Snap, crackle, and POP! If you didn’t make it to the Reservoir for the 4th of July holidays, boo-hoo for you! The weather was gorgeous, fishing was awesome, the Marina and Campground was packed, and the fireworks were SPECTACULAR! Even if you weren’t the fishing sort, the festivities in town offered tons of stuff to do –pancake breakfast served up by our local high school, kids activities galore, an arts and crafts festival, karaoke, live music, by area musicians, food and libations, a competitive rodeo, adult contests, and of course, the PARADE (so fun)! So if you didn’t make it up this year, start pressing your phone keys in January 2020 to get in your reservations (cause we be sold out early, dude)!

So now back to our regularly scheduled fishing report … after years of praying to the fishing gods and bribing every guide in town (just kidding, Ken), Bridgeport Fish Enhancement Foundation (BFEF) President and Bridgeport local Ray Robles FINALLY caught a tagged fish. And he did it with style – his shiny tagged Rainbow was a whopping 6.1 lbs! Shazaaam! He snagged it trolling a Thomas Buoyant and thanks his buddy Ken Hoffman for hooking him up!

Mikey Paige of Perris, CA and Matt Whisnand of Norco rounded up some crawlers and hit the lake with big guys in mind and were rewarded for their efforts with three super nice Rainbows weighing 4.0, 3.6, and 3.5 lbs. Another Mike from Santa Barbara, CA. tried to follow suit, but even though he did not gather any heavy hitters he still scored a limit of sturdy ‘Bows ranging from 1.5 to 2.5 lbs. (See? Now we are acting like two and a half pounders are small, lol. We are soooo spoiled! Sue Alvarez of Redwood City, CA. isn’t; she picked up a 3.1 lb. Rainbow while soaking a worm on the Reservoir while fishing with Ken Hoffman’s guide service,

All the way from Savanah, GA, Chris, Joe, and Benjamin Hart teamed up with Garnerville, NV pals Christy and Terry Kegg and Rick Scarlott of Pleasanton, CA to scoop up 12 nice trout, including four hovering right around the 2-lb. mark. And they did it all with good old PowerBait! Jerry Lytle of Groveland jumpstarted his holiday weekend by catching not one but TWO 3.5 lb. Rainbows while dunking nightcrawlers, one of which sported a BFEF tag. Coming up right behind him were Erica Whisnand with a tagged 3.4 lb. Rainbow and Mikey Paige (again!) with his own tagged 2.1 pounder. Rounding up the big fish haul, Keith Rondeau delivered a 3.7 lb Rainbow to the boat using your basic worm technique. Kat and Kyoko Kusaba showed their fishing prowess when they hit the dock carrying two limits of Rainbows, including three that tipped the scales at 4.1, 2.6, and 2.3 lbs. Garret Caufield of San Diego mustered up a nightcrawler to lure a nice tagged 3 lb. Rainbow onto his hook and he was smiling! And though his grin was big, the “that’s wayyy too cute” smiles were reserved for an almost 4 year old named Hudson, who, encouraged by his Grandmother Kim, went out with Ray Robles and Ken Hoffman to catch his first two fish EVER (which just happened to weigh 3 pounds 10 ounces and 3 and a half pounds, respectively. You can cry now).

Any way you cut it, the 4th of July holiday was a rousing success (uh, unless you were a fish). Get up here – bring your fishing poles, your reading books, your ATVs, your kayaks, your adventurous spirit! We have it all around here!