I jumped in and fished with Captain Alex Ross, owner of the Trinity Guide Company today and enjoyed a great morning on the lake catching rainbows and browns until around noon.  I had business to attend to early in the day so a short trip was all I could arrange for in my schedule.  Captain Alex Ross has been focusing on the Whiskeytown Lake Kokanee fishing of late, but apparently Shasta Lake has been calling his name.  We got out around 7:30 am and started fishing the main body down by Centimudi.  A combination of gear trolled with side planers and downriggers made up the trolling configuration which was clearly adequate for catching rainbows and browns early today.  We were in the water about 10 minutes before the first rainbow came on a side planer.  Not long after, a big 5 lb brown took a small lure pretty deep on a downrigger line.  Next was another rainbow of a few pounds on the side planer again up top, followed by another nice rainbow on the side planer again.  After a short lull in the action, Alex stuck a 7 plus pound brown off a downrigger line up in the Sacramento River arm in the Waters Gulch area.  What a great morning! I had to head in, but not before checking in with a few other boats on the lake who also reported some nice trout up to 4 lbs.  Its getting to be that time of the season on Shasta Lake, so good fishing is clearly in the forecast looking forward.  For the bass anglers out there, its reported to be off the hook for the Spotted bass in the lake!!  The tackle retailers are reported to be having a banner week, and with all the good fishing reports, its likely to get better and better as we move closer toward the warm summer months on Shasta Lake!  Guided trips are still on hold by the Forest Service, but they are indicating they will re open their facilities on May 15th.  What that means exactly has yet to be interpreted, but I'll report on conditions as I get them.  Thank you!

Capt. Jeff G.