Dan Tschannen of Cool busted this 15 1/2-inch kokanee in front of the Indian Valley Reservoir Dam using a No. 1 pearl/chartreuse tiger Needlefish. Photo by Bill Lentz.

It was a beautiful but breezy Lake County spring morning as Dan Tschannen and I launched my boat into cold water stained an olive tinge from recent run-off. The breeze was from the north so I decided to steer the vessel toward a wind-protected point on the west side of the lake about a mile out from the ramp. We motored past the big point, made a U-turn, dropped the lines in, and started trolling with the wind.

Tschannen let out a dodger-Needlefish combo with a 1/2-ounce weight while I attached two lines to a downrigger, lowering one lure down 28 feet, and the other 18.

We immediately started marking fish on the electronic graph. As we passed the point, my top rod pumped twice and released from the 'rigger.

"There's one," I exclaimed eagerly, jumping from my seat to engage the ultralight stick.

The fish was on fire! It made several awe-inspiring leaps and long runs before tiring and finally succumbing to the net.

"Big kokanee!" Tschannen said as I pulled the hook loose from the 15 1/2-inch chromer.

"Yeah," I replied, "and its only March!"

Four months later, in August 2005, kokanee that measured an amazing 19 3/4 inches were caught at Indian Valley Reservoir (IVR). In past years, however, IVR's kokes have exceeded 20 inches and weighed more than 3 pounds -- testament to the lake's tremendous amount of plankton and freshwater shrimp.

Rich Tipton of Lucky Strike Charters (at www.luckystrikefishing.com) has been guiding fishermen on IVR for kokanee and rainbow trout since 1999, and is known as the lake's fishing guru. "You can quote me on this," he announced. "It's the best fishing lake in Northern California . . . it's maintained strictly for fishing."

For IVR kokanee, Tipton prefers using Sep's Dodgers in either pink or chartreuse, combined with a variety of lures from homemade spinners to the new Radical Glow mini tubes in pink and chartreuse.

"I usually run pink in the morning and switch to chartreuse in the afternoon," said Tipton. "I've also done well using orange and black Uncle Larry's (spinners) on overcast days." (Continued)

Tipton is a firm believer in hooks tipped with white shoe peg corn, and using scents on his lures. "Garlic has done real well for me," he said. "Anise is another good scent."

Tschannen and I continued our quest for kokanee limits. We were trolling toward the west shoreline when my bottom rod suddenly yanked downward. The fish fought hard and, unlike the first koke, this one stayed deep.