Up-To-Date and Published Locally... By Sportsmen... For Sportsmen!
Vol. 39 - ISS.16
Port of Sacramento Map Feature
MADE IN U.S.A
See Page 12
Since 1982
July 24, 2020
38 Years
Serving
Sportsmen
Special Section
KAYAK Fishing:
pgs 18
Our
38th
Year
“The Magazine for West Coast Sportsmen!”
An Amazing Two Days Aboard the Aloha Spirit
T
The seabass has been a target
species for me for a long time. I did
some research and found
June and July are productive
months for white seabass,
also known as the elusive
ghost fish, to appear near
the Channel Islands. Upon
further discovery I found
Captain Shawn Stewart
of the Aloha Spirit has a
phenomenal reputation for
locating and landing seabass
around the Channel Islands.
When it was time to book the trip it was
decided to book two days back to back,
as fishing can be hot one day and not
the next. I discovered this last year on a
seabass trip. The trip I was on landed two
seabass and the trip the very next day the
anglers aboard the boat landed over 30.
Once fishing was opened back up for
Oxnard, California I booked trips on back
to back days determined not to let what
happened last year happen this year.
About a year ago, I picked up a Go
Fish Camera. It’s an underwater
camera that you can attach to your fishing
line.
When the Go Fish first arrived, I opened
the box, ignored the instructions and
started playing with the camera. It seemed
really simple with two buttons, a USB
The day finally arrived and
we headed out to the fishing
grounds,
GONE
FISHING
by
Amy
Wellenkamp
following
the new
social
distancing
guidelines.
I learned
that the
seabass and
yellowtail
had been
around, but elusive. The
captain decided to target
calico bass at the beginning
of the day with hopes that
we would find signs of the
target species.
After hitting several spots
and fishing as hard as we
could we ended up with
limits of calico bass, but no
seabass or yellowtail to speak
of. The baits of choice were
CONTINUED ON PG 9
Ernie Marlan was social distancing when he landed this
nice Calico Bass while fishing live sardines aboard the
Aloha Spirit.
Photo Courtesy of Amy Wellenkamp.
Don’t Bother Reading The Instructions…
charging port and a slot for an SD card.
Once I was sure I had the camera figured
out, I set it aside and didn’t think about it
again until last week.
I’ve been on a pretty good trout bite in
the Sierras and the thought came to me
that it would be interesting to shoot some
underwater footage of trout grabbing my
lures
while
trolling.
I immediately
planned
a trip to
French
Meadows
Reservoir
and
rigged
the Go
Fish Cam
on one
of my
hybrid
leadcore
Fast action was the word when Cal Kellogg hit French Meadows Reservoir in
early July. He landed the hefty rainbow shown here within 10 minutes of putting
his gear into the water.
Photo by CAL KELLOGG, Fish Sniffer Staff.
rigs.
The
next
morning Lucy and I launched the kayak
right at dawn. The camera will run for
90 minutes on
a charge, so I
had no time to
waste. I rigged
up the rod with
a Turbo Flasher
and worm
because it’s a
high percentage
offering that
often produces
WHAT’S
HOT
by
Cal Kellogg
fast action. I
then removed
the camera’s
water proof
cap, turned it
on pressed the
record button
and when a blue
light flashed I figured the camera was
recording.
I eased the rig into the water and
started trolling 20 feet deep over a
secondary flat adjacent to the river
channel.
Within 10 minutes I was hooked up
with what felt like a really good fish.
Fish Sniffer TIP OF THE WEEK
SOCIALLY DISTANCE - BE SAFE!!!
See Page 3 for an update about the Fish Sniffer and Coronavirus
CONTINUED ON PG 14
INSIDE
Area Reports
FRESHWATER REPORTS
Almanor Lake -
Bullards Bar/Englebright Reservoir....................6
Lake Camanche - Eagle Lake............................ 8-9
East Bay Lakes - Folsom Lake....................... 10-11
Klamath/Trinity Reservoir-
Redding/Red Bluff....................................... 14-15
Rio Vista - Rollins/Scotts Flat ......................... 16-17
Sacramento Area - Stampede Reservoire .......... 19
Tahoe - West Delta.............................................. 20
SALTWATER REPORTS
Baja Roundup........................................................... 25
Berkeley - Half Moon Bay...................................24-25
Monterey Bay......................................................26
FEATURES
Where...When...How...
BAJA ROUNDUP........................................................25
FISH SNIFFER COVID UPDATE................................3
CATCH & RELEASE - FLY FISHING: Cal Kellogg..........16
FISH SNIFFER COUNTRY: ‘Hippo’ Lau....................21
GO FOR IT: Staff.........................................................4
HOW-TO: Cal Kellogg................................................5
KAYAK FISHING SPOTLIGHT: Cal Kellogg .............18
MAP FEATURE: Dan Bacher...............................12-13
SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION: Dan Bacher......22
STAFF
TACKLE
What We’re Using
Paul Kneeland - fished
Lake Berryessa with Gary
Caruso of Auburn in The Fish
Sniffer Rogue Jet Coastal 21.
They caught kokanee to 16
inches using an 8’ ultralight Phenix Reaper
composite kokanee rod with a Team Daiwa Z
ultra light levelwind reel loaded with 6 pound
Yozuri TopKnot fluorocarbon line. They trolled
pink/orange Silver Horde micro hoochies
and Uncle Larry’s spinners tipped with corn
soaked in Pro Cure Kokanee Special behind
Vance’s dodgers in watermelon at 40 to 50
feet deep off the Cannon Downriggers at 1.4
mph.
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.
Dan Bacher - fished for
largemouth bass in the Port of
West Sacramento. He used
a Berkley Ugly Stick GX2 6’
6” medium action spinning
rod, teamed up with a
Shakespeare GX235 spinning reel filled with
8 lb. test P-Line CX Premium Fluorocarbon
Coated Line. He fished with wacky-rgged
Yamamoto Senkos in green pumpkin on
Gamakatsu Finesse Wide Gap Hooks in #1
and 1/0.