
Lake Berryessa
Take Your Pick of Hot Bass or Hot Kokanee and Trout Fishing
SACRAMENTO – Whether you want to fish for three species of black bass or for kokanee salmon and rainbow trout, now is prime time to hit Lake Berryessa.
On his latest trip to Berryessa, Don Paganelli of Paganelli’s Bass Fishing Experience reported catching and releasing over 30 bass.
“The top water bite was good in the morning with fish up to 4.5 pounds. The dropshot bite and small swimbaits were on fire with many doubles.,” he observed.
On his most recent trolling adventure, Nate Kelsch of Big Nate’s Guide reported a potluck catch of kokanee salmon, rainbow trout, king salmon and bass.
“Today I had another awesome crew out on Berryessa and these guys smacked ‘em,” said Kelsch. “We loaded up on some of the largest kokanee I have seen in a couple pf years, as well as some gorgeous trout. Once again we experienced a very soft bite early, that led to a lot of fish coming unbuttoned, but we made the most of it and waited for our bite window to open, and when it did these guys absolutely hammered them.”
“It was tough to keep the rods in the water! Every time I would refresh the Chrome Killer Corn, that rod would get pounded, so I kept busy refreshing bait, and chasing marks and the fish obliged,” he advised. “We haven’t changed tackle in months and there's no need when we keep putting up huge numbers, day in and day out!
“Today the depths were between 35 and 70 ft,, and couldn't get any fish to go any deeper, although I did chase some very deep marks. Berryessa is back and these fish are as healthy and fat as they come,” he said.
After his previous trip, he reported, “Today I had another awesome group out on Berryessa and these guys crushed ‘em. We grinded for a long time, picking up a fish here and there, then our bite window opened up and it was game on. These guys loaded up on fat kokanee, a big ole king salmon, 5 bonus trout and 2 bass in short order.
“I chased marks, swapped corn and changed speeds the entire time in order to get the job done! Catch America 6in Dodgers and Tpexes continue to dominate over anything else in the arsenal. Depths were from 35 ft to 72 ft at speeds between 1.1 and 1.5 mph.”
Reclamation now requires all boats launching at Lake Berryessa to participate in a seal program to prevent the spread of invasive golden mussels. All vessels wishing to launch at Lake Berryessa will be inspected, according to the Bureau of Reclamation:
A red quarantine seal will be applied for 30 days during which the vessel will not be permitted to launch. Vessels that have finished the 30-day quarantine may return to the lake and have the seal removed by authorized staff and will be allowed to launch.
For questions about this new protocol and vessel decontamination, contact BOR-Berryessa@usbr.gov.
Lake Berryessa is holding 1,478,220 acre feet of water, 92 percent of capacity and 115 percent of average.
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Dan Bacher