Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition 3803 Jan 17- Feb 1 2019 | Page 25

GONE FISHING my favorite time to fish the lake. From late June through September you can count on Shasta’s rainbow to be locked into the thermocline from 40 to 60 feet deep where they spend their time gorging on shad. Attach a shad imitating spoon to a downrigger and drop it down amidst the balls of bait and pods of rainbows that dot the thermocline and you’ll enjoy hookup after hookup. I remember one fine September day when legendary Lake Shasta guide Gary Miralles and I landed over 35 rainbows in the span of three hours. The trout hit so quickly we couldn’t keep three rods in the water. French Meadows Reservoir: ‘Bows And Browns Near The Sierra Crest French Meadows Reservoir is situated in a heavily timbered granite valley at 5,200 feet near the headwaters of the Middle Fork of the American River. The Sierra Nevada crest is a scant 9 miles distant. The lake is fairly large boasting 1,900 surface acres and more than 8 miles of shoreline when at full capacity. The nearest town to French Meadows is the hamlet of Foresthill, which sits east Auburn, California. French Meadows has a strong popula- tion of wild brown trout that range up to and beyond 6 pounds. The lake is stocked with rainbows every spring and summer by the DFW. Most of these fish don’t survive, but those that do often times turn up in the catch one or more years later as handsome 12 to 22 inch square tailed holdovers. The quality of a trout fishery is dictated in large part by the quality of forage it provides. Look beneath the surface of a great trout fishery and you’ll find a diverse and plentiful prey base. Minnows, crawfish, sculpins, juvenile trout, caddis flies and other invertebrates fuel French Meadows’ trout fishery. Minnows represent the lake’s primary forage, with crawfish running a strong second. Caddis hatches occur on most evenings from summer through early fall. On windless evenings the hatching caddis can provide fly anglers with good surface action. French Meadows trout aren’t picky in terms of what they will strike. It’s one of those lakes where basic trolling and bait fishing tactics consistently produce quality fish. tends to shut down during the daylight hours, but fish are available early, late and after dark. I’ve literally spent hundreds of hours trolling Collins Lake over the past decade and I’ve caught Big rainbows like this 6 pounder are common at Collins Lake during the winter hundreds and early spring and they are known to cooperate with both trollers and bank anglers. of trout Photo courtesy of the COLLINS LAKE RECREATION AREA, Oregon House. on dozens of fishing a kokanee tournament at the lake different offerings. I think that any when the rainbow bite was so intense that standard trout trolling offering will take some trout some of the time at Collins, but we had to abandon several coves simply based on my experience there are a pair of because there were so many feeding rainbows in attendance that we couldn’t offerings that will hook trout almost all of the time. These are the Kastmaster and the get our lures down to the deep swimming kokanee! Rapala. The average rainbow at Don Pedro runs If the trolling bite turns slow at Collins about 14 inches and fish beyond 20 inches it’s time to slow down and either rig up and 3 pounds show up consistently. Shad with an earth tone colored Berkley Power are the primary forage in the lake and Grub or a threaded crawler. You can this fact should be reflected in your lure team these baits with a small dodger, but overall, I prefer to run them naked without selection. Early and late in the day during summer, flashers or dodgers. fast trolling with spoons such as Speedy Shiners and plugs like Rapalas works Lake Don Pedro: The Central State’s well. When the sun is at its apex it’s time Most Exciting Rainbow Fishing to slow down and drop down, typically The excellent rainbow trout fishing at Lake Don Pedro, located on the Tuolumne into the 40 to 60 foot range. Wiggle hoochies and Apex Lures work River east of Modesto in the Sierra well when trolled deep at 1 to 1.5 mph. Nevada foothills, is one of the state’s best These lures do a good job of imitating a kept angling secrets. wounded shad. For the ultimate in match Indeed, Don Pedro is one of the best the hatch effectiveness many anglers overall fisheries in the state, featuring outstanding fishing for rainbow trout, king “roll” shad at Don Pedro. Rolling shad simply refers to slow salmon, kokanee salmon, rainbow trout, as trolling frozen threadfin shad rigged on well as an occasional brown trout. a special sliding snell that causes the When Don Pedro’s kings and kokanee minnow to roll seductively when drawn are biting the outstanding rainbow fishing through the water. that it offers takes a back seat, yet in When the rainbows play hard to get and my opinion, Don Pedro is second only refuse shad imitations a threaded worm to Shasta in terms of the numbers of either teamed with a flasher or small rainbows it holds and their willingness to dodger is an offering that seldom fails at strike. Don Pedro. I recall one time a few years back while INTERNATIONAL SPORTSMEN’S EXPO SALE!! Friday Jan. 18th and Saturday Jan. 19th AT OUR STORE IN AUBURN! trolling adventure. Photo courtesy of GOLD COUNTRY SPORTFISHING, Oakdale. Willfish Tackle to Host Massive Sale Jan. 18 & 19! Buy a reel and choose from free mono or half price braid! The sale is slated for January 18 & 19 and on Saturday the 19th there will be a complimentary BBQ. For all the details, check out the Willfish ad in this edition of the Fish Sniffer! Willfish is located at 11944 Masters Court, Auburn, Ca. For more information call (530) 887-0839. Everything in the store!!! 10% to 50% OFF Join the Willfish Tackle Family for a Stress-Free “Show Price” Shopping Experience! Limited to stock on hand Complimentary BBQ and Beverages from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm Saturday Jan 19th. Why pay for tickets, parking, and refreshments when you can join us for FREE. FREE Monofilament and HALF PRICE Braid with every Reel Purchase! Sale Hours 9 am to 6 pm illfish Tackle has announced a huge blow out sale with deep savings on gear from Abu Garcia, Shimano, Quantum, Okuma, Diawa and G. Loomis. Beyond great pricing on rods and reels, you’ll find special pricing on everything else in the store and you’ll save anywhere from 10% to 50% off. 23 continued from page 1 Collins Lake: Foothill Vistas And Hard Fighting Trout So what makes the diminutive 1,600 acre Collins Lake such an awesome trout fishery? Well there are a couple of driving factors behind the lake’s superb trout fishing. The lake’s rich waters provide an exceptional forage base in the form of prolific numbers of threadfin shad. Yet, the most important factor is the recreation area’s commitment to providing a top notch fishing experience. Collins boasts the most aggressive trout stocking program in the north state. Spring and fall big numbers of rainbow trout are planted. In addition to rainbows, the lake is home to a decent population of brown trout. The browns were planted as fingerlings several years ago in hopes that they would grow to trophy proportions. From time to time a lucky angler hooks a good size brown, but none of them have broken the 10 pound mark as of yet. To catch a limit of handsome ‘bows at Collins Lake you don’t have to do anything fancy, basic tactics will work just fine. When it comes to soaking bait off the bank at Collins worms work, but dough bait is king. PowerBait is the tried and true standard in color schemes like rainbow, yellow, chartreuse and orange. Don Pedro Reservoir is full of threadfin shad and the lake’s rainbow grow to massive proportions as a result. This During the hottest part of impressive fish nailed a fast moving spoon during a winter the summer, the trout action W Jan 17 - Feb 1, 2019 FRESHWATER VOL.38 • ISS. 3 11944 Masters Court, Auburn CA (530)887-0839 Willfishtackle.com