The rain was pouring down at San Pablo Reservoir in El Sobrante when this photo was taken . Photo by Dan Bacher

L SOBRANTE - Jeff Garcia of

Santa Clara won first place in the season opener of the NorCal Trout Angler ’ s Challenge ( NTAC ) at San Pablo Reservoir on a cold and rainy Feb . 4 by catching a 3.66 lb . rainbow trout . He hooked the big trout while fishing Power Bait from shore at the boat ramp . “ I was packing up my gear and getting ready to leave after having no bites all morning when my rod bent over and my friend started screaming that I had a fish on my rod ,” he said . “ There was no technique involved . It was all luck this day .” “ The rain really affected the bite , and the cold weather didn ’ t help either ,” noted Vince Harris , President of Angler ’ s Press Outdoors , the organization that created the NorCal Trout Angler ’ s Challenge Series . “ But the fish that were caught were good ones . This was by far the lowest fish count in the 10 years we have had a season opener , but these guys and gals will make it up at Lake Amador on March 11 .” T . J . Wood of Orangevale , who was fishing near Garcia at the boat ramp , came in second in the event with a 3.29-pound rainbow that he fooled while fishing PowerBait from shore . The third through eleventh place adult division winners were ( 3 ) Joe Gaffney , 3.07 ; ( 4 ) Ryan Sullivan , 2.95 ; ( 5 ) Joe Hill Sr ., 2.82 ; ( 6 ) Issac Bocanegra , 2.48 ; ( 7 ) Jerry Cabral , 2.4 ; ( 8 ) Tony Jachencin , 2.08 ; ( 9 ) Dax DeSilva , 1.72 ; ( 10 ) Dirk Enzwieler , 152 ; and ( 11 ) Ryan Pauline , 1.34 . Only two anglers entered fish in the youth division of the event . Joey Hill

Jr . won first place with a 2.15-pound rainbow . He was trolling in a boat with his dad , Joey Hill Sr . when he hooked the fish . Alexander Vasquez placed second in the youth division with his 1-pound rainbow caught from shore with PowerBait . San Pablo is currently at 98 percent full . 2,000 pounds of Mount Lassen rainbow trout were planted before the event . Due to severe storm damages such as mudslides and downed trees , most trails at the recreation area are closed until further notice . Multiple docks are also closed until further notice . San Pablo Reservoir is stocked regularly with rainbow trout in the fall , winter and spring and channel catfish during the summer . Largemouth and spotted bass , crappie , redear sunfish , bluegill and even a sleeper population of white sturgeon are available also . The lake is best known for the trophy trout it has produced over the years . Stephen D . caught the lake record rainbow trout of 21 pounds , 12.8 ounces on April 18 , 2001 while soaking chartreuse Power Bait off Oak Point . While trout are the most popular species at San Pablo Reservoir , the lake also hosts good populations of

Alexander Vasquez placed second in the kids division of the NTAC event at San Pablo Reservoir with his rainbow trout .

Photo by Dan Bacher

channel catfish , spotted bass , largemouth bass , crappie and bluegill . Most of the cats taken at San Pablo are in the 1-1 / 2 to 5 lb . range , but monster cats roam the lake ’ s waters . Mario Nova set the lake record with a catfish weighing 40 pounds , 4 ounces caught and released on June 18 , 2016 . In recent years , the hardfighting spotted bass has become more common in the catches at San Pablo , making the reservoir the only one in the Bay Area with a population of “ spots .” The spotted bass lake record is 5 pounds , 9.36 ounces . The reservoir ’ s big Florida-strain largemouths also make it a popular target of a hard-core group of big bass devotees . Anglers fish an array of methods , such as tossing spinnerbaits , split shotting with plastic worms , drop shotting with plastics and tossing out rainbow trout pattern swimbaits . However , it was a trout angler , Victor Barfield , who