Winter spotted bass on Lake Shasta
Today I was looking through my past stuff about winter time bass fishing on Lake Shasta, and found a draft I used for a FB post in Ketchinee. The information that I have below is now almost a year old, but much of it applies here now at the end of 2018. I have had an issue with FB, and have not published any new material there for quite some time, but if want to see some of the past stuff, click Ketchinnee.
Lake Shasta has “turned over”. Lake turnover is the process of a lake’s water turning over from top of the water column to the bottom. During the summer, the surface layer is the warmest. It is heated by the sun’s radiation, and in this area of California the surface temperature reaches into the mid 80’s. As the upper layer of the water column cools with the colder evenings the dense, colder water forces the water from the bottom to rise, “turning over” the layers of the water column.
During this transition time the big Lake Shasta rainbow, German Brown trout, and Chinook salmon follow the changing water temperatures from way down deep, to up near the surface. Some of the spotted bass reside down much deeper than our smallmouth, and large mouth. They seem to follow the same pattern as the trout and Chinook salmon heading for the surface. I believe the Chinook are not so prone for following up from the deep, but sure they do come up somewhat.
One of the main foraging bait at this time, (and pretty much all the time here) are the shad. These bait fish tend to hang out in the upper water column, or shorelines, and the big fish go nutsoid herding them for chow time. The trolling community has a heyday now through about the beginning of the spawning runs around January.
The tackle being trolled is available from Phil’s Propeller and Tackle in Shasta Lake, and a simple phone call to the guys there will net you up to date, daily play by play about what folks coming in the store have to offer in way of success or no. Much of the tackle being used here is available on Phil’s webstore too.
Another great source of information about the local trolling community is from friend Jeff. He is a local guide that seems to boat specimens like the one pictured here all the time!
Great winter day December 31st 2018
Ok then, the last day of 2017 was spectacular here on Lake Shasta. The air temperatures were in the mid-60’s, and the water temperatures are about 54 degrees, and the day was virtually windless. Yay!
My bassin partner, Andrew, and I launched at Jones Valley at about 9:30 amid a bunch of bank anglers try to catch a bunch of freshly planted “catchable trout”. The launch was just teeming with them, and by the time we came back, the ramp and shoreline was teeming with anglers too. There were little kids everywhere with all manner of fishing poles. This was a totally cool sight for me to see all these young folks having fun fishing.
Andrew and I began fishing blind. I have a wiring issue for the Humminbird that I isolated, and will need to fix before my next outing. Boated a fish early on, and had another I missed. These were hooked using a Senko that I have Neko rigged. (There are some really good YouTube videos about this)
Although the morning was spectacular, the bite was not; for us anyway. I was really having trouble getting us into the right depth without the Humminbird, but found that this day would be a great day for fishing around the snags sticking up out of the water.
The snags I was targeting stand about 50 to 75 feet from the shore, and I figure the depth to be about 60 feet according to my count down of the Senko. The bite at these depths come really slow, and deliberate.
Andrew was dropping straight down from the boat and hooking fish by dragging a 1/2oz jig that looks like a Booya Swin’ Jig with the weed guard cut off.
Neither of us hooked any fish near the shoreline. I threw my go to Evergreen jerk bait, and Andrew tossed a River2Sea glide bait, but we didn’t hook any fish. There were a couple of strikes, but nothing stuck.
Lots of fish to the boat for the last day of 2017, but all came from pretty deep. I think cold water has made these spotted bass reluctant to move very far or fast for a meal. Strikes in the higher water column are just not happening for us, but a slow, deliberate presentation on the very bottom seems to be key.
Happy New year to all of my friends here on FB. I wish you nothing but good fortune in the upcoming 2018, and plenty of opportunities to go out and be Ketchinnee!