Let’s Catch Some Winter Trout!

Howdy Guys, Cal Kellogg here. Rain, rain and more rain, that’s music to our ears here in California!
Despite the recent rains and stormy conditions, there are still plenty of places to hit the water and score some handsome trout! Before I get into spots that are currently producing, I’ll toss out a couple things about water quality.
For this time of the year our lakes are higher than normal due to the great winter we had last year. Lakes with more water are more resistant to staining AND more resistant to abrupt temperature changes. Both of these facts bode well for winter trout anglers.
Finally rest assured we are in for a great spring season. There is going to be plenty of water and plenty of trout both in the form of planters and big, beautiful holdovers!
Let’s talk lakes. These aren’t the only places you can hook up, but these are the places that are on my radar.

Lake Camanche

As I write these words, I fished Camanche yesterday and had outstanding action and so did many of the anglers I spoke with on the water.
My client Terry and I fish from kayaks and scored limits of rainbows to about 4 pounds trolling white Trigger Minnows and White Trout Trix Worms five feet deep. We pulled our offerings on my hybrid leadcore rigs with one color of lead out.
Our target speed was 1.5 to 2 mph. We got fish in both the main body and the narrows. The action was steady all day long with overcast and an approaching front.
Other anglers were working the same depth range and scoring with white Trout Trix, white FHS flies and white FHS and Berkley Grubs.
I played with orange offerings and pink. I got two fish on orange, but they clearly wanted white….WHITE!

Folsom Lake

Folsom is Folsom… The trout and salmon are there, and they will either bite or drive you nuts, but right now they are biting most days.
The kings are mostly fish in the 11-to-14-inch class and there are good numbers of them, pointing to a good salmon season this summer. The rainbows range from 12 to 20 inches and have been putting up epic fights.
Aggressive trolling from 2.5 to 3.5 mph with Speedy Shiners, Speed Spoons and Trigger Spoons has been working. When it’s time to slow down to the 1.8 to 2.2 mph range Trigger Spoon Jrs. And pink Trout Trix Worms are producing.
You’ll still mark deep fish at Folsom, but the most productive depth range is from the surface to about 20 feet deep. The main body and lower ends of the arms have been the most consistent areas.

Don Pedro

Don Pedro may be the best lake in the state for numbers of holdover and wild rainbows and they are feeding well at this time.
The trout are near the surface and chasing scattered schools of shad. Spoons are the best offering at this time. Anglers pulling Speed Spoons and Speedy Shiners are scoring limits of rainbows up to and beyond 22 inches while working the top 18 feet of the water column.
Both the arm and main body are producing results. Stay on the move until you find an area holding fish and then work it hard.