Some Fishing History for Trout, Kokanee and Salmon

[dobies]

Thanks Old Guy for the great history. This gives the youngsters the appreciation of the efforts of others work to make fisheries a place to enjoy.
I grew up in Napa Co. and heard stories of Berryessa filling up within a few years. Maybe it did'nt fill up but maybe a lot of water came into within a few years. What do you remember? Also, the same people said it was developed and finished in early 50's. I am glad to know the correct years.
I know a family whose relatives were ranchers near town of Monticello and had to move their
cattle and home out of the area before they filled the lake. Great history! Also, the old bridge showed up a few years ago when we were in the drought!

Thanks for your history!
Dobies

[Garden_Valley_Fish]

Thanks Old Guy I like reading your info

[Mark_Damron]

Thanks Oldguy!!!!

Great read with a ton of useful information. Vance is right!!! I can"t remember things that happened 2 weeks ago let alone 40 years ago. Thanks again, PHM

[padrino]

very nice!

well said.

i'm already looking *forward to reading it again next year.

i am blessed to fish with a couple of uncles once or twice a year. * they regale me with their tales of the old days. *the stories are often best the 3rd or 4rth time i hear them.

kevin 'Padrino' *

[Vance Staplin]

Thanks "Old Guy"

Your 83 year old memory is way better than my 45 year old memory.

Vance

[willbilly]

Thanks, OldGuy,

I remember this last year and hope to see it next year.

Happy late Birthday.

Willbilly

[OldGuy]

About a year ago I posted an item on this board dealing with the evolution of kokanee fishing. Some people found it interesting. Having just passed another of many birthdays, I decided this might be a good time to extend my recollections (while I still can) to include developments in the cold water fisheries of the three lakes that have occupied most of my non-Delta fishing time over the past 40 years or so: Lake Berryessa, Oroville Lake and Bullards Bar. I have fished these lakes periodically almost from the day each was opened. If you are already familiar with happenings in these lakes (another old guy?) or not interested in fishing history, just skip to anothr posting.

Lake Berryessa, formed by completion of Monticello Dam in 1957, filled in 1963. Smallmouth bass and steelhead were trapped when the lake was formed. The DFG added more warmwaater fish and began what was called a Trophy Trout Program. Catchable or near catchable rainbow trout, brown trout and coho salmon were stocked in the spring and soon retreated to cool, deep water where they grew largely unmolested until reappearing in October, chasing shad near the suraface. In the early years I focused on bass (as I still do) but we soon began to catch trout and coho in the fall and spring months when they were shallow, often while fishing for bass.

Fishing changed substantially in 1974 when we bought our first downriggers -- a couple of $25 Mac Jacks without counters so we had to count turns of the reel to estimate the depth. But they worked. We had previously purchased a sonar unit which is an essential component of downrigger fishing. Not only were we able to fish deep for trout and coho in the summer, but setting the DR at shallow depths with a lot of line out often caught the most trout in the fall, even when they were surfacing all over the lake. We attached flashers to the DR weight, but nothing except the lure and a small trolling rudder to the line. Favorite lures included Needlefish, Triple Teasers, silver Midges, Rainbow Runners and others. They still work well today. For trout, we found that trolling at idle speed (about 2 mph or so, depending on motor size) seemed to work better than the slower speeds that may be needed for kokanee. The Mack Jack downriggers were soon replaced by much better Big Jon models.

The DFG discontinued stocking coho in Berryessa in 1977 and brown trout in 1982. It was unfortunate to lose these fish but rainbow trout fishing remained very good, even in low water years, until 2001 when copepods began showing up on the trout. Copepods continue to be a major problem. However, it has been mitigated to a considerable extent by king salmon plantings beginning in 1998 and kokanee plantings beginning in 2001. The stocking of these fish, which are resistant to copepod infestations, has been a great success, thanks mainly to the work of the California Inland Fisheries Foundation.

