Trolling the surface for Shasta Lake trout!

Shasta Lake - Shasta Lake, CA (Shasta County)

Trolling the surface for Shasta Lake trout!
Great mix of browns and rainbows clients caught yesterday on the McCloud arm of Shasta Lake.
Photo Credit: Capt. Jeff Goodwin

by Jeff Goodwin
11-30-2018
Website

I've been fishing Shasta Lake this week and we're seeing a pretty good bite for rainbows and browns right now.  The past weeks rains and colder weather has dropped the surface temps to the 57 degree range and we're now seeing a good surface bite.  Fishing is best during inclimate weather with cloudy skies and some wind chop to break up the surface light penetration.  I'm trolling big spoons, like the Optimizer, or dragging a Bay Rat long shallow stick bait or an Arctic Fox Trolling Fly (Black, white, or Kokanee pattern tandem flies).  The beauty if this combination is that they will all troll at the same speed equally as well.  You can troll down as slow as 2.5 mph, but I recommend bumping it up to 3.5 mph or more for the big bites.  Big browns and rainbows are still down in the main body and can also be found up higher in the system.  The bigger adult trout are either staging for the spawn or, like a good number of browns, have already spawned and are making their way back down into the arms of the lake.  Now is a good time to hunt for that big trophy adult brown or rainbow before they disappear into the frigid headwaters of the Sacramento and McCloud Rivers to spawn.  I'll be running trout trips on Shasta for the rest of the fall and all of winter as long as lake conditions hold.  If winter trout fishing sounds like your kind of fishing trip, call or message me and I'll help set up your trip.  


Jeff Goodwin is a full time Northern California fishing guide.  He guides year round for salmon, trout, steelhead, Kokanee, and bass on Northern California rivers and lakes. He fishes many bodies of water in the Redding area, but also guides the Sacramento River and Feather River during certain times of the year. Jeff can also be found on the California coast chasing ocean fresh King salmon and steelhead each year. To learn more about the fishing trips Jeff has to offer, please visit Jeff Goodwin's Guide Service.  You can also find him on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, or please feel free to call him anytime at (707) 616-1905.



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