Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition 3807 Mar 15-29 2019 | Page 24

22 March 15 - 29, 2019 FRESHWATER VOL.38 • ISS. 7 for stripers can also be CONTINUED FROM PG 20 effective. Fong noted that striper fishing has RIO VISTA been slow in Hit Montezuma Slough, the Mildred Suisun Bay for Sturgeon Island, Discovery RIO VISTA - If you want to catch Bay and sturgeon, your top prospect is to head to Liberty Island Montezuma, Nurse or Suisun sloughs or areas, due Suisun Bay. to cold and “On my latest trip to Montezuma Slough, muddy water I landed a 45 inch slot length sturgeon,” conditions. said Craig Newton at Willfish Bait and Black bass Tackle. “Biff Brethour also landed a 43 fishing is inch sturgeon that day in another boat. worth a shot There were a total of six people in the two in the South boats – and we didn’t seen anybody out Delta with on the water that day land keeper fish.” chatterbaits is worth a shot. Uncle Larry Jim fooled this big Lake Del Valle rainbow while soaking Berkley Mice Tails Barnes of on February 1. Sacramento Photo courtesy of the ROCKY MOUNTAIN RECREATION AREA, Lake Del Valle. Pro Tackle reported slow sturgeon fishing in the Knights Landing, Verona and Elkhorn areas. “There are fish in the river,” SACRAMENTO AREA hat’s right, Shimano Days are right around the corner said Barnes. “We’re just waiting for the Port Kicks Out Some Stripers water to become fishable.” at Fisherman’s Warehouse locations around the state! SACRAMENTO – Until the water level - Dan Bacher This two day event will feature savings galore on Shimano on the Sacramento River goes down, your best bet for hooking striped bass in the products, including reels, swimbaits, soft plastics, jigs and metropolitan area is fishing the Port of more! Sacramento and Sacramento Deep Water Ship Channel. For more information check out the Fisherman’s Warehouse SAN PABLO RESERVOIR “Guys are catching some small 20 to ad in this edition of The Fish Sniffer. 22 inch stripers, but they aren’t hooking Target Rainbows with Garlic- a lot of them,” said Alan Fong of the Fisherman’s Warehouse boasts three locations. In Manteca Scented Baits Fisherman’s Warehouse. “Anglers are they are located at 2201 E. Yosemite Ave. (209) 239-2248. In EL SOBRANTE - If you want to pull a doing best while drifting jumbo minnows big rainbow trout from the waters of San or jigging Blade Runner spoons from the Sacramento find them at 9035 Folsom Blvd. (916) 362-1200. Pablo Reservoir at this time, use lots of bank.” In San Jose, Fisherman’s is at 1120 Branham Lane (408) garlic scent on your Power Bait and other Trolling with Yo-Zuris or other lures or baits. throwing out Rat-L-Trips or Alabama Rigs 266-6209. That’s exactly what Micheal Gorshe of San Jose did when he caught a 7.98 lb. trout in late February. The angler was fishing garlic on his chartreuse PowerBait By Cal Kellogg continued from page 20 at Sandy Point when the big trout hit. of times in this article. I’ve come to rely “People are catching trout here and Stripers rigged on a half-ounce jig head. there,” said Marcella Shoemaker at the on Yo-Zuri baits more and more for a We are in for a real barn burner in terms With this combination, I’ll be able to troll Rocky Mountain Recreation Company. myriad of species. They are medium of striper action. The fish are going to push effectively in shallow to moderately deep “The water conditions are muddy. For best priced, high quality baits that offer far up valley rivers and the action in the water by dialing in the speed of the kayak. results use PowerBait with extra garlic consistent performance. Delta is going to be great too. If and when I find a concentration of bass, scent on it. The trout will hit on scent, Yo-Zuri offers up baits you can count I’ve done my share of bait soaking, heck I’ll switch over to plugging with the same not on the color of the power-bait. Green on whether you’re talking about Crystal I even wrote a book about it. This spring, I rig. Pumpkin and Hatchery pellet chartreuse Minnows for stripers, L Minnows for may do a little live bait fishing, but I really AA Shad Tails come in a variety of sizes garlic are good choices. “ trout or Hardcore cranks for spots. want to focus on plugging and trolling. and many different colors. I’m going with