Lake Amador’s Unique Strain of Hard-Fighting Trout   By: Dan Bacher April 15, 2008 More Articles by Dan

Lake Amador is a rich Mother Lode reservoir that features good populations of largemouth bass, bluegill, white crappie, redear sunfish, channel catfish, but it is its unique trout fishery that attracts the most anglers every year.

The lake management, the Lockhart family, is unique for being the only one that raises its trout on site in a hatchery. The strain of trout released into Amador, a steelhead/rainbow strain now and a cuttbow strain in past years, is also known for being possibly the hardest-fighting strain of trout found in California.

“The quality of Amador trout is superior to those of any other lake,” said Rene Villanueva of Steelie Dan’s Guide Service. “The fish are big, averaging over 3 pounds each, and fight very hard. The lake is a productive late winter and early spring fishery that provides good action at a time before fishing breaks loose on other foothill lakes.”

Villanueva and I experienced super fishing at Amador during a trolling adventure there last April. Villanueva's trout limit weighed a total of 20 pounds, a 4 pound per fish average, while mine weighed 19 pounds, just under 4 pounds each.

Although a trip on March 7 this year didn’t produce the same hot action that we saw last year, the two fish that Raymond Vineyard of Folsom and I landed were gorgeous trout weighing 4 pounds and 3 pounds, 12 ounces. We caught them while trolling nightcrawlers and Rapalas.

Like all of the trout raised at Amador, these fish made long runs and battled us all of the way to the net. I have caught trout at Amador in previous years that out-fought wild steelhead, making more leaps than any other fish I’ve hooked.

Although trollers caught trout the day of our trip, the boaters who pulled up on shore and fished bait appeared to do best. For example, Herb, Gregory and Andrew Tom of Sacramento teamed up to catch 6 rainbows to 5 pounds.

On Villanueva’s previous trip, the action was much hotter. Villanueva’s two clients, Sam Cole and Jerry Preeymen of Elk Grove, hooked a total of 16 fish. They landed 9 trout ranging from 3 to 6 pounds while trolling with Berkley Power Grubs, Shasta Tackle Flea Bitty lures and Mackey’s Wedding Ring spinners, tipped with nightcrawlers.

The lake management plans to stock 180,000 pounds of fish by the end of the spring. They have stocked 150,000 pounds to date. The DFG also periodically stocks catchable rainbows in the reservoir.

“The fish being planted from our hatchery are a rainbow/steelhead cross grown from eggs that we receive from Aqua seed in Washington State,” said Bruce Lockhart at Lake Amador Resort. “Up until four years ago we were putting steelhead/cutthroat/rainbow hybrid trout – cuttbows - into the lake. We will be planting the lake with this strain of fish again starting next winter.”

The hard fight that Amador trout provide anglers, along with their beautiful appearance similar to a wild steelhead or stream trout, is due to a combination of factors, including the fish strain and the conditions they are raised in. Amador’s was the first hatchery to use liquid oxygen to grow their fish in, according to Lockhart. A liquid oxygen injection system pumps water with 40 parts per million of oxygen into the tank to keep the fish active and healthy.

The hatchery also raises the fish in tanks 5 to 6 feet deep, rather than 18 inches deep like other hatcheries. When fish are raised in deeper water, the fish both fight better and develop full fins, unlike the rounded fins characteristic of most hatchery trout.

Another factor is that when the fish reach the age of 8 months and are taken out of the raceways, they are raised in 7 octagonal tanks with a constant current running through them. Swimming in the current forces the fish to become strong and healthy.

Finally, the resort uses top quality “EWOS” food to raise their fish. When anglers clean their trout, most of the fish have distinctive orange-colored flesh similar to those raised in natural conditions.

The orange color originates from the zooplankton that the trout feed on when planted into the lake, combined with the herring meal the management uses for fish food. Both the plankton and the herring that feed on plankton, have a considerable amount of carotene in it, resulting in the orange color.

The hatchery normally plants from October to May, when the water becomes too warm to plant the fish. The period when the resort is planting fish is definitely the top time to pursue the trout.

