House boating on Lake Shasta…. Family style!

By Paul J. Kneeland
Shasta Lake is a wonderful fishing lake, known for it’s excellent black bass, trout, landlocked salmon, and sunfish. With 365 miles of shoreline and a maximum depth of 517 feet, it is a mammoth lake that you can get lost on. Last August I had a wonderful trip to Shasta during the 2011 version of the Kneeland family vacation.
My brother Ken flew out from Colorado, and brother Tom and his wife Sandy drove up to Colfax from Monterey, and we all headed north to Lake Shasta in my Silverado diesel towing the Fish Sniffer 20’ Willie Raptor. We arrived at Packers Bay Marina on Wednesday afternoon and immediately boarded our home for the next 5 days – a beautiful 55-foot houseboat dubbed the “Horizon”.
What a beautiful boat! It features 3 private bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and room to sleep 14 people. The kitchen was very open and spacious, and featured 2 refrigerator/freezers, a trash compactor, dishwasher, dining table, coffeemaker, blender, and all the pots, pans, dishes and silverware you could ever use. The Horizon has 3 levels, including a flying bridge with controls, and a second level with 2 private bedrooms and bathroom. The third level had a ladder and was enclosed by railings where you felt like you were on top of the world!! This boat also has a color TV and satellite dish, AM/FM/CD player with controls so you can have music in your choice of rooms. There is a large propane barbeque on the back deck, and even a built-in recycling center for cans, bottles and plastic.
We loaded our gear and food aboard and were given basic instructions on how to run a houseboat. The generator was very easy to use and we all felt comfortable operating the boat. We slowly backed out from the docks, tied the Willie Raptor to a rear cleat, and set out on our adventure!

As soon as we were clear of the marina, I stopped the boat, and restarted it from the flying bridge so we could steer from the top and enjoy the view. It is a very luxurious feeling – cruising down the middle of gorgeous Lake Shasta in a huge boat, with a birds eye view of the wonderful surroundings, including massive, snow covered Mt. Shasta dominating the horizon to the north. Even in August, the lake was only down about 30 feet, and the view was gorgeous to every direction. We motored out of Packers Bay and turned east, going under the I-5 bridge and heading towards Squaw Creek. The weather was seasonally warm, about 95 degrees in the afternoon, but the breeze riffling off the water felt very comfortable as we sipped ice cold cervesas and enjoyed the ride.
We turned into the mouth of Squaw Creek and found a nice small cove to moor in. I idled the massive boat up to the bank, and Ken and Tom secured it by pounding steel spikes in the ground and tying the boat off at 45-degree angles. We secured the Willie boat to the side of the houseboat, which was easily accessible by the gate in the railing designed for this purpose. By this time it was approaching dusk, so we fired up the propane barbeque and cooked up some tender, juicy steaks with baked potatoes and good red wine.
The next morning we were up at dawn and drinking coffee in the gathering light. It had cooled down to only about 65 degrees overnight, so we were all dressed in shorts and sandals for the day. My good friend Dave Barsi of Oak Run and his daughter Alicia found us about 7 am, and brother Ken joined them for a morning of fishing. Tom and Sandy were with me as we headed out in both boats toward Ski Island. Dave had fished here recently with good success, so we decided to start fishing in the main channel just west of Ski Island. I was marking a ton of bait on the Lowrance XDS 7, huge balls of shad from the surface down to 100 feet or so. The surface temperature was 78 degrees, so I decided to start fishing down at 40 feet. I set up the Canon downriggers with Uncle Larry’s stainless steel downrigger weights with a set of Vance’s cannonball flashers on one side, and a set of Bechhold & Sons bait ball flashers on the other. About six feet behind the flashers, I put out an Excel black/white/red spoon on one side and a Vance’s Slim Fin spoon in the same color on the other. I put the Excel down to 45 feet and set the rod in the holder. I put the Slim Fin down to 15 feet, and attached a second line to it with a Shasta Tackle green/silver Sling Blade followed by a shad pattern Humdinger. Then I set the downrigger at 50 feet, giving the Humdinger a depth of 35 feet.
Tom and Sandy are novice fishermen, and had never used a downrigger before, so the majority of the rigging was up to me. As I was tightening up the last rod, the rod on the opposite downrigger popped and we had our first hookup of the day. I handed the rod to Tom, and was surprised to see the Slim Fin rod was bouncing as well! I grabbed it and handed it to Sandy – a double hook-up! The feisty rainbows fought well and it took a few minutes for Tom to get his to the side of the boat where I netted a bright, red striped 16-inch rainbow. As soon as I got the first rod back down on the rigger, the Humdinger rod had popped and we had a third fish on!

