We're heading into the beginning of our trophy brown trout season and even though we're catching some great browns now, its just going to get better in the coming weeks.  Big wild strain browns spawn in Shasta's tributaries during the fall and early winter.  As February approaches, most of the river spawners will finish their ritual and head back to the Lake to recover and fatten up for fall once more.  Rising water levels resulting from storm run off will push many of the post spawn browns back into Shasta Lake, giving lake trollers improved access to these trophy class specimens.  Cold water conditions and a little color to the lakes surface will create the perfect recipe for success from now, well into spring.  Currently we're finding most of our brown trout bites in the top 10' of the lake.  That means long setbacks or the use of side planers to get your gear away from the boat.  Its hard to beat trolling spoons and stick baits near the surface to attract big strikes, but using real bait or body baits like the Brad's Killer Fish Kokanee Cut Plugs get some big bites when trolling a bit slower for those non aggressive biters.  March and April are one of the best times of the year to get into a big trophy class brown trout.  It can happen any time of the year, but historically these two months produce both size and numbers in Shasta Lake and thats why I book so many brown trout trips during those two months of the year.  By May, the browns will start to retreat to deeper water, but we'll start to see some of the big rainbows coming back into the lake to pick up the slack.  June through August is usually the very best time of the year to fish Shasta Lake for all trout including King and Kokanee salmon.  We will often times fish for King salmon at first light until the bite slows and then we'll switch to trout fishing for the remainder of the day.  We had a hard time accomodating all of the requests to fish Shasta Lake last year so we've made a few schedule changes throughout the season and hope to get everyone on the boats this year.  We only run private trips so no more than one group can be booked on any one boat per day.  We take the safety of our clients seriously so we will not be mixing any of our groups unless its a singles trip for solo anglers requesting such a trip. Shasta Lake is a great place to fish with friends or family and we're here to help make your fishing trip as productive and enjoyable as possible.  Jaynie has been helping our clients book trips almost daily so I would encourage anyone who is interested in a guided fishing trip on Shasta to call her at your earliest convenience.  (530) 510-2925.  Thank you!

Capt. Jeff Goodwin