Freshwater reports :

Continued from pg 6

bullards bar / englebright lakes

Expect to hook holdover rainbows in the 12 to 18 inch range . Englebright is holding 65,805 acre feet of water , 94 percent of capacity and 101 percent of average .

- Dan Bacher

Camanche Lake

Trollers Battle Holdover and Planter Rainbows

BURSON - Shore anglers and boaters are hooking lots of trout at Lake Camanche on the Mokelumne River as weekly trout plants continue . “ Today we had returning clients Josh , Les , and Ernest out on Lake Camanche for some more great Lassen rainbow trout action ,” stated Nate Kelsch of Big Nate ’ s Guide Service after his latest trip to Lake Camanche . “ For the fourth day in a row , we managed to catch some donkey ( big ) holdovers , and personal bests for our crew , definitely feeling blessed to able to make it happen .” “ The conditions were tough to say the least with the kiss of death Camanche glass water , with not a breath of wind for most of the day ,” he revealed . “ So staying true to what I know works was the key to getting it done .’ As an added bonus , his client Les landed a giant crappie . Kelsch kept the presentations in the top 20 ft of water and played with the speeds to entice the fish to bite . On his trip the previous day , Kelsch reported , “ This morning we had Sean and Ana out on Camanche for some more epic Lassen rainbow trout action and they crushed them . We had a bit of a slow start , and multiple fish cane unbuttoned , but we still managed limits in just under 4 hours , beating our time by 6 min from yesterday .” “ All of our fish were gorgeous , healthy brutes , but Sean scored his personal best donkey that gave us some fits , with aerial displays and

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Patty Poling caught this 3.5 lb rainbow while trolling 2.7 mph on the main body of the Shasta Lake while using the new Optimizer Jr . UV Glow by Trinidad Tackle .

Photo Courtesay of Rob Hower all . It was a lot of fun ,” he related . “ Once again we fished the surface down to 20 ft . with a smattering of presentations including stick baits , soft plastics and spoons ,” Kelsch said . During their last plant on Jan . 25 , the Mount Lassen Fish Farm stocked 500 pounds of lightning trout at the South Shore Pond , 500 pounds of rainbow trout at the South Shore Pond , 1,000 pounds of rainbow trout at the North Shore Ramp and 1,000 pounds of rainbows at the South Shore Ramp , a total of 3,000 pounds . The lake management is planting another big load of trout this week . Big fish honors go to Bob Whitmore , who landed a 10.10 lb . rainbow while using a Mice Tail in the pond on Sunday , Jan . 28 . Camanche is holding 323,644 acre feet of water , 78 percent of capacity and 128 percent of average .

- Dan Bacher

Collins Lake

Anglers Battle Hefty Rainbows As Lake Level Rises

OREGON HOUSE - The winter of 2023 / 2024 has produced “ abnormally good fishing weather ” to date , said Ed Palma at the Collins Lake Resort . The lake level is 17 ′ from full , the surface temperature is 50.8 ° F and the water clarity is 5 ′ of visibility . “ In terms of wind , at least a few days each week have been calm and things have generally been warmer than average years ,” he stated . “ The lake has come up a bit with the rain , currently about 30.5 ft . below spill , but we haven ’ t had so much runoff that it clouds the water .” “ We ’ re still praying for more rain , but in the meantime , we ’ ve kept on planting trout all winter and have extended the schedule now into May ( conditions permitting ). Our most recent plant included some unscheduled trophy lightning trout – ostensibly getting too big for the hatchery ,” he stated . Headlining this report are three catches over New Year ’ s . Joey Rapo ended 2023 with a 4.75 pound rainbow trout caught on worms from the west shore near the mouth of Elmer ’ s Cove . Jaden Stron caught a jawdropping 7 pound lightning trout on a jerk bait lure near the dam . And Mason celebrated January 1st with a 7.5 pound rainbow trout he caught from the shoreline below campsite # 56 on classic green PowerBait . Alex Durkin tipped the scales with a chunky rainbow trout that weighed in at 9.75 pounds while Grayson ’ s beautiful lightning , caught in open water from a boat , registered 8.5 pounds . Jamee and Luke headed out to the east side of the lake and managed a double limit , most of them caught in the shallows on Powerbait . Tian and Joey kept their seven biggest of a double limit mostly caught trolling mid-lake under 10 feet and a few on Powerbait . Their top fish weighed 7.5 pounds . There were some big catches throughout December including the 8.5 pound lightning trout Ron Cowan of Biggs caught , along with 4 others to make a limit . He was using nightcrawlers over on the eastern shoreline , according to Palma .

Don Pedro Lake

Trollers Land Quality Rainbows

LA GRANGE - For big , hard-fighting holdover rainbows , head to Don Pedro Lake on the Tuolumne River .

“ Don Pedro today didn ’ t disappoint ,” said Monte Smith of Gold Country Sportfishing after his recent trip to Don Pedro . ‘ The bite was okay with the steady rain from the time we left the dock till almost the end ,” The anglers landed six trout and two bass , along with a few missed opportunities , while trolling with Smith ’ s custom spoons . The biggest trout weighed over three pounds . “ The weather came in as fast as I ’ ve ever seen . I looked up and noticed a very heavy thick fog deck was approaching fast and the wind started kicking up ,” said Smith . “ By the time I got the big motor started and got the rods in as fast as we could , I told the clients we got have to get the hell out of here NOW and turned towards the dock ,” Smith stated . “ The wind was howling with three foot waves at least ,” he recounted . “ The fog laid down on the water and all we could see was the white water when the waves broke and we couldn ’ t see land ! Thank God for GPS !” Don Pedro is holding 1,646,790 acre feet of water , 81 percent of capacity and 98 percent of average .

- Dan Bacher

East Bay Lakes Roundup

Tough Conditions Ahead As Rain Pummels The Area

OAKLAND- - This week was a bit tough and we ’ re going to see more of it as the next series of storms

Continued on Pg 8

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