REGON HOUSE , CA – Jason

Andre of Vacaville won first place in the adult division of the NorCal Trout Angler ’ s Challenge Tournament of Champions by catching a whopping 8.69 lb . rainbow trout from his kayak at Collins Lake . A total of 88 adult anglers and 13 youths participated in the two-day event held on Saturday , November 4 , and Sunday , November 5 . Fishing was tough for many participants with about half of the adult and youth anglers not weighing fish in the event . “ It was a tough bite in the days before the tournament and it loosened up a tiny bit during the weekend .,” said Andre . “ Big thanks got to Cal Kellogg @

fishhuntshoot for his knowledge and insights given during my pre-fish scouting trip on the FHS boat the Thursday before the tournament .” “ The winning fish was caught on a naked nightcrawler run behind an action disk up top on Saturday ,” he explained . “ The fish fought hard – it took 10 minutes to get it into the boat .” The Day 2 fish . weighing 7.31 pounds , was also taken up top , but on an Arctic Fox Tube Fly with an FHS Trout Trix trailer run behind an action disc . Both lunkers were caught using # yakrunnercustoms 9 ’ 6 ” custom trolling rods built using Lamiglas G-1000 Pro Steelhead blanks . Andre hooked that fish about 30 minutes before he brought the fish to the weigh-in station . He also landed two smaller trout during the trip .

This

is the first time he has ever won first place in a trout tournament . Andre did place fifth in a TOC at Collins Lake two years ago and has been fishing at Collins since 2015 . Andre won $ 600 and a custom trophy plaque for his catch . “ I am also very proud to represent the kayak angling community . Anglers fishing out of @ hobiefishing kayaks took 1st , 3rd , & 4th place in the Tournament of Champions this year ,” he added . Becky Wood placed second in the adult division with an 8.13 lb . trout . She was fishing with her friend , Mike Strauss , while trolling a Thomas Buoyant spoon around 5 to 10 feet deep . The third through tenth place winners were ( 3 ) Ed Elefante , 7.67 pounds ; ( 4 ) Matt Nielsen , 6.58 pounds ; ( 5 ) Jonathan Swisher , 6.47 pounds ; ( 6 ) Paul Taylor , 2.72 pounds ; ( 7 ) Joey Hill , 2.7 pounds ; ( 8 ) Ken Murakami , 2.33 pounds ; ( 9 ) Dan Grass , 2.3 pounds ; and ( 10 ) Daryl Carter , 2.13 pounds . Dan Grass won $ 1000 , the grand prize , in a drawing of the top 10 winners . Seven of the youth division participants weighed in rainbow trout . Two-year-old Oliver Wood won first place in the youth division with a 2.48 lb . rainbow , while David Grass placed second with a 2.08 lb . fish .

The third through seventh

Jason Andre won first place in the adult division of the NTAC TOC by bagging an 8.69 lb . rainbow trout from his kayak .

Photo by Dan Bacher

place winners were : ( 3 ) Lilyanne Hansen , 1.92 pounds ; ( 4 ) Joey Hill Jr ., 1.89 pounds ; ( 5 ) Aleta Peters , 1.77 pounds ; ( 6 ) Caleb Perkins , 1.67 pounds ; and ( 7 ) Conner Perkins , 1.33 pounds . In a drawing of the seven youth winners , Caleb Perkins won the grand prize , a custom kayak , courtesy of Fisherman ’ s Warehouse , and a plaque . “ We were happy to close out this 11th season of the NorCal Trout Angler › s Challenge ,” noted Vince Harris . co-creator of the popular series and President / CEO of Angler ’ s Press Outdoor Promotions . “ We look forward to a fantastic 2024 opener at San Pablo Reservoir in El Sobrante on Feb 3 . We got new enhancements to this series for 2024 now that ’ s COVID ’ s over .”

Collins Lake hosts the largest private trout planting program north of Sacramento . 30,000 pounds of trout were planted in the fall and winter of 2023 , while over 25,000 pounds of trout are scheduled to be planted in early 2023 . Thousands of these trout are trophy- sized , planted at 3 to 8 pounds and growing even larger . The resort , in cooperation with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife ( CDFW ), Kokanee Power and the California Inland Fisheries Foundation , Inc . ( CIFFI ), has also sponsored a successful pen-rearing program to enhance the trophy trout fishery at the reservoir . The CDFW puts the trout in the 12 floating pens at a size of 2 / 3 lbs . each November . When they are released in increments between mid-March and the end of April , they range from