Lewiston Lake

trout trout
Lewiston Lake offers year-round opportunities to fly fish for trout.

Several decades ago, when I was working at Powell’s Fly Shop in Chico, I went fishing at Lewiston Lake for the first time with my friend and coworker Dave Simmons and a gentlemen named Ray Narbaitz. I remember being excited about the trip. We were going just for the day, but we had more fly rods than the three of us could fish all at the same time.

Ray and I drove out to Dave’s place in Capay early in the morning. We all wedged into Dave’s truck, which he called “Thunder.” There was also Dave’s dog, Lucky, in the cab with us. It was a 1974 Ford pickup with a camper shell on it — just two doors, a bench seat, three guys, and a dog. On top of the shell was Dave’s 14-foot pram. The cab had shag carpet, and flies were stuck everywhere: on the sun visors, on the dash, and in the carpet — trophy flies that had caught some magical fish ever since the truck was new. The truck had a big-block engine and rumbled down the highway at 80 miles an hour.

We got to Lewiston around eight on a fall morning. The air was crisp, and the lake had wisps of fog over it. Dave had an Easy Loader boat rack on the truck; the pram came off and went into the water, and all the gear went in: the battery for the electric motor, the oars, the sit-on life preservers — the whole nine yards. Since there were three of us, we decided that everyone could only bring one rod on the boat. I chose my 4-5 weight Powell DF90-1. It has two tips and a detachable fighting butt. (I still have that rod. In fact, I built it.) I looped-to-looped a 9-foot leader tapering to 5X and placed a Corky halfway up the leader. I added 4 feet of 5X tippet material and then a Gray Muskrat fly. Above the tippet knot I placed a small split shot. I was rigged.

We pushed off from shore — three men and a dog in the 14-foot pram. Nothing to drink, nothing to eat. Just a good old-fashioned fishing trip. What could go wrong?

As it turned out, nothing. It was the best day I have ever had on Lewiston Lake, period. We motored down to the upper island and dropped the anchor so we were parallel to the current. Yes, there is current in Lewiston Lake — it’s actually a long afterbay for releases from Trinity Dam on the Trinity River. I was in the middle seat and I made my first cast. The Corky started to drift, but about ten seconds later dipped below the surface, and I had a feisty rainbow bending my rod.

We landed it and took pictures with our old film cameras. By noon, I had caught 21 fish and had to tie on another Gray Muskrat, because the one I was using was getting badly chewed. I had enough flies for everyone, and we had a field day. I have had days that have come close at Lewiston, but that first day was perfect.

The Character of Lewiston

Lewiston Lake was formed by the US Bureau of Reclamation in dammed the Trinity River 1963 as part of the Central Valley Project. Some of its water is diverted into large pipes that run through the mountain and down to Whiskeytown Lake and on into the Sacramento River. The remaining water flows down the Trinity River to the Klamath River. In today’s dollars this project would cost billions, but in 1963, the complete project cost just over $2.3 million. The total surface area of Lewiston Lake is 759 acres, and the lake holds 14,660 acre-feet of water when full.

The lake has a 10-mile-per-hour speed limit. No jet skis or ski boats are allowed, which makes it perfect for f ly fishers in personal watercraft, prams, and small boats. These days, I use my drift boat, and it works very well. General boating rules apply. You must have personal floatation devices, floatation throws if you are in a pram or drift boat, head lamps, and so on.

Because of the current, Lewiston Lake fishes like a gigantic spring creek. The lake sits over the old Trinity River channel. In the f lows of the upper section, near Trinity Dam, weed beds sway back and forth in the current. Once the water gets deep enough, the current slows, but fish like to hold in the old river channel drop-offs. There are also large areas that we call “the flats” in the lower reaches of the lake, about halfway down. The flats range in depth from three to five feet and are places where the fish gorge on Callibaetis mayflies and on terrestrials that manage to from the trees.

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Getting into Fish

Lewiston’s trout have plenty of options for meals: mayflies, caddisflies, stoneflies, leeches, damselflies, dragonflies, midges, and terrestrials. Dragonflies are especially abundant, and a dragonfly larva imitation fished slowly close to the bottom on the flats can get fantastic results. I like fishing Jay Fair’s Wiggle Tails in olive and cinnamon in size 14 on the flats with a hover fly line. I also fish a Peacock Woolly Bugger that Dave Simmons ties for the damselflies on the flats. (See the sidebar.) However, my Lewiston Lake fly box is packed with many types of flies. From sight casting, to stripping streamers, to fishing flies underneath an indicator, Lewiston Lake has it all.

