Paul Clouse and Al Hurwitz trolled Los Vaqueros Reservoir on January 29, 2026. We were searching for Rainbow Trout. Each week we are finding that the fishing gets better! Today we trolled coves on both the eastern and western shores of the reservoir, landing eight very nice Mt. Lassen Rainbows and keeping seven. At least 5-6 fish were on the line for a while, but didn’t stay pinned. There were also multiple strikes that simply didn’t take the hook. We flat lined jointed Rapalas on the two outside rods and trolled a streamer fly on lead line on the middle rod, the lures ranging from about 7.5-10 feet below the surface. The Trout were deeper today, often in 25-30 foot water columns. Scent was applied to all the lures. The fish were often quite tentative with the bite, and a number simply didn’t stay hooked. With others, the hook often fell out of the mouth when the fish were netted.

Pictured here are these beautiful Mt. Lassens. The largest was 5.62 pounds, while the aggregate weight of the seven kept fish was 23.5 pounds.

It was a beautiful day for fishing, with warm weather, light winds, very clear water, a high lake level,, and with the surface water temperature around 55.5 degrees.

As always, the staff in the office and on the dock were extremely helpful in getting us on and off the water.

We’ll be back very soon to capitalize on the terrific fishing!

All the best,
Paul Clouse, Lafayette
Dr. Al Hurwitz, Saratoga