Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition 3809 April 12-26 2019 | Page 6

4 Apr 12 - 26, 2019 FRESHWATER VOL.38 • ISS. 9 FRESHWATER REPORTS ALMANOR Fishing Good Despite Scattered Trout & Spotty Surface Ice CHESTER- “We have had a few ups and downs over the last week of fishing here at Lake Almanor,” reported Captain Bryan Roccucci of Big Daddy’s Guide Service. “Winter wants to hold on but spring keeps knocking at the door. Some days have seen bright sun and blue skies as well as snow showers sometimes only separated by a few minutes. The bite, overall has been pretty good. We did have one tough day this past week. The lake has been giving up both browns and rainbows to 6 pounds,” said Roccucci. “We have found fish all over the lake, and I have the fuel bill to prove it, some of our moving around had to do with finding actively feeding fish to target and other times “Plan A” had to be changed due to ice formation that locked us out of certain areas,” Roccucci laughed. “All that said 2019 fishing operations are well underway and it looks like it is going to be another fantastic year. If you are looking for dates, especially this spring, contact us as soon as possible and get locked in, the calendar is filling up,” Roccucci exclaimed. AMERICAN RIVER Steelhead Biting, Shad Expected Soon SACRAMENTO – Steelhead are continuing to hit on the American River, while the American shad are expected to arrive in force in the system by mid-May. “Anglers fishing from shore and drift boats are still catching steelhead on the American,” reported Craig Newton at Willfish Bait and Tackle. “One customer reported catching and releasing three steelhead weighing 8, 6 and 3 pounds while pulling plugs from a drift boat in the Sailor Bar area.” Newton tried striper fishing himself on the river, but it didn’t pan out. “The water was still too cold, 48 to 49 degrees, for good striper action,” said Newton. “I fished jumbo minnows from a boat from Watt Avenue to Sacramento State, but we didn’t hook any stripers.” The hatchery trapped a total of 2912 steelhead, including 258 half pounders and 2754 adults this season, according to Gary Novak, hatchery manager. “It was the second best year run over the past decade, only exceeded by the 3409 steelhead that we counted in 2018,” said Novak. “Near the end of February, we were starting to see a lot of two-year- olds, along with the 7 to 12 lb. fish.” Water releases into the American below Nimbus Dam are currently 5,800 cfs, according to the Bureau of Reclamation. - Dan Bacher BERRYESSA LAKE Catfish Hitting in Creek Mouths NAPA – If you want to catch big, hard-fighting channel catfish, target the creek mouths in the north end of Lake Berryessa. “Shore anglers are picking up a lot of catfish in the lake’s north end,” said Jose Rubio of Sweeney’s Sports. “The fish are feeding on the forage being washed into Putah Creek, Pope Creek, Cappell Creek and other creeks from the storms. Anglers are picking up cats to 15 pounds while soaking chicken livers, nightcrawlers, sardines, anchovies, herring and mackerel off the points.” Trout fishing remains slow, with few anglers out trying. As the water clears, anglers should see increasing numbers of rainbows falling for Speedy Shiners and other lures behind dodgers or flashers in the main body. Shore fishing with minnows and nightcrawlers under bobbers for trout should also improve as the water clears. “Bass fishing is pretty good,” said Shane Latreille, also at Sweeney’s Sports. “Anglers are using chatterbaits, swimbaits, spinner baits and Alabama rigs in 5 to 10 feet of water for largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass. My fishing buddy, Luke, reported catching a 5-1/2 pound largemouth and a bunch of 3 pounders during a recent tournament. The water was still pretty dirty.” “The fishing was fair on my latest trip on the lake,” said Don Paganelli of Paganelli’s Bass Fishing Experience. “The two anglers fishing with me were trying to locate fish while pre-fishing for a tournament. On the next day, they caught their limits.in the event. They used spinnerbaits, drop shot rigs and small swimbaits on both days. They landed two spotted bass from 2-1/2 to 3 pounds, one largemouth weighing 3 pounds and one smallmouth going 2 pounds.” What Ails Your Boat? Specializing in: • Jet Boat Repair • Inboard Repair Reno, NV • Pump Work • Engine Work (916) 716-0975 Email: kwikkiwi19@gmail.com New Location, Same Great Service (Formerly Jetstream Concepts) 3807 BULLARDS BAR/ ENGLEBRIGHT RESERVOIRS Trollers Find Top-Notch Trout and Salmon Action SMARTVILLE – Kokanee salmon and rainbow trout action has been excellent on Bullards Bar Reservoir. Brett Brady of Bare Bones Guide Service reported top-notch rainbow and kokanee fishing on his latest venture to Bullards Bar. “We caught ten trout ranging from 14 to 17 inches while trolling with nightcrawlers behind dodgers at 25 feet deep in the main body off Dark Day and towards Willow Creek,” he said. “We also picked up a lot of kokanee while trolling with pink and orange hoochies and micro hoochies behind 5-1/2 inch and 11-1/2 inch dodgers.” He said the water conditions were “beautiful “and the water temperature was 52 to 53 degrees. Jason Graves and Ryan Ash reported top-notch kokanee fishing on their latest trip to Bullards Bar. They caught easy limits of kokanee averaging 11 to 12 inches and going up to 13 inches while trolling Kastmasters, Uncle Larry’s spinners and wide variety of lures in the top 20 feet of water. Bullards Bar Reservoir is holding 801,697 acre feet of water, 83 percent of average and 117 percent of average. Anglers are picking up rainbows and an occasional brown while trolling or bait fishing from a boat at Englebright Reservoir. Englebright is holding 72,509 acre feet of water, 104 percent of capacity and 109 percent of average. - Dan Bacher CAMANCHE LAKE Trout, Bass On Spring Bite! The Feather River striper bite is on. This beautiful bass was landed on March 19. Photo courtesy of RUSTIC ROB’S GUIDE SERVICE, Yuba City. bass. Within a short period of time, both my father and I caught and released largemouths to 5 pounds. In the main lake, the bass are moving up into the shallows, and they can be found in 10 feet of water.” For trout in the main lake, Robbie Dunham of Koke Machine Guide Service was out on Saturday in a steady rain, and he said, “The rain didn’t stop them from biting as we scored limits by 12:30 using Speedy Shiners on a fast-troll within the top 10 feet in open water.” Camanche dropped slightly to 74 percent. - Dave Hurley BURSON – Trout plants continue with 900 pounds of Mt. Lassen Hatchery rainbows released into the South Pond with another 900 pounds at the South Shore Marina during the latest plant. The trout bite remains very good for trollers on the main lake as the fish remain in the top 10 feet of the surface, and the South Pond has been kicking out some quality Lightning and rainbow trout along with LAKE CHABOT largemouth bass. Ty Courtroul and his son, Beau, of Valley Trollers Nail Quality Rainbows on Rooster Tails Springs had an epic day at the pond earlier this week with limits of trout to 6 CASTRO VALLEY - Al Hurwitz of pounds, 3 ounces on their custom TMB Saratoga and Abbey Lev of Sunnyvale trout lures in various colors. Continued on Pg 10 Beau Courtroul said, “It had been Salmon • Striper • Trout • Kokanee windy on the lake so we decided to fish the pond with my small jerkbaits, and we haven’t had a day like this at • Stripers the lake in a long time. We picked up • Oroville limits quickly, and Kings we were getting tired of reeling • Stampede in trout so I went home and picked up Kokanee some of our TMB squarebill crankbaits for largemouth (530) 272-7137 • (530) 263-4451 www.fishbarebones.com 3807