Jason Andre Wins NTAC Tournament of Champions at Collins Lake
OREGON HOUSE, CA – Jason Andre of Vacaville won first place in the adult division of the NorCal Trout Angler’s Challenge Tournament of Champions by catching a whopping 8.69 lb. rainbow trout from his kayak at Collins Lake.
A total of 88 adult anglers and 13 youths participated in the two-day event held on Nov. 4 and Nov. 5. Fishing was tough for many participants with about half of the adult and youth anglers not weighing fish in the event.
“I hooked the fish while trolling a plastic worm behind an Action Disk near the surface in the Dry Creek arm a little after 7 a.m. on Saturday,” said Andre. “The fish fought hard — it took 10 minutes to get it into the boat.”
Then on the next day, he landed another huge fish, a 7.31 lb. rainbow while top-line trolling with an orange fly from his kayak. Andre hooked the fish about 30 minutes before he brought the fish to the weigh-in station. He also landed two smaller trout during the trip.
This is the first time he has ever won first place in a trout tournament. Andre did place fifth in a TOC at Collins Lake two years ago and has been fishing at Collins since 2015.
Andre won $600 and a custom trophy plaque for his catch.
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Becky Wood placed second in the adult division with an 8.13 lb. trout. She was fishing with her friend, Mike Strauss, while trolling a Thomas Buoyant spoon around 5 to 10 feet deep.
The third through tenth place winners were (3) Ed Elefante, 7.67 pounds; (4) Matt Nielsen, 6.58 pounds; (5) Jonathan Swisher, 6.47 pounds; (6) Paul Taylor, 2.72 pounds; (7) Joey Hill, 2.7 pounds; (8) Ken Murakami, 2.33 pounds; (9) Dan Grass, 2.3 pounds; and (10) Daryl Carter, 2.13 pounds.
Dan Grass won $1000, the grand prize, in a drawing of the top 10 winners.
Seven of the youth division participants weighed in rainbow trout. Two-year-old Oliver Wood won first place in the youth division with a 2.48 lb. rainbow, while David Grass placed second with a 2.08 lb. fish.
The third through seventh place winners were: (3) Lilyanne Hansen, 1.92 pounds; (4) Joey Hill Jr., 1.89 pounds; (5) Aleta Peters, 1.77 pounds; (6) Caleb Perkins, 1.67 pounds; and (7) Conner Perkins, 1.33 pounds.
In a drawing of the seven youth winners, Caleb Perkins won the grand prize, a custom kayak, courtesy of Fisherman’s Warehouse, and a plaque.
“We were happy to close out this 11th season of the NorCal Trout Angler's Challenge,” noted Vince Harris. co-creator of the popular series and President/CEO of Angler's Press Outdoor Promotions. “We look forward to a fantastic 2024 opener at San Pablo Reservoir in El Sobrante on Feb 3. We got new enhancements to this series for 2024 now that’s COVID’s over.”
Over 12,000 Fall Chinook Salmon Return to Mokelumne River: A possible record run of fall-run Chinook salmon is now returning to the Mokelumne River Fish Hatchery.
Salmon fishing was closed in California’s rivers and ocean waters this year, due to the projected low abundance of Sacramento and Klamath River fall-run Chinook salmon.
Over 12,100 Fall-run Chinook have been counted as of October 24, more than the total number of fish that returned last year, reported Cat Kaiser, operation and events director for the Golden State Salmon Association (GSSA).
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“According to projections by hatchery staff based on the number of returns at this time, this year may be the largest run since the hatchery was built in 1963,” said Kaiser. “The peak of the run is typically during the first week of November.”
Kaiser said the hatchery is working towards its 10 million egg-take goal with an expected 9 million smolts, including the required 2 million mitigation fish to be released at Sherman Island.
“This year, an extra 2.6 million drought enhancement fish will also be produced,” she noted. “The majority of smolts will be trucked to release sites spanning Fort Baker, Richmond, Marin Rod & Gun Club, Tiberon, Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz, and Monterey in 2024. “
Last year a total of 6.4 million smolts were produced at the Mokelumne River Fish Hatchery.
Salmon are also returning now to the American River. The fish ladder at Nimbus Fish Hatchery opened on Friday, November 3.
“Staff began letting 200 to 300 fish enter. Egg-taking is scheduled to begin Monday morning,” Kaiser said.
Nimbus will be taking eggs to reach a production goal of 4.5 million smolts and an additional 2 million fry, which will have parent-based tagging.
The Feather River Hatchery is close to meeting its egg-take goal of 11 million with a 9.5 million smolt goal, Kaiser reported. Of those, 6 million are mitigation and 3.5 million are drought enhancement fish. Of that 3.5 million, 1.5 million fall run Chinook will be released as fingerlings.
“There are still a lot of fish in the Feather River (a little more than this time last year) and they will continue to spawn until the house is full and maximum capacity is reached. They have space for about 14-15 million eggs. One million of the fish will most likely be released into the river, depending on water conditions, with hopes of the rest being trucked,” Kaiser concluded.
Rockfish and Crab Combos: Crab and rockfish fishing has been very good outside the Golden Gate since the recreational crab season opened on Nov. 4. The boats have been fishing for shelf and slope rockfish in over 300 feet of water at the Rittenberg Bank.
Mike Rescino, Captain of the Lovely Martha sportfishing boat at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, reported coming in with 28 limits of Dungeness crab and 28 limits of rockfish on opening day. The boat returned with 28 limits of crab and 28 limits of rockfish on Nov. 5.
The Bass Tub out of Fisherman’s Wharf ended up with 24 limits of rockfish and 24 limits of crab on opening day, said Captain Aaron Anfinson.
This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Jason Andre Wins NTAC Tournament of Champions at Collins Lake
