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Lake Amador Map Feature

MADE IN U . S . A

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Our 40th Year

Since 1982

t takes more than a brisk wind and rough water to stop dedicated anglers from enjoying a top-notch spring striper bite . “ Make sure that you bring rain gear and warm clothing , “ said James Netzel of Tight Lines Guide Service , the evening before our striper trip on the Delta . “ The weatherman forecasts wind tomorrow , so it ’ s going to be wet .” The meteorological forecasts proved to be correct , with 25-30 mph winds blowing against a strong outgoing tide , making for a wet and rough morning on the San Joaquin River in the Prisoner ’ s Point area on Thursday , April 28 . Captain Netzel met Chad Donley , the Pastor of Ham Lane Church of Christ in Lodi , and I at Korth ’ s Pirate ’ s Lair Marina before we got in his boat . With Netzel was Steven Burke , a former pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners , and Netzel ’ s deckhand , Roy Rodarte of Elk Grove . After the five us left the dock , we bounced through the waves and wind to the spot where Netzel aimed to fish .

Spring Trout & Salmon Derby took place on the first weekend of May at Lakehead on the upper Sacramento arm of Shasta Lake . The lake is very low compared to most springs , with the water level 125 feet below full pool . This year the derby includes brown and rainbow trout ( only one brown weighed in per day per team ), kokanee salmon and king salmon . We stayed at the lovely Tsasdi Resort at Lakehead and we had four teams in our large cabin ,

Pastor Chad Donley started the morning right with this striped bass that he landed on the San Joaquin River while trolling with Captain James Netzel .

Photo by Dan Bacher

including myself and John Brassfield , Dave Barsi and his new son in law Mark Talkington , Al Fiske and Bruce Wicks , and Mark Kalinowski and Gary Caruso . John and I were the only ones who moored at the Tsasdi docks , because no one else wanted to climb the 125 vertical feet up to the parking lot every afternoon ! Thursday evening , we gathered at our nice cabin at Tsasdi and had a wonderful dinner of barbequed steaks , both beef and venison , combined with potatoes , rice , green salad and red wine . What a great way to start a long weekend of fishing . The official derby is always on Saturday and Sunday , so we all pre fish on Friday to try to get a “ lay of the Land ”

We soon began trolling with deep-diving Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnows in chartreuse with black dots , tipped with chartreuse plastic worm tails , and “ Clown ” colored lures , tipped with pink and chartreuse wormtails . To let out the proper amount of line , we used Lamiglas Mark Wilson rods teamed up with Daiwa Lexa Line Counter reels , outfitted with 25-pound test Fins braid . We hooked up fish just minutes from putting our rods in the water . Donley hooked the first keeper of the day , I caught the second keeper and

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Kevin Smith of Kokanee Power shows off a 4 ½ pound brown caught on a Speedy Shiner that helped him to reach 3rd place in the Shasta Lake Trout & Salmon Derby .

Photo Courtesy of Karla Smith so to speak . Friday morning was clear and beautiful , with a slight north wind and a cool temperature of 45 degrees at 5:30 am . John and I always explore on Friday , going to places we don ’ t normally fish , saving our “ good spots ” for the real derby days . We headed out in the Fish Sniffer Rogue Jet 21 Coastal and started fishing in the Gooseneck area . We decided to just troll out towards the main body .

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FRESHWATER REPORTS Lake Amador - Berryessa Lake .............................. 6 Bullards Bar / Englebright Lakes - Collins Lake ....... 7 Davis Lake - Folsom Lake ...................................... 8 Knights Landing / Colusa - Los Vaqueros Reservoir ... 9

New Melones Lake .............................................. 12 Lake Oroville - Shasta Lake ................................. 13 Truckee River - Pyramid Lake ............................ 14

SALTWATER REPORTS Fisherman ’ s Wharf / Berkeley Marina ....................... 18 Bodega Bay - Monterey Bay ................................... 20 Monterey Bay ........................................................... 21

Where ... When ... How ...

GO FOR IT : Staff ........................................................ 4 MAP FEATURE : Dan Bacher ................................ 10-11 SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION : Dan Bacher ....... 16

Ernie Marlan - fished the San Joaquin River for striped bass . He found the bite to be very challenging and caught several small stripers with only a couple of keepers in the mix . He tried a variety of lures but the most productive was a clown colored Rat-L-Trap . The The rod of choice was a Quantum Inshore S3 PT teamed up with Smoke HD spooled with 40lb FINS Braid and a 16 lb GAMMA fluorocarbon leader .

Paul Kneeland - fished the Shasta Lake Spring Trout Derby with John Brassfield of Trucksmart stores in the Fish Sniffer 21 ’ Rogue Jet Coastal . They caught rainbow trout to 19 inches using an Okuma 9 ’ 6 ” SST triggerstick with a Okuma Convector Line counter reel loaded with 8 lb test Soft Steel line . They trolled Speedy Shiner and Al ’ s Goldfish spoons in black / white / red and gold / red off Canon Downriggers and Big Jon Side Planers at 2.5 mph

Dan Bacher - trolled with Captain James Netzel of Tight Lines Guide Service on the San Joaquin River in the Delta . Dan used deep-diving Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnows in chartreuse with black dots , tipped with chartreuse plastic worm tails , and “ Clown ” colored lures , tipped with pink and chartreuse wormtails . To let out the proper amount of line , we fished with Lamiglas Mark Wilson rods teamed up with Daiwa Lexa Line Counter reels , outfitted with 25-pound test Fins braid . The five anglers aboard the boat , including Netzel , caught limits of stripers and released one 33 pound fish .