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Bear River Reservoir Map Feature

MADE IN U . S . A

See Page 10

Our 40th Year

Since 1982

his year ’ s Kokanee Power New Melones derby featured mild weather and huge kokanee . It all went down on Saturday , June 3 , just south of the old mining town of Angels Camp , California . The town was made famous by Mark Twain ’ s short story ‘ The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County ’. It lies only minutes away from the large capacity reservoir known as New Melones Lake . While the weigh-in is normally held at the Frogtown facility in Angels Camp , this year ’ s event was held at the nearby town of Copperopolis . A late three o ’ clock weigh-in time was set to accommodate the approximate thirty-minute drive time from the lake . This writer ’ s adventure began at 2:05 am on the morning of the derby . BEEP-BEEP , BEEP-BEEP , BEEP-BEEP the backup alarm in my bathroom suddenly jolted me out of a deep sleep on the morning of the derby . I had accidentally set the alarm on my phone to PM instead of AM , a classic move straight out of a Seinfeld skit . Luckily , I always set a backup battery-powered alarm just in case of such a slip-up . Running a

e had a wonderful trip to

Eagle Lake near Susanville the weekend of June 11 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 and Helen Brassfield of Auburn , Dave Barsi of Oak Run and Brian Garcia of Alta . 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 5:00 . It was a gorgeous morning with a nice trolling breeze from the south that settled down for a very nice morning . The air temperature was 48 degrees when we launched and got up to about 72 degrees in the afternoon . The water temperature was 65 degrees and the water was higher than last year and nice and clear . We set up the Big Jon side planers and started fishing at Shrimp Island on the west side of the lake and trolled north . We concentrated on water 8 to 15 feet deep ,

few minutes late , I hustled out the door and made my way southeast to the land of jumping frogs . My teammates Jim Brittain and Kyle Cobb were already waiting for me when I rolled up to the Tuttletown launch ramp a few hours later . We loaded my gear into Jim ’ s boat and ran south in anticipation of the 5:30 am derby start time . With summer solstice quickly approaching , we had plenty of visibility provided by the glow of the eastern horizon . We trolled along shady eastern points but didn ’ t have any fish in the boat until the sun showed itself . Suddenly , Kyle ’ s rod pumped down – he was hooked up with something good . I

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

and the side planers allowed us to run our lures in very shallow water . We hadn ’ t trolled 200 feet when the inside side planer released and a fat trout was dancing behind

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Derby winner James Franco of Epic Fishing Vibes stands with two massive kokanee he caught using pink and purple Apex lures on Saturday , June 3 . The fish were caught trolling at 1.3 miles-per-hour between 30 and 35 feet deep in the Bear Creek arm at the southeast corner of the lake .

Photo courtesy of James Franco , Epic Fishing Vibes

FRESHWATER REPORTS Lake Almanor - American River Sac Area ............... 6 Berryesa Lake .......................................................... 7 Bullards Bar - Collins Lake ......................................... 8 Del Valle Reservoir .................................................... 9

Eagle Lake - Folsom Lake ................................... 12 Los Vaqueros ...................................................... 13 New Melones / Don Pedro Lakes - Pardee Lake ... 14 Rio Vista / Delta ..................................................... 15 Stempede / Prosser / Boca Reservoirs ................... 16 Shasta Lake ......................................................... 17 Lake Tahoe ........................................................... 18 Truckee River ....................................................... 19 SALTWATER REPORTS Bodega Bay - Half Moon Bay ................................ 22 Monterey Bay ........................................................... 23

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

GO FOR IT : Staff ........................................................ 4 MAP FEATURE : Dan Bacher ................................ 10-11 SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION : Dan Bacher ....... 21

Ernie Marlan fished for largemouth bass on the California Delta . He used a 7 ’ 2 ” Lew ’ s Elite Series Casting Rod teamed up with Team Lew ’ s Elite-Ti baitcasting reel . He caught a few fish while using a Strike King KVD Sexy Frog in Spotted Frog color .

Paul Kneeland fished Eagle Lake with Bridget Looney and John and Helen Brassfield in the Fish Sniffer 21 ’ Rogue Jet Coastal . They caught Eagle Lake rainbows to 21 inches using a 7 ’ 6 ” Lamiglas Fish Sniffer Special graphite triggerstick with an Okuma Convector low profile Line counter reel loaded with 8 lb test Soft Steel line . They trolled Speedy Shiners and Thomas Buoyants in bright colors off the Canon Downriggers at 15 to 30 feet deep and 1.8 to 2.2 mph .

Dan Bacher fished for channel catfish at Hagan Park Pond . 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 nightcrawlers on a # 4 Eagle Claw baitholder hook on a sliding sinker rig .