Up-To-Date and Published Locally... By Sportsmen... For Sportsmen!
MADE IN U.S.A
Vol. 39 - ISS.15
Lower Bear River Reservoir
Map Feature
See Page 14
July 15-20, 2020
38 Years
Serving
Sportsmen
Special Section
KAYAK Fishing:
pgs 20
Our
38th
Area Reports
Year
“The Magazine for West Coast Sportsmen!” INSIDE
Everyone is Catching Fish Except Me!
A
fter a huge dip in kokanee
numbers due to drought condi-
tions, Lake Berryessa has rebounded
nicely into the trophy cold-water fishery
we’ve come to expect. The king salmon
are about a year away from
reaching their optimal size,
but both the rainbow trout
and kokanee salmon are some
of the best quality fish in the
Golden State. It’s not an ‘easy
limits’ type of trip, but if you
hang in there the quality of
fish will have you coming
back for more.
On June 14th, I had the
opportunity to take my family
Yeah, I’m in a slump. My fishing
career has been one of constant peaks
and valleys. During the peaks, I can do
nothing wrong. I hook big numbers of fish
including big fish and I land almost all
Salmon fishing has been fantastic outside
the Golden Gate for anglers pulling rigged
bait and Apex Lures.
Photo courtesy of NEW EASY RIDER
SPORTFISHING, Berkeley.
of them. Conversely when I’m deep in a
valley, I often can’t hook fish and when I
do there is a very good chance
I’ll lose them.
My current slump has lasted
for most of June and hopefully
I’ll have broken out of it by the
time you read these words.
Yesterday I went back up to
Jackson Meadows. I hooked a
big fish in the first 10 minutes,
lost it at the kayak and went
strikeless for the next 6 hours!
Three weeks ago, I was up
at Jackson and landed several
nice rainbows and cutthroats
during a very good bite. It was
about that time that the slump
first started kicking in. Sure, I
landed fish that day, but I lost
as many as I brought to the net
including two big fish.
In addition to being flat out skunked
a few times, what is really striking is
the amount of fish I’ve been losing. I
keep a fishing journal and I just did the
math. I’ve lost over 55% of the trout I’ve
hooked during the month of June. That’s
pretty rough.
The bright spot is that when I break out
of the slump I’m in for some great outings
with lots of hookups and lots of landed
Trophy Cold-Water Fishery
Rebounds at Lake Berryessa
to Lake Berryessa for a
fishing/water sports combo
trip. The game plan was to fish
until noon, swim, and then pull
the kids on the inner tube in
the afternoon heat.
3:30 AM, and I was lugging
WHAT’S
HOT
by
Jack Naves
the kids out to the truck to get an early
start on the road. After ninety minutes of
winding hilly roads, we found ourselves
on the Napa side of the lake at Capell
Cove. My wife Gina motored the boat
off the trailer with ease, and
we were well on our way in
no time.
A light chop made for a
comfortable ride out to the
‘Big Island’ area of the fifteenmile
elongated lake. I tied the
kids’ inner tube off of the port
side bow and quickly deployed
the electric trolling motor.
We plotted a course
northward, and after about
fifteen minutes we had two
decent sized kokanee on ice.
After losing other one, quiet
took hold until we spun around
from the eastern flats back
towards the Big Island.
Through the yellow haze of
Fish Sniffer TIP OF THE WEEK
GONE
FISHING
by
Cal Kellogg
fish. Until then, I’ll have to try to purge
the image of yesterday’s big cutthroat
suspended in midair having
shaken my Trigger Spoon a
nano-second before from my
mind.
Where Should
You Go Fishing?
Well for the time being,
you should avoid fishing
anywhere near me because
my spate of bad luck will
likely shut the bite down
wherever I’m fishing…LOL!
The best bite in the north
state is taking place beyond
the Golden Gate in the form
of ocean salmon fishing. The
action has been amazingly
consistent this season with anglers landing
limits and near limits of salmon daily.
The kings are running large, averaging
8 to 11 pounds and ranging up to 30
plus. The top performing offerings have
been rigged anchovies fished with a red
or green inline flasher or a watermelon
Apex. There hasn’t been good Apex
action outside the Gate for a few years,
CONTINUED ON PG 23
Grace Naves battle this dandy kokanee
while fishing Lake Berryessa with her dad
Jack this June.
Photo by JACK NAVES, Fish Sniffer Staff.
the rising sin, the starboard downrigger
rod suddenly shook to life. “Grace…
Wash Your Hands! Don’t Touch Your Face!
See Page 2 for an update about the Fish Sniffer and Coronavirus
CONTINUED ON PG 16
FRESHWATER REPORTS
Amador Lake - Berryessa Lake..............................4
Bullards Bar/Englebright Reservoir
- Davis Lake...............................................11
Eagle Lake - Eastern Sierra................................. 17
Feather River - New Melones Reservoir........ 18-19
Oroville - Rancho Seco Reservoir....................... 21
Tahoe/Donner Lakes- West Delta................... 22-23
SALTWATER REPORTS
Berkeley - Bodega Bay............................................ 24
Fisherman’s Warf - Monterey Bay.........................25
Monterey Bay......................................................27
FEATURES
Where...When...How...
SALMON JOURNAL.................................... 6-10
BAJA ROUNDUP........................................................27
BULLETIN BOARD.....................................................3
CATCH & RELEASE - FLY FISHING: Jason Thatcher...12
FISH SNIFFER COUNTRY: Dave Hurley..................13
GO FOR IT: Staff.........................................................2
HOW-TO: Cal Kellogg................................................5
KAYAK FISHING SPOTLIGHT: Kevin Hofer .............20
MAP FEATURE: Dan Bacher...............................14-15
SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION: Dan Bacher......26
STAFF
TACKLE
What We’re Using
Cal Kellogg - trolled French
Meadows Reservoir from his
Hobie Pro Angler 14 Mirage
Drive powered kayak. Cal
used two of his signature
series yellow leadcore rods. The rods were
matched with Abu Garcia 5500 Line Counter
reels spooled with Hybrid Leadcore Rigs
utilizing Yo-Zuri Top Knot fluorocarbon and
braided line. Using these rigs Cal hooked
a limit of rainbow trout to 18 inches while
pulling Speed Spoons. For added attraction
Cal coated his lures with Bloody Tuna scent
Pro-Cure Super Gel.
Paul Kneeland - fished
Eagle Lake with Gary Caruso
of Auburn and Brian Garcia
of Colfax in the Fish Sniffer
Rogue Jet Coastal 21. They
caught rainbow trout to
22 inches using an 8’ light action Okuma
Kokanee Black rod with a Daiwa Lexa 100
line counter reel loaded with 8 lb test P Line
CXX line. They trolled yellow/orange Speedy
Shiners and orange/gold 2” MagLips both on
the surface and 12 feet deep off the Canon
downriggers at 2.3 mph.
Dan Bacher - fished for
rainbow trout at Spicer
Reservoir. He used a Berkley
Ugly Stick GX2 6’ 6” medium
action spinning rod, teamed
up with a Shakespeare
GX235 spinning reel filled with 6 lb. test
P-Line CX Premium Fluorocarbon Coated
Line. He fished with rainbow Berkley
PowerBait, nightcrawlers and 2/5 oz. gold/
red stripe Little Cleos.