Okay, so most serious salmon and steelhead anglers have heard of Lewiston, Idaho, which is located at the confluence of two famous fishing rivers — the Snake and the Clearwater. But, a serious case for the California version of Lewiston as well.
Lewiston, CA is located smack dab in the epicenter of some of the Golden State’s most epic fishing. Atop the list is the nearby Trinity River which hosts some of the best salmon and steelhead fishing you’ll find anywhere. Additionally, Lewiston Lake harbors some very large trout and neighboring Trinity Lake is home to the West’s best smallmouth fishery.
Let’s take a closer look at this area and what it has to offer… [click to continue…]
Okay, so I’m not sure where they keep records of such feats, but Bill Prince’s 5-fish limit of Trinity Lake smallmouth bass that went 27.7 pounds is certainly the California record in my book…
I know, it’s hard to tell from a photo of a replica mount (he let all the bass go) just how big the fish were, but take a look at that 13-inch rainbow trout that’s in there for scale and you’ll get a better idea. Prince was fishing a club tournament on Sept. 30, 2007 when he weighed in a 6.36 pounder, a 6.30 and the three little ones were all 5 plus pounds. [click to continue…]
If it were up to me, I’d like to go back in time and keep the DFG from ever planting largemouth and spotted bass in California.
Say what? Am I anti-bass? No way!
I just think smallmouth are the most interesting variety of bass and they, unfortunately, have been overrun by these other types of bass in most of our local waters. Of course, we could debate this until the Chicago Cubs win a World Series, but in my estimation, smallmouth are better fighters (I once mistook a smallie for a steelhead on the Russian River because it was so strong) than their big mouthed and spotted cousins and are pretty cool-looking as well.
[click to continue…]
