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Perched at 2,343 feet
Tasty morsels await anglers at Iron Gate Reservoir
Thom Gabrukiewicz, Redding Record Searchlight
SOLITUDE: Jim Elliott of Shasta Lake fishes for yellow perch recently at Iron Gate Reservoir, near the Jenny Creek inlet. Thom Gabrukiewicz
June 01, 2003
IRON GATE RESERVOIR — It's meat-fishing at it's finest, the chance to yank in a fair-sized fighting fish that's tasty in a frying pan and will have the youngsters howling with glee as cast after cast hauls in another yellow perch.
As the water heats up in this Klamath River Basin reservoir, the bite is red-hot for the slightly bumblebee-looking fish with mild white flesh — and good fishing days should last well into November, Iron Gate regulars said.
"This is just a good place for the kids, they will always catch fish," said Jim Elliott of Shasta Lake, who was spending a long Memorial Day weekend at Iron Gate. "You just have to find them. Then it's all a matter of throwing small chunks of nightcrawlers at them and haul them in."
The yellow perch was first introduced into California from Illinois, into Lake Cuyamaca in San Diego County in 1891 where the species failed, and in the Feather River in Butte County where by 1918 it was widely distributed — but not very numerous — in the Central Valley.
Yellow perch were discovered in the Klamath Basin in 1946, according to the Department of Fish and Game. The fish likely migrated from Oregon in the Klamath River and have made Copco Lake and Iron Gate Reservoir home.
Fish in Iron Gate can be stunted — around 7 inches or so — but with a resurgence in fishing for the only sport species of perch in California, anglers do have the chance to catch yellow perch up to 12 inches in length.
The average size, anglers said, is 8 to 10 inches. Best yet, there's no size or bag limit restrictions at Iron Gate.
Yellow perch are schooling fish, so all an angler has to do is find a proliferation of fish and get a lesson in "pan fishing" where every cast can produce a strike — and a fish for the stringer.
"All it takes is a little patience," said Steve Schulze of Redding, who brought his sons, John, 14, and Jarret, 4, and daughter, Jamie, 10, for a little perch fishing recently. "And with Jamie, there is little patience there, so we're going to see what we can do.
"I've not been up here in six or seven years, but I always remember slaying them up here. If we do OK, we'll stay in the boat and keep on fishing."
Jamie was game.
Once dad had all the life vests on and was pulling the family patio boat from the dock, Jamie let fly a bare hook and lead weight from his little yellow Snoopy pole and started to reel in.
"Look, I caught a WEED!" he shrieked.
"We'll see how long this lasts," Schulze said.
At least this is a fish that will wait for you to finish your morning cup of coffee. Or two. Or five.
You might as well pack on some breakfast, too.
"The bite hasn't been very good early," Elliott said. "It stayed pretty cold up here this winter, so. . ."
Of the two perch species in California (the other being the bigscale longperch, another introduced species that's also known as "darters"), the yellow perch actually prefers cooler waters, according to the DFG.
Still, while the trout are biting early, yellow perch need a few hours to get active.
"It's better in the afternoon," said 10-year-old Garth Savage of Shasta Lake, who was fishing from an old wooden dock at the Mirror Cove Campground, one of three free camping areas provided by the Pacific Power Co. at the seven-mile-long, 1,000-surface-acre lake created after Iron Gate Dam was completed in 1962.
"Maybe around 12 o'clock," said Garth's 8-year-old brother, Austin. "It's been slow."
"Real slow," Garth said. "I caught a lot yesterday."
The high-desert lake can heat up in a hurry. And that's when people start reeling in the fish.
Just about any shoreline spot is a good place to start at Iron Gate. The lake has a layer of thick aquatic vegetation some eight feet out from shore and provides cover for the perch and an abundance of bluegill and pumkinseed sunfish. The lake also has thickets of tule grass, also a popular spot for panfish to congregate.
The trick is to cast beyond the vegetation, then slowly bring the bait in toward the thicket. A hunk of nightcrawler suspended 14 to 18 inches below a bobber does the trick.
In theory.
An Asian couple from Oregon fishing a rocky point near the Jenny Creek inlet haul in a perch every other cast, drop them in a 5-gallon pickle bucket, re-rig and recast. Another angler, standing eight feet from the couple, can't even get the mosquitoes to bite. We're using exactly the same equipment.
The couple smile and shrug their shoulders — and keep on landing perch.
"I'm guessing the water's still a little cold," Elliott said. "There's plenty of time for the lake to heat up."
Reporter Thom Gabrukiewicz can be reached at 225-8230 or at tgabrukiewicz@redding.com.
