Take Your Pick Of Lake Or Pond Fishing At Camanche   By: Dan Bacher June 2, 2009 More Articles by Dan

Whether you prefer to fish for rainbow trout in a large storage reservoir or in a more intimate setting in a small pond, you can have it both ways at the Mother Lode's Lake Camanche Recreation Area.

The lake concessionaire, Urban Park Concessionaire, stocks rainbow trout both the main lake and the South Shore Trout Pond during the fall, winter and spring. They plant around 75,000 pounds between the north and south shores and pond each year, according to Chris Cantwell at the Lake Camanche Recreation Company.

"We split the plants 50/50 between the north and south shores," said Cantwell. "Of the fish planted on the South Shore, half go into the lake and the other half into the pond."

Ten percent of the fish stocked into the lake and pond are trophy fish 3 pounds and over. The concessionaire stocks only triploid fish - infertile fish incapable of spawning - into the lake, since the EBMUD biologists don't want the rainbows mixing with the native run of steelhead in the Mokelumne River below Camanche Dam.

A good number of 8 to 10 pound fish have been caught this season from shore and boats in this recreation area, located in the rolling foothills of Amador County on the Mokelumne River east of Lodi. For example, Jose Tabisula of Stockton bagged a 10 lb. rainbow while fishing white Power Eggs on December 26 in the South Shore Trout Pond. That same day Jose and his dam nailed a total of 7 rainbows weighing 30 pounds.

He also did well on Sunday, January 26, when he nailed four rainbows in the 1-1/2 to 3 pound range while fishing from one of the pond's piers. Accompanying him was Jay Lucero of Rocklin who bagged a beautiful 3 lb. rainbow while using a white Power Egg/Power Worm Combo, scented with Berkley Trout Scent.

"I like fishing at the pond because the water is always clear and cold and the lake management maintains it well," Lucero noted. "Although Folsom Lake is near my house, I'd much rather fish here because the fish are larger."

I haven't yet broken the 10 lb. mark for trout at Camanche myself, although I've caught some hefty rainbows while trolling and shore fishing there. My personal biggest was a 7.2 lb. rainbow that I landed while trolling with Bruce Hamby of Sierra Sportfishing and Ron Wilson of Modesto on May 24, 2003.

However, you'll need to nail a really big fish if you want to break the lake trout record. Mark and Mike Seaters of Lodi landed the lake record rainbow of 19.42 pounds while fishing a brown plastic worm near the dam on August 4, 1998. The same year on March 28 Ray Miles of Woodbridge set the South Pond record of 19.37 lbs. while fishing a Kastmaster.

In addition to the concessionaire's plants, the California Department of Fish and Game stocks 3,000 to 4,000 pounds of rainbows every year. Thankfully, Camanche is not one of the 175 waters in California where trout plants have been suspended because of a court order. Originally managed as a warm water fishery, Camanche has been planted regularly with trout since 1989.

Many of the rainbows hold over in the lake during the summer after trout plants cease, since a thermocline forms in Camanche during the hot weather months. The Hypolimnetic Oxygen System, known as the Speece Cone, also helps maintain the trout fishery during the summer. This system adds oxygen to the lake water so the cold water is well oxygenated when it is released to the Mokelumne River below Camanche Dam to maintain salmon and steelhead populations.

The raised oxygen level resulting from the cone's operation draws trout and other species to the area around the dam, making it a great area to fish, according to Cantwell. "The Speece Cone is like a fish magnet when it is in operation from July through September," said Cantwell.

Trout are caught year round at Pardee, but Cantwell rates December and January as the top two months, since the fish are holding near the surface. Both shore anglers and boaters have an equally good chance of catching trout at this time.

Shore anglers hook the fish while using Power Bait, Berkley Gulp Bait, Pautzke salmon eggs, Eagle Claw Nitro Bait, nightcrawlers and marshallows. Float tubers nail the big trout while casting out Wooly Buggers, midge patterns and an array of nymphs during the winter.

Boaters should troll Rapalas and other minnow imitation lures and nightcrawlers behind flashers and dodgers in the Narrows. Releases of cold water from Pardee help draw a mixture of holdover and planted trout into this area.

Bruce Hamby of Sierra Sportfishing considers March, April, May and early June to be the top times to fish at Camanche. Hamby experiences his best action trolling with Needlefish, Vance's Thinfins, Excel spoons and R-Lures in firetiger and shad patterns, as well as white and orange plastic grubs, in the lake's main body in a triangle between Big Hat Island, Little Hat Island and the Dam.

Unfortunately, king salmon and kokanee salmon are no longer stocked in the lake, even though Camanche's rich food chain sustained good populations of both species when the lake was being stocked.

The DFG discontinued plants of kings and kokanee because of concerns by EBMUD and state biologists that these inland salmon could potentially hybridize with wild fish populations in the Mokelumne below the dam. A few kokanee, probably fish that spill over from Pardee, are still caught by trollers in Camanche every spring.

Camanche is also one of California's best bass lakes, due to its plentiful structure and abundant threadfin shad and other forage species. Largemouth bass, a mixture of Florida-strain and northern strain, are found in big numbers here. However, Cantwell hasn't seen as many Alabama spotted bass or smallmouth bass over the past couple of years as he did previously.

The concessionaire uses funds from the daily $4.00 fishing access fee to stock the lake with Florida-strain largemouth every year to supplement the natural spawning population.

Robert Kelley of Woodland set the lake largemouth record when he caught a 14.33 lb. largemouth on April 19, 2003, shattering the previous record of 12.87 pounds. The angler enticed the monster with a 7 inch Blue Culprit plastic worm.

Black crappie, bluegill and channel catfish round out the fishing opportunities found at the lake. Aaron Barnhart of Elk Grove set the lake crappie record on March 11 when he nailed a 3.06 lb. slabside.

The most unusual species found in the lake is white sturgeon. "The DFG stocked 48 tagged sturgeon in the lake in 1980," said Cantwell. "Four sturgeon were caught, all in the same area, in 1997 during a period of high rainwater flows into the lake. The fish were all 60 to 62 inches long."

For more information about fishing at Lake Camanche, call the North Shore Marina, (209) 763-5166, or the South Shore Marina, (209) 763-5915.

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