Hennessey, The Wine Country’s Trout And Bass Fishing Gem   By: Dan Bacher March 2, 2007 More Articles by Dan

Lake Hennessey, a drinking water supply for the city of Napa located five miles east of St. Helena, is dwarfed by its much larger neighbor, massive Lake Berryessa. Whereas the Bureau of Reclamation’s Berryessa covers 20,700 surface acres when full, Hennessey features only 850 surface acres.

However, what Lake Hennessey lacks in size is more than made up by the peace and solitude that anglers can experience there fishing for rainbow trout, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, black crappie, catfish and other species. While Lake Berryessa turns into a maelstrom of personal watercraft, pleasure boats, and water skiers churning up the water in the spring and summer, Hennessey is limited to craft with outboard motors of 10 hp or less.

Besides providing anglers with relative solitude, the lake also has lots of shore fishing access and good launch ramp facilities. To top it off, the lake is surrounded by the beautiful pastoral scenery of vineyards mixed with oak and white pine forests that makes the “Wine Country” of Napa County famous throughout the world.

During the winter and spring, rainbow trout provide a solid fishery for shore anglers and boaters. The Department of Fish and Game stocks approximately 6,000 pounds of rainbows in the lake every year from November through April.

“The numbers of fish we put in vary per plant, but we stock the lake approximately twice a month,” said Bob Howard at the Silverado’s Fisheries Base. “On our latest plant on January 26, we stocked 400 pounds of fish averaging 1 pound each.”

During my latest visit to the lake on January 28, 2007, I saw only six anglers bank fishing and another six fishermen bait fishing from a boat. The fishing was by no means red hot, but the guys who stuck it out for a few hours caught rainbow trout, a mixture of holdovers and recent planters.

Paul Richardson of Santa Rosa caught two rainbows to 14 inches while fishing Power Bait from shore off the point near the boat ramp. Joe Miller of Santa Rosa, his fishing partner, nailed one rainbow on salmon eggs. Jay Pence of Napa also enticed a scrappy rainbow with a nightcrawlers on a sliding sinker rig.

Although shore fishing with Power Bait, Nitro Bait, nightcrawlers and salmon eggs is a good bet in the winter and spring, boaters trolling with nightcrawlers behind dodgers or Needlefish and other lures do well on the lake’s scrappy trout when the lake is clear, according to Kevin Ryan at Sweeney’s Sports Shop in Napa.

“The lake muddies up in the winter in years when the watershed gets a lot of rain,” stated Ryan. “When that happens, it’s best for trollers to wait until spring, when anglers can catch easy limits of trout.”

The lake has a deep-water pool that allows trout to live throughout the summer and become “ holdovers,” but fishing generally gets tough during the hot summers. Anglers will have to use downriggers at up to 80 feet deep to hook the trout.

The DFG conducted a tagging program of trout at Hennessey from November 2005 to May 2006 as a part of a statewide fish hatchery evaluation program. The hatchery released 15 to 20 tagged trout in each load, resulting in a total of 200 tagged fish released during that period, said Walter Bier, DFG associate fishery biologist. So far, only two of the $10.00 tags have been returned to the DFG office in Rancho Cordova.’

“This low percentage – one percent – may indicate bird predation or other problems,” said Bier. “I’m curious to know what’s going on. What we are shooting for is 50 percent return to the creel on our planted trout, but that may not be a realistic expectation.”

Another factor is that anglers may not realize that the tags are redeemable for $10.00 when they send them to the DFG – and they may set them aside in their tackle box and forget about them.

The Department, in their “Fishing the Central Coast” booklet, gives the warm water fishery at Hennessey a “fair to good” rating, although the variety of fish exceeds that of most California reservoirs. In fact, a DFG survey of the lake conducted in 1993 yielded an amazing 15 species of fish in Hennessey.

Gamefish recorded during that survey besides rainbow trout included largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, white catfish, brown bullheads, yellow bullheads, redear sunfish, green sunfish, bluegill and black crappie. The survey also documented Sacramento blackfish, Sacramento sucker, hitch, golden shiners and threadfin shad, all forage species for larger gamefish. Channel catfish and Sacramento pike minnows, although for some reason not observed during that survey, also prowl the waters of this beautiful lake.