I asked Lonnie Boles, who has guided for decades on Lewiston Lake, when he likes to fish the lake and what his favorite f lies are. Lonnie especially likes to fish Lewiston in the spring and the fall. In the spring, when water is being released from Trinity Lake into Lewiston Lake, he anchors his drift boat on the side of a channel and fishes with an indicator rig, dead-drifting f lies down the current using a stack mend. There are stoneflies in the upper portion of the lake in the channels, mostly Golden Stones, and his favorite f lies for the dead-drift rig are brown Rubber Legs Stones, size 4, but also my Lance’s X-May in olive and brown, size 18 and 20.

In the fall and on into the winter, Lonnie likes to fish midges — not under an indicator, although that works — but using a floating line with a 10-foot leader tapered to a 5X tippet and just one fly. His favorite midges are Chan’s Bombers in red, black, and claret in size 14 and Zebra Midges in size 16 to 20. In the summer months, fishing early in the morning can be very productive on the flats of the lake with an intermediate line, a 9-foot leader tapered to a 4X tippet, and standard Marabou Leeches in black or olive, size 8 to 10.

Fishing dry flies can be exciting when fish are feeding on the surface. A Callibaetis hatch occurs on the lake on most spring and summer days. If I am in an area of moving water on the upper part of the lake, I like to cast downcurrent and bump mend my fly down to the fish working on the surface. The bump mend, also known as the Fall River Twitch, requires you to first strip enough line from the reel to let the fly drift down beyond the fish. Next, make a quartering cast downstream a bit past the feeding lane you’re targeting, and then pull the fly into that lane. This will both position your fly and remove slack that could cause you to set the hook too late. Now start feeding line at the speed of the current, keeping slack minimized, by flipping your rod tip up multiple times until the fly reaches your target and is either taken or rejected. The fish will see your fly first, not your leader. This tactic is similarly effective when fishing nymphs under indicators.

I also fish dry f lies on wind lines. Where the wind hits the surface of the lake, one side will be flat or still water and the other side will have ripples pushed up by the wind. I position my boat with the wind at my back and cast my fly — usually an ant or beetle imitation — so the fly hits right on the wind line. I then use a bump mend let the wind move my fly down the line.

My dry-fly setup is simple. I like a long leader of 12 to 15 feet, tapered to a 5X tippet. You can construct your own, or you can buy one. I use only monofilament tapered leaders when fishing dries, not fluorocarbon, because the fluorocarbon sinks more readily.

A Recent Visit

On a trip earlier this summer to Lewiston Lake, I took Lonnie’s advice and fished leech imitations on an intermediate line early in the morning. I started at 6:00 a.m., rigging up with the exact rigging Lonnie suggested — a 10-foot leader to 4X with a single olive Marabou Leech, size 10. I rowed my pontoon boat out to the flats just south of the large island on the opposite side of the boat ramp and started fishing. The depth of water was around 10 feet, according to my fish finder, and I could see fish moving throughout the flat.

Whenever I fish with a sinking line and a leech, damselfly, dragonfly, or baitfish imitation, I always start by using a very slow retrieve, then increase the speed of the retrieve until I find what the fish like. On this day, the fish liked a very slow retrieve, more of a Jay Fair hand-over-hand mooch than a strip. The bite was on until about 9:30, then the fish headed for deep water.

I found them again, right along a drop-off. I had rerigged and was now fishing a deep-water indicator setup with Zack Thurman’s Balanced Swimming Leech in olive, size 10. (See the sidebar.) Using my fish finder, I saw fish hanging 18 to 20 feet deep, so I set my indicator for that depth and dropped the fly in the water. Within five minutes, I had my first fish. By the time I rowed for the boat ramp, I had landed seven more fish and now it was 11:00 in the morning. I left the water and headed out to find a burger.

Deep-Water Indicator Fishing

Lewiston’s trout will sometimes hold in deep water, which means a deep-water indicator is a valuable addition to the tackle you bring to the lake. My deepwater indicator rig is different than most. I use indicators that I make out of a foam sphere painted white on the bottom and fluorescent orange on top. At the bottom of the indicator I have an eyelet for the leader to pass through, and on top of the indicator is a fluorescent chartreuse stem — what I call my “Tell Tail.” When the fly is at its set depth, the stem points straight up and tells me the rig is hanging vertically. My deep-water indicator leader is a 20-foot piece of 20-pound fluorocarbon with a Perfection Loop on one end for a loop-to-loop connection to my floating fly line. I put a medium black rubber Bobber Stopper 12 inches down from the Perfection Loop and then thread the leader through the indicator’s eyelet. At the business end of the leader, I tie on a size 12 barrel swivel. The barrel swivel acts like a tippet ring. I can then tie on fluorocarbon tippet ranging from 0X to 7X — 7X for midges, 3X or 4X for a balanced leech pattern, for example. Then I add an SSG size Dinsmore tungsten split shot, the biggest size there is, right above the barrel swivel on my leader. It gets down in a hurry, which means you are fishing more quickly.

