What can I say, we nailed fish and stayed in a nice, clean and comfortable house. I had everything I needed from a hot shower to a clean bed. Oh, the fishing was good, streamer fishing held true, but there was more......DRY FLY FISHING! I was advised that this place was mainly streamers down deep, but looking at the west shoreline flats and weed lines I realized that fish like to eat . . . BIG fish like to eat where the food is. It did not take me long to hook up with a small fly under a large dry. Then I got a large fish on a nice dry. Look forward to returning and taking more fish on top! Oh . . . the place is nice, real nice.

Just our luck . . . Tulloch Dam started releasing water! Made for tough fishing, but did get several in the 18"-21" range. Caught 2 on black Hoppers in the shallows, believe it or not. Nice place.

4/22:  Fished from 11:00-7:00 p.m. Mark caught 5 fish using indicator and copper head flash back nymph #12 at about a 9' depth. Fished the far side all the way up to the spillway. Spillway was ripping! 3,000 CFS. I didn't get one on the first day using same setup.

4/23:  Started at 8:00 a.m. and worked the far bank all the way down to the island. Two flat areas down by the island were hot! Mark used the same setup from yesterday and caught 4. I caught 2 with the same setup out in the main current. When we got to the first flat, we saw some rises near the reeds. I went to a #14 black ant with white wings -- wam! Game on! We used grey Adams cripple, grey Adams, black ants (different varieties), brown wing and black gnats. All between #12's - #16's. By 3:00 p.m. we both had at least 12-15 fish, between 17"-24" . . . with 2 that were 28" (I thought they were 29"-30"). We came back for a late lunch and back out by 4:30 p.m. The wind died down which slowed down the dry fly fishing. I caught 4 and Mark picked up 2.

4/24:  Fished down by the island from 8:00-1:30 p.m. We both pulled in 5 fish each and lost at least that many. All 3 days it was very hot 85-90 degrees. Slight wind is very good to hide your profile. All fish today (10) between 20"-22". Lost a very large trout in the first cove. Used dry line with both nymphs, but mostly dry ants, grey Adams and brown flies. Drys out performed the nymphs.

Six members from the Solano Flyfishers fished the lake for two days. The accommodations were great, just like home. We enjoyed the huge deck after fishing with libations and BBQ on the gas BBQ. The water was really high and the current was swift, which made the deep fishing more difficult. Members caught fish over 20 inches by three different methods. Deep swinging, under indicator, and at low light I lines with nymphs. I can tell you that I do not believe that you can find a more quality fishery for wild trout 2 hours from the Bay and Sacramento areas. We will be back!

On Sunday, 5/12, I fished east of the Goodwin Lake rental between 10:00-11:00 a.m. There was bright sunshine, probably 90 degrees off the water by noon and 80 degrees on the water which was between 53 and 54 degrees on the surface.

Stayed at the Goodwin house arriving Wed. 5/15 and fishing Thurs., Fri. and Sat. The first three of our group of seven arrived late Wed. afternoon and, after unloading the truck, fished for a couple of hours until dusk. Weather was perfect - warm with enough breeze to put a slight chop on the lake. Had multiple hookups with 5 fish to the net. BBQ'd that night thinking it would be a banner trip as forecast (checked on Tues.) was for similar weather.

Well, the weatherman lied!!!! A front moved in with misting rain Thurs. morning and temps 20 degrees cooler. This seemed to shut the fish off as once the remainder of the group arrived, we all struggled to get fish the rest of that day and on Friday. Saw fish on the finder, but they weren't in the mood to bite.

Saturday was much better as the bite picked up with the improving weather. Overall, fishing was tougher than it was last year on our trip at the same time, but some very nice fish were still caught. The group had multiple fish from 18"-20" with several over 20" and the largest around 24". Both tugging streamers and indicator nymphing took fish with the "hot" (if we can use that term) flies being red Copper Johns and large (size 12 ) hare's ears.

The rental is very comfortable and Goodwin is a one of a kind place.

John Diodati

I had an opportunity and invitation to join fellow fishermen Elaine and John Cook and their friends to a mid-week fishing excursion.