Tasty morsels await anglers at Iron Gate Reservoir
Thom Gabrukiewicz, Redding Record Searchlight
SOLITUDE: Jim Elliott of Shasta Lake fishes for yellow perch recently at Iron Gate Reservoir, near the Jenny Creek inlet. Thom Gabrukiewicz
June 01, 2003
IRON GATE RESERVOIR — It's meat-fishing at it's finest, the chance to yank in a fair-sized fighting fish that's tasty in a frying pan and will have the youngsters howling with glee as cast after cast hauls in another yellow perch.
As the water heats up in this Klamath River Basin reservoir, the bite is red-hot for the slightly bumblebee-looking fish with mild white flesh — and good fishing days should last well into November, Iron Gate regulars said.
"This is just a good place for the kids, they will always catch fish," said Jim Elliott of Shasta Lake, who was spending a long Memorial Day weekend at Iron Gate. "You just have to find them. Then it's all a matter of throwing small chunks of nightcrawlers at them and haul them in."
The yellow perch was first introduced into California from Illinois, into Lake Cuyamaca in San Diego County in 1891 where the species failed, and in the Feather River in Butte County where by 1918 it was widely distributed — but not very numerous — in the Central Valley.
Yellow perch were discovered in the Klamath Basin in 1946, according to the Department of Fish and Game. The fish likely migrated from Oregon in the Klamath River and have made Copco Lake and Iron Gate Reservoir home.
Fish in Iron Gate can be stunted — around 7 inches or so — but with a resurgence in fishing for the only sport species of perch in California, anglers do have the chance to catch yellow perch up to 12 inches in length.
The average size, anglers said, is 8 to 10 inches. Best yet, there's no size or bag limit restrictions at Iron Gate.
Yellow perch are schooling fish, so all an angler has to do is find a proliferation of fish and get a lesson in "pan fishing" where every cast can produce a strike — and a fish for the stringer.
"All it takes is a little patience," said Steve Schulze of Redding, who brought his sons, John, 14, and Jarret, 4, and daughter, Jamie, 10, for a little perch fishing recently. "And with Jamie, there is little patience there, so we're going to see what we can do.
"I've not been up here in six or seven years, but I always remember slaying them up here. If we do OK, we'll stay in the boat and keep on fishing."
Jamie was game.
Once dad had all the life vests on and was pulling the family patio boat from the dock, Jamie let fly a bare hook and lead weight from his little yellow Snoopy pole and started to reel in.
"Look, I caught a WEED!" he shrieked.
"We'll see how long this lasts," Schulze said.
At least this is a fish that will wait for you to finish your morning cup of coffee. Or two. Or five.
You might as well pack on some breakfast, too.
"The bite hasn't been very good early," Elliott said. "It stayed pretty cold up here this winter, so. . ."
Of the two perch species in California (the other being the bigscale longperch, another introduced species that's also known as "darters"), the yellow perch actually prefers cooler waters, according to the DFG.
Still, while the trout are biting early, yellow perch need a few hours to get active.
"It's better in the afternoon," said 10-year-old Garth Savage of Shasta Lake, who was fishing from an old wooden dock at the Mirror Cove Campground, one of three free camping areas provided by the Pacific Power Co. at the seven-mile-long, 1,000-surface-acre lake created after Iron Gate Dam was completed in 1962.
"Maybe around 12 o'clock," said Garth's 8-year-old brother, Austin. "It's been slow."
"Real slow," Garth said. "I caught a lot yesterday."
The high-desert lake can heat up in a hurry. And that's when people start reeling in the fish.
Just about any shoreline spot is a good place to start at Iron Gate. The lake has a layer of thick aquatic vegetation some eight feet out from shore and provides cover for the perch and an abundance of bluegill and pumkinseed sunfish. The lake also has thickets of tule grass, also a popular spot for panfish to congregate.
The trick is to cast beyond the vegetation, then slowly bring the bait in toward the thicket. A hunk of nightcrawler suspended 14 to 18 inches below a bobber does the trick.
In theory.
An Asian couple from Oregon fishing a rocky point near the Jenny Creek inlet haul in a perch every other cast, drop them in a 5-gallon pickle bucket, re-rig and recast. Another angler, standing eight feet from the couple, can't even get the mosquitoes to bite. We're using exactly the same equipment.
The couple smile and shrug their shoulders — and keep on landing perch.
"I'm guessing the water's still a little cold," Elliott said. "There's plenty of time for the lake to heat up."
Reporter Thom Gabrukiewicz can be reached at 225-8230 or at tgabrukiewicz@redding.com.
