Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition 3811 May 10-24 2019 | Page 29

27 May 10 - 24, 2019 FRESHWATER VOL.38 • ISS. 11 FRESHWATER REPORTS: CONTINUED FROM PG 23 wind to deep snow drifts, spring has sprung in the Tahoe Basin. Melting snow and warm bluebird afternoons are now the TAHOE norm. Like most residents of the basin, Macks & Browns Bite As Tahoe’s gamefish are enjoying the change Spring Conditions Build and both mackinaw and browns are on the chomp. SOUTH LAKE TAHOE – After an epic The team at Tahoe Sportfishing have winter that featured everything from big continued putting their anglers on limits of mackinaw this week and they noted an uptick in the size of the fish. A solid keeper still weighs from 2 to 3 pounds, but much bigger fish are mixed in. The most recent jumbo was caught on Capt. Bobby’s boat. It weighed in at a husky 8.5 pounds. Tahoe Sportfishing skippers are playing with a variety of different offerings, but the staple is threaded minnows teamed with some sort of blades. If it isn’t broken, why make things more complicated? Capt. Gene St. Denis of Blue Ribbon Charters is now back on the water after a break and he’s gone right back to doing what he does best, rounding up limits of mackinaw for visiting anglers. “We are pulling minnows and working the structure for macks that run from 3 to 11 pounds,” said St. Denis. Fish Sniffer readers The trout bite is getting better and better at Lake Shasta. This awesome rainbow was caught during an April 9 trolling and brothers, Todd adventure with Capt. Jeff Goodwin. and Jerry Kemp of Elk Photo courtesy of JEFF GOODWIN’S GUIDE SERVICE, Redding. HOW TO By Cal Kellogg tides are generally best for halibut fishing. The minimum size for halibut inside the bay is 22 inches. Fish from the minimum size to 20 pounds are common, 30 pounders are trophies and fish up to and beyond 40 are possible. The limit on California halibut is 3 per day. Spring through fall is the best time. Striped Bass WEST DELTA Striper Fishing Redlines Out West continued from page 14 bass cruising the mudflats will readily take a variety of baits including pile worms, ghost shrimp and cut anchovies to mention only a few. When presenting natural bait, the standard set up is a sliding sinker rig weighted with a 1 to 2-ounce sinker and featuring a 24 inch 20-pound test leader tipped with a No. 2 bait holder hook. Leopard Sharks end, we landed over 200 fish. Half of them were keepers that ranged up to about 7 pounds. The action came in waves, but one of the wide-open periods went on for over an hour. It was absolutely incredible,” exclaimed Fong. While Capt. Soo Hoo is spending his time spooning for bass, guys drifting live bait, plugging with swimbaits and Rat-L- Traps and trolling with Yo-Zuri Minnow plugs are also rounding up limits. Most of the bass being caught have been in the 3 to 8-pound class, but a couple bass over 50 have shown up over the past week. On the sturgeon fishing front, the bite is red hot. Captains like Hayden Mullins of Dragon Sportfishing have been enjoying lots of action and are bringing lots of fish to the net. “We are getting 2 to 3 keepers per day. One day we had a total of 7 fish. Overall the fishing has been amazing. Our top bait has been roe, but eel is working. We are going to mix in some striper fishing soon,” said Mullins. “It’s pretty cool when you go sturgeon fishing knowing you are going to get hits and hook fish. The only wild card is whether or not the fish you hook will be a shaker, a keeper or an oversize monster,” Mullins exclaimed. BRANNAN ISLAND - “I’ve been on a lot of great trips writing for the Fish Sniffer, but the West Delta striper trip I just wrapped up with Capt. Jeff Soo Hoo of Soo Hoo Sportfishing probably ranks as the best,” reported Mark Fong on April 24. “Jeff and I along with a few other We carry Lead Free Pistol ammo for clients hit the water the hunter who wants to carry his looking to spoon for stripers. Jeff found handgun in Lead Free Hunting Zones. the fish right away Available in a variety of calibers... and it was on. In the Not that many years ago leopard sharks were considered trash fish by most anglers. Today after discovering the excellent table fair they offer leopards are considered gamefish, with a 36-inch minimum size restriction and 3 fish limit. In addition to the great eating they provide, leopards are ready strikers and put up a tremendous