Fished Shadow Cliffs on March 15, 2024. Opted to leave the trolling gear in lieu of all BFS setups from my kayak. Fishing was very good. Caught 8 Lassen Trout, all between 2-5lbs.
WEATHER
Clear skies and sunny, temps in the high 60s. Wind was forecasted for 2-5mph. However, it was way off. I estimate the winds were closer to 10-15mph, which made it tough to cast some of the lighter finesse baits. I worked parts of the lake that had some shelter from the winds. As we all know, this in itself can be a challenge since wind directions change frequently.
WATER
Water was a perfect 55 degrees with significant chop due to the winds. While the visibility was tough to gauge, the water was pretty clean (ie not muddy).
WHAT WORKED
Due to the winds, I worked the lake pretty heavy with 3.5g finesse spoons. This paid dividends. Caught several trout on the Kana blue/chrome finesse spoon. Lost a few at the boat while trying to net the fish... barbless hooks will do that do you. The rest were caught pretty evenly split between the 2" Kana Fishing Jerk Minnow in the Dark Shifter top/pearl belly color on a 2.5g Cheburashka (aka "Cheb") jighead and a size 6 EWG hook and the Kana Fishing 1.4" Stoneflies in the Black & Gold Flake combination on a 2.5g Cheb rig with a size 8 EWG hook. Next time, I'll opt for a size 8 or 10 Octopus hook on the Cheb rig for the Stoneflies.
The technique for the Cheb rig was to cast the line out, let the wind drift my kayak, and twitch the bait in. Repeat. Got lots of hits with misses while fishing the Stoneflies. Hence, the switch from EWG to Octopus hooks next time for the Stoneflies. No issues with the size 6 EWG hook and the 2" Jerk Minnows. Maybe it was attracting the larger fish. Not sure.
WHAT DIDN’T WORK
All the baits I planned to use worked. I spoke with others on the lake who weren't having as much luck. Most were using some form of the broken-back Rapala in the J7 or J5, with no success.
SUMMARY
Shadow Cliffs is fishing really well right now. They've been planting a good amount of Lassen Trout. I'm still surprised that the trout all over the Bay Area aren't more aggressive at this point. This may change as the weather continues to warm up and water temps start to creep into the high 50s/low 60s. Until then, finesse fishing will put you on fish.
YOUTUBE VIDEO (@BayAreaBFS)
Watch the action here: https://youtu.be/i6acKDhcW4g