S.S. Fireball
Active member
I promised myself I would post no matter the result because I hadn't seen any reports from Berryessa in a while. Surprising, considering how many boats I saw!
After camping out in the boat Saturday evening, I started tolling at about 6:00am Sunday. Stopped fishing at about 11:30 after clocking in 5+ solid hours. Pattern was consistent, breezy to windy early, windy until about 9:00am then glassy until about 11.
Nabbed a king after having the lines down for less than 30 minutes, on a pink, white & blue dodger and same color combo on a kokanee mart spinner. Measured just a hair over 13". A good start. I was headed out of the north west side of the big island, pointed east towards the fishing grounds. Caught a trout about 30 minutes later and released him right away due the parasites. Then nothing for about 1.5 hours.
Stayed north of the island all day. By the time I got to the main channel, the fleet was pointed North from the ranch house & charging hard. I read that to mean no dice to the south. Thought about doing some radio fishing, but couldn't as the little lady was still fast asleep in the cabin.
Tried combo after combo... zigged when the fleet zagged and then as many of them came back from the north, they were pointed south so I went north.
That's when I thought my downrigger ball must have dragged the bottom the way the rod pumped. Checked the depth, rigger said 60' depth was 80+. Fight was on! As soon as he realized he was hooked, line was stripping fast. I was able to slow him down timidly. I fought him for about 10 minutes and then handed the rod off to my companion who woke up in the commotion. She played him like a champ for another 5 minutes, got his snout out of the water & I netted him. He has a bit of a hook to his jaw and was lipped in the bottom, no way to spit it.
After fussing around for a minute (photo op... it was a personal best) I got the line back in the water. Set up was small watermelon dodger with a watermelon radical glow tube (w/ a spinner), tipped with fresh corn, pro cure corn scent with a drop of anise oil on the dodger (corn was unscented). Before I could even get my prize fish bled & on ice, bam another hook up. Just under 15" and pretty fat. Same thing one more time, only the last one got off 20' from the boat. Then nothing for the rest of the day. Speed was 1.0 to 1.5 most of the day, by GPS.
Everyone I talked to on the water and off said about the same thing. Fish were deep, caught two or three kokes, most reported a trout &/or a king in the mix too.
All in all a great day as far as I'm concerned!
After camping out in the boat Saturday evening, I started tolling at about 6:00am Sunday. Stopped fishing at about 11:30 after clocking in 5+ solid hours. Pattern was consistent, breezy to windy early, windy until about 9:00am then glassy until about 11.
Nabbed a king after having the lines down for less than 30 minutes, on a pink, white & blue dodger and same color combo on a kokanee mart spinner. Measured just a hair over 13". A good start. I was headed out of the north west side of the big island, pointed east towards the fishing grounds. Caught a trout about 30 minutes later and released him right away due the parasites. Then nothing for about 1.5 hours.
Stayed north of the island all day. By the time I got to the main channel, the fleet was pointed North from the ranch house & charging hard. I read that to mean no dice to the south. Thought about doing some radio fishing, but couldn't as the little lady was still fast asleep in the cabin.
Tried combo after combo... zigged when the fleet zagged and then as many of them came back from the north, they were pointed south so I went north.
That's when I thought my downrigger ball must have dragged the bottom the way the rod pumped. Checked the depth, rigger said 60' depth was 80+. Fight was on! As soon as he realized he was hooked, line was stripping fast. I was able to slow him down timidly. I fought him for about 10 minutes and then handed the rod off to my companion who woke up in the commotion. She played him like a champ for another 5 minutes, got his snout out of the water & I netted him. He has a bit of a hook to his jaw and was lipped in the bottom, no way to spit it.
After fussing around for a minute (photo op... it was a personal best) I got the line back in the water. Set up was small watermelon dodger with a watermelon radical glow tube (w/ a spinner), tipped with fresh corn, pro cure corn scent with a drop of anise oil on the dodger (corn was unscented). Before I could even get my prize fish bled & on ice, bam another hook up. Just under 15" and pretty fat. Same thing one more time, only the last one got off 20' from the boat. Then nothing for the rest of the day. Speed was 1.0 to 1.5 most of the day, by GPS.
Everyone I talked to on the water and off said about the same thing. Fish were deep, caught two or three kokes, most reported a trout &/or a king in the mix too.
All in all a great day as far as I'm concerned!