Oroville Lake Dam was completed in 1968 and we began to partake of the lake's excellent bass fishing in 1971. We accidently caught an occasional trout on a bass lure, but it was not until we obtained our first downriggers, as noted above, that we discovered the excellent fishing for rainbow and brown trout and coho salmon. The trolling method and lures were similar to those used in Lake Berryessa. I have some great pictures of my wife with a six pound brown and a five pound coho. Even larger fish were caught by others. The lake could also be frustrating: excellent one day but with fish hard to find on another.

Kokanee were planted periodically during the first decade of the lake. They apparently did well until wagasagi (pond) smelt passed down from Lake Almanor and became established in Oroville. They competed with the kokanee and reduced the kokanee growth rate to a point where DFG stopped stocking them after 1977.

About 1980, coho salmon in Oroville Lake were replaced with king salmon. There followed a period of years in which a number of large salmon, 10 pounds or more, were caught. Our best was seven pounds. The DFG also experimated with plants of lake trout (mackinaw) and we had some good catches in 1986 and 1987. Stocking of lake trout was discontinued, but it is possible that some exist very deep.

In the decade of the 1990s, massive plants of king salmon continued, along with some browns, but the fish did not reach the sizes they had earlier and rainbow trout all but disappered. Eventually, it was discovered that the salmon and trout were infected with the IHN virus. All planting ceased in 2000 to prevent infected fish from reaching the hatchery below the dam, which would be a seriious problem. In 2002 and 2003 coho salmon. which are resistant to the IHN virus, were reintroduced as replacements. This provided excellent fishing for a couple of years but plantings were suspended in 2004 due to a disease problem at the coho source. In late 2005 the DFG was able to obtain and plant 50 to 60 thousand disease-free cohos (about 1/3 the amounts planted in 2002 and 2003). Fish of catchable size (15"?) seem likely to appear in September or October 2006. Apparently, plans are under way to continue stocking these great fish, financed by DWR as a mitigation requirement for the dam constructiion.

Bullards Bar was originally just a small lake on the Yuba river. In the late 1960s a high dam was constructed about a mile or so below the original dam, bringing the depth to over 500 feet at the dam when full. The lake was reopened on July 1, 1970. We fished on the opening day and found the the lake contained a lot of nice size bass, hordes of little bass, quite a few trout and some large bluegills. The large bass were soon fished out, leaving many small bass that never seem to grow to large size, perhaps because the lake does not contain threadfin shad. The bluegills have thrived, but the trout did not, at least in the lower part of the lake.

Following an initial plant, catchable size kokanee (11-12 inches) first appeared in 1972. The limit then was 10 and it was not difficult to catch a limit. The trolling set up consisted of small wobblers with bare hooks behind flashers, with 1-3 ounces added as the summer wore on. The next year the kokes were larger, but most had descended to depths beyond our reach. Talked to a couple of guys who caught their 20 fish limit with 120 yards of lead core. Not great fun reeling in the fish.

Kokanee stocking was suspended temporarily following the initial plant and apparently resumed in 1974. We returned in 1976 with our new downriggers and easily caught caught limits (now 5) of 11-12 inch kokes, still with bare-hook wobblers behind flashers. By the 1980s I had removed the flashers from the line and attached them to the DR ball and put a small dodger in front of the lure. I also learned that the more successful anglers were using something called a Wedding Ring with a kernel of corn on the hook. For most of the 1980s we caught a lot of nice 14-17 inch kokes. We continued to have generally good fishing through the 1990s, but the kokes never were as consistently large as in the 80s. With seemingly better alternatives, we have not fished BB for a while. It appears the DFG biologists have been unable to find ways to increase the size of BB kokes.

A final comment about kokanee fishing. The success of Project Kokanee has had a seemingly unanticipated side effect -- the emergence of a growth industry in the manufacture of specialized kokanee lures and fishing equipment. Dodgers, commonly placed in front of lures, now come in a wide variety of colors, shapes and sizes. In addition to the old reliable Wedding Ring and small wobblers, there are now several varieties of spinners, hoochies, tubes, bugs and others and special scents for corn. There are also specialized rods and reels, and of course. the "black box." This leads to heavy tackle boxes and light wallets. Also, fishing boats have gotten larger with increasingly sophisticated equipment. The cost of catching a kokanee now appears to be several times what used to be the cost of catching a trout or landlocked salmon. But hey, who's counting?