In memory of Larry O'Connell, my brother-in-law, friend and fishing buddy

The June Kokanee bite steadily improved through the month with limits being the norm by the end of June. The 299 Bridge area (north and south) is consitantly providing a large number of fish. By the end of the month more fish are appearing at the cold water curtain, the dam and the main channel between Oak Bottom and Brandy Creek. The fish are deeper than normal for this time of year and are being caught in the 50' to 80' depth range. The hot setups are pulling Apex's, UV Cripplures and/or Wiggle Hoochies behind the Shasta Tackle UV Sling Blades. Good luck.

May produced a consistant bite and improved from week to week. The most productive area continues to be the north and south side of the 299 bridge out into the main body of the lake. Orange Hoochies behind the Shasta Tackle UV Sling Blade has been very productive trolling in depths from 40' down to 80'. The Shasta Tackle Wiggle Hoochie in UV Orange/White trolled naked (no sling blade) is also a productive setup. Koke's are ranging in size from 12" to 14" and a very chunky.

The Kokanee fishing got off to a slow start in early May, primarily due to several storm fronts that pounded the north state but did provide several inches of very needed rainfall. Over the past couple weeks, the bite has been consistently picking up. The fish are being caught on the surface down to 60' and the hot setups initially are the Shasta Tackle PPK Spinner Hoochie (Orange) about 12" behind a UV Sling Blade and the other hot setup is a Lil Hustler Orange Hoochie behind about 8" behind a UV Sling Blade. So far we are averaging about 4-5 Kokes per trip up to 12". In addition, we're picking up some of the Brook trout that have been planted over the past couple years. Conditions should only improves as the weather stabilizes and starts to warm up.

August and September - This season produced a consistant bite from May through the middle of September. I marked and caught more fish on Whiskeytown this year than in the past ten years. As in my earlier reports, the fish were smaller this season, averaging between 10" to 14". The hot setup was the new Shasta Tackle UV Sling Blade with a UV Pink Apex, or Orange UV Pee Wee and the new UV Nickle/Pink Cripplure. Both sides of the 299 Bridge produced nice sized Kokanee and even though we caught fish at the curtain and the dam, the bite wasn't as good as the bridge and most of the fish were smaller in size. Towards the middle of September, most of the smaller fish seperated from the pre-spawn Koke's and the pre-spawn fish started stacking up in the Whiskey Creek arm of the lake. These fish were starting turn color and jaws were starting to curl. The only downside this year was the vast amount of fires throughout the north state and the associated smoke that lingered through the month of August. I'd like to thank all those firemen who did an outstanding job getting all those fires contained and extinguished. My condolences also go out to the families of those firemen who paid the ultimate sacrifice in fighting those fires. With this Koke season coming to an end at Whiskeytown, I'm really looking forward to next season as all those dinks should start out about 14".

July, 2008 - The bite continued strong through July, however the lake and entire Whiskeytown National Park was closed from July 11 through July 18 due to the Motion and Moon fires. Limits before 10am was the norm with most fish being taken on either side of the 299 bridge. Surface temperature is about 76 degrees and the fish will be going deeper as the water continues to warm up. We have been targeting fish in the 40' to 60' depth range and are trolling a variety of sling blade combinations that includes the new UV Cripplures, as well as the UV Pink Apex. There are a few 15 to 17" fish being caught, however the majority will range between 10 to 14". The smoke is starting to clear out and August should be excellent as the fish continue to grow and fatten up.

June, 2008 - Whiskeytown produced an excellent bite for the entire month of June, despite the heavy smoke conditions at the end of the month. Limits were the norm. The amount of schools being marked is encouraging, however the size of the fish is smaller than normal Whiskeytown kokes. Kokes are being taken on both size of the 299 bridge and northeast shoreline down to the curtain. They are holding in 40' to 60' of water. Hot setups are orange/UV Pee Wees behind UV Sling Blade, copper/orange cripplures behind UV Sling Blades and pink/UV Apex behind the 6" Watermelon Sling Blade. The fish taken at the end of the month were larger and fatter than those taken at the beginning of the month and this growth pattern should continue through August.

Whiskeytown Report - May, 2008

Koke season is off to a great start with a lot of fish being marked in all the favorite locations (bridge, curtain and main channel between the bridge and the curtain. The fish are somewhat smaller this season, however we have landed numerous fat kokes between 14" to 17.5". They are hitting numerous presentations between 40' to 60', orange and pink with copper/silver sling blades were the hot setup.

Shasta Week of 8/13 We had good results fishing in front of and just south of No Name Island. Quite a few King were slamming a variety of tackle ranging from Glow Pee Wees, Paddle Tails and Flea Bitty's all behind Glow Patern Sling Blades. Good size Rainbows hitting in front of the dam down 50 to 100' on the same set ups.

Whiskeytown (8/18) - Strong winds made it almost impossible to fish the main body of the lake, dam and curtain. A lot of fish were charted at the dam and we did manage to get one 17.5" Koke landed before we headed to calmer conditions. The Glow Pattern sling blade and Orange/Silver crappie tube is still the primary favorite first thing in the morning.

8/9 - Whiskeytown: I fished WT on Thursday, primarily in front of the dam. Same old combo of SB and Orange/Silver crappie tube. The bite started immediately and we had three koke's in the cooler by 7am. I had hopes of limits before 9am but my hopes were dashed as the wind kicked up about 7:30 and the bite slowed to a crawl. We managed to pick up one more koke around 11am. All nice fat fish between 14 and 16 inches but the copapods were pretty bad on three of the four fish.

7/31 – Whiskeytown - I started fishing in the boat camp area at 6am in a pretty strong wind. A lot of fish and bait were showing on the scope from 20 to 60 ft. I picked up my first fish at 6:30 and it was a nice fat 15” king salmon that hit a chrome/pink sling blade with a pink radical glow. By 8:30, I had two more fish in the boat, another salmon that was the same size as the first one and one Koke that was about 14”. The wind was blowing me all over the place so I motored down to the south end of the dam. I’m spotting some good size schools in the 60 to 100 ft depth range but it was difficult getting them to bite. I did manage to pick up one more Koke (80 ft depth) that went 16 ½ “ and was caught on the same set up. We trolled over to the curtain and made a couple loops but weren’t spotting anything on the scope. It was getting real hot so we decided to call it a day at 1pm but we did manage to get 4 decent fish.

8/2 Shasta Lake - I had not fished Shasta in several years but I read a recent Fishsniffer report from Gary Mirales about where he was fishing and what he was using on Shasta and I just used his information to get started. My partner and I launched at Bridge Bay at 6am and motored over to the front of No Name Island and started trolling. We had four rods in the water and we were covering depths from 45 down to 80 feet. Within 15 minutes, we had our first fish on and netted. It was a gorgeous 21 ½ “ King that weighed 3lbs on the button. The fish hit a Shad Pattern Pee Wee trolled about 12 inches behind a Silver/Pink sling blade at 80 feet. We continued trolling in front of and west of No Name and the bite was relatively steady. By 7:30 we had landed three fish (2 Salmon and 1 Rainbow) and the fish preferred the Shad Pee Wee and Tequila Sunrise Pee Wee. Around 8am I hooked a nice 20” Rainbow (2 ½ lbs) on a Flee Bitty trolled behind a Glow Pattern Sling Blade at 65’. Around 10:30 we motored over to where Backbone dumps into the lake and got three more (2 Salmon and 1 Rainbow). In all, we landed around 14 fish and kept 8, nothing less that 15 inches and it was almost an even mix between Kings and Rainbows.