Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition 3809 April 12-26 2019 | Page 23

FOLSOM LAKE Apr 12 - 26, 2019 FRESHWATER VOL.38 • ISS. 9 21 cont. Farm rainbows on Wednesday this week,” said Mo Souza of the Rocky Mountain Recreation Company. “Shore fishing is best within a few days of the plant as the fish are moving into the main lake.” “Shore action was slower on the weekend, but Vlad and Elliott Kilyushik or Sacramento landed rainbows to 16 inches near the Woodpile with trout dough bait,” said Souza. Big trout honors go to David from Modesto , who caught a 5.27 pound rainbow trout while using a blue and silver “secret” lure. Trollers are targeting kokanee salmon. Mark Cornell of Jackson trolled with Paulina Peak’s tackle in pink to land a 14- inch kokanee near Herring Point. An angler landed a huge carp weighing 25 pounds while fishing near the marina. holding.” “I went out by myself and caught and released 8 fish, all spotted bass in the 1-1/2 to 2 pound range. I hooked all but one or two on a tube at 10 to 15 feet deep in the North Fork. The water temperature was only 51 degrees,” said Paganelli. All 5 ramps at Folsom Lake are now in operation. This includes Granite Bay, Brown’s Ravine, Folsom Point, Rattlesnake Bar and Peninsula. “The lake is high and our snow pack is currently 162% of normal, which translates into a great boating season at Folsom Lake,” according to the Folsom Lake Marina website. LOS VAQUEROS RESERVOIR 12.8 Lb. Channel Cat Paces Catches BYRON – While trout are the main quarry at this time at Los Vaqueros Reservoir, it was a catfish that took big fish honors at the reservoir over the past few weeks. John Kitta caught and released a 12.8 lb. catfish while using chicken liver 80 feet down in the middle of the lake, reported Christina Cutts at the Los Vaqueros Marina. “There haven’t been a lot of anglers fishing at the lake lately, so we haven’t been getting a lot of reports from anglers,” said Cutts. “However, those that are getting out between the rain and wind are catching maybe 2 to 3 trout per trip, not limits. Most anglers are tossing out Mice Tails and PowerBait to hook their fish in the South Cove, near the Marina and off the Rockwall.” Jeff Jessop and Wayne Campbell bagged two rainbows weighing 6 lb. and 6.3 pounds. Jarred Bitcon landed a 6.8 lb. trout in South Cove while using a jerk bait . “We’ve been planting the lake with trout every week,” said Cutts. “Last week Mount Lassen stocked 1,000 pounds of rainbows, while the CDFW planted 850 pounds.” Striped bass fishing has been tough lately. If you want to hook stripers, throw out anchovies, chicken livers and swimbaits from shore or a rental boat. Los Vaqueros will host its annual spring Trout Fishing Derby in April 2019. Anglers who catch the three largest trout will win! More details on participation and prizes will be coming soon. If you are looking to rent a boat, contact the Marina ahead of time to check current wind conditions at (925) 371-2628. - Dan Bacher NEW MELONES LAKE Black Bass Bite Is Going Strong ANGELS CAMP - Black bass fishing is heating up on New Melones Lake as the fish go on their annual pre-spawn bite. Josh Parris of Josh Parris Guide Service said, “The water temperatures are on the rise, and the clarity is improving every day. Although it’s still early and we have a bit of cool weather still on the way, the action for bass should really heat up. During the next week of weather, the fish Mark doubled up at Lake Pardee on March 19 landing a big smallmouth and a quality northern strain largemouth. The bass were released after the photo. Photo courtesy of THE PARDEE LAKE RECREATION AREA, Lake Pardee. will be moving shallow and starting to feeding up before they hit beds. There are a few already on beds, and more will continue to show up so long as water temps don’t fall to much.” “With the spawn under way, the bite can be day to day, one day being absolutely amazing, fish eating everything and the next, the fish seeming to be sluggish and unwilling to bite. My go-to baits this time of year vary widely. I’ll typically start with reaction, crank baits, top water, blades, swimbaits, and rip baits. Later in the afternoon, I’ll switch to glidebaits, stick baits, and plastics on the drop shot. You really have to feel out the bite every day and switch it up throughout the day,” said Paris. “Main lake points and secondary points adjacent to coves are