Lake Mendocino

[ronsway]

Are there still stripers in Lake Mendocino? I am looking for a lake to fish striped bass in norcal.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

You could look at New Hogan Reservoir.

San Loius reservoir and O'Neil Forebay have stripers.

[Tony Buzolich]

There were stripers there for years going back to the 50's-60's. They stopped planting them about 15 years ago when all the water issues took over priority.

I used to fish them several days a week back then. Some times I'd see the planter trucks dumping the young fish right at the boat ramp and for a day or two fishing anywhere near the ramp was the place to be. After they got acclimated and spread out you'd see them traveling in schools chasing bait all over the lake. The schools would travel fast and you had to get ahead of them, kill your motor, and wait for the school to get close enough to you to get a cast in. You also had to be quiet. If you made any noise when they were coming they'd spook and go deep. Then it was a matter waiting to see where they were going to pop up again. Sometimes a quarter to a half mile away. Then it was time to try and figure out which direction they were traveling and how to get ahead of them again without making too much noise. Spooky fish there.
Tony

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

We would fish New Hogan reservoir for landlocked Stripers some years back.

Before they planted Stripers in there it was famous for huge Crappie but the Stripers ate them all.

The Stripers got be small around 5# and the limit was 10 fish. It was a great place to keep fish that were very good eating.

20 years ago people would sit in their boats with the engine running waiting for a school of Stripers to apear on top.

They were busting schools of Threadfin shad in the middle of summer.

Fast boats would get in gear and race to the frenzie, cast, hook one fish and land it.


Dan Williams would take his tent and camp gear in his boat to NH setting up in the midday.

He would fish afternoon till dark and then spend the night. Then he would get up and fish till noon and drive home.



Here is his recollection of his trips to New Hogan maybe 20 years ago?

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Hello Bill,

No travel trailer. Just camped light (tent, bags, a couple chairs, and cooking items). Took the camp gear over in the boat and set it up early in the afternoon at Deer Flat, the boat-in, primitive campground (no longer open). Then fished until dark and ate fresh striper, long grain and wild rice, cole slaw, pineapple, and chardonnay for dinner under the stars. Cigars, tall tales, and the wine made the first light wakeup feel a bit early. But, we fished the morning boils hard until the skiers woke up, busted down camp before it got hot, and usually headed home with a couple fresh stripes in the cooler. Tried to do it annually in late July/early August. Those were the days.

You can still do it, but not at the boat-in. Have to stay in the regular campground and either pull your boat out (park it on your campsite and relaunch it the next morning), or keep it anchored in the water, as close as you can to your campsite (usually not real close). With these new added complications, and the fishing not being very good, the work to fun ratio is too high for me nowadays.

Dan