We all mostly used float tubes with John Cook using a kayak and dry fly fishing only. Those who used indicators set at a deep drop using 2 flies of different preferences, but mostly red Copper John's and midges with white bead heads in red and black. All picked up fish near structures and near drop-offs. Allowing the natural dead drifts got better results than stripping buggers with various weighted lines. T-11 and T-14 are still the best way to get it down to the fish laying low.

Personally it was two good days for me, with 13 fish in hand in the two days combined. Maybe 4 fish were Kokanee salmon as evidenced by their V tails and more silvery scales. They still have a little rainbow colors and white inside their mouths. They jump more and pull harder than trout the same size. I always catch them now, more than any year earlier in my experience. 

The setup that got the best results for me the last two trips was the grey marabou jigs I make in hook sizes 8 and 10 and 1/80th and 1/64th oz. weight lead head. The red thread wrap still catches the fish's eye, but the action of the marabou is most likely what drives them wild. I found these great casting indicators called "Fish Pimp" that have dimples like a golf ball that allow them less drag and cast so much better than a "thingamabobber." They do come off easier especially when setting up on a fish; it can just go flying.

In the last week the current out of Tulloch Dam dropped from 4,000 CFS to only approx. 1,500. Fishing changed dramatically, decreasing on the east end toward Tulloch and increasing toward the west.

For 2 months the white bead headed Krystal Bugger had been the go-to fly for streamer fishermen like me. Now, I couldn't catch anything on a white fly.

Today it was a clear blue sky, 75 degrees, wind 15 mph particularly on the west end. At 8:00 a.m. I started mid-lake and fished west. By 1:00 p.m. I had hooked 15 and landed 10 rainbows, including 2-18" and a 20", 21" and 22". All of the fish were caught trolling/stripping 50' Rio T-14 heavy sinking line to a 9' P-line 8 lb. leader and a 4' dropper to the terminal fly. All fish except 1 were caught on the terminal fly which was either a black woolly bugger wrapped with red cooper wire with hackles remaining or wrapped with green copper wire.

6/10:  I took the boat down to the end, parked it there and fished from 9:30 am - 3:00 pm.  Landed 5 and lost 1 at the net with 22" the largest and 2 Kokanee. On the way back I drifted and trolled down the middle with the sinking line and one of my black trolling flies. I hooked 6 and had 1 at the net that came undone with one huge jump and showed me its size before coming off. I had 7 takes and 5 were hooked. I noticed later that the hook was slightly bent out and that is why they came off, but it was so much fun to troll again and a lot of action too. I think I discovered another good way to fish here if you use the boat. It was overcast and windy today.

6/11:  On my way back from Goodwin Dam with the boat, which I used to carry my float tube so I could fish that end without the long kick home, I let out about 50' of my T-14 line with a black marubugger, one of my own designs that works well at Eagle Lake and other big trout lakes. I got a hard take right away and it came free. I got another hard take a minute later and was still at the end of the lake area near the dam. This fish was huge and came up, rolled and was also gone. Well, I had another 4 fish on after that, 2 right up to the net and then coming free. I just could not seem to net 1 fish, but it sure was fun and easy fishing compared to casting and kicking from a float tube all the way upstream. I set the motor on #1 or turned it off if the wind was moving me fast enough. If you are trolling into the wind, just turn the boat around and troll stern first into the wind. The bow gets blown off course even in light winds at slow speeds.

Was just getting ready to leave with my waders already in the truck when I decided to fish off the dock for a little bit before the drive back to Santa Cruz. I used my jig and bobber setup and on the first drift a take down and a missed bite. In a drift a minute or two later the bobber went down very slowly almost like it had snagged, but it is very deep outside the dock area and I set up to the largest fish of the week for me at 23" or so. I got some good shots of this fish and a short video that came out pretty wild [see youtube link below]. Another fisherman showed up to fish and then Wham! I had another fish on and almost the same size as the first one. I felt like I had the hot hand as the other three guys who had just arrived still had not hooked one from their tubes and boat. I tried a midge and a San Juan worm with no takes at the same place off the dock.

Nor Cal Fly Angler's Guide to Inflatable Pontoon Boats