highways for fish moving in and out to spawn and a great bet to find a few bites on reaction baits. The back of coves will be where the fish spawn and pull up to sun, I typically slow way down with finesse techniques,” added Paris. For trout, Gene Hildebrand of Glory Hole Sports said, “The trout bite has been good some days and off others, but producing some quality fish when they show. Scott McCarthy of Sonora was trolling the spillway on Melones using an excel lure at 35 feet deep for a quality rainbow.” The kokanee season may have gotten off to an early start. Kevin Ogg of Paulina Peak’s tackle landed two kokanee at 20 to 40 feet deep. New Melones dropped slightly to 84 percent. - Dave Hurley OROVILLE LAKE Chinook Fishing Should Be Good This Season OROVILLE – The landlocked Chinook salmon bite hasn’t busted loose yet at Lake Oroville, but that should happen in the coming weeks as the lake fills and the water clears. “I made a recent trip to Oroville that produced slow salmon fishing,” said Rob Reimers of Rustic Rob’s Guide Service. “The water was coming up quickly and we had just one hit while trolling. I talked to one angler who said they were catching some salmon before the lake got so stained.” Anglers can look forward to solid landlocked king salmon fishing at Oroville this spring while trolling hoochies, tipped with anchovy strips, and Brad’s Kokanee Cut Plugs around the Bidwell Canyon Marina and the “green bridge.” Congratulations go to Ethan Leininger, who won the recent high school bass tournament at the lake with a fat 19” largemouth, according to North Valley Tackle. Lake Oroville is holding 2,723,685 acre feet of water, 77 percent of capacity and 103 percent of average. The lake level is 836.52 feet in elevation. - Dan Bacher LAKE PARDEE Weekly Plants Bolster Trout Catches IONE – Weekly plants of rainbow trout continue to boost the trout catches on Lake Pardee. “We planted 1000 pounds Calaveras Trout LAKE OPENS FEB. 14 2019 3804 Under New Management GREAT Fishing for: Trout • Kokanee • Catfish Large & Smallmouth Bass Crappie • Bluegill • Sunfish DELTA STRIPERS! Specializing in Light Tackle Live Bait Drifting, Spooning and More! (Flyfishing available) Learn these techniques from Jeff Soo Hoo - Professional Guide www.soohoosportfishing.com RENO - The fishing at the world’s premier cutthroat trout lake has been a little on the tough side of late. Some anglers are having decent success on cloudy and windy days, but the bite has been a grind overall. It should be the peak of the spring bite, but a good day is probably going to be measured with single digit catches and maybe one good fish in the double digit size range. A poor day will be a lot of casting or trolling with zero to three fish to show for your efforts. On a recent trolling trip, this writer found really poor fishing. I fished for about 4 hours before I decided I had better things to do and only found two fish for my efforts. One of them was a handsome bright red five pound male in spawning colors. On that same day, Brad Bugica related, “We got into them good early, but the fishing is really slow now.” Lou Varela had a very good trolling report dragging Flatfish along the bottom in the Sutcliffe area. Lou found twelve fish for his efforts, which is a good score for this time. Jeff Morris has found success on big cutthroats, like he always does. Jeff said, “I have been fortunate to fish on cloudy windy days, but there are a lot of guys struggling right now. There are fish scattered all over the place. Big fish are cruising every beach right now, but they have love on their minds, and they aren’t biting very well.” - Mike McNeilly CONTINUED ON PG 22 17 Station Sporting Clay Course! Store • Campsites/RV sites Marina • Boat Launch New Boat & Motor Rental Fleet 100 Rounds Sporting Clays Only $35 1000 Rounds Sporting Clays Only $320 (800) 416-6992 Company or Corporate shoots available at reasonable prices! 4900 Stony Creek Rd. Ione www.rockymountainrec.com (925)899-4045 Slow Spring Cutthroat Bite Befuddles Anglers Pheasant, Chukar and Sporting Clays At Its Finest • 3 PHEASANTS FOR ...$92 • 8 CHUKARS FOR.......$154 3 Pheasants & • 12 PHEASANTS FOR $336 100 Sporting Clays • 3 PHEASANTS + 4 CHUKARS $125 FOR $164 Call for Information & Reservations Boat Departs from Lauritzen Yacht Harbor in Oakley PYRAMID LAKE 45 Miles North of Sacramento (530) 724-0552 www.lincraahauges.com • traahauge@yahoo.com