Escape the Crowds: Experience Tranquil Fall & Winter Fishing at Lake Berryessa

Fishing Lake Berryessa in the Fall/Winter

We fished the lake yesterday and had a serene experience. For the first time since the spring, we had the lake virtually to ourselves. Granted, it was midweek, but over the last six months, even weekdays had gotten busy with both guide boats and privateers. Just three weeks ago, when Shane and I fished on a Friday, we had to dodge boats and constantly adjust our trolling path to stay out of other people's way. Compared to that experience, yesterday felt uniquely peaceful.

That said, there's a reason for the quiet. The red-hot trout bite has cooled off and returned to the normal Fall/Winter pattern we're used to. Personally, I love this time of year. The angling adventures now offer more of a wild, natural feel. Yesterday was a perfect balance between play and serenity, all while remaining deeply connected to the lake's majestic atmosphere. We now have the time and space to experiment with different gear and methods. The fish are still abundant, and there's less pressure on both anglers and fish to hit limits quickly.

It's about the adventure now, much more than just chasing the meat. Still, putting fish on the deck is the name of the game. If you don't put in the effort to fine-tune your setups and experiment with speeds and colors, it’s just going to be a quiet boat ride.

I always like to have a fishing plan and start preparing my gear and bait a few days ahead. This time, our plan was to launch at Capell Cove (still a free launch) and start trolling the west shore along Big and Small Islands. Around noon, we’d switch tactics and fish the coves, targeting large catfish while enjoying plenty of action from bass and smaller catfish.

The trolling started slow at 7:30 a.m. but picked up around 10 a.m. We used T-Bone tackle and Speedy Shiner spoons, trolling between 1.8 and 2.5 mph at depths of 20 to 60 feet.

Our overall setup looked like this:

• 2 Downriggers running between 40-60 feet deep

• 2 Lead core setups running between 20-30 feet deep

• 2 Planer board setups running deep-diving Rapalas 6-10 feet deep

  
  

Lures That Worked

We spent a lot of time testing different colors, but once we got to the greens, the bite opened up.

• Thomas Speedy Shiner - Red Dot Frog

• Thomas Speedy Shiner - Watermelon

• Thomas Speedy Shiner - Nickel Chartreuse

  
  

You can stock up on Speedy Shiners in the shop or online. However, T-Bone tackle lures are only available at the shop.

Most of our hookups happened at 45 feet (downrigger) and 25 feet (lead core line) while trolling at 2 mph.

Gear We Used

Downrigger Setups

For downrigger trolling, we used Daiwa North Coast fast action, MH power 7’6” rods, paired with Abu Garcia Max low profile reels with digital counters to track our backsets. We staggered our downrigger backsets from 40 to 80 feet back.

Lead Core Setups

For lead core line trolling, we used Okuma SST “A” 8’6” series cork grip medium heavy casting rods, paired with Okuma Cold Water low profile counter reels. Some say you don’t need counters when fishing lead core line since the line is color-metered in 25-foot increments, typically diving 5 feet per color. Still, I like using the counter, as I often lose track of the color when multiple rods are hitting as I let out the line.

Our lead core setups are spooled with Sufix 832 advanced lead core line, with each color diving around 5-7 feet at 2 mph.

We had multiple takedowns on our lead core setups. For those of us who don’t have four downriggers on our boats, this is an excellent method to get to the fish without them. A couple of words of caution on fishing lead core setups:

• Take your time feeding the line out when setting up the troll. Use your thumb to control the spool speed while using your other hand to feed the line through the guides. Once you get one color down, the line is heavy enough to feed out like normal monofilament.

• Be careful when bringing fish to the boat. Lead core line works great paired with the Okuma SST rods, but the rods are quite stiff for smaller trout. If you don’t use the drag, you’ll rip through the trout’s soft lips and end up losing fish. We had this happen multiple times yesterday.

• Use about 20 feet of 10lb or 12lb top-shot monofilament as a leader.

  
  

Planer Board Setups

We recently started experimenting with planer boards, and they’ve now become an essential part of our trolling game.

We used ClearBoards yesterday to add another dimension to our trolling. The idea is simple: spread the trolling lines 20-30 feet to each side of the boat. As the boat passes through, it scatters fish in the top water column to both sides, where they’re presented with an enticing lure.

We covered more detailed planer board setups in our last Berryessa video: Watch here.

In this example, we used lead core rods with planer boards, but I wouldn’t recommend it. The boards often came off the line because the lead core line was too heavy for them. We had much better luck using planer boards with a regular monofilament setup and a deep-diving Rapala.

Cove Fishing

At 11:30 a.m., we wrapped up trolling and switched to cove fishing. We moved from cove to cove, using sonar to find marks. Once we found what we were looking for, we anchored up using our Minnkota Terrova spot lock and threw out a variety of baits.

XL live minnows and garlic-marinated liver worked best. I like using XL-sized minnows because they’re too big for small fish to eat. We ended up catching a number of sizable largemouth bass and catfish. It’s a fun and relaxing way to fish after an intense morning of trolling—great for snacking and deep conversations with friends, followed by bursts of action.

My prize catch was a trophy-sized 25lb catfish (released, of course) using a lightweight Okuma SST trout rod, a tiny 2500-size Okuma reel, and a 10lb test line. Watch the video to see the fight—it took me around 45 minutes to land the fish. I truly felt alive fighting this epic battle. It could’ve gone either way, as the giant cat was fin-hooked. The fish went after the live XL Minnow, ate it, shook the hook, but somehow got fin-hooked instead.

Every fishing trip is an adventure. Go out there, slow down time, and create your own stories.

If you are looking to experience the serenity and excitement of chasing after a trophy catfish in the fall on Lake Berryessa, fill out this form.

Catch Happy!