Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition 3810 April 26- May 10 2019 | Page 23

FRESHWATER VOL.38 • ISS. 10 FRESHWATER REPORTS: the Tahoe Sportfishing Team took a break from the snow and cold of the Tahoe Basin for some fun in the sun in SHASTA LAKE Hawaii. While enjoying the tropical paradise, Anglers Battle Big Browns they hit the saltwater Between Storms and rounded up an impressive 200 plus REDDING - There are brown trout pound marlin and a up to 6 pounds hitting at Shasta and jumbo dorado. the spotted bass bite is solid. Storms While part of the continue to push through the region team worked on and this has prolonged the transition their tans, Captain to wide open spring fishing. With the Bobby was on the big water temperature now at 52 degrees lake putting Tahoe in the main body, it won’t be long until Sportfishing clients on things sizzle at the big lake. beautiful mackinaw, Jeff Goodwin of Jeff Goodwin’s while trolling a variety Guide Service has been putting his of offerings including clients on some very nice brown while rigged minnows. pulling a combination of spoons and “The bite has been plugs. hot recently,” said Goodwin asserts that there have Captain Bobby. “You only been a few bite windows should take advantage throughout the day, but that when the of it and come up trout decide to feed things get exciting to join us for a trip. fast. We are fishing and The browns remain up near the catching every single surface at this time. To get them day.” anglers are advised to troll quickly Mike Nielsen of and stay on the move. To hook up Tahoe Topliners you’ve got to cross paths when the Sportfishing has cruising fish when they decide it’s been smacking mixed time to eat. limits of mackinaw Bass anglers are seeing the spotted Anglers fishing the Delta with Captain James Netzel are scoring quality and brown trout while bass population move up on to main stripers while drifting live baits. working shallow to lake points and rocky shorelines. Photo courtesy of TIGHT LINES GUIDE SERVICE, Loomis. moderately deep Soft plastics are still the bread water with a variety of and butter baits of bassers, but different plugs. crankbaits and spinnerbaits are Todd and Ross Griffin of Sacramento starting to produce good results too. Spots took a trip to Tahoe and experienced are averaging around 12 inches, while fish TAHOE excellent shallow water trolling. to 4 pounds are common. If you focus on Macks, ‘Bows, Browns & “My son and I spent a day at Tahoe tossing swimbaits or just plain get lucky Billfish? pulling chrome and pearl colored Flatfish there are spots to 6 and largemouths to 9 SOUTH LAKE TAHOE - Early spring and we had a great time. We landed 5 in the mix. fishing has been outstanding at Lake mackinaw to 6 pounds and 5 brown trout As of press time Shasta was 15 feet Tahoe with lots of mackinaw, rainbows to about 4 pounds. It was one of the best from maximum pool and coming up about and browns grabbing lures and baits. trout trolling trips we’ve ever had in terms a half foot per day. Now you are probably wondering if that of the size of the fish we caught,” related headline is correct? Well sort of… Part of Todd. CONTINUED FROM PG19 HOW TO you’ll want the versatility to make small weight adjustments that keep your bait drifting naturally along the bottom. In addition to the hooks pick up a few small wobbling spoons, spinners and flies. My favorite stream fishing spoon is a 1/8 to ¼ ounce gold Kastmaster. When it comes to spinners I use Panther Martins and Rooster Tails almost exclu- sively. I really like black and dark colored spinners, but shiny models have a place in your gear selection too. Your arsenal of flies doesn’t need to be extensive. A few No. 8 black, brown and olive woolly buggers and a few medium to small size nymphs will get the job done nicely. As far as natural baits I go with baby night crawlers and salmon eggs. Sometimes I might toss in crickets if they are available. Crawlers and eggs are at their best early in the season, while crickets come into their own with the arrival of summer. In recent years, the folks at Berkley have come out with a number of inter- esting and effective synthetic baits for the stream angler including Micro Power Nymphs, Gulp! Worms and Gulp! Crickets. These synthetic baits are effective substitutes for live baits. They have a long shelf life and you don’t have to worry about them dying and spoiling the way you do when using worms and crickets. With rod, reel and the rest or your gear in hand along with a selection of bait it is time to get out on the water and catch some trout. Presenting baits and lures in streams goes hand in hand with predicting where trout will be holding. The overriding factor when fishing streams is current. Trout reap benefits By Cal Kellogg 21 Apr 26 - May 10, 2019 WEST DELTA Sturgeon Bite Sizzles, As Bigger Stripers