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Defeating the Current

Anchoring in a personal watercraft is useful for success at Lewiston Lake. However, anchoring is dangerous in moving water controlled by releases from a dam, and I follow anchoring rules that I learned the hard way, and I am always prepared to cut the rope with a razor-sharp knife if need be.

First, to make anchoring safer, never anchor in current. It doesn’t matter how shallow you think the water is. Always anchor on the slow or calm outer edge of the current. If you have to cast a couple more feet to get to your targeted area, so be it. Also, every time I drop the anchor, I have to be prepared that it might get hung up and not come back up. I like a mushroom-type anchor. It doesn’t get stuck in the mud or have arms to grab roots or downed tree limbs. I try to drop the anchor in a spot where I can see the bottom and what is or isn’t there. A clean lake bottom makes raising the anchor easier. I also ensure my safety by wearing a US Coast Guard–approved personal floatation device (PFD), and if wearing waders, I make sure the wading belt is cinched down tightly. This is extremely important. It’s difficult to get out of the water when you’re in trouble if your waders have gallons of water in them.


Lewiston Lake holds rainbow trout, both wild and planted, brown trout, and some brook trout. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife plants the lake (for a planting schedule, go to their website, https://wildlife.ca.gov/ Fishing), and there is also a local marina that is raising trout that are planted into the lake. At Pine Cove Marina, owner Louise Rockwood has fish pens that the local kids from the sixth to the eighth grade feed until the fish get to be about 18 inches long. Then they are released into the lake for anglers. The program is similar to the Lake Almanor Fishing Association Fish Program.

Lewiston Lake is a fly fisher’s heaven. From its channels to the open flats, it has all the fish-rearing qualities of a spring creek and all the attributes of a stillwater fishery. It even can be combined with a Trinity River steelhead trip. But the real fun comes from just sitting in a float tube or pontoon boat and acting like little boys and girls, laughing and yelling as fish come to the net. Lewiston Lake just does that to people.


Zack Thurman’s Balanced Swimming Leech

Zack Thurman has worked in the fly-fishing business since he was in high school and has long been a commercial fly tyer. Among the patterns he developed for stillwater fishing in Northern California is his Swimming Leech, and when balanced f lies became popular, he modified the pattern into the Balanced Swimming Leech. It has been a hit on many still waters, especially Pyramid Lake, and it works great at Lewiston, as well.

Zack Thurman

Hook: Umpqua C400BL jig hook, size 8 to 10

Pin: Straight pin with a large head

Bead: Tungsten bead, size to match

Thread: Black Danville Flymaster 6/0

Tail: Dark olive marabou

Body: Olive, medium-size Jay Fair’s Translucent Swimming Hackle

Hackle: Olive, long Jay Fair’s Translucent Swimming Hackle

Step 1: Mount the thread and cover the shank of the hook. Slide the tungsten bead onto the straight pin. You likely will have to cut down the pin to the length of the hook shank above the point of the hook. Then tie the pin to the top of the hook, with the bead in front of the fly’s eye, then cover the pin with thread and coat the thread with Zap-A-Gap to secure the pin in place.

Step 2: Using soft marabou plumes, tie in the marabou tail. The tail should be the same length as the span from the bend of the hook to the front of the bead. Once the tail is tied off, tie in both kinds of Jay Fair’s Translucent Swimming Hackle at the back of the hook in front of the marabou tail. Tie in the medium Swimming Hackle first and then the long Swimming Hackle.

Step 3: Wrap the entire hook shank and the pin extension with the medium Swimming Hackle, tie it off at the tungsten bead, and cut off the excess. Then palmer the long Swimming Hackle over the medium as you would with hackle on a Woolly Bugger, tie it off at the bead, trim the excess, and whip finish.

Step 4: Trim the long Swimming Hackle with scissors so it is slightly longer than the medium Swimming Hackle. Now brush out the body with a piece of Velcro, and if needed trim any stray long fibers. Brushing the body with Velcro helps blend the two Swimming Hackles and breaks apart the fibers, which lets them move seductively in the water.


