Fish Sniffer Magazine Volume 43 Issue 10 | Page 21

Emily Kubiak fished with her uncle Jack Naves on Saturday , August 31 to land this silvery kokanee salmon at Lake Pardee . This fish hit a Pro-Troll Kokanee Killer trolled at 110 feet deep on a calm , peaceful morning up the Mokelumne River arm of the lake .

Photo by Jack Naves , The Fish Sniffer

Leah Kubiak poses with a kokanee salmon on Lake Pardee on a blue , tranquil morning . Although the fish at Pardee aren ’ t running big this year , the special tenkokanee limit at Pardee means that you can load up on a mess of fish worthy of a fish fry .

Photo by Jack Naves , The Fish Sniffer

When the lake is calm enough so you only need your electric trolling motor , you know its going to be a nice morning . Here , Lee Kubiak shows off one of over twenty kokanee salmon that made it into the cooler before noon on Saturday , August 31 at Lake Pardee . Pardee does not allow personal watercraft or skiing , making it an unruffled sanctuary for anglers in Northern California .

Photo by Jack Naves , The Fish Sniffer

‘ Columbia Gulch ,’ ‘ Deer Island ,’ and ‘ Twin Coves ’ hold huge masses of landlocked sockeyes starting in late July or early August . For those of you not familiar with kokanee salmon , they are a landlocked cousin of the ocean dwelling sockeye salmon . Here in California , fishing for them has become exceedingly popular , as their delicious fillets are prized for their mild salmon flavor and deep orange coloring . If you really want to learn more about kokanee fishing , I strongly recommend joining the Kokanee Power organization and fishing their derbies . Once the Kubiaks and I reached our spot , we deployed four downriggers to depths ranging between 95 and 110 feet down . Sizzling summer surface temperatures push kokanee deep . They tend to hang out in their preferred temperature range of 53 ° F . To get kokanee to bite , we put a kernel of shoe peg corn on each hook for ‘ bait .’ The corn acts as a target for the kokanee to attack , as they are filter feeders and only strike lures out of aggression . It is remarkably similar to how river salmon attack lures even though they have stopped eating . We attached our corn to hooks on small wobbling lures called Pro-Troll Kokanee Killers . These lures were run sixteen-inches behind 4.5-inch gold hammered dodgers . The whole setup is standard for kokanee fishing , but Rachel and the girls were new to it . The kokanee fishing started out slow . Twenty minutes went by before the first bite . After about two hours , we only had three kokanee in the boat . Knowing not to panic , I stayed in the area where the fish were holding , knowing they would bite at some point . As is typical of late-season kokanee , the fish started off scattered in the morning , and slowly formed large schools as the day progressed . The problem was that I would troll through a big school and hook several fish , but then troll back through the same location to find nothing . The schools were on the move . Around 11:00 am , we were fortunate to find a large school of kokanee that yielded three quadruple hookups . Although we didn ’ t land

Pardee does not allow personal watercraft or skiing , making it an unruffled sanctuary for anglers in Northern California .

every fish , it kept everybody busy and substantially bumped up our fish total . At noon it was time to head in , and a sharp-eyed bald eagle watched

Rancho Seco Recreational Area

Open year round with RV sites , waterfront campsites and BBQ ’ s . You can rent electric and row boats , kayaks , and paddle boards for more water fun !

• Wet a line

• Hike a trail

• Pitch a tent

Visit smud . org / RanchoSeco or call 1-800-416-6992 .

Park Operator

• Launch a boat

• Have a picnic

© SMUD 1150-10 / 23 ® A trademark of Sacramento Municipal Utility District , Reg . U . S . Pat . & Tm . Off .

curiously as we packed our gear . It ended up being a beautiful morning with great weather , bursts of fishing action , and plenty of wildlife to view . Common merganser ducks , western grebes , and watchful bald eagles observed us as we put over twenty tasty kokanee into our cooler . This year ’ s free fishing days are over , but be sure to check out the CDFW ’ s website for next year ’ s dates . Take advantage of the opportunity to invite a friend , co-worker , or family member out for a license-free day of fishing in 2025 !

Rancho Seco Recreational Area is located 25 miles south of Sacramento at 14960 Twin Cities Road in Herald , CA .

80

N

1-5

Sacramento

99

Twin Cities Rd .

Vicinity Map

Herald

104

Clay

From Sacramento , take Highway 99 South to the Highway 104 exit . Go East on Highway 104 , 15 miles , to the Rancho Seco Park exit .

Clay Station Rd .

Park Entrance

Rancho Seco Recreational Area

Powering forward . Together .