Paulina Alexander of Danville also Beyond crankbaits I’m going to be Minnow plugs will be on the kayak, but caught a trout using chartreuse PowerBait the 4-inch size in pearl and minnow colors. doing a fair amount of plugging with off a boat. my go to rig and lure is going to be a 7 If I want to go subsurface with a hard “Both fish hit eel, although we were also using roe,” Newton staged. “The fish hit in 24 feet of water in Montezuma east of Nurse Slough. The only other fish we hooked was a 38 inch shaker.” Kevin Daniels of Elk Grove landed a 53-inch keeper sturgeon while fishing cured salmon roe with Captain Steve Mitchell of Hook’d Up Sportfishing outside of Freeman Island in Suisun Bay on a recent trip. However, that was the only keeper sturgeon that Mitchell saw caught that day. Expect the striped bass fishing to pick up throughout the Delta when the water clears and warms up. Bait fishing with sardines, shad and mudsuckers will be the primary method of hooking up until the water clears up enough to make trolling effective. - Dan Bacher FRESHWATER REPORTS: Fisherman’s Warehouse Shimano Days March 15 & 16 T HOW TO foot Cousins Tackle heavy baitcasting rod matched with a Daiwa low profile bait- caster spooled with 30-pound braided line tipped with a 20-pound fluorocarbon leader armed with an AA Shad Tail Swimbait Come visit LAKE SHASTA at Lakehead on the Sacramento River arm • Fully equipped cabins with decks overlooking the lake • Free Boat slips at private dock • Gameroom, volleyball, pool, horseshoes and more! (530)238-2575 www.tsasdiresort.us Great Food & drinks, newly remodeled bar, outdoor patio, lots of fun! (530)962-3050 3705 plug I’m going to go with a Yo-Zuri Rattl’N Vide. These are great vibrating crankbaits. I’ve got a few in shad patterns and some in all black. All black is a sleeper color for stripers. If you haven’t tried all black lures for stripers you are missing out on some hookups. Black lures will work at any time of the day, but are at their best during low light periods. When it’s time for a topwater bait I’m going with a Yo-Zuri 3DB Pencil in a clown, shad or bone finish. These baits walk with ease, come rigged with premium hooks and do double duty as black bass baits. Black Bass Naturally when it’s time for hooking largemouths, spots and smallmouths I’ll have a full selection of Senkos and 6 inch Robo Worms. Those are staples and I’ll supplement those with some 3 inch grubs rigged on 1/8 and ¼ ounce darter heads. Grubs are great search baits. You can cast them and retrieve them at any depth swimbait style. You can vertically jig them in open water and they can be hopped along the bottom crawfish style. I really want to focus on working reaction baits when targeting black bass. I’m hoping to hook up on both crankbaits and swimbaits. For crankbaits, I’ll be running both medium and shallow diving Yo-Zuri Hardcore cranks in shad, bluegill and crawfish patterns. I’ve mentioned Yo-Zuri baits a number CONTINUED ON PG 22 swimbaits. For a hard bait, I’m running with Savage Gear Now Booking American River Steelhead and Folsom Lake Trout Glide Swimmers in rainbow trout finish. Custom 23’ Drift Boat For soft baits, I’m Rogue Jet Trips arming myself with AA’s Shad bodies in 4 and 6 inch sizes in a handful of different color Cpt. Jerry Lampkin – 25 years of experience fishing patterns. Salmon, Steelhead, Stripers, Trout & landlocked Kings on the Feather, Sacramento, American Rivers and Folsom Lake For rods and reels I’ll have a fast action 3807 T.N.G Motorsports Guide Service 7-foot spinning rod (530) 320-0994 • www.tngmotorsports.com match with a 30-size reel loaded with 10 lb. moss green Trilene Big Game line for the small 3204 stuff and plastics. Beyond that 5 hours I’ll have a pair $ of Cousins 7 foot baitcasters. I’ll have the same one slated All Gear Provided for striper fishing for tossing swimbaits. For crankbaits, I’ll run with a lighter • Discounts for Cash • model paired with • Large or Small Groups • a Daiwa low profile Group Discounts • Gift Certificates baitcaster spooled Over 50 Years Experience on The Lake with 12-pound moss P.O. Box 488 green Trilene Big Game line. Carnelian Bay, CA 96140 Fish Lake Tahoe! DaiLy Trips 90 (800) 877–1462 (530)546–4444 E-mail: bigmack-2@att.net • www.mickeysbigmack.com