Dave Simmons’s Peacock Woolly Bugger

The Peacock Woolly Bugger that Dave Simmons ties has fooled fish all over the United States. I’ve caught trout with it when nothing else seemed to work. It’s also an easy fly to tie. Twisting the peacock herl into chenille is a little complicated, but once you understand the concept and try it a few times, you’ll discover it isn’t difficult.

Dave Simmons

Hook: TMC 5262, size 8 to 10

Weight: 10 to 15 turns of .020-inch nontoxic lead-free wire

Thread: Black Danville Flymaster 6/0

Tail: Black Marabou with two strands of opal Flashabou Mirage tinsel

Body: Peacock herl made into a chenille

Rib: Gold BR size wire

Hackle: Medium dun saddle hackle

Step 1: Weight the hook shank with nontoxic lead-free wire, then tie in the black marabou tail and tie two strands of opal Flashabou Mirage on top. Tie in the gold BR (Brassie size) wire ribbing and let it extend back past the tail.

Step 2: Tie in four peacock herls, tips first — this is important. Form a dubbing loop that is a bit shorter than the length of the four peacock herls (a shorter loop helps with twisting the herl) and insert the peacock herls into one side of the dubbing loop, lying against the thread. Catch the loop in a dubbing loop twister and twist a couple of times to trap the peacock herl, then gently spin the tool.

Step 3: Wrap the resulting peacock chenille onto the hook shank. You will need to repeat the process until the hook shank is covered and your thread is now about an eighth of an inch from the hook eye. Tie off the peacock and trim the excess. The taper from the tip ends to the butt ends of the herl will form a tapered body.

Step 4: Now tie in a medium dun saddle hackle and wrap it back to the gold wire ribbing. Catch the hackle with the wire and wrap the wire forward, tying down the hackle stem (try to miss the hackle barbs) to the eye of the hook. Tie the wire off, trim it and both ends of the hackle, whip finish, and cement the head.

Editor’s note: I have a number of Woolly Buggers tied by Lance, and a common, yet unusual feature — as with the fly above — is that the length of the hackle barbs is usually no longer than the hook’s gape.


If You Go…

Lewiston Lake is open year-round and is easy to drive to. From Redding, take Highway 299 West 37 miles, then turn right at the sign to Trinity Dam/Lewiston Lake onto County Highway 102 (Trinity Lake Boulevard). Drive 5.5 miles, through the town of Lewiston to the junction of Hatchery Road and Trinity Dam Boulevard. Continue straight on Trinity Dam Boulevard to Lewiston Lake.

The U.S. Forest Service operates three campgrounds off of Trinity Lake Boulevard: Mary Smith Campground, Cooper Gulch Campground, and Ackerman Campground. (Tunnel Campground is now closed.) Ackerman and Cooper Gulch Campgrounds are open to both tent and RV camping, but Mary Smith Campground (which was picked as one of Sunset Magazine’s prettiest campgrounds) is tent camping only. All of the campgrounds have great amenities, from flushing toilets at Ackerman to beautiful lakeside campsites at Copper Gulch. The nightly campsite charge starts at $23. The campgrounds offer different camping options, such as group camping at Mary Smith. You can book these sites at the Recreation.gov website. Just type “Lewiston Lake California” in the Search box.

There is a public boat launch on the lake, the Pine Cove Public Boat Ramp. The charge to launch your boat is $10.00. This facility also has two fishing docks, a two-lane boat ramp, a boarding float, and two vault restrooms. Four picnic sites are available with picnic tables and pedestal grills. There is a wheelchair accessible fishing dock.

For fly fishers who don’t camp, two resorts at the lake offer full RV hook-ups and other lodging options:

Lakeview Terrace Resort and RV Park, 9001 Trinity Dam Boulevard, Lewiston. Phone: (530) 778-3803; website, https://www.thelakeviewterraceresort.com. The resort’s cabins require a two-night minimum stay.

Pine Cove Marina, 9435 Trinity Dam Boulevard, Lewiston. Phone: (530) 778-3878; website, www.pine-cove-marina.com. RV park, plus watercraft rentals. The nearest fly shop is the Trinity Fly Shop, 4440 Lewiston Road, in Lewiston. Phone: (530) 623-6757; website, http://trinityflyshop.com.

The Trinity Fly Shop offers guiding services for Lewiston, as does The Fly Shop in Redding (phone: 1-800-669-3474; www.theflyshop.com) and Lonnie Boles at Fishslayer.lb@gmail.com, cell phone: (530) 739-0444.

Lance Gray

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