Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition 3812 May 24- June 7 2019 | Page 16

14
May 24 - June 7, 2019
By
Paul
Kneeland
T
MAP FEATURE
VOL.38 • ISS. 12
Shasta is full to the top this season and should offer great trout and bass fishing all summer long.
Photo by PAUL KNEELAND, Fish Sniffer Staff.
The Spring Shasta Lake Trout Derby
By Paul Kneeland
- Tough Fishing for Most
he spring Shasta Lake Trout
& Salmon Derby presented
by Kokanee Power and the Shasta
Lake Business Owners Association
took place on May 4th and 5th. John
Brassfield of Trucksmart
Stores and I once again
were partners and
fished from the Fish
Sniffer Rogue Jet
21 Coastal.
We stayed at
the lovely Tsasdi
Resort in Lakehead,
with a group of
5 boats and 11
fishermen
including
9-year-
old
Drew Bundy of Newcastle. We all
arrived Thursday and were able to
pre-fish Thursday afternoon and
Friday.
As usual, all the big fish that our
group caught were on Thursday or
Friday, when it didn’t count! Gary
Caruso landed a 23 inch brown and
Dave Barsi
caught a nice
21 1\2 inch
rainbow.
The
weather was
absolutely
perfect all
3 days –
warm
in the
afternoon
and cool
in the
morning
with
a slight
breeze in the
afternoon.
The lake
was almost
full, and
had a lot
of floating
wood and
debris in
parts of
the water.
The Pit River
arm was very
muddy, and even
Kokanee Power
President Gary
Coe caught this
big brown during
the annual spring
derby at Lake
Shasta.
Photo courtesy
of GARY COE,
Kokanee Power.
the McCloud arm was fairly dirty. The
Sacramento arm and the main body
were nice and clear.
We searched all over the lake on
Saturday and Sunday, but could never
find a consistent bite. No one in our
group placed in the top twenty, and
we were all very frustrated. However,
Drew Bundy did place 3rd in the
Junior Division
However, some folks found the fish!
The winning weight of 27 pounds
was the record for this tournament,
and the big fish on Saturday was 8 1\2
-pounds. Caught by Bev Mierky and
her husband Chuck of Nevada City on
a Speedy Shiner. Gary Coe came in
with a 7 1\2 pound brown on Sunday,
caught on a chartreuse/gold Speedy
Shiner, and both fish were personal
bests for these fishermen.
The Shasta Lake Trout derbies are
always a lot of fun for all of us. Shasta
Lake is an amazing fishery, not only
for trout, but for bass, crappie, and
king salmon as well. The derbies
always feature an included dinner
at the Lions Club in Lakehead with
excellent food and great camaraderie.
The weigh ins are always produced
at the newly remodeled Bass Hole
and Brews bar and grill in Lakehead
that features many craft beers, great
cocktails and good food.
For more information on the Spring
Trout & Salmon Derby held in May
of each year, go to www.kokanee-
power.org. The Shasta Lake Fall Trout
Derby held in October of each year is
presented by the Shasta Lake Business
Owners Association. For information,
go to www.shastalaketroutderby.com
Tsasdi Resort is located right on
the Sacramento River arm of the
lake between Sugarloaf Resort and
the Basshole. The lovely cabins are
located on the hill above the lake, with
a very nice dock with nicely padded
slips for the guest’s boats. Their cabins
include studios, one and 2-bedroom
cabins, up to the large 3-bedroom
modular home that we stayed in that
will sleep 14!
All cabins have cozy interiors with
full kitchens, linens, dishes, TV and
private decks with barbeques. Tsasdi
Resort also specializes in weddings,
retreats and reunions. The large Lodge
can accommodate up to 125 guests
and features a floor to ceiling fireplace
and all the amenities. In conjunction
with their other facilities, the can
handle groups up to 275 people. For
more information, call them at (530)
238-2575 or see them at www.tsasdir-
esort.us.
Located in Shasta County, Shasta
Lake began to store water in 1944, due
to the impounding of the Sacramento
River by Shasta Dam, the ninth tallest
dam in the United States
Shasta Lake is a key facility of the
Central Valley Project and provides
flood control for the Sacramento
Valley downstream of the dam. Water
outflow generates power through the
Shasta Powerplant and is subsequently
used for irrigation and municipal
purposes[. The reservoir lies within
the Whiskeytown–Shasta–Trinity
National Recreation Area, operated by
the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.
With a capacity of 4,552,000
acre-feet when full, the lake has an
elevation of 1,067 ft., a surface area
of 30,000 acres, making it the state’s
largest reservoir and its third-largest
body of water after Lake Tahoe and
the Salton Sea.
Ten miles north of the city of
Redding, with the town of Lakehead
on its northern shore, Shasta Lake
is popular for boating, water skiing,
camping, house boating and fishing.
The lake has 365 miles of mostly steep
mountainous shoreline covered with