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Rollins Lake Map Feature

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Our 43rd Year

Since 1982

LEMENTS – A robust steelhead run has followed a record fall-run Chinook run on the Mokelumne River . The hatchery staff has counted 1,430 steelhead to date , including 769 adults and 661 fish under the hatchery ’ s adult size of 18 inches . “ The steelhead run is a good , healthy run , with a lot of fish compared to other years ,” said EBMUD Manager of Fisheries and Wildlife Michelle Workman .. “ The size of the fish is similar to previous years .” “ The hatchery is now spawning

steelhead and they have about 250,000 eggs so far , probably from about 125 females if you assume that there are about 2000 eggs per female ,” she stated . The steelhead smolts coming from fish spawned last year will be released in 3 releases in February , March and April , Workman said . Fishing for steelhead is open on the Mokelumne River from below Camanche Dam to Elliot Road from Jan . 1 through March 31 with a daily bag limit of one hatchery trout or one hatchery steelhead . Fishing then reopens from the fourth Saturday in May through July 15 , with a daily bag limit of one hatchery trout or one hatchery steelhead .

tarting in November , I enjoyed the best striper fishing in the West Delta that I ’ ve ever experienced . I ’ m not going to speculate as to why it was so good this year , but it was great while it lasted . Hopefully , it will lead to a stellar spring spawning run in the upcoming weeks and months .

Casey Code of Vacaville hoists a massive 20-pound striper he landed while fishing near Sherman Island with the author on November 25 . This fish grabbed a glob of chicken liver wrapped with Atlas Mike ’ s Miracle Thread on an 8 / 0 circle hook .

Photo by Jack Naves , The Fish Sniffer

Fall-run Chinook salmon enter the fish ladder at the Mokelumne River Fish Hatchery . photo by Photo by EBMUD

A total of 28,614 fall-run Chinook salmon returned to the Mokelumne River in 2023 , according to Workman . 5700 of those fish were grilse ( two-year-olds ) and the rest were adults . The East Bay Municipal Utility District ( EBMUD ) today reported the 2023-24 fall run of Chinook salmon

Typically , but not always , dropping water temperatures shift striped bass from the bay into the West Delta sometime in early November . They usually hang out in the area between Pittsburg up to Rio Vista on the Sacramento side , and Antioch on the San Joaquin side . It ’ s amazing how fast the fishing will

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go from slow , to wide-open around the first week of November . These fish seem to stick around in the general area until high water blows them out , or rising water temperatures trigger pre-spawn movement . This past fall , I tried to get an

early jump on the stripers and headed out on September 24 . Unfortunately , the stripers had not moved in yet , and I was only able to release a few undersized fish . Fast forward to November 4 , and the fishing had moved into a higher gear . My son Adam and I were able to land seven keeper stripers during a morning trip near Broad Slough . I returned to the same area with Kirby Desha on November 14 . Kirby ’ s first cast produced a beautiful twelve-pound striper . He quickly released that fish , and we were able to land ten keeper stripers on a cloudy morning . My next

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Freshwater reports Lake Amador - Bullards Bar / Englebright Lakes ........ 6 Camanche Lake - East Bay Lakes ............................. 7 Folsom Lake ............................................................. 8 Klamath River ........................................................... 9 Los Vaqueros Reservoir - Lake Oroville ............. 12 Pyramid Lake - Rio Vista / West Delta ....................... 13 Shasta Lake .......................................................... 14

Saltwater REPORTS Bodega Bay .............................................................. 17 Fisherman ’ s Wharf / Berkeley / Emeryville - Monterey Bay ......... 18 Monterey Bay ........................................................... 30

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

GO FOR IT : Staff ........................................................ 4 MAP Feature : Dan Bacher ..................................... 10 SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION : Dan Bacher ....... 16

Ernie Marlan fished the Central Coast beaches for surf perch . He caught and released several quality sized surf perch on a 9ft Phenix Trifecta 6-12lb teamed up with a Van Stall reel spooled up with 20lb FINS Windtamer Braid . The lure of choice was a Calissa Jerkbait in sardine color .

Paul Kneeland fished Bullards Bar reservoir with Bridget Looney in The Fish Sniffer Rogue Jet Coastal 21 . They caught limits of kokanee to 11 1 \ 2 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 Arctic Fox Kokanee flies tipped with corn soaked in Pro Cure Kokanee Special behind Vances dodgers in silver / pink 25 to 35 feet deep off the Cannon Downriggers at 1.2 mph .

Dan Bacher fished for rainbow trout at San Pablo Reservoir near El Sobrante . 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 Berkley Tequila Sunrise Power Bait on a # 14 Eagle Claw gold treble hook on a sliding sinker rig .