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View Full Version : Lake Berryessa 5-30-10 - A very slow day



HiTechKoke
05-31-2010, 11:07 PM
Lake Berryessa was not giving up its fish on Sunday and we barely escaped the skunk. Only one of four fish on made it into the boat and it was a hair under 17 inches. We had plenty of recon help out there with about 6 other boats that are good friends that struggled as so it was a humbling experience.

We were one for four on the takedowns and two from a custom double glow pink hoochie setup, one on RMT pink / Purple Assassin and another hit on a green / gold custom hoochie. All from 30 to 49 feet was our limited action.

The ski / holiday crowd was not bad and there weren't a lot of fisherman out either to serve as lake lice barricades. :group1

I caught a few fish on underwater video that we lost... does that count? I have to say though there was a lot of barren water which is not typical of years past. I'll put some video together on that later along with some other stuff I'm working on.

This first picture pretty much sums it up...

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_QhsKMU8Rwio/TAR1iUpJv2I/AAAAAAAAKck/OarspMrfb5w/s800/IMG_3605.JPG

And our only fish that will make it for dinner...

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_QhsKMU8Rwio/TAR2FDXrHDI/AAAAAAAAKc8/EWmhcYUAJXw/s800/IMG_3608.JPG

Kevin

gon troln
06-01-2010, 01:32 PM
Kevin, avoiding the striped kitty is always good. Berryessa has been really tough this year. I am wondering if this years fish were culled last year???? Thanks for the report.

HiTechKoke
06-01-2010, 10:21 PM
Kevin, avoiding the striped kitty is always good. Berryessa has been really tough this year. I am wondering if this years fish were culled last year???? Thanks for the report.

I think that the fish are so spread in that lake as food is good they have no reason to school up much. I've been an advocate of adding more to the plant as well. There's plenty of water / food for the Kokes and maybe they should cut back on the Kings since there isn't much of a shad population at the lake and the Kings have always been on the scrawny side.

I miss the years of nice easy 10-15 fish with a bit of work. We'll see how the rest of the season goes as with more thermocline it will help concentrate them more. With the water temps as they are the fish can be in 20 to 50 feet. They have been in warmer water it seems this year biting in 60 to 63 degree water a lot longer than normal. The food dictates this as well.

Kevin

MJCook6
06-02-2010, 01:04 PM
Nice try Kevin...
At least u got a fat boy...

Cant imagine what some of these fish will look like in another month or so with all that food...

MJ

_Gone_Fishin_
06-02-2010, 02:41 PM
Nice job avoiding the skunk Kevin! It was a wierd weekend for fishing. I was at don pedro catching kings on trout lures, trout on koke lures and well i caught one koke which is what i was trying to catch in the first place laugh hyst

Koke Chaser
06-02-2010, 03:15 PM
I am wondering if this years fish were culled last year???? Thanks for the report.

That question came up while we were struggling to catch fish that day as well.

S.S. Fireball
06-02-2010, 04:35 PM
Kevin,

Thanks for the report. Every little bit helps to solve the riddle.

Seems that there are fewer fish but much more size & quality for this time of year. In year's past I didn't see any kokes over 16" until August. Seems like every stringer has a slug or two on it from the reports I've seen here and on other boards.

What does everyone else think?

William Cooper
06-02-2010, 07:19 PM
Koke plant #'s for Berryessa the past few years from the kokanee power website.

2005- 50,000
2006- 20,000
2007- 32,000
2008- 70,000
2009- 50,000

so if the fish are about a year old by the time they are planted, we are now fishing for the fish planted in 2007 right? 4-yr old Kokes? Looks like next year may be off the hook at the Berry. As for this year.....if you find one, make a waypoint ASAP on your FF, then turn around and go through it 5 or 6 more times, you can usually pick off a couple more.

MJCook6
06-02-2010, 09:10 PM
Now would the lower plant numbers be the reason for the bigger fish?

William Cooper
06-03-2010, 09:49 AM
I suppose so. Also the kings are larger this year too. Less competition for plankton makes fat fish. All the kings I have kept this year have had belliers full of the green stuff just like the kokes.