By Dan Bacher

Access to Iron Canyon Reservoir can be difficult at times during the winter and early spring months, when the road to the lake becomes impassable because of snow, but the big wild brown and rainbow trout that this Siskiyou Mountain gem produces are well worth the effort.

Launching a large boat can also be challenging, as evidenced by a trip that Gary Miralles of Shasta Tackle and Sportfishing and I made to the lake on April 2, 1999. Steve Vaughn at Vaughn's Sporting Goods had warned us that the boat ramp was closed because of a low water level, but we decided to go there anyway because recent reports of the fishing had been so good.

When we arrived at the PG&E-managed lake, the water level was at least 10 feet below the launch ramp and the shore around the ramp area was muddy, making it impossible to launch there.

Based on a tip from a local we met at Pit Stop Store in Big Bend, Gary then drove his Toyota truck to the dam where we found an old gravel road going down into the lake. After several tries, Miralles got his 20 foot Alumaweld into the water and we put our fishing gear and lunches in the boat.

"Getting into the lake was easy," Miralles said prophetically. "It's getting back on the boat trailer that will be hard." It was a beautiful, crisp, clear spring day on this Shasta County reservoir and we began trolling Cripplures, Hum Dingers and Koke-A-Nuts behind Slingblades near the dam at 11:00 a.m. "I don't expect the bite to happen until this afternoon, probably around 1 p.m.," he said.

The lake is located in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest at an elevation of 2,700 feet. The reservoir is 500 acres and has 15 miles of shoreline when full. Surrounded by pines and fir trees, with snow-covered Mt. Shasta in the distance, Iron Canyon is a scenic, remote place to camp and fish.

After an hour of no action, except one bite on a Koke-A-Nut, at noon I hooked and landed a hard-fighting 15 inch brown on a crushed midnight Cripplure fished near the bottom. This was followed up by a scrappy 16-1/2 inch rainbow trout that I nailed at 12:15 p.m. on an orange Hum Dinger. Both trout were beautifully-colored wild fish that make Iron Canyon a special place.

Gary used his method of contour trolling to produce the majority of the fish. "I'll work the downriggers up and down along the bottom as you read off the depths on the graph," said Miralles. "The majority of the fish are holding right on the bottom."

Over the next 2-1/2 hours, we experienced a great bite, catching six more browns in the 15 to 18 inch range and two rainbows to 14 inches. Most of the fish hit between 25 and 45 feet deep, although we nailed one fish on a Koke-A-Nut behind a Slingblade while top-lining. The best bite was between 2 and 3 p.m., just before we planned to leave. We kept five browns and two rainbows, releasing the other three fish.

All of the browns were golden-colored, with large black spots and a pretty red hue to the gill plates. The rainbows were also bright, full-tailed and gorgeous wild trout.

The difficult part of the day started after 3 p.m. when we tried to get Miralles' boat back on the trailer. When we brought the boat back to the place we launched, we were dismayed to see that PG&E had dropped the water level by two feet, exposing a layer of mud below where we launched.

After he sampled how deep the mud was by starting to back the trailer into the lake, Miralles concluded that we would have to find a place where the shoreline was solid enough to load the boat out of the water with his truck.

Gary ended up driving his truck back to Hawkins Landing while I motored the boat to the most stable looking spot off the point west of the ramp. Surprisingly enough, we were able to get the boat out with no difficulty.

At the boat ramp area, a pair of anglers were finding good action on browns and rainbows while fishing nightcrawlers right off the bottom. Rich Bowen and Matt Waltz of Chico had caught four browns to 18 inches fishing nightcrawlers before I got there, while they landed another rainbow just as I put the boat on shore. Earlier in the day, Eric Hill of Redding also landed a quality rainbow while fishing a nightcrawler with his son, Steve.

One angler fishing a variety of lures from a pram also reported catching and releasing 21 rainbows while topline trolling near the ramp area.

This reservoir supports a wild trout fishery that is supplemented by plants of catchable rainbow and brook trout by the Department of Fish and Game. The Department planted the reservoir with 1000 pounds of rainbows averaging a half-pound last year and plans to stock 1,000 pounds of rainbows this year, according to Paul Wertz, DFG public information officer. Last year they also stocked 200 pounds of brookies in the reservoir, but they don't plan to stock any this season.

The brown trout fishery is self-sustaining; the DFG last planted the lake in 1989 with 2850 browns weighing a half pound each.

The reservoir, located on Iron Canyon Creek, a tributary of the Pit River, is supplied with McCloud River water via an aqueduct from Lake McCloud. Since the lake is managed for hydroelectric purposes by PG&E, the reservoir fluctuates greatly, often playing havoc with boat launching and fishing. But if you want to catch a nice stringer of rainbows and browns in a remote location, Iron Canyon's hard to beat.

The lake is a cold water fishery, so it doesn't support a bass or sunfish population. Steve Vaughn at Vaughn's Sporting Goods said winter and early spring is the best time to fish here, followed by fall. However, trout can be caught here year round.

The lake has two campgrounds, one at Deadlum and the other at Hawkins Landing. For camping information, call the Shasta Lake Ranger Station at (530) 530-257-1587. Groceries, gas and fishing tackle are available in Big Bend and Burney

For fishing information, call Vaughn's Sporting Goods in Burney at (530) 335-2381 or the Pit Stop Store in Big Bend at (530) 337-6254. Remember to call ahead before going up here in the winter and spring because of road closures and water fluctuations. Guided trips are available by calling Gary Miralles of Shasta Tackle & Sportfishing at (530) 275-2278.

April 23, 1999

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