By Dan Bacher

This Lake County Reservoir harbors surprisingly good largemouth bass, bluegill and rainbow trout population

As we looked into the clear water, we could see large black bass in the 4 to 9 pound range swimming into the drop-off at the edge of the weedbeds. Meanwhile, a large school of monster bluegill cruised over a gravel flat behind us, also lined with abundant underwater vegetation. I hooked a 1-plus pound blueill while casting out a Roostertail spinner while outdoor writer George Carl hooked into a brawling 4-1/2 pound largemouth bass on a F-11 Rapala.

There was nobody fishing within miles of where we were as Carl netted the bass and I brought in the Jumbo bluegill. During the hours that followed, we hooked eight bass averaging 4 to 5 pounds, landing four, and caught over 12 bluegill in the 3/4 to 1 pound class. As the sun beat on the water, we decided to explore the center of the lake’s north end and saw underwater plants coming up from 20 feet of water to the surface. It was bizarre, with almost a subtropical ambiance, yet we were fishing a lake draining the head- waters of the north coast’s Eel River.

"It’s as close to fishing Florida as any lake I’ve seen in Califonia," said Carl. "It reminds me of Florida bass fishing because of the clear water, the big bass and bluegill you see and the heavy vegetation. Even the schools of squawfish schooling around the lake resembled alligator gar."

In addition to great habitat, you can find top-notch forage at Pillsbury. Forage for the larger gamefish includes mayfly and midge larvae, juvenile bluegill, golden shiner minnows, and juvenile squawfish.

Yet, this fishing experience wasn’t taking place in a lowland reservoir in the Mother Lode or Central Coast foothills. It was Lake Pillsbury on the headwaters of the Eel River in Mendocino National Forest at 1800 feet in elevation, where one might expect to catch rainbow and brown trout.

The lake, with 2003 surface acres when full, is owned by PG andE and operated by the U.S. Forest Service. It is located in Lake County on Mendocino National Forest land.

Behind us loomed the mountains such as Snow Mountain and Little Round Mountain, where the tributaries of the legendary Eel River originate. It is a dark, beautiful watershed with douglas fir, sugar pine and ponderosa pine, intermixed with oak forest. Black bear, mountain lions, deer, coyotes, wild turkeys, bald eagles and other wildlife abound in this remote section of the Coast Range.

Largemouth Bass

As strange as it seems, the big bass that we saw in the lake were only introduced in 1986, according to DFG fishery biologist Rick Macedo. The DFG released 50 fish, Florida/northern strain hybrids from Clear Lake into Pillsbury as a biological control for the squaw- fish and to provide an additional sport fishery for the lake.

Is the introduction successful? "We’re not seeing the large squawfish that we saw before, and the black bass is certainly providing a secondary fishery," said Macedo.

It is surprising that more anglers don’t know about Pillsbury, since the reservoir is a veritable fish-producing factory.

"If I had to design an ideal reservoir for fish, I’d make it like Lake Pillsbury," said Macedo. "There is a sloping area in the north end where the tributaries 3 come in, This provides good gravels for spawning and an area where nutrients can settle and be cycled into the food chain.

"Tules, weed beds and sunken stumps and brush add to the fine habitat for black bass spawning, juvenile rearing and forage purposes. An amazing variety of aquatic plants including sago pondweed, variable pondweed, water naiad, soft stem bulrush, eleocharis and marsh smart- weed thrive in the lake. The north end is the top area for bass, since it has the best shallow water habitat.

A combination of floating Rapalas, Rebel Pop-Rs and plastic worms drew strikes from bass when Carl and I fished the lake. Ed DeBoer at Lake Pillsbury Resort recommended fishing top water lures and spinnerbaits in the mornings and working black and purple 6 inch plastic worms from the bank to 15 feet of water in the north end during the spring.

During the summer, the bass can be caught around the tules and weeds on top water lures in the morning and evening hours. During the day, anglers can fish plastic grubs, worms and deep diving crankbaits off the points and ledges. The brush piles developed by the California Conservation Corps are also good places to try.

Pillsbury is subject to drawdowns in the fall, so anglers should adjust to the changing conditions. Mark Leegard, who wrote a helpful booklet on fishing at Lake Pillsbury available for $3.00 at the Pillsbury Resort, recommends fishing around the underwater ledges during the day and around the shoreline at sundown. "Good bassers can catch limits while casting rubber grubs and worms towards the shoreline," he tipped.

Why is there no pressure? "It’s a rough, winding road to the lake, so a lot of bassers don’t like to take their boats up there," said Macedo. It’s seems like Lake Pillsbury may remain one of the north state’s best kept angling secrets for a while.

Rainbow Trout And Bluegill

Although bass are a recent introduction, rainbow trout and bluegill have been there since the lake was created. The trout in the lake now are a mixture of recent planters and holdovers from the DFG stocking program and wild fish, the remnants of a land- locked steelhead run.

The story of Lake Pillsbury began when PG and E built Van Arsdale Dam on the Eel River in 1909 to send water to the Russian River watershed through a tunnel. The dam was passable by means of a fish ladder, so steelhead and salmon weren’t prevented from reaching their historical spawning grounds.

However, Van Arsdale couldn’t supply steady water during the summer because of low flows, so Pillsbury was created as a storage reservoir when fished under a bobbers, as well as small jigs and poppers, are productive for the big sunfish. Mark Leegard recommended using spinners such as yellow Roostertails.

The Squawfish, An Unwanted Predator

Squawfish are a relatively recent, though unwanted, introduction to Lake Pillsbury. The fish were apparently introduced through bait buckets as "minnows and first showed up in the Eel River and Pillsbury in 1979. Though found in two other Lake County watersheds, Cache Creek (Clear Lake) and Putah Creek (Lake Berryessa), squawfish aren’t native to the Eel River watershed.

Six and seven pound squawfish were once common. Macedo believes their average size and numbers are declining though the exact status of the population is not known at this time.

Squawfish are seen as a threat to the salmon and steelhead fishery on the river below Scott Dam because they are predators of juvenile salmonids. In fact, chemical treatment of the tributaries of the lake and river between Scott and Van Arsdale dams with rotenone is one of the options being discussed by the DFG to eliminate the squawfish.

However, no decision if and when to do this has been made. The same budget shortfall preventing the DFG from poisoning Davis Lake is stopping them from doing it to Pillsbury as well. Also, public hearings on the issue soliciting input from water users and the public would have to be held.

"Our goal is not total eradication, since that is impossible, but to have long term management of the squaw- fish population," Macedo said. Other options include eliminating the squawfish out of holes on the Eel with explosives such as seal bombs and depth cord or the developing a commercial fishery for squawfish.

The DFG has also attempted to trap squawfish in weirs during the spawning season in 1988, but this didn’t work, since the warning chemical that squawfish emit when threatened made it ineffective; once two or three fish were in the trap, they’d warn the rest of the school, according to Macedo.

Fortunately, the explosion of the squawfish population in the Eel that happened during the drought has tapered off. First, the cold water of the past two years has made conditions in the river less favorable to the squawfish. Second, the fishery has apparently reached its sustainable level as the population rises. Hopefully, the largemouth bass will continue to prosper in Lake Pillsbury and control the squawfish population.

Lake Pillsbury is a very interesting lake providing anglers with a chance to catch trophy largemouth bass, nice rainbow trout and monster bluegill. It’s future remains in question, depending upon the spread of squawfish in the Eel River and tributaries. One thing’s for sure: it’s now an excellent fishery providing anglers with a little taste of Florida-style fishing in, the steep, forested mountains of Lake County.

April, 1998

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