Chris Mayes is a passionate kayak angler and an expert when it comes to tempting landlocked kings . This fish was caught at Lake Almanor .

Photo courtesy of CHRIS MAYES , Kayak City Fishing

Team .

I could see the fish . Or at least it appeared to be a fish on the depth finder screen . A solid blue mark appeared 40 feet beneath my kayak .

I quickly reeled my P-Line Laser Minnow jigging spoon up from its 60 foot depth with ten cranks of the handle , knowing that each turn of the reel handle equated to roughly two feet of retrieved line . I watched the solid blue mark slide a few feet down on the depth finder screen .

The rod loaded up with weight , and I instinctively swung hard to set the hook . After a great battle of line-peeling runs , I admired a chrome 22 + inch landlocked Chinook salmon in my net . Talk about a great way to start my morning on Lake Almanor !

When most anglers think of landlocked salmon in California , kokanee are usually the first species that comes to mind . While I love to chase kokanee as a food fish , they often have a tough time exceeding the 15-inch mark and any kokanee approaching 20 inches is considered a trophy fish . Meanwhile , landlocked Chinook easily break the 20-inch mark and when given the right conditions , can grow to sizes that rival even their ocean-grown counterparts . Anglers may remember when a landlocked Chinook taken from Trinity Lake in 2013 tipped the scale a bit over 20 pounds . Combine their potential size with their excellent fighting ability , and you have an awesome game fish on your hands .

The most common way anglers chase landlocked Chinook is similar to how we target them in the ocean : trolling in open water with downriggers and presenting the fish with bait or artificial lures such as spoons and hoochies . While effective , this method of fishing can be cumbersome for a kayak angler . Larger power boats have the option to present several lines at varying depths when trolling , whereas the solo kayak angler is limited to one or two lines at a time . Luckily , there are a couple other ways to effectively catch these fish that have nothing to do with trolling .

My personal favorite way to target landlocked Chinook is with a jig , particularly a metal jig . My go-to Chinook jigging spoon is a ¾ ounce P-Line Laser Minnow in the “ glow ” color . These jigs have a fantastic action and can achieve depth quickly . Chinook have a habit of moving up and down the water column in search of food , and a jig with a fast sink rate can be a huge help in getting your offering in front of the fish . Another favorite jig is a three-inch Berkley Gulp ! minnow rigged on a ¼ to ½ ounce darter head . This jig excels when the fish are shallower ( 20 to 30 feet deep ), or when they may not be as excited to strike a fast-moving metal jig . Fish the Gulp ! minnow with slow twitches of a few inches , or even dead-stick it and let the motion of your kayak do the jigging for you .

Another proven method to catch landlocked Chinook is by mooching with bait . This technique is very similar to mooching for salmon in the ocean , except everything is downsized . Anchovy tails cut at an angle ( similar to how one would plug-cut a herring ) can be very effective for Chinook , and a standard night crawler can also work well at times . I like to mooch when there ’ s a slight breeze to push my kayak and cause the anchovy tail to spin as it trails behind me . Others prefer a stationary approach , simply letting their bait hang a few feet off the bottom until a fish takes it .

Just like their ocean counterparts , landlocked Chinook are most often found around schools of baitfish , typically either threadfin shad or pond smelt . Therefore , locating those schools is the first step towards success . Your depth finder will be a huge asset in helping you locate bait and fish . Most lakes with landlocked Chinook will have proven ‘ hot spots ’ that tend to reliably produce Chinook every year , but just like the ocean variety , Chinook can be anywhere . It ’ s always wise to have a rod at the ready in case you stumble across a school of bait in open water . Spring to early summer tends to be the peak time for landlocked Chinook fishing , but good catches can be had in fall as well , particularly near river mouths as the fish prepare for spawning runs .

For the most part , landlocked Chinook in California are supported almost entirely by stocking efforts . California Department of Fish and Wildlife typically takes surplus Chinook salmon yearlings from hatcheries and will stock them in lakes such as Folsom , Berryessa , Almanor , Oroville , Trinity , and Shasta , among others . However , not all of these lakes may be stocked with Chinook every year , which can lead to relatively poor Chinook fishing a year or two down the road from that “ missed ” stock year . Most of your adult landlocked Chinook will be three to four years old and in the two to five-pound range , but as mentioned before , some fish can exceed ten pounds .

If you ’ re looking for something different from the standard trout-bass-panfish fare this spring , check to see if your favorite lake is stocked with Chinook salmon and give that fishery a shot . As little as a couple of jigging spoons is all the kayak angler needs in their arsenal to tangle with these chrome kings of the lakes !

This beautiful king jumped all over a jigging spoon . Landlocked kings can be caught using a variety of methods including trolling , jigging and mooching natural baits . Photo courtesy of CHRIS MAYES , Kayak City Fishing Team .