Reports for the State of California 2001

July 20, 2002
Lake New Melones--
Here is a typical Kokanee from Lake New Melones here in central California.

The bite continues to be wide open in the main body of water, the fish seem
to be holding between 45' to 65' and will hit most any lure trailed behind a dodger if it is tipped with corn.
Tight lines

The bite is wide open in the main body, the fish are down at a depth of 50' plus, Seps 4/0 neon dodgers in pink, blue and yellow are working for me, hot lures; Uncle Larry's copper pop, pink tiger, red tiger, and Bubblegum Tiger and A-pex in the pink/pearl or orange. Be sure to tip your lures with Shoepeg corn (garlic scent is working for me). A soft plastic corn made by Mr. Twister called eXude that comes in several colors has been producing fish when the bite gets tough.

Lake Don Pedro--

This reservoir happens to be the 4th largest in the state and has a very healthy population of Kokanee. One should expect a limit of nice fat kokes, 14" plus and weighing 1.2 to 1.5 lbs in a couple hours as the bite is this good, ( 5 is the limit in Ca.) Try working the dam area or Jenkins Hill, also the willow tree bay are holding fish. The fish are holding in 45' to 60' depths and the fish are going strong after a Seps Watermelon 4/0 dodger and a pink-purple Marni-bug. Scent your lure with shoepeg corn to improve the bite.

This report submitted by Fish'n Dan's Guide Service

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A late report from fishing in the Kokanee Power derby held at Stampede Reservoir in California June 1. I met Robbie (R & K Spinners) at the Odell Sportsman's store at 3:30 Friday afternoon. We drove nonstop to Stampede and got to sleep at 12:30. We were back up at 4 to register and were fishing by 5:30.

Early our best success came from fishing with Robbie's Diamond blade spinners at 35 feet. Most of the fish were caught between 35 and 45 feet. The surface water temperature was 62. The bite slowed for us so we started to switch terminal gear. I bought an extra rod permit and was fishing two rods all day. Ended up catching some fish on Apexs and bugs. The wind came up and reminded Robbie and I of Odell. That made fishing very difficult and we spent most of the afternoon looking for places out of the wind. We did not place in the derby, but several very good fishermen did not either. The reservoir has a five fish limit, which we caught, so we had fish to take home.

An overall fun trip and I really enjoyed Robbie's company. Our biggest fish for the day was a lake trout that went 18-19 inches that Robbie caught on one of his diamond blade spinners. We also found out that one of Robbie's Hoochies caught a new lake record rainbow the week before. Sorry but I can't remember the lake or the size of the fish, but it was big.

We headed home that evening and made it back to Odell Sportsman's store at 3:30. Too much driving for some older guys so next time down it will be a 3 day trip not 2.

New Melones - My partner and I fished yesterday (6/7/02) in the wind. On the water at 8:am and started between Rose Is. and west side in about 150' of water. Tuff going any direction but with the wind. Picked up a couple of small fish out from the dam on hot pink/orange hoochies. We caught 2 more good fish but loosing persistence fighting the wind, moved up river to the 49er bridge. Two guides were working this area (Serria Guide Guide Service and Fish-On Guide Service) so we dropped in and started. Watched them catch a couple before we picked up the first fish there. R/K spinner(Robbie) sent me a few blades to try upon request and one new modified squid so I modified a wedding ring with the Diamond Blade first and set the downrigger at 42' which connected with our 6th fish.

At this time it was 1:30 and was I thinking about calling it but wanted to try the new modified squid. Put it down and within 20 minutes picked up the last 4 fish. I've got t get me some more of this design. These fish with the exception of the first 2 were 14-15" full tail sweep and looked like little footballs. Water temp. was 72-73 deg. Used Predator scented corn and Koke Special. Best on Koke Special. Rubbed the Vances dodgers with Shrimp/Prawn oil also. We stayed within 150 yds. up and down river of the bridge between the middle and north pillars. Marked many fish in this area and it is sure fun watching the fish come up to the ball trolls and then watching the hit. That sure lets you know your marking kokes.

One lesson I learned last year the hard way after several skunk trips is if you use sun block make sure to wash your hands. I found that Kokanee don't like Banana Boat sun screen. I now used a container with wipes after applying it.

The Kokanee action on Lake New Melones here in central California has really come alive the past couple of weeks and should remain good thru out the summer. No area seems better than others as the main body of water is full of the little fighters going to 16 plus inches now. One will find fish from 40' to 60' and most any color of Seps dodger trolled in front of a bug, spinner, lure, fly, hoochy will do the trick. My favorite set-up this past week has been a Seps watermelon 4/0 dodger trolled in front of an Uncle Larry's CopperPop spinner down 57' for limits of nice fat Kokes.

Fished yesterday, 5/11/02, Caught 8 kokes for the two of us. Surface temp. 64-66 degrees. Fished measured 11-1/2" to 12-3/4" fork length. Good solid deep fish. All caught between the spillway and the dam. Best along the long run before the dam and out about 100-150 yds. Best depth was 38-43' . Constant fish marking at between 35 and 55'. best combo was Vances silver with light green tape dodger and Uncle Larry's Silver blade with orange/yellow beads and silver/pearl beads. Used Exude cobetts with each kernel cut in half. New color hot pink on top hook with white on bottom tandem trailer. Used a small kernel of scented Shoe Peg(anise) on each Gamagatsu hook also. These are retied with red Gamagatsu size 2 and 24" leader from dodger. We also had hits on apexes. Lost more than we caught which is unusual with the tandem hook combo.

This report submitted by Jim Roscoe in Antioch

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Here a report from a lake in central California that is not known for Kokanee, the lake is Lake Tullock, located 15 minutes east of Oakdale, Ca. The lake is known for kicking out some nice Rainbows in the 2 to 6 lbs range this time of the year so yesterday I had clients Rudy Berbena and Harley Walker of Modesto out for trout fishing, after boating a couple of two plus bows and missing a few, one of the rods loaded up with what we thought was a real nice bow, what it turned out to be--- a REAL NICE 16inch (tip of nose to fork in tail) 1 pound 14 oz male Koke, the fish fell for a Uncle Larry's spinner and a Seps silver 4/0 dodger tipped with a nightcrawler. Also Lake Tullock has never been planted with kokes so they must have escaped out of Lake New Melones about 5 miles up river? We fineshed off our day with one more koke to make a nice limit for my clients and talking to other boaters they also had a few Kokanee.

Kokanee fishing has started here in central California. Picked up a few on Lake New Melones and Lake Don Pedro last week to 14". With the arrival of some warm spring weather the bite should continue to improve. I'll keep you posted on my areas and send along some pictures of my clients.

Hi all Kokeheads, Had the good fortune to get in on some of the great action and big Kokanee that Indian Valley was giving up in the past few years. Wish I could say the same for the 2001 season !! I have to admit that I did limit almost every trip but, compared to the previous years 2001 sucked. Got the biggest fish of the year (for me) a 17 1/2incher,the first trip of the year in early April. The rest of the year I never did better than 17 inches with most catches a great deal smaller than previous years. I fished the lake more in 2001 than any years past and never had one day that could compare to the years before. Even had to make a few trips to other Kokanee lakes to make sure I could still find and catch em if they were to be had. The lake outflows were greater and more constant than in the past. Lake level dropped so fast that I met trees that I would not normally visit w/ till late summer. In 2001 I introduced my cannonballs to some trees that they usually passed over. I believe that the constant and fast draining of the lake kept the fish out of whack and off the bite most of the season. Wonder if lowering the lake level earlier (which made temps warmer all summer) will harm the Kokanee fishery?
This report submitted by Ken