L SOBRANTE − The NorCal Trout Anglers Challenge ( NTAC ) kicked off its tenth season at San Pablo Reservoir with a big turnout of anglers and top-notch fishing for shore and boat anglers on Feb . 3 . A total of 172 anglers participated in the event at the East Bay Municipal Utility District ( EBMUD ) reservoir , located in the verdant green and treestudded East Bay hills between El Sobrante and Orinda . The day prior , the EBMUD reservoir opened to fishing and other recreation for the year . “ We are inspired that so many anglers have chosen to celebrate our tenth anniversary with us at the NTAC today ,” said Vince Harris , co-creator of the popular series and President / CEO of Angler ’ s Press Outdoor Promotions . The grandfather-grandson team of Dan De Leon and Alexander Vasquez show off the rainbow and lightning trout they landed at San Pablo Reservoir on Feb . 3 . De Leon placed third in the NorCal Trout Anglers Challenge , while Vasquez won first place in the youth division . John Nickels of Concord won first place in the adult division of the event by catching a 7.18 Mt . Lassen lightning trout .

Pasha Faroudi landed a 16-inch crappie weighing exactly 2 pounds and a smaller crappie , in addition to hooking seven trout .

Photo by Dan Bacher

Nickels and his son , John Jr ., reported catching a total of four trout while trolling Speedy Shiners in the top 10 to 12 feet of water . The second through tenth place winners in the adult division were : ( 2 ) Jerry Owen , 3.98 ; ( 3 ) Daniel De Leon , 3.83 ; ( 4 ) Markie Phan , 3.39 ; ( 5 ) Gary

Palma , 3.35 ; ( 6 ) Leo Vasquez , 3.25 ; ( 7 ) Mitch Anderson ,

3.22 ; ( 8 )

Manolo Vanta , 3.22 ; ( 9 ) Justin Vidal , 3.22 ; and ( 10 ) Pat Der , 3.21 . Alex Vasquez won first place in the junior division with a 2.52 lb . trout . Vasquez caught his winning fish while fishing with firetiger PowerBait off the second dock on the lake . Reed Wong placed second in the junior division with his 1.58 lb . rainbow . David Sauceda , age 4 , captured first place in the kids division with a 2.45 lb . trout . The second through ninth place kids division winners were : ( 2 ) Glo Jacobsen , 2.44 ; ( 3 ) Oliver Woods , 2.22 ; ( 4 ) Mason Cetnich , 1.7 ; ( 5 ) Aiden Flores , 1.66 ; ( 6 ) Angelo Rivera , 1.64 ; ( 7 ) Evan Swisher , 1.54 ; ( 8 ) Owen Swisher , 1.33 ; and ( 9 ) Julius Lawson , 0.85 . Anglers caught more than trout during the event . Pasha Faroudi landed a 16-inch crappie weighing exactly 2 pounds and a smaller crappie , in addition to hooking seven trout . He kept the largest crappie and four trout . He was tossing out a Flicker Shad near the boat ramp . The lake was planted with 3,000 lbs . of Mt . Lassen Rainbows and 1,000 lbs . of Mt Lassen Lightning trout at the boat launch on Jan . 26 , so the fish were well adjusted and biting during the tournament . There were also lots of beautiful holdover rainbows from last season , ranging from 14 to 18 inches , caught by anglers during the event . I estimate that over half of the fish weighed in were holdovers . 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 also available , 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 channel catfish , spotted bass , largemouth bass and sunfish . Most of the catfish caught 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 40 lb . 4 oz . catfish caught on June 18 , 2016 . He caught the fish on 6 lb . test line and released it back into the lake . In recent years , the hard-fighting 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 caught the lake record 18 lb . 11.2 oz ., largemouth on March 22 , 2001 , while fishing a nightcrawler and Power Bait in Scow Canyon . Crappie , redear sunfish , and bluegill offer good fishing in the spring and