Lake Berryessa 3-29-09 - Trout and King Action

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HiTechKoke

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 10, 2008
Messages
728
Location
San Mateo, Ca.
Fished Lake Berryessa with the whole family in hopes if getting into a Kokanee but only managed some trout and Kings which wasn't all bad. We kept 5 bleeders and relased about that many as well. The wind was obnoxious after the first hour and blew 15-30 the reset of the day so we explored some new areas out of the wind.

The fun part was I used most of my new tackle and JJ rods and loved the action on them. The fish bit on a variety of things but a lot of RGT related rigs

2.25 Blue RGT (new deeper blue color this year)
2.25 Red / Natural (new this year)
1.5 Red / Natural RGT (new this year)
UV Pink Super Squid Spinner
Kens Custom Tackle Glow / black Mini Skirt Hoochie

All of these paired with Various RMT dodgers like

UV Pink Hyper
UV Funky Frog Purple Passion
Hyper Plaid

Here's a pic after we got off the lake...
 

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Yes, those kids will remember these fishing trips for the rest of their lives. You are creating great memories for them. Until they discover boys....fencing
Have you bought a shotgun yet?
 
great ht koke how big do those kings get out there,,are those kings,, did you get any kokes that day,thumbsup

Hey K Killer - The Kings are on the ends and 3 trout in the middle. The biggest in Berryessa seems to come in 5-6 lbs but they are really rare. At another fairly similar lake there were some 9 to 10lbrs caught 2 years ago which seems to be the max at any lake for Kings in this area. Shasta gets some nice ones as well on the good years. On a good year in Berryessa there are a number of 2 -3 lbrs around and then a few in the 4. These ones unfortunately were the smaller variety at 12-14 inches. The big factor for the Kings is quantity of baitfish to eat.

We did not get any Kokes on this trip but I know of a few that were caught.

Kevin
 
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Great report HiTech,...sometimes it's good just to get out and get some lures wet and try out new things! It won't be long for the kokes, I can't wait! thumbsup
 
ht your right about that,on our lake erie they stopped stocking coho and kings in 2002, poor returns and growth rates,lake ontario on the other hand still pounds out the large kings and cohos,, they have tons of alewives wich the kings and cohos seem to like.lake erie has tons of forage fish BUT the salmon there were picky cause erie is dominated by emerald shiners, gobys,shad,, but very few alewives i caught some nice coho on erie tribs early 90s-2005 but none since they are a rarity now..every now and then someone picks up a king or coho trolling for walleye or steelhead on the open waters of lake erie there is still some rare natural reproductoin on a ny trib for the salmon,, we in pa erie tribs have a vrey very small run of pinks every odd year never caught one myself but seen 1 years ago,, no kokes in erie period...thats cool though about kings in berryessa a little variety is awesome..who cares about size a 14in koke or a 14in king under those conditions is great, one more question,, wich fight better a 14in king or a 14in koke,, i know our kokes in ct on light spinning rods and 4lb line FIGHT HARD
 
The fight between the two fish is a wash I think but I'd probably say the King has a little more aggressive feel than an early season Koke. A lot of it depends on the fish though. There is one lake in Ca. that has cohos and that is Lake Oroville. They are extremely cautious in planting them though and get a full checkup before they are put in as fry.

Kevin
 
i think it is great that your state likes to have a varied coldwater fisheries,to catch king,kokanee, in the same inland lake, where you dont need a huge boat is awesome..cant fish erie or ontario with a smaller setup on the open waters,i enjoy the smaller lakes more,,thats hat i grew up on in ct small lakes ang nice trout and kokes ,, btw htkoke do those kings in berryessa make a small spawning run up some trib in the fall???
 
The creek that feeds Berryessa (Putah) doesn't have the right conditions to support a spawn as there is not enough volume in the fall and it gets really hot. It might be one of those things that they may be able to on a good water year but pretty unlikely. Two years ago the Kokes were gathered up in a shallow pool near the launch ramp where a season tiny creek trickles in which was pretty interesting.
 
ht koke you mentioned the coho at oroville, what happened to them?? and how big did they max out at, and what is a good quality size spawner in the fall for a berryessa kokanee?
 
Here's a link on the COho program at Oroville:

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/news/news05/05126.html

As for max size I don't know the maximum but as I recall there were 3-4 lbrs a few years ago. The Fishintrippz know more about them as they fish for them quite a bit since it is close to them. I made one trip a few years ago and got a few but they were the 16-18 inch size.

As for Berryessa a good Koke is 18 inches at maturity and then a few exceptions above that are caught. The average is the 16 -18 inch fish but they are really fat.

Kevin
 


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