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Collins Lake Map Feature

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Our 43rd Year

Since 1982

Brian Thomas of Three Sons Guide Service shows off a chromer rainbow trout on March 19. The fish slammed a spoon trolled at 2.7 miles-per-hour at 27 feet deep before being landed and released.

Photo by Jack Naves, Fish Sniffer Staff

ohn Brassfield and I headed to Lake Oroville to try to catch a landlocked salmon. We launched the Fish Sniffer Rogue Jet 21 Coastal at the Bidwell Marina boat ramp about 7:30. The weather was overcast with a south wind blowing about 10 mph. The air temperature was fairly warm at 53 degrees. The water temperature was almost the same at 50 degrees. We decided to start at the dam, where we were hearing of decent fishing in the last couple of weeks. We got all set up and ran over to the wall on the north side by the

dam and started trolling. The water was pretty dirty and the visibility was only about 3 feet. I decided to start with what has worked well at Oroville in the past for me. I put a white Tasmanian Devil about 10 feet behind Vance’ s cannonball flashers and left it on all day. I dropped the downrigger ball down to 40 feet to start the day. Then I added a chartreuse Speedy Shiner about 20 feet above the Tasmanian Devil on the second line. John put on a white Mack’ s Lure Wiggle hootchie

NGELS CAMP –

Deep in Northern California’ s gold country, there lies a town made famous by Mark Twain’ s short story‘ The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.’ Angels Camp hosts its‘ Jumping Frog Jubilee’ each May, and only minutes to the south you will find the large capacity reservoir known as New Melones Lake. New Melones Lake is part of Reclamation’ s Central Valley Project. It is a great fishery that features bass, crappie, catfish, trout, and kokanee. Most of my own experience at the lake has been chasing kokanee salmon, which during some years can be the largest in the state. There are currently restrictions on launching boats at many of our local lakes due to the detection of golden mussels in the California Delta. New Melones is no exception, so be sure to check the latest updates before planning a boating trip! As of writing, New Melones requires a 30-day quarantine to launch. To be cleared to launch at New Melones, you cannot

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launch your boat anywhere for thirty days to allow it to dry out. Staff will attach a cable with a red tag between your boat and trailer at the Glory Hole Ramp between 8am to 4pm. If the cable is not broken for thirty days, the boat is cleared with a green tag, and you can launch. A cable with a green tag will be placed prior to departure by staff for return trips. Just make sure to return well before the 4pm closing to get your next tag, or you are out for thirty days! Be sure to check the web for details and updates before heading to the lake. Because of the restrictions, the best way to get on the water at this time is to jump onboard with one of the guides already tagged to fish the lake. As luck would have it, Brian Thomas of Three Sons Guide Service reached out to me and indicated that he would be free on Wednesday, March 19. I jumped at the opportunity, and we planned to meet at the Glory Hole

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Fish Sniffer publisher Paul Kneeland shows off a fat 4 ½ pound king salmon that hit 3 times before it was hooked!

Photo by John Brassfied

FRESHWATER REPORTS Lake Amador- American River............................. 10 Lake Berryessa- Bullards Bar / Englebright Lakes...... 11 Camanche Lake- Davis Lake................................. 12 Don Pedro Lake- East Bay Lakes Roundup............ 13 Feather / Sacramento Rivers- Los Vaqueros Reservoir.. 14 New Melones Lake- Pyramid Lake.......................... 15 Rio Vista Delta- Russian River.................................... 20

Lake Shasta- Truckee / Little Truckee Rivers................ 22

SALTWATER REPORTS Bodega Bay- Monterey Bay...................................... 23

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

GO FOR IT: Staff........................................................ 4 MAP FEATURE: Dan Bacher..................................... 16 FALL CHINOOK SALMON RUNS: Dan Bacher........ 18 SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION: Dan Bacher....... 23

Jack Naves fished New Melones Lake with Brian Thomas of Three Sons Guide Service in Brian’ s River Hawk Coastal aluminum boat. They caught limits of rainbow trout using Edge Mag Pro and Velocity rods in Cannon downriggers. Jack’ s rods were teamed with with Abu Garcia Ambassadeur C3‘ Kokanee’ levelwind reels loaded with FINS 40G 15-pound test braided line with a 50’ top shot of Trilene XT 10-pound test clear. They trolled orange Arctic Fox tube flies, Rapala F-9 Floating Minnows in the‘ Hot Steel’ color, and spoons, at 8 to 40 feet deep and as fast as 2.7 mph.

Paul Kneeland fished Lake Oroville with John Brassfield of Foresthill in the Fish Sniffer 21’ Rogue Jet Coastal. They caught landlocked King salmon to 23 inches and 4 1 \ 2 pounds using a Daiwa DXS 8’ light action IM-7 graphite trigger stick rigged with a Daiwa Lexa 100 Line counter reel loaded with 8 lb test Yozuri Hybrid line. They trolled white Tasmanian Devils and white Mack’ s Wiggle Hootchies behind Vance’ s cannonball flasher off the Canon Downriggers 40 to 60 feet deep at 2.3 mph.

Dan Bacher fished for rainbow trout at Camanche Lake. He used a Berkley Ugly Stik 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.