Up-To-Date and Published Locally ... By Sportsmen ... For Sportsmen !
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MADE IN U . S . A
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39 Years Serving Sportsmen
Vol . 40 - ISS . 11
Our 39th Year
Since 1982
“ The Magazine for West Coast Sportsmen !” INSIDE
Area Reports
Big Trout at Pyramid Lake
Pyramid Lake , Nevada , is one of the best big trout fisheries in the world . Nowhere else I know of , can a decent trout fisherman with a boat expect to catch dozens of fish a day and also EXPECT to land a 10 pounder ! A group of us fished Pyramid Lake a week ago , and experienced the magic of the spectacular lake ! Pyramid is located 35 miles north of Reno in the Nevada desert . It is a remainder of the gigantic Lake Lahontan , the colossal inland sea that covered most of Nevada thousands of years ago . It is now the home of the Lahontan cutthroat trout , and some of the largest trout to be caught in our modern era . In the last few years , cutthroat trout over 10 pounds have become common , and huge , salmon size trout over 20 pounds are recorded each year . It is the only place I know of that you can catch 15 to 30 or more trout per day , and be a little disappointed that your biggest was “ only ” 9 ½ pounds ! Brian Garcia of Alta and I arrived at the lake Friday morning and were joined by Mark Kalinowski of Concord with his Rogue Jet . We launched and headed to the east side of the lake to the area called Hell ’ s Kitchen . The wind was from the north at about 10 mph , so the long ride across the lake was a little bumpy but no problem for the Fish Sniffer 21 ’ Rogue Jet Coastal . We started trolling at the south end of the Hells Kitchen area , and trolled directly north . The bite was a little slow early in the day , primarily because of the full moon . Our
If you ’ re an avid angler and a parent of young children like me , you might relate to the challenge of trying to find time to go fishing . Since the pandemic started , fishing trips are few and far between . The trips , when they do happen , are short and smushed in between my wife ’ s work schedule and my daughter ’ s
Rolando and Carmen Aspiras relax while fishing for catfish at Lake Pardee on June 5th .
WHAT ’ S HOT by Paul Kneeland
best bite was between 1 and 3 pm , when the fish decided to eat . Brian had the hot lure at the beginning of the day – a 5 inch , lime green GVF Dragon plug that caught the first five fish in the boat . His second fish of the day was a fat , strong , 28 inch , 9 ½ pound cutthroat ! I caught a few with the time proven Lyman plugs in blue ladderback and “ Dill Pickle ” colors . I always enjoy trolling spoons , but the fish just weren ’ t interested in spoons the whole weekend . By early afternoon , we were a little north of the “ kitchen ” and started seeing more active fish on the graph . In the morning , most fish were caught from 20 to 39 feet on the downriggers , but later in the day , the Mag Lip 4.0 by
classes . And that ’ s all on top of trying to work from home . Needless to say , little to no fishing time and working while taking care of kids has taken a major toll on my mental health . While I consider myself strong minded , I was ready to throw in the white flag and seek help . For many anglers and myself included , fishing is a ritual of sorts . A time to decompress , a time to
John Brassfield of Trucksmart Stores with an “ average ” 7 pound Lahontan Cutthroat from Pyramid Lake .
( Photo by Hellen Rowell )
Yakima Bait in bright lime green with red spots started to hit them while toplining . The 4.0 at 2.8 mph hour dives at least 15 feet deep , so the trout were exactly on the surface . We had a hard time keeping the fish on the line on Friday . It is a rule at Pyramid that you must use barbless hooks , but with a big Mag Lip or Lyman plug with 2 big treble hooks , you would think
Staying Sane in Stressful Times
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GONE FISHING by Roland Aspiras
forget about responsibilities , a time to re-energize . It was clear I needed to take a break from taking conference calls while changing diapers and telling my two other kids to stop fighting . It took forever to find a window in my wife and I ’ s schedule to plan a get-away , but we were able to make it happen . We carved out Wednesday through Friday last week to spend time on the coast in a beach front cottage . My plan was to fish on the beach as much as I could , and its what I did . It was cold , windy and the swells were less than perfect . But I took to the swells anyways . Armed with light steelhead tackle , there was no shortage
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June 11 , 2021
FRESHWATER REPORTS Almanor - American River .................................... 12 Lake Berryessa - Eagle Lake .......................... 14-15
Feather River - Los Vaqueros Reservoir ............. 19 New Melones Lake - Lake Parde ........................ 21 Rio Vista Area - Shasta Lake ............................... 22
SALTWATER REPORTS Bodega Bay - Monterey Bay .............................. 24-25
FEATURES
Where ... When ... How ...
GO FOR IT : Staff ........................................................ 4 HOW-TO : Jack Naves ................................................. 5 MAP FEATURE : Dan Bacher ................................ 16-17 SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION : Dan Bacher ....... 23
STAFF TACKLE
What We ’ re Using
Ernie Marlan - Fished with Gray Light Charters out of Oxnard , California . He landed his first white sea bass that was in the 30 pound class . The rod of choice was a C4 Custom with a line rating of 15-30 teamed up with a Okuma Tesoro 10S spooled with 50lb FINS Braid and a 25lb GAMMA fluorocarbon leader .
Paul Kneeland - Fished Pyramid Lake with Gary Caruso and Brian Garcia in the Fish Sniffer Rogue Jet 21 Coastal . They caught Lahontan cutthroat trout to 9 1 / 2 pounds , using an Okuma 8 ’ 6 ” SST steelhead Rod with an Okuma Cold Water SS line counter reel loaded with 10 lb test Soft Steel line . They trolled 4 inch Silver Horde and Lyman plugs and Yakima Bait MagLips in red / Chartruese and blue / white colors , toplining and off Canon Downriggers at 20 to 40 feet deep and 2.7 mph .
Dan Bacher - fished for largemouth bass at Rucker Lake . 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-rigged 5 inch Yamamoto Senkos in watermel ; on and green pumpkin / black flake on Gamakatsu Finesse Wide Gap Hooks in # 1 and 1 / 0 .