OFF THE HOOK: The rainbows are back at Englebright

After a suspension in trout plants for several years at Englebright Reservoir resulting from a lawsuit settlement, the Department of Fish and Game is again stocking trout in this beautiful lake located on the Yuba River.

The biologists, after conducting studies regarding the impact of trout stocking on native fish and amphibian species, recently approved the lake for regular plants of triploid (sterile) rainbow trout.

The DFG stocked 2,000 pounds of rainbow trout in November and another 1,500 pounds in December, boosting fishing success at the lake. These and future DFG plants, along with a trout pen-rearing program started this season by the staff at Skipper's Cove Marina, point a great year for trout fishing at Englebright.

This reservoir, sitting at an elevation of 527 feet off Highway 20 just west of Penn Valley, also features populations of wild rainbow and brown trout, largemouth bass and spotted bass.

"The trout fishing has been absolutely wonderful lately for boaters and bank fishermen," said Lisa Rogers, the owner of Skipper's Cove Marina, who took over the management of the operation in 2010.

I can attest to the top-notch fishing available at Englebright, based on a trolling adventure I made with Rick Kennedy of Tight Lines Guide Service for a couple of hours on Dec. 30. Fishing with Kennedy and me was Steve Brown, his son-in-law.

We caught and released a bunch of trout from 10 to 14 inches while trolling two of my favorite lures, orange/gold Cripplures and Captain American Hum Dingers, from just outside of the boat ramp to the main body of the lake past the dam.

After having our fill of rainbows, we went up into the river arm where Brown and Kennedy had caught and released three beautiful browns to 3 pounds, along with six holdover rainbows, last June.

We top-line trolled with orange and gold floating Rapalas, but never hooked any browns in the river arm. I did hook and lose one fish, while Brown caught and released a planter rainbow.

After no success on the browns, we decided to go back to the lake's main body and resume rainbow fishing. We ended up hooking a few more rainbows before we called it a day right before dark. We caught and released all of the fish except for one.

After Kennedy loaded his boat up on his trailer and drove back home with Brown, I decided to check out how the bank fishermen were doing.

Anglers fishing off the dock and shoreline of the main recreation area were finding good success while fishing nightcrawlers, PowerBait and Power Eggs. In the 10 minutes I was there, I saw one father hook three trout and pass the rod to his kids to reel in.

"We are the best kept secret in the region," said Rogers. "I have talked to people in Penn Valley who don't even know that the lake is here."

Skipper's Cove Marina, for the first time ever, is operating a pen rearing trout project to enhance the lake's fishery. The staff is currently raising 1,000 pounds of privately purchased rainbows ranging from 11⁄2 to 21⁄2 pounds in four floating pens at the marina.

"We put the fish in the pens during the middle of November and will release them into the lake in April when they are much bigger," said Rogers. "We have already weighed two fish over 5 pounds that we tagged. We're tagging as many fish as we can."

She emphasized that the marina is providing 100 percent of the funds for purchasing and feeding the fish and operating the project.

Since 2010, Rogers has witnessed a number of big fish caught at Englebright. An angler caught and released a 13-pound brown in April 2011, while the largest rainbow she has seen weighed 3 pounds.

The lake is also a sleeper for largemouth and spotted bass.

"An angler landed a 9-pound largemouth in the summer of 2011," she noted.

A creel survey published by the state and federal governments in 2006, yielded some interesting information about the species composition at the lake.

"Rainbow trout was the most common species caught in Englebright Lake, representing 56 percent of the catch, followed by bass (28 percent) and bluegill (11 percent)," according to the report. Very few individuals of the lake's other species, including brown trout, channel catfish, crappie and kokanee, were reported by anglers in the survey.

The lake has a surface area of 815 acres with a shoreline of 24 miles that snakes 9 miles long above the dam into the rugged pine and oak studded Yuba River canyon of the Sierra Nevada. Boats can be launched at the Park Headquarters or at Skippers Cove, where boats can also be rented.

For more information, contact Rick Kennedy of Tight Lines Guide Service, 263-0990, www.fishtightlines.com, or Skipper's Cove Marina, 432-6302, www.englebrightlake.com.