175, Bob Loggind $150, Gary Marzolf $125, Grace Yamasaki $100, Lenny Digorian $75, Uncle Larry Barnes $50, and Tony Moffett $25.

In the adult trout division Sam Mazzariello took first, Debby O'Sullivan 2nd, Richard Mullicane 3rd, Terry Schoefler 4th, and Marty Stefanic landed in 5th.

In the youth kokanee division, Courtney Gaunt took first, Ryan McLaughlin 2nd, Jacob Davis 3rd, Sydney Sheller 4th, Damon Schuman rounded out the top 5.

In the youth trout division Taylor Harris finished first, Adrianna Chavez 2nd, Justine Becker 3rd, Charlene Paris 4th, Ryan Romine finished 5th. Mark Damron took the $407 prize for the largest overall kokanee.

Project Kokanee billed the event as a fabulous day of fishing, feasting, raffles, awards, and fun. I'm pleased to report that I found the derby to be all that and much, much more. If you've never participated in a kokanee and trout derby you owe it to yourself to give it a try and best of all you'll be benefiting California fisheries. For information, call (916) 392-5149, or get on the web: www.kokanee.org.