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Lake Don Pedro Map Feature

MADE IN U . S . A

See Page 10

Our 40th Year

e had a wonderful trip to

Eagle Lake above Susanville the weekend of June 11 and 12 for our annual “ Eagle Lake Flotilla ” and birthday celebration for myself and John Brassfield . Al and Deanna Fiske opened their big cabin at the marina in Spalding to John Brassfield and Hellen Rowell of Auburn , Dave Barsi of Oak Run and Brian Garcia of Colfax . Bridget Looney and I were in our small cabin with the Fish Sniffer Rogue Jet 21 Coastal . John , Helen , Bridget and I launched at the south shore ramp Friday morning about 5:30 . It was a gorgeous morning with a nice trolling breeze from the south that settled down for a very nice day . The air temperature was 48 degrees when we launched and got up to about 82 degrees in the afternoon . We set up the Big Jon side planers and started fishing at Shrimp Island on the west side of the lake and trolled south . The water temperature was 60 degrees , so we concentrated on water 8 to 15 feet deep , and the side planers allowed us to run our lures in very shallow water . The bite was on ! We hadn ’ t trolled 200 feet when the inside side planer released and a fat trout was dancing behind the boat . Bridget grabbed the rod and fought the feisty trout until I netted a 19 inch rainbow ! A great way to start the day !

We had action on both the side planers and 2 other lines set at 8 feet deep off the Canon downriggers . The hot lures were a Yakima Bait Mag Lip 2.0 in gold and red , and Speedy Shiners in watermelon trolled at 2.2 to 2.5 mph . John did very well on a Hot Ticket spoon with a beautiful holographic fire tiger finish . By two o ’ clock we had landed 25 fat trout from 15 to 19 inches , releasing all but 4 for the grill . We all gathered at Al & Deanna ’ s

Since 1982

Brian Garica of Alta and John Brassfield of Auburn show off 2 limits of fat Eagle Lake rainbows .

Photo by Paul Kneeland , Fish Sniffer staff

place , including our friend Tim Noxon of Fish Traveler Guide Service , about 6 pm for a wonderful potluck dinner with grilled steaks , chicken , pork and lots of side dishes . We headed back to our cabin fairly early . We needed to

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like both of them were always on the water with the target species varying but the

Alyx Cory , from Elk , Washington , had the hot hand while fishing aboard the Lovely Martha . She landed her limit of striped bass and halibut .

Photo Courtesy of Ernie Marlan

usual were salmon , sturgeon , sharks , halibut , perch and the family favorite striped bass .

The first boat I remember my dad having was a 13 foot Boston Whaler . I remember being on the Alameda / Oakland Estuary when a tug boat was headed the opposite direction than we were . My Dad had the Mercury 40 HP motor at full throttle and we hit the first boat wake which sent us airborne and we flew over the second wake and came down on the backside of the last one . What a great memory ! Eventually , my dad upgraded to a 17 ’ Montauk Boston Whaler which was an amazing boat for the bay and ocean . I would guess that he bought this boat in the early 80 ’ s and this is the boat I really learned how to fish and navigate around the bay . We didn ’ t have fancy fish finders or gps so we really had to learn how to read the water , current and use landmarks to put us in the best fishing spots . For example , when sturgeon fishing to make sure we were in the

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FRESHWATER REPORTS Lake Almanor - American River .............................. 6 Berryessa Lake - Bullards Bar / Englebright Lakes ...... 7 Carson Pass - Clear Lake ....................................... 8 Davis Lake - Folsom Lake ........................................ 9

New Melones Lake - Pardee / Camache Lakes .... 12 Rio Vista Delta - Stampede Reservoir ................. 13 Shasta Lake - Spicer Reservoir ........................... 14

SALTWATER REPORTS Bodega Bay - Fisherman ’ s Wharf / Berkeley Marina ..... 17 Half Moon Bay .......................................................... 18 Monterey Bay .......................................................... 19

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

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

Ernie Marlan - fished with the Lovely Martha on the SF Bay for halibut and stripers . He landed two halibut and two stripers while drifting live anchovies . He used a Phenix Trifecta rod teamed up with a Daiwa Prorex TWS 400 Baitcast reel .

Paul Kneeland - fished Eagle Lake with John Brassfield and Brian Garcia in the Fish Sniffer Rogue Jet 21 Coastal . They caught rainbow trout to 22 inches using an 8 ’ light action Okuma Kokanee Black rod with an Okuma Convector low profile line counter reel loaded with 8 lb test Soft Steel line . They trolled Thomas Buoyants , Speedy Shiners and Yakima Bait Mag Lips in gold , orange and green colors off the Big Jon Side Planers and Canon Downriggers from the surface to 15 feet deep and at 2.4 mph .

Dan Bacher - fished for rainbow trout at Spicer Reservoir . He used a Berkley Ugly Stik 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 glitter Berkley PowerBait and nightcrawlers on sliding sinker rigs with Size # 4 and # 6 Gamakatsu baitholder hooks .