A total of 176 anglers participated in the Shasta Lake Fall Trout Derby held the weekend of Oct 16-17.

First Place went to Dave Thielmann from San Jose, Ca. with four trout totalling 10.65 lbs. He won $2500.00 for his efforts. The angler was casting a Kastmaster along the shoreline, according to Harold Jones at Sugarloaf Cottages.

Second place went to Sandy Drake from Lakehead, Ca. with a weight of 10.25 lbs, prize $1000.00. Third Place went to Ben Peterson from Martinez, Ca. with a weight of 9.45 lbs, prize $850.00.

"The fishing was very good," said Jones. "112 people weighed in fish on the first day alone."

Bruce Wicks of Foresthill and I attended the Shasta Lake Trout Derby on October 16th and 17. This popular event is sponsored by the Shasta Lake Business Owners Association, Shasta Tackle Company, North River Boats and The Fish Sniffer.

We arrived Friday night in time to take in Gary Miralles' Fishing Seminar at The Basshole Bar & Grill in Lakehead. We spent the night in a comfortable houseboat provided by Antlers Resort & Marina.

Saturday broke clear and warm and the fishing was solid. The day started out with Bruce landing 3 beautiful king salmon from 3 to 4 pounds trolling a perch colored Rapala Countdown Minnow. They were really nice fish, but this is a trout derby and salmon don't count!

We moved all over the Sacramento and Backbone arms of the lake, looking for some big trout. We caught several nice fish from 16 to 20 inches, trolling pink and purple Kokanee Killer Apex lures set on the Cannon downrigger at 4 feet deep. We were able to check in our two fish each, per the derby rules.

We had a great smoked prime rib dinner at the Basshole and talked to lots of the derby participants. Most had caught fish, although the bite was slower than it had been all week. Everyone was looking forward to the final day.

Sunday morning we awoke in the middle of a huge rainstorm. We bundled up in rain gear, put the top up and fired up the heater in the Fish Sniffer 19' Alumaweld Stryker I/O, and headed down the Sacramento arm of the lake.

We started out trolling Rapalas and caught about a dozen small black bass, but no trout or salmon. We switched to Shasta Tackle Humdinger and Goldeneye spoons and started to catch a few trout. Later in the morning we moved over between Dry Creek and the dam and started trolling the same Apex that worked yesterday.

The last fish of the day before we had to run back to make the weigh-in by 3 pm was a beautiful 2-1/2 pound native rainbow that slammed the Apex, again set at only 4 feet deep. Thanks to this last rainbow, we ended up in the money in eighth place.

Fourth place in the derby went to Bruce Dyche from Windsor, Ca. with a weight of 9.37 lbs, prize $750.00, while fifth place went to Ed Cavallero from Redding with a weight of 9.33 lbs, prize $650.00. Sixth Place went to Cheryl Dulon from Lakehead with a weight of 8.86lbs, prize $555.00, while Seventh Place went to Sambo Lage from Concord with a weight of 8.44 lbs, prize $350.00.

For more information on the Shasta Lake Trout Derby, contact Harold Jones at Sugarloaf Cottages at (530)238-2448, Dave and Cheryl Dulon at the Basshole Bar & Grill at (530)238-2170, or check out the website at www.shastalaketroutderby.com. For information on houseboats at Shasta Lake, contact Antlers Resort & Marina at (530)238-3924 or www.shastalakevacations.com.