The fishing slows down dramatically during the summer, but I experienced my best day of fishing ever at Amador during a freak series of cool days during June back in the early 1990s. I caught a five trout limit weighing over 20 pounds, in addition to releasing numerous other cuttbows, while fishing mealworms for bluegill off the docks.

The official lake record trout from Amador is 16-3/4 pounds, but Bruce Lockhart reported catching and releasing a fish over 19 pounds in the summer of 2002. “I took out a father and son to show them how to catch trout during the summer and hooked the fish while bringing in a nightcrawler behind blades on lead core line,” he explained. “The big fish was a holdover with a tag from 3 years before.”

Largemouth bass are the second most popular gamefish species in Amador. Northern strain bass were planted in the lake after it was filled in 1968, followed by the introduction of Florida-strain largemouth by the DFG in 1973.

Tim Kimura of Sacramento set a lake largemouth record in 1986, when he caught a 17.1 pound largemouth on a Tennessee Shad crankbait. That lake record was finally broken again when an angler caught a 17 lb. 2 oz. bass in 2005.

A variety of lures, including jigs, Senkos, top water baits, spinnerbaits, Brush Hogs and crankbaits, are used to entice bass at Amador throughout the year. “However, I catch 90 percent of my fish while using an electric grape plastic worm,” said Lockhart. “In fact, that’s what I used to caught my largest bass, a fish over 15 pounds, 20 years ago.”

A few smallmouth bass are found in Lake Amador, but they are rare in the catches. Warmouth bass, black crappie, redear sunfish and the abundant bluegill also swim in the lake’s fertile waters.

I fondly remember a summer day in 1991 catching an ice chest full of big, fat bluegill, along with five hefty rainbows, when shore fishing at Lake Amador with Doug MacPherson of Sacramento.

Crappie aren’t as abundant as they are at other Mother Lode lakes, but anglers fishing mini-jigs and minnows off the docks and off shoreline cover in the spring catch decent numbers of big, fat bluegill in the 1 to 2-1/2 pound range every year. The largest fish found in Amador are its huge channel catfish. The unofficial lake record is a monstrous 50 lb. 3 oz cat weighed on a digital scale.

For more information, call Rene Villanueva of Steelie Dan’s Guide Service at 916-684-7148, www.thefishsniffer.com/steeliedan, and Lake Amador Resort at 209-274-4739, www.lakeamador.com.

Lake Amador Facts

Location: Lake Amador, located on Jackson Creek in the Mother Lode foothills near Ione, features 400 surface acres and 13-1/2 miles of shoreline when full. The reservoir is managed as a fishing lake – no water skiing or jet skis are allowed.

Fishing Season: Fishing is open year round. The lake management and Department of Fish and Game plant the lake from mid October through mid June, depending upon the surface water temperatures.

Resort Facilities: Amador is a full service resort complete with a marina, fishing dock, café and store. The Tackle Box Cafe, located in the Lodge, serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner on weekends. Also located in the lodge is a large general store and beer bar with a large screen TV. A well-stocked bait and tackle store with rental boats is also located in the lodge. Unlike many other lakes, Amador encourages fishing from its docks.

Launch Ramps: The lake now has an expanded launching ramp with new docks and a paved parking area lighted at night for nocturnal fishing adventures.

Camping: Full hook-up RV sites and a 150 site campground, with showers and flush toilets, are nestled along the shoreline of Lake Amador. The sites are available year round with reservations or just show up. They always have room except maybe on some holidays.

Day Use and Other Fees: The parking fee for vehicles with two people is $9.00, with $1.00 extra per person. The fishing permit costs $8.00 per angler. The boat launch fee is $7.00 per day.

Fishing information: Lake Amador Resort at (209) 274-4739, www.lakeamador.com. Rene Villanueva of Steelie Dan’s Guide Service, 916-684-7148 and www.thefishsniffer.com/steeliedan, offers guided trips for trout on Amador, as well as trout and salmon trips on Lake Berryessa, New Melones and other foothill lakes. Larry Hemphill of Larry Hemphill's Instruction and Guide Service, (530) 674-0276, offers guided trips for black bass.

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