The most abundant fish measured in that survey – 334 out of 621 fish – was largemouth bass. The largemouth remains the most popular and abundant resident fish found in Hennessey.

Paul Duclos of Santa Rosa, a big largemouth specialist, set the lake largemouth record in 1996 when he bagged a 15 lb. fish at Lake Hennessey. When targeting big largemouths, Duclos recommended fishing 18 inch plastic worms, either black or brown with blue stripes, to imitate the garter snakes that are “bass candy” at the reservoir. He also recommends fishing big rainbow trout imitation plugs.

From the end of February through May is the best time to target the lake’s bass, though experienced anglers can bag bass year round at Hennessey. Besides plastic worms and trout imitation plugs, the bass fall for an array of spinnerbaits, plastic grubs, Senkos, swim baits, crankbaits and jigs.

During the late eighties and early nineties, the lake was a hot spot for black crappie. Our publication received many photos of stringers of big crappie coming out of “Conn Dam” as many locals referred to the lake. Although the population of crappie has declined since then, anglers can still find good fishing for these popular fish during the spring and fall.

“I’ve seen crappie up to 2 pounds taken by anglers fishing small jigs and minnows at Hennessey,” said Ryan. “Shore anglers can experience good action for crappie, particularly in the spring when the fish are in the shallows, but a boat allows you to reach more spots and cover more water.”

For the lake’s four varieties of catfish, Ryan recommends fishing the creek inlets when runoff is coming into the lake in the winter and spring. Nightcrawlers, mackerel, anchovies and chicken or turkey livers are all top-notch baits.

One thing unique about Hennessey is that the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA hasn’t posted any health advisories about eating the lake’s fish in the lake. This is in contrast to other Coast Range lakes such as Berryessa, Sonoma and Mendocino, where mercury warnings are posted for eating certain fish because of the presence of naturally occurring mercury in the watersheds.

“Hennessey is a great fishing lake located close to Napa in the Wine Country,” summed up Ryan. “The water is clean and clear, since the lake is a drinking water supply. And the lake has a wide variety of fish to pursue, including black bass, rainbow trout, crappie, sunfish and catfish.”

For more information about fishing the lake, call Sweeney’s Sports in Napa at (707) 255-5544.  

Lake Hennessey Facts    

History and Size: Lake Hennessey is the city of Napa’s water supply and is located behind Conn Dam. Situated on Conn Creek, a tributary of the Napa River, the lake filled in 1960. The lake has a capacity of 31,000 acre-feet of water. The recreation area is located in Rutherford in Napa County at an elevation of 331 feet above sea level.  

Fishing Season: Fishing and other recreation are open year round. Species found in the lake include rainbow trout, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, channel catfish, bluegill, redear sunfish, black crappie, channel catfish, white catfish, brown bullhead and yellow bullhead. Anglers must obtain a an annual or daily fishing and boating permit from the Lake Hennessey caretaker or the city of Napa water division at 16000 First Street, Napa, CA.  

Fishing Regulations: All DFG fishing regulations apply at Hennessey. In addition, no person shall fish within 2,000 feet of the lake intake tower. No fish shall be cleaned or scaled in or near the lake.  

Boating Regulations: The daily boat launching fee is $4.00 per watercraft. Outboard motors of 10 horsepower maximum are allowed. Sailboats, catamarans and rubber rafts, with a minimum of 8 feet in length and a maximum of 18 feet, are allowed. Windsurfers, sailboats without cockpits, water skis, kayaks and other “similar crafts” are not permitted on Hennessey at any time. No swimming, wading, or water contact sports are allowed. Boats shall be allowed on the lake one hour before sunrise and shall be removed from the lake by one hour after sunset of each day.  

Picnic Sites: Picnic tables are available in the Conn Dam and Lake Hennessey picnic area.

Facilities and permit information: Lake Hennessey Recreation Area, Rutherford, CA, (707) 226-7455  

Fishing information: Sweeney’s Sports in Napa, (707) 255-5544.  

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