By Dan Bacher

You never know what you might catch in Lake Sonoma. Your next cast could yield a largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, channel catfish, redear sunfish, landlocked steelhead, bluegill...or even a fishing rod...as was the case on a recent trip I made to Lake Sonoma.

After several years of hearing about the top-notch bass fishing Kevin Guillory KQED Radio Anchor, has experienced at Lake Sonoma, we finally made a trip together to fish Sonoma in June. The 2700 surface acre lake is located on Dry Creek, a tributary of the Russian River, in a gorgeous region of Sonoma County where mile after mile of vineyards are surrounded by mountains studded with oaks and conifers.

The lake is at the upper end of Dry Creek Valley, normally known for it's warm, sunny weather this time of year. However, the weather was more like February than June on the day of our trip as a cold front approached the coastal mountains. The wind was already stirring up waves on the lake's main body as we launched at the public launch ramp. After several attempts to fish from his Arima in the increasingly nasty wind in Yorty Creek we stopped off at a protected point in Dry Creek where Guillory has caught many big bass.

He started casting a crankbait into the mud line, catching and releasing a 10 inch bass. After flinging out the lure again, he was reeling in the line when he felt something mushy and set the hook. "Hey, look...I caught a crankbait and there's a line attached to it," he said as he pulled a Rebel crawdad out of the water.

Guillory then proceeded to pull a rod and reel out of the water! It was a 6 foot Zebco rod with a spincast reel, not the high end of fishing outfits, but it was in good, operable shape. He put down his other rod and tried fishing the "lucky" outfit.

"I'll see if I can hook a fish," said Guillory. Sure enough, he quickly hooked and landed a largemouth bass. "That's a first for me, hooking a lure with a rod attached and then catching a fish on it," he noted.

Neither of us had any other bites, so we decided to move to another, more protected spot on a point onthe other side of Dry Creek. There were numerous partially submerged trees and bushes, ideal habitat for largemouth bass, crappie and sunfish; when Sonoma was filled in 1984, the Corps of Engineers left much of the standing timber in the reservoir.

After he put the anchor up on shore to hold the boat, Guillory cast a Morning Dawn worm out and hooked up a fish that broke his line. After getting out of the boat, he continued casting his worm off a point. He caught and released the day's first decent fish, a 3 pound largemouth. He also nailed two bass in the 1-1/2 to 2 pound class on a black spinner bait and a Shad Rap.

Meanwhile, I was trying for sunfish. After I threw a half crawler near a stump, my bobber went down immediately and the fish surged right into the tree, breaking my line. I tossed the bobber further from the tree, had a bite and brought in a scrappy redear sunfish. I hooked several more redear sunfish a couple bluegill and a small largemouth bass.

After seeing Guillory land several largemouths, I decided to try for bass, too. I threw out a Texas-rigged Morning Dawn worm between the trees and shore, and quickly hooked and brought in a fat 15 inch bass. I followed up on the next cast with another chunky largemouth. We tried several other spots as the wind continued to build in intensity. Guillory landed two more good sized bass. After we moved over to the lake's east side, I lost a very strong fish that broke my 10 pound test line.

We caught a total of 10 bass, not the normal action that Guillory is used to here, but still good for the unseasonably cold, windy conditions. Although we fished the lake during the day, he finds his top action at night during the summer.

I like night fishing at Sonoma because the fish are bigger and shallower," he advised. "I use 10 to 12 inch black plastic Power Worms, as well as other dark color colored worms, with brass and glass, Texas-rigged with 5/0 hooks. I work around wood and trees in the first five feet of water. On a good night, my fishing partner and I will catch 20 fish."

Largemouth bass are the predominate bass species at the Sonoma, although smallmouths are also caught by anglers fishing near the dam, according to Scott Green at Outdoor Pro Shop in Rhonert Park. Bass at Sonoma grow big and fat as they forage on the lake's large population of threadfin shad. The largemouth record, taken by Steve Tamez in 1994, weighed 15.37 pounds.

Sonoma is unique in having a wild, self-sustaining landlocked steelhead population. Trollers find the best success fishing with minnow imitation lures, such as Cripplures and Needlefish, throughout the year. "The fall is the best time to fish for the trout, since the fish are moving up into the creeks to spawn," said Green. "The fish average 16 to 23 inches long, but larger fish up to 8 pounds are taken."

If you want to catch big channel catfish up to 30 pounds, Green advised fishing mackerel at 15 to 20 feet deep in the creek channels in the spring. The lake also has a great sunfish population, including crappie, redear sunfish and bluegill.

Lake Sonoma holds 318,000 acre feet of water when full. The lake extends 9 miles on Dry Creek and 4 miles on Warm Springs Creek. Warm Springs Dam, which forms Lake Sonoma, was completed in 1983 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Free boat launching is available at the public ramp on the west side of Warm Springs Bridge, and at Yorty Creek Recreation Area off Hot Springs Road (car top only). The Lake Sonoma Marina, (707) 433-2200, offers a boat ramp, boat slips, boat rentals and other services. UPDATE 6/30/04: We were informed by a reader that launching is $3 now at both the Public Ramp and at Yorty Creek.

The lake's Liberty Glen Campground contains 113 individual campsites and two group camp areas for recreational vehicles and tent campers. For camping information, call the Corps of Engineers (707) 433.9483.

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