Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition 3808 Mar 29- Apr 12 2019 | Page 3

Up-To-Date and Published Locally... By Sportsmen... For Sportsmen! Monterey Bay Map Feature MADE IN U.S.A See Page 18 March 29 - April 12, 2019 Vol. 38 - ISS.08 Our 37th Year Since 1982 “The Magazine for West Coast Sportsmen!” Did You Remember To Put The Plug In? Bryan Roccucci has spent hundreds upon hundreds of days on Sierra lakes. Warm weather, cold weather, ice, snow, rain and more, Bryan has seen it all. With years of experience as a full time guide, he has forgotten more about launching and retrieving boats than you and I will ever know. In this article Bryan shares some of his boating knowledge with the readers of the Fish Sniffer in hopes of making all of your fishing adventures safe, fun and as stress free as possible. - Cal Kellogg A little pre-planning of your time on the boat ramp can go a long way to getting your day off to a good start. ave your boat ready to launch when you pull on to the ramp. Things such as covers, straps, motors and fishing gear should be taken care of in the parking lot. Remember to put in your plug. To un-hook the bow or not to un-hook the bow? That is the question. Well not really a question for me. My winch strap and safety chain remain attached, when launching, until my boat is in the water no matter what incline the ramp is. The strap and chain are again locked in prior to pulling the boat out of the water and up the ramp. The internet is loaded Special Section Catch & Release Fishing - pgs 8-9 INSIDE Area Reports FRESHWATER REPORTS Almanor - Bullards Bar/Englebright Reservoir........4 Camanche Lake - Clear Lake.............................. 10 Collins - Eastern Sierra.......................................... 12 Feather River - Knights Landing/Colusa ............. 15 Los Vaqueros Reservoir - Quarry Lakes........ 16-17 Rancho Seco Lake - San Luis Lake............. 20-21 San Pablo Reservoir - Trinity River/Lake..... 22-23 West Delta............................................................ 24 SALTWATER REPORTS Baja........................................................................... 35 Berkeley - Half Moon Bay...................................32-33 Monterey Bay......................................................34 A Few Things To Consider… H 37 Years Serving Sportsmen with pictures and videos of people who Bryan Roccucci fishes from a big bad Boulton decided to un-strap Captain Powerboat…And he always remembers to put the plug in! prior to backing Photo courtesy of BIG DADDY GUIDE SERVICE, Quincy. down. The results are often embar- rassing and expensive! There is nothing worse than trying Now that your boat is in the to back your boat down a ramp while water, if you, the driver, are being blinded by the person in the next getting out of the vehicle to deal lane who left his lights on. If you are with the boat, it is probably a flying solo, try to pull your boat as far good idea to set the parking down the dock as possible. This will brake. Again, see the internet usually allow enough room for someone for aftermath pictures and video. to launch in front of you while you park And of course always remember to put in your vehicle and further speed things your plug. along for everyone at the ramp. If it happens to be dark while you are On the flip side, when you are coming launching, turn off your headlights while off the water pull your boat as far backing down the ramp. CONTINUED ON PG 14 GONE FISHING by Capt. Bryan Roccucci FEATURES Where...When...How... STRIPER JOURNAL.................................26,27,29,30 BASS FISHING SPOTLIGHT: Cal Kellogg...............23 BULLETIN BOARD.....................................................3 CATCH & RELEASE - FLY FISHING: Alex Cady.........6 CATCH & RELEASE - FLY FISHING REPORTS........ 7 FISH SNIFFER COUNTRY: Dan Bacher...................31 GO FOR IT: Staff....................................................... 11 HOW-TO: Cal Kellogg................................................6 KAYAK FISHING SPOTLIGHT: Kevin Hofer ...............7 MAP FEATURE: Dan Bacher...............................18-19 SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION: Dan Bacher......28 STAFF CALIFORNIA’S #1 SHOOTING, HUNTING Folsom Trout & King Fishing Underway TACKLE & FISHING W TACKLE RETAILER SINCE What 1971 We’re Using hen I get finished writing this article I’m heading into the garage and hook up my Hobie Pro Angler 14 kayak because I’m going to Folsom Lake at o’dark thirty in the morning in search of trout and kings. With all the cold stained water that has pushed into the lake recently, you may be wondering, why Folsom? Well that’s easy. Despite the fact that the conditions seem all wrong with the water cold and stained and the lake level fluctuating wildly over the past month or so, my buddies have been hooking some really nice fish while trolling Folsom’s north fork and main body. One guy I’ve spoken with this week is Captain Jerry Lampkin of T.N.G. Motor- sports Guide Service. Jerry has been doing fair to well at Folsom for about a month, although right this minute he’s down in Mexico enjoying some fun in the sun. The other guy I chatted with was Mike Kielty. Mike is great troller as his fishing partner and Kokaneemart.com founder Ric Brown. Like most of us, Mike and Ric had been waiting out the weather waiting for spring fishing to kick off. Finally, this week they couldn’t take it anymore and decided to hit Folsom despite the less than optimum conditions and guess what? They smacked some really nice rainbows. Here’s what Jerry and Mike had to say about their recent experiences at Folsom. “I’d been doing pretty well at Folsom up until the last set of storms,” related Lampkin. “Of course, we are talking about Folsom, so inconsistency is always going to be a factor. Some days we’re getting mixed limits of mainly rainbows with a king or two mixed in. Other days we were limiting, but we were getting enough action to keep things interesting.” “I’ve been spending most of my time in the lower end of the north fork, but WHAT’S HOT by Cal Kellogg Mike Kielty shows off a limit of beautiful Folsom Lake rainbows that he rounded up while trolling with his fishing partner Ric Brown on March 4. Photo courtesy of RIC BROWN, Ric Tric Lures. F ish S niffer T IP OF THE W EEK “Do I really need to use scent on my baits and lures?” The fact is you can’t afford not to use scent if you want maximum success. 10% of the time the bite is on and you’ll catch fish no matter what. 10% of the time the fish have lockjaw and you’ll get skunked no matter what. The other 80% of the time is when scents like Pro-Cure Super Gel tip the odds in your favor and create extra strikes. - Cal Kellogg CONTINUED ON PG 24 Cal Kellogg - trolled for trout at Folsom Lake from his Hobie Pro Angler 14 kayak. Cal chose a Vance’s Tackle trout rod teamed with an Abu Garcia 5500 line counter reel spooled with 10 pound Yo-Zuri Hybrid Line line. On the business end Cal ran flashers and a Gulp! Worm coated with Anise Pro-Cure Super Gel. Using this gear Cal caught rainbow trout and king salmon to 16 inches. Paul Kneeland - fished Bullards Bar with Brett Brady of Bare Bones Guide Service in Brett’s 22’ Rogue Jet Chinook. They caught rainbow trout to 17 1\2 inches and kokanee to 12 inches using Rainshadow 7’ 10” light action graphite rods with Abu Garcia Revo level wind reels loaded with 10 lb test Maximan line. They trolled RB Tackle dodgers in orange and pink followed by Gold Star mini hoochies in pink and orange with Pro Cure Bloody Tuna scented corn off the Scotty Downriggers from 23 to 55 feet deep at 1.4 mph. Dan Bacher - fished for steelhead on the American River at Sunrise. He used a Berkley Ugly Stick GX2 6’ 6” medium action spinning rod, teamed up with a Shakespeare GX235 spinning reel filled with 8 lb. test P-Line CX Premium Flourocarbon Coated Line. He tossed out 1/4 oz. gold/red and silver/blue Little Cleos, coated with garlic scent Pro- Cure Super Gel.