With my good friend Lou Hubert, I finally fulfilled a long standing promise, or threat, depending on your perspective, of fishing Lake Almanor with guide Captain Bryan Roccucci owner and operator of Big Daddy's Guide Service.  Through mutual friends I knew of Bryan's reputation of skill and dedication to putting clients on nice fish, and have been anxious to fish with him. But work and other commitments had just kept me from booking a trip although we have met and talked about it for a number of years at numerous Sacramento ISE shows. Well, the time finally came about and our trip on Thursday, April 5 was well worth the anticipation.

With a scheduled meeting with Bryan at the Canyon dam launch set for 6:30 am, Lou and I made plans to spend Wednesday night at the nearby Quail Lodge. Quail Lodge (Quailodgelakealmanor.com) was found to be a perfect quiet, great fisherman friendly location for not only our visit, but for future trips.  The rooms are very affordable, clean, well appointed, and each are decorated nicely in a specific regionally themed motif. There is plenty of safe parking for anglers towing boats and for charging batteries overnight. Another plus is that the lodge is pet friendly and the owners Deb and John could not have been more accommodating. And we found there are many good spots for food, groceries and supplies in nearby Chester, so little if anything is left wanting or needed when visiting.

Bryan already had his Boulton boat, with fully enclosed canvas cabin, perfect for the cold morning and possibility of the coming rain, in the water and ready to blast off when we arrived at the lake. Bryan offered us the choices of the opportunity to target numbers of fish or in targeting potentially larger fish, specifically the big brown trout  for which Almanor is known. Large browns are especially active in the winter and early spring months so Lou and I chose the chance to go areas where larger fish were known to dwell. Bryan set up his Powell rods and line counter, Abu Garicia reels with minnow imitation plugs, and began his trolling patterns just off shore. In quick order, Lou hooked up with what turned out to be the best fish of the day - a four plus pound brown trout, which after a quick picture, was returned to the lake.  It was nice to watch Lou land a fish while fishing together, as he is a great Redding area guide (Lou's Guide Service, 805-610-9412) and he is usually on the oars and netting the trout for me on the Sacramento River when we are fishing together.

To offer some clarification to some rumored reports about the cessation of the stocking of brown trout in Almanor, Bryan noted that yes, CDFW is still placing browns in the lake. In part, due to the past drought conditions, lesser numbers had been raised and placed into the lake in the recent past in relationship to historical numbers planted. With a good water year - over 18,000 were planted last year - with more scheduled this year from CDFW. Couple the planned CDFW planting with the 30,000 or so browns being raised by Chester High School for release this year, and that fact that there is a strong naturally spawning population of browns in the lake itself, the future is bright for the continued potential of big browns at this gorgeous mountain lake. While Bryan enjoys the practice of catch and release and encourages the release of large trophies, especially large browns, he will keep fish for clients at their request.

The next fish to the boat was a very nice 2 pound smallmouth bass. Lake Almanor is a great smallmouth fishery and is a favorite of some Nor Cal smallie chasers. The lake itself is shallow in comparison to the deep reservoirs such as Shasta, Trinity, and Oroville, offering many areas with rocky shorelines, reefs and points. There are also areas with flats, underwater springs and stump fields providing a lake of prime smallmouth water. The lake does not get the credit as a bass fishery that it deserves.

Despite targeting browns, Lou's next fish was a beautiful 4 pound smallie, a fine smallmouth in any water. I quickly followed the proceedings with a nice two and a half pound rainbow which proved to be camera shy and wiggled itself out of my hands for an impromptu splashing quick release.  After a few more bumps and missed hookups we managed a couple more smallmouth that were more than willing to slam the trolled minnow imitations.

We continued on the hunt for larger browns, with Bryan working hard over areas that had recently produced 6 plus pound trout, varying speed, depth and lure selection. Pond smelt, which is the primary forage fish for the predators in the lake, were not to be found in any concentration, so fishing was truly hunting.  My next fish was to be somewhat of a surprise as a two plus pound landlocked king salmon came to the net after a nice aerial display of jumps.

As there are four main target species of sport fish on the lake, brown and rainbow trout, smallmouth bass and landlocked king salmon, I was now only a brown trout away from the unofficial Lake Almanor slam. As an early afternoon wind came up, Bryan decided to switch areas and try a sheltered west side cove where big fish had been landed in the past. After a few hits, we managed a couple of trout a rainbow and a nice year-old brown (proof of the continued recent plants) which completed my Almanor slam.

Bryan proved to be a great guide on the water, his experience on the water showing as he knew every rock pile, stump, extended underwater point we trolled around and targeted. He also provided a knowledgeable narrative of some of the features, history and landmarks around the lake with his friendly outgoing personality  Bryan spends most of the winter and spring on Lake Almanor and his popularity as one of, if not the best guides on the lake, has him fishing most fish-able days on the water. As he noted, he had many days without another boat on the water while he successfully fished clients. This keeps Bryan on top of the best fishing waters all the time. Bryan also fishes other lakes in the region as well, spending quality days on Buck's Lake where catches include Kokanee and Mackinaw (lake) trout during summer months.  Buck's has produced lakers of over 20 pounds for a few of Bryan's clients in the past. Bryan also targets Eagle Lake in the late fall where the famous Eagle Lake Rainbow trout are on tap.

While we may have missed our six pound brown trout this day, they are there and with a personal best brown of over 13 pounds to his credit, Bryan is the man to call in search for either that one big fish or just an enjoyable day of catching multiple species.  Lake Almanor itself is a beautiful high mountain lake with the beautiful vista of Mt Lassen overlooking the west shore. The beautiful forested shoreline and many of the wonderful lakefront homes make for a beautiful backdrop to spend the day on the water. To contact Bryan for current reports or to book your own great day of fishing visit Big Daddy's Guide Service website at www.bigdaddyfishing.com, or give him a call at 530-270-1001. I know that I  look forward to my next trip with Bryan as Lou and I had a great day with him.