Don Pedro Kings, Kokanee and Rainbows Reward Summer Anglers

La Grange – Don Pedro Reservoir, located on the Tuolumne River in the Southern Mother Lode, has a reputation for producing three salmonid species — king salmon, kokanee salmon and rainbow trout — on one trolling adventure.

This is the case again this summer as anglers fishing with Monte Smith of Gold Country Sportfishing have caught good numbers of king salmon, along with quality kokanee salmon and rainbow trout, on his latest trips.

On Sunday, July 23, two young anglers, 9-year-old Avelina Costa of Tracy and her brother, Robert Costa III, experienced a stellar morning of fishing on Don Pedro Reservoir with Smith.

“They landed six kings ranging from 1-1/2 to 3-1/2 pounds, three kokanee up to 2 pounds, 7 ounces and one rainbow trout by 10 a.m.,” said Smith. “They had 10 bites and caught 10 fish.”

“The fishing was so good that the first fish hit the rod within 2 minutes after I put it in the rod holder,” he stated. “I wasn’t even able to get the second rod down.”

“We trolled the Middle Bay area with kokanee gear to catch all three species,” Smith explained. “We used micro hoochies and Apex lures, tipped with white corn, down 50 to 80 feet deep.”

On his previous trip to the lake, two anglers, Brett Lawson and Ed Milam, caught eight kings in the 2 to 4 lb. class, one kokanee weighing 2.7 pounds and two rainbows measuring 16 to 17 inches. They also released four smaller rainbows.

“Lawson landed the two largest fish, kings weighing 3.4 and 4.2 pounds,” noted Smith. “We trolled at 50 to 75 feet deep with Apex lures, tipped with white corn, behind dodgers. The best bite was from 10 to 11 a.m.“

On another trip to Don Pedro, two fishermen out with Smith landed four kings weighing 1-1/2 to 2 pounds, one 2.2 lb. kokanee, and a 19-inch rainbow and one smaller one. “We trolled at 40 to 50 feet deep,” said Smith.

Don Pedro Lake is holding 1,952,414 acre-feet of water, 96% of capacity and 120% of average.

Lake Amador Rainbows – Normally July is not a month when anglers catch limits of trout at Lake Amador. But this year is different. Despite the heat, one angler, Nik Cardenas with F&B Bait, caught a limit of trout on a recent trip to the lake.

Then two days later he went back to the lake to get another limit of Amabows and two blues as well, reported Lee Lockhart at the Lake Amador Resort. On both trips, he used FB Tails and corn PowerBait out on the spillway in 40-60’ of water.

The reason for the trout bite is the cold Mokelumne River water that EBMUD is releasing into the Carson Creek arm of the reservoir.

“All of the trout that would normally hold over are heading up into the cooler water of the Carson Creek arm,” said Lockhart. “That water shoots straight at the spillway. There is oxygen down there. The colder water doesn’t mix with water of lake; it goes under it.”

For the trout, Lockhart recommended dropping Power Bait or spoons down to the bottom in 60 to 80 feet of water in the Carson Cove.

Catfish are also showing at the Mother Lode Lake. “There are a lot of nice catfish showing throughout the lake,” said Lockhart. “Your best bet is to fish chicken liver, anchovies and blood baits in the back of coves in 15 feet of water in the Jackson Creek or Carson Arms.”

Big fish honors go to Tyler and Dayton Taylor, who caught an 18.36 lb. catfish at their campsite in Carson Arm Cove.

The lake level is currently only 3 feet from full. The water clarity is 12 feet.

Pardee Lake Kokanee – Limits of kokanee are the reward for anglers trolling deep at Pardee Lake. Just ask Nate Kelsch of Big Nate’s Guide Service about his most recent trips to the Mother Lode reservoir.

“Today I had Steve, Patti, Brian and Kent out on Pardee for a kokanee trip,” said Kelsch after his latest trip on July 21. "We wrapped up our kokanee fishing about 9:30 am and we switched over to chase trout for a couple hours and went three for eight on some gorgeous Lassen Rainbows with a 4-1/2 pounder in the mix. The kokanee ranged widely in size from 8 to 14 inches. They called it a day at noon.”

“We caught our kokanee on Paulina Peak Big eye dodgers paired with minnow spinners from 25 to 60 feet, and the Trout on Trinidad Tackle Optimizers and Speedy Shiners from 12 feet to 50 feet,” he revealed.

On his previous trip to the lake, he also reported success on kokanee.

“Today we had Brian, Joey and David out for some kokanee fishing on Pardee. We hooked up 60+ fish today and these guys kept 30 kokanee and we escaped before the heat set in,” he stated.

“The fish were a bit finicky, and we had to swap out a lot of gear to figure out what they wanted; ultimately it was Paulina Peak Performance dodgers and spinners at depths from 20 to 40 ft,” noted Kelsch.

The last trout plant at Pardee featured 2,000 pounds of Mt. Lassen rainbow trout on July 14. The surface water temperature has risen to 74 degrees and trout plants have been halted because the water is too warm to plant trout. The recreation area will close to the public on Sept. 5.

Lake Pardee is holding 204,703-acre feet of water, 100% of capacity and 106% of average.

This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Don Pedro Kings, Kokanee and Rainbows Reward Summer Anglers