This action was to continue for the rest of the morning. After a few harried moments of trying to handle 3 rods all being ripped off the downriggers, I decided to use only 2 behind the cannonball flashers. What an excellent morning! I never had time to light my pipe or even have a cup of coffee before some ardent rainbow was ripping the line off the rigger and demanding attention! It got to the point where I was changing lures to see what the trout wouldn’t hit! I had excellent results with a Mepps Cyclops spoon, Thomas Speedy Shiner, Luhr Jensen Needlefish, and Shasta Tackle Humdingers. It didn’t really seem to matter, as long as it looked like a small baitfish. We caught and released at least 35 fish that first morning, only keeping 3 for the box. Tom and Sandy thought that downrigger fishing was the cat’s meow! I told them that it wasn’t always this way, but these 3 days on Lake Shasta the fishing – and catching – was amazing!!
We motored back to the houseboat around noon for brunch. It was starting to get hot, but the beauty of house boating is that if you do get hot, you take a couple steps off the back of the boat and Splash! You are cool again! The 80-degree water was refreshing and very cooling in the shade of the houseboat. We cooked a sumptuous brunch of sausage and eggs and hash browns and enjoyed it at the spacious dining table.

Later in the afternoon, we took a ride in the Willie Raptor and I gave Tom, Sandy and Ken the nickel tour of the lake. We ran up the McCloud arm to Hirtz bay, then back to the main body, under the I-5 bridge and out to the face of the dam. Here mammoth Mount Shasta loomed over the landscape, still covered with snow and very beautiful. Then we ran past Dry Fork and up the Big Backbone inlet, and finally back to our home away from home. The sun was fading in the west, so we moved some of the comfy plastic chairs up to the top deck, and enjoyed cocktails and cigars and the fantastic view from 20 feet above the water. As the evening progressed the shadows lengthened and the temperature dropped to 75 degrees. The light maritime breeze was cool and refreshing as the lake calmed down and mirrored the rugged mountains, wide blue sky and wild waterline. All the busyness of our normal daily lives seemed to melt away and we could truly relax. It was a wonderful experience being on the edge of a huge body of clean, clear water, watching night fall and feeling the magic of dusk seep into your skin, all the while knowing you have all the comfort and security of home lying beneath your feet.
The next two days of fishing were the same as the first. Lots of double hookups, lots of fat, feisty rainbows tearing the lines off the downriggers and ripping drag off the reels. We caught rainbows from 13 to 18 ½ inches, and all were fat and healthy and gorging on the vast amounts of shad in the lake. It is by far the best fishing I have ever experienced on Shasta, and I am already planning a trip back next year during August!



Tom, Sandy and Ken all had a great time on the houseboat, and we are planning to do another houseboat trip in the near future. The Packers Bay houseboat was very clean and neat, and was so very comfortable. For the fisherman, the obvious advantage is you can take your “home” right to your favorite fishing spot. If you like fishing Dekka Rocks in the McCloud arm, you can park your houseboat on the beach and be fishing your hot spot in a matter of minutes! Then you can move your “home” somewhere else if the mood strikes you. I absolutely love the feeling of piloting this massive boat down the scenic channels of Lake Shasta from 20 feet in the air. You really do feel like the King of the World!
Packers Bay Marina is the most centrally located marina on Shasta Lake, just west of the I-5 bridge on the north bank between the McCloud and Sacramento River arms. They have a fleet of 28 houseboats in 5 models from 55 to 65 feet in length. The smallest model will still sleep up to 12 people, and the largest model includes everything you can imagine, including a bar with a built-in keg! Packers Bay has been family owned and operated since 1981, and they specialize in excellent boats with excellent service. They also offer special Fisherman’s Rates up to 25% Off for the spring and fall seasons.

For more information, call them at (800)331-3137 or see them on the web at www.packersbay.com