Lake Valley Offers Catfish and Trout – But Bring the Mosquito Repellant   By: Dan Bacher July 12, 2008 More Articles by Dan

Lake Valley Reservoir, situated a short distance off Interstate 80 in the Yuba Gap Region of the Sierra Nevada, offers anglers an opportunity to catch brown bullhead catfish, rainbow trout and German browns in a peaceful setting with little pressure by other anglers.

However, make sure that you bring plenty of insect repellant when fishing this reservoir because the mosquitoes here can be ferocious during the summer, as I found out on a bank fishing adventure to the lake on June 13, appropriately “Friday the Thirteenth.”

The DFG had planted the reservoir with 750 pounds of catchable rainbows the day before. When I arrived at the lake, I was surprised to see nobody fishing, although there were a couple of families swimming and kayaking on the reservoir.

Lake Valley, a PGE reservoir on the North Fork of the North Fork of the American River located at 5840 feet above sea level, holds 8,000 acre feet of water when full. The lake is stunningly beautiful, with a thick conifer forest completely surrounding it.

I put out two rods, one with a sliding sinker rig rigged up with Power Bait on a 3-foot leader behind a sliding sinker and the other set up with a balled up nightcrawler on a snelled #6 Eagle Claw hook.

Rather than use 3 foot leader for the catfish rig, I took the loop from the short leader attached to the hook in the pack and put it through the swivel below the sliding sinker. As my cousin Tom Mulderrig showed me at Union Lake in the Ebbetts Pass Region in 2000, you are able to hook more catfish in cold, clear water when using the shortest leader possible.

The afternoon breeze made it hard to tell whether I was getting a bite or not. After 30 minutes of no action, I finally got a bite on my catfish set up. The 10 inch brown bullhead put up a decent fight on my light trout rod and I slid it onto the stringer. I had another bite that I missed, but the action continued to be slow.

After I caught the fish, a couple and their son launched their boat and began trolling for trout on the reservoir. I told them to yell at me if they caught any fish and I’d snap their photos.

After the wind died down and the sun descended lower into the forested Sierra horizon, the catfish bite broke wide-open. I hooked up one catfish after another, putting a total of seven catfish from 8 to 12 inches on my stringer and releasing two others, and missing numerous bites. These high mountain cats make delicious table fare, with firm, sweet meat.

Unfortunately, as I was reeling in catfish, mosquitoes, like a pack of Stuka bombers, began swarming around me and ferociously attacking me. I tried to swat them off me, but to no avail. Although I usually have “Buzz Away,” an organic insect repellent with me, I couldn’t find it anywhere in my truck.

The mosquito attack got worse and worse until I couldn’t stand it any longer. I quickly walked back from the shore with all my gear. Arriving at the truck, I threw the catfish, my rods, my camera and my tackle bag into the bed of my truck without arranging it and got out of there as a fast as I could. One mosquito liked my blood so much that he followed me into the truck cab. I so hastily left the lake that I was never able to find out how the trollers did.

I’ve been to Alaska, British Columbia and Costa Rica, as well as numerous remote locations in the Sierra Nevada, but never have I endured as persistent a mosquito attack as I did at Lake Valley. None other than John Muir had this to say about the aggressive nature of Sierra mosquitoes in his “My First Summer in the Sierra: July 15-31:”

“The Sierra mosquitoes are courageous and of good size, some of them measuring nearly an inch from tip of sting to tip of folded wings. Though less abundant than in most wildernesses, they occasionally make quite a hum and stir, and pay but little attention to time or place. They sting anywhere, any time of day, wherever they can find anything worth while, until they are themselves stung by frost.”

Anglers, hopefully prepared for the mosquitoes with insect repellant, can expect to find good trout fishing at Lake Valley this year, though the bullheads make up the majority of the resident fish.

After stopping trout plants for four years starting in 2003, the DFG began planting rainbows in the lake again last year when the American River Hatchery stocked 1,000 pounds in the lake, according to hatchery manager Don Ward. This year they will stock 1500 pounds of catchable rainbows.

The plants were discontinued because of poor reports of return to the creel, but local anglers urged the DFG to begin planting the lake again, spurring the Department to put the reservoir back on its plant schedule. Hopefully, more anglers will start fishing the lake to harvest some of the lake’s rainbows and urge the DFG to keep stocking trout in it.

In addition to the rainbows and bullheads, the lake features a sleeper population of quality German brown trout. On a trip I made to Lake Valley back in 2001, one shore angler reported catching and releasing a 3-1/2 lb. German brown while tossing a Rapala around the dam in the morning.

The fishery management of the lake has a long and interesting history. A DFG survey done of Lake Valley on July 23, 1958 forecasted that “Eastern Brook Trout should do very well,” noting that the lake had a good forage base though poor natural reproduction for the brookies.

The lake was chemically treated by the DFG on November 11-12, 1959 to remove brown bullheads, chubs and green sunfish from the lake. However, the brown bullheads not only survived, but also thrived and have become the lake’s dominant fish.

By 1988, the DFG no longer planted brook trout in the lake but had begun stocking rainbow trout regularly, planting up to 2,000 pounds of catchable rainbows and up to 20,000 rainbow and Eagle Lake trout fingerlings each year. The Department also planted 10,000 brook trout fingerlings in 1997, 9,900 brown trout fingerlings in 1998 and 21,868 brown trout fingerlings in 1999.

More recently, the DFG stocked 20,068 browns in 2001, 6,000 pounds of catchable rainbows in 2002 and even an experimental 14,188 chinook salmon fingerlings in 2004. Because of the light fishing pressure on the lake, it’s hard to know how the chinooks fared at the lake.

You won’t find annoying water skiers and jet skiers churning the water to a froth at Lake Valley during the summer and fall, since the lake is limited to motorized fishing boats with a 10-mph limit and small non-motorized craft. There is a small concrete boat ramp at Silver Tip Picnic Site, but anglers are advised that the water is low by late summer. This is an excellent lake for anglers to fish from kayaks, canoes and float tubes.

Lake Valley Recreation Area Facts

Size and Description: Lake Valley Reservoir in Placer County is a component of Pacific Gas & Electric’s Drum Spaulding Hydropower Project. The lake, located at an elevation of 5840 ft. in a forested mountain setting, has a 300-acre surface area and is about 2 miles long. It holds 8,000 acre-feet of water when full. Tall lodgepole pine trees and granite rocks surround the reservoir. There is quick and easy access from I-80. The long, somewhat narrow shape is great for flatwater paddling.

Fish Species: The DFG has resumed planting rainbow trout in Lake Valley after four years with no trout stocks. Over the decades, the DFG has also planted brook trout, brown trout and even king salmon. Brown bullheads are very abundant in the reservoir.

Boat Ramp: A concrete boat ramp is located in the Silver Tip Picnic Area. There is no fee. The lake is drawn down severely by late summer.

Day Use: Silver Tip Picnic Area is provided and maintained by the Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) Company: 10 picnic sites. The season is May through October.

Directions: From Sacramento, take Interstate 80 East and exit at the Yuba Gap exit. Continue until the intersection and turn right onto Lake Valley Road. Continue for about 1 mile to another intersection, where you will make a left onto Forest Road 19 (a dirt road). Continue and park at the Silver Tip Picnic Area and Boat Launch.

Camping and Lodging: Lodgepole Campground is operated by the Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) Company. There are 35 campsites with fees required. The facility is operated from late June through Labor Day. Lodging and restaurants are available in Colfax, while grocery, bait and tackle are available at the Nyack Shell Convenience Store, 1 Nyack Rd, Emigrant Gap, CA. 95715-9998, phone (530) 389-8212.

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