Shore angler wins Pardee Lake Tournament with nearly 5-pound Lightning Trout

IONE – A total of 58 anglers braved rain at tunes to compete in the NorCal Trout Angler’s Challenge (NTAC) event at Pardee Lake, located on the Mokelumne River in Amador County, on Saturday, May 6.

The bite was tough, with bank anglers scoring the top action on the rainbow and lightning trout. Twenty-seven adult participants and six youth participants weighed in fish during the event, according to Vince Harris, president of Angler's Press Outdoors, the creator of the NorCal Trout Angler's Challenge series.

Genesis Ednalino of Fremont won first place in the adult division of the tournament with his 4.93 lb. lightning trout. It was approximately 9:30 a.m. when he hooked the big trout while fishing PowerBait from shore in the main recreation area.

“The battle began with a gentle nibble,” he said. “The fish started taking line out of the reel really fast. Once I got the fish about 30 feet from shore it jumped out of the water,”

After getting the fish on the shore, Ednalino realized it was the biggest trout he had ever caught. “I fish Quarry Lakes in Fremont regularly,” he added, “and it was bigger than any of the trout I’ve caught there.”

He was fishing with three other anglers – James Durol, Edward Contreras and Edward Contreras Jr. of San Jose when he hooked the winning fish.

Edward Contreras placed second in the adult division with his 3.8 lb. rainbow, also while fishing PowerBait.

Anthony Bettencourt, who had just won first place at the Lake Amador NTAC event a couple of weeks before with a 14.42 lb. cutbow, finished third in the Pardee event with his 2.73 lb. trout.

Ed Contreras Jr. placed fourth in the adult division with his 2.59 lb. trout.

The fifth through tenth place winners were: (5) Kristen Wood, 2.39; (6) Tim Bank, 2.3; (7) Jerry Cabral, 2.27; (8) Joey Hill, 2.17; (9) Pete Graf , 2.11; and (10) Bob Gulling, 1.99.

Joey Hill Jr. won first place in the youth division with a 2.84 lb. rainbow. “I was drifting orange and green Berkley Gulp Eggs in a boat with my dad, Joey Hill Sr., when I hooked the trout,” he said.

The second through sixth place youth winners in the event were: (2) Tino Cadriel, 1.51; (3) Jesus Roa, 1.3; (4) Brad Andrews, 1.2; (5) Alterta Peters, 1.17; and (6) Alex Vasquez, 1.03. Information: http://www.anglerspress.com. 

Rainbow trout are the most popular species pursued at Pardee. The lake is planted with rainbow trout weekly during the season, water conditions permitting. Donny Shelton of Ione set the lake rainbow record on June 14, 2002 when he landed an 18.65 lb. fish while bank fishing with Power Bait in the recreation area. 

Shore anglers can catch planted and holdover rainbows and lighting trout in the 1 to 5 lb. class while fishing nightcrawlers, Power Eggs and PowerBait on sliding sinker rigs throughout the season.

The lake also features a sleeper population of wild German browns that spawn in the Mokelumne River and venture into the lake in search of forage, including the abundant trout and kokanee.

Kokanee salmon offer another quality salmonid fishery at Lake Pardee. Although the fishing for kokanee has been slow this year to date, the fish are abundant most years, finding excellent spawning conditions in the Mokelumne River, so the CDFW no longer plants the reservoir with the kokanee.

Boaters catch kokanee while trolling spinners, hoochies, spoons and other lures, tipped with white corn, behind dodgers down at a variety of depth in front of the dam and in the Mokelumne River arm.

While most anglers fish the lake for salmonids, the lake is home of record-class smallmouth bass.

Harold Hardin of Stockton set a state smallmouth bass record in July 2007 by landing a 9.83 lb. bronzeback, shattering the previous state record of 9.1 pounds caught by Tom Brady of Weaverville in 1976 at Trinity Lake.

While known for its huge smallmouth, Pardee also has a good population of northern strain largemouth bass. Other species found in the reservoir include channel catfish, bluegill and crappie.

As the center of EBMUD’s drinking supply, to comply with state law, personal water crafts, water skiing, and lake swimming are not permitted. Information: (209) 772-1472, 1-800-416-6992, https://rockymountainrec.com/lake-facilities/listing/pardee-lake-recreation-area.

San Joaquin River Stripers: The striper fishing has been very good most days, with slower fishing on days with big tides. The San Joaquin River has provided the top action lately, since the Sacramento River has been muddy.

“The fish are now in all stages of the spawn – some are spawned out, some are ready to spawn and others haven’t spawned yet,” reported Clyde Wands, Delta striper fishing expert. “The fish have been hitting Rat-L-Traps when trolling shallow and Yu-Zuri Crystal Minnows when trolling deep;”

“We’ve been catching limits of stripers to 12 pounds, along with releasing plenty of keepers and shakers, on our latest trips to the San Joaquin at the Old River Flats and by the Antioch Bridge,” he added.

San Francisco Bay Halibut/Striped Bass: Striped bass and halibut fishing continues to be superb in the bay. The Lovey Martha returned to Fisherman’s Wharf with 25 limits of striped bass (50) (crew included) and 48 halibut on Friday, May 12. On the previous day, the anglers returned by 1:20 p.m. with 15 limits (45) of halibut and 18  bass, according to Captain Frank Rescino. Information: (650) 619-6629

Also, on May 12, Captain Aaron Anfinson on the Bass Tub reported in with 18 halibut and limits of bass for 8 anglers .The anglers drifted live bait for both the stripers and halibut. Information: (415) 706-4947.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Shore angler wins Pardee Lake Tournament with Lightning Trout