Start Arriving BRANNAN ISLAND- Things are rapidly moving from good to great in the West Delta. Sturgeon, both the keeper size variety and oversize monsters are on a red-hot bite and a larger grade of striped bass are pushing up the San Joaquin. “The sturgeon bite has been absolutely epic for the past two weeks,” exclaimed Captain Hayden Mullins of Dragon Sportfishing. “We’ve been fishing back in the sloughs and salmon roe has been the top bait. We are still using eel, but roe has been the ticket.” “Once in a while we get a shaker, but mostly we’ve been getting keeper and oversize fish. One day last week we got three slot fish and an oversize and, on another day, we got a keeper and three fish over 7 feet,” Mullins exclaimed. “I’ve been running a big boat down in San Francisco Bay for the past couple days, so I haven’t actually been out on the Delta. However, I have friends out there and they are reporting that larger female stripers are now showing on the San Joaquin side. That’s great news. I’ll be out there tomorrow and I can’t wait. Some guys are trolling, but what we’ll be doing is mixing things up between live bait drifting and spooning. That’s an exciting way to fish and it’s been very effective,” reported Capt. Jeff SooHoo of SooHoo Sportfishing. Come visit LAKE SHASTA at Lakehead on the Sacramento River arm continued from page 6 from current in the form of the forage, security and oxygen it provides for them. However, current is also a liability because it causes stream trout to expend more energy than they would in a still water environment. Stream trout don’t want to hold in slack water near the bank because they feel vulnerable to predators in these areas, but they don’t want to hold directly in the current either because they will burn more calories than they can replace. As a result, trout will generally be found holding near objects that break the current or in locations that feature swirling currents and eddies. Anytime the current is broken, say by a large rock or a submerged log a pocket of nearly slack water forms directly next to the object on the downstream side. Trout like set in these pockets because it allows them to burn a minimal number of calories while having access to all the forage items being swept past the pocket. The most important factor when presenting worms, eggs and synthetic baits is that they need to drift along the bottom at the same speed the water is flowing. This is known as making a drag free drift. Moving and fishing upstream against the current allows you to make a natural presentation with bait. Achieving a drag free drift is where a good selection of split shot becomes important. Getting a drag free drift while fishing a rock in 4 feet of water will require more weight than fishing a similar rock in a foot of water. When you are first getting started, you’ll have to experiment a good deal to achieve the correct weight for a natural drift. Once you’ve gained some experience a quick glance at the spot in question will give you a pretty good idea of how much weight you’ll need. When drifting bait, often times the bite is signaled by nothing more than the line stopping at other times you’ll feel a tap or two. When either occurs lift the rod and feel for a fish. If something is detected drive • Fully equipped cabins with the hook home and start fighting that feisty decks overlooking the lake trout. Bait is great, but when you can catch fish • Free Boat slips at private dock on lures or flies that’s even better because you don’t have to fuss with re-baiting all • Gameroom, volleyball, pool, the time. These offerings should be fished horseshoes and more! with enough added weight to keep them (530)238-2575 near the bottom as with fishing bait, but the www.tsasdiresort.us actual presentation is quite different with the exception of nymphs that are fished exactly Great Food & like you’d dead drift a salmon egg on a drinks, newly semi-tight line. remodeled bar, Lures and wet flies like woolly buggers, outdoor patio, lots of fun! are tossed directly across or slightly down- stream and allowed to swing across the (530)962-3050 current on a tight line. Once they’ve reached 3705 a point directly downstream, let them to hang in the current for several seconds while 3204 pumping the rod tip a couple times before 5 hours slowing reeling in. $ After a few casts move downstream to the next spot and All Gear Provided repeat the process. Strikes on lures and wet flies are generally pretty • Discounts for Cash • distinct and the trout • Large or Small Groups • almost always hook Group Discounts • Gift Certificates themselves when Over 50 Years Experience on The Lake they turn back down- P.O. Box 488 stream after rushing up and grabbing your Carnelian Bay, CA 96140 E-mail: bigmack-2@att.net • www.mickeysbigmack.com offering. Fish Lake Tahoe! DaiLy Trips 90 (800) 877–1462 (530)546–4444