fight. Shark fishing for bank anglers gets productive in June and remains good until water temperatures drop in the fall. In the winter leopards retreat to deep water areas, but during the warm water months they will be found cruising the nutrient rich mudflats feeding on whatever is available. Most of the time whether I’m fishing for leopard sharks from the bank or from an anchored boat, I use the same sliding sinker rig that I use for stripers except I incorporate a 20-inch leader either made of light cable or a 100-pound test monofilament tipped with a 9/0 circle hook. If standard leader material is used, the shark’s abrasive teeth will quickly wear through it. The circle hook prevents gut hooking the sharks, and allows unwanted leopards to be released unharmed. For bait a lot of anglers rely on squid because it is cheap and effective. The downside with using squid is that it attracts a lot of small sharks and bat rays. In terms of availability and cost I have found no better bait than sardines. To use them I simply cut them in half and pin them on the hook. For me sardines have proven highly effective in drawing strikes for large sharks and bat rays, while the smaller fish tend to leave them alone. I’ve landed leopard sharks to 61 inches and bat rays in excess of 100 pounds while soaking sardines on the mudflats. LEAD FREE PISTOL AMMO! CALL FOR DETAILS! THE LARGEST SELECTION OF AIR GUN PELLETS ON THE WEST COAST – GUARANTEED!! ALL PELLETS AND SUPPLIES “Burst Fire” .20 gram premium high grade airsoft bb’s 5000 count - now only 10% OFF! $12.99 AIRGUN REPAIR 3619 Largest selection of Quality Pellets in California We are a .177 to .45 cal Crosman Authorized JSB, H&N, CROSMAN, BEEMAN Repair & Service Center Call for details! GAMO, DAISY, PREDATOR SAM YANG, EUNJIN, MENDOZA, SHOOTING TECH FORCE, DGS, BIG BORE RANGE & AIRGUNS AIRSOFT SUPER STORE 916-564-5225 5207 Madison Ave, Ste. H, Sacramento, CA 95838 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 17 Station Sporting Clay Course! 100 Rounds Sporting Clays Only $35 1000 Rounds Sporting Clays Only $320 Company or Corporate shoots available at reasonable prices! As a general rule if you’re targeting stripers from a private or charter boat in S.F. Bay you’ll be using the same gear, leader and live bait that is used to tempt halibut. The only real difference is that stripers tend to favor areas with more big rocks and current than halibut, but I’ve caught plenty of stripers while drifting sand flats for halibut. Shore anglers interested in stripers have many miles of shoreline to work throughout the S.F. Bay Area. For shore anglers plugging and fishing cut baits are the most effective ways to bag stripers. A good set up for both of these approaches is a 7 to 8-foot spinning rod with a medium fast action and enough power to cast up to an ounce and a half of weight. The rod should be teamed with a spinning reel spooled with 200 yards of abrasion resistant 12-pound monofilament or braid in the 20 to 30-pound class. When the water has a decent level of clarity, nothing can match the excitement of plugging for stripers. Shiner perch, anchovies and smelt are the primary forage within the bay and your lures should be chosen accordingly. Nothing does a better job of imitating a perch better than a small swimbait, Kastmaster or Rat-L-Trap. If the bass are feeding on anchovies or smelt, top artifi- cials include Rapala, Bomber and Rebel minnows in the 3 to 7-inch range, AA 6 inch swimbaits rigged on half ounce jig heads and bucktail jigs. Plugging for stripers is a run and gun proposition in which the angler is well advised to stay on the move seeking out actively feeding bass. The last hour of the incoming tide and the first hour of the outgoing offer shore pluggers the best opportunity, since this is when the bass will move within close proximity of the bank. While plugging for stripers offers excitement, targeting them with bait offers consistency across a broader spectrum of situations. When baitfish are not present stripers will happily feed on crabs, clams, marine worms, shrimp and a long list of other creepy crawlers that call the bay mud home. For this reason, Grove towed their Rogue Jet up to Tahoe this week and were surprised by the results. “Our spring Lake Tahoe trip has become an annual event. We typically don’t do real well and we’re happy taking in the scenery and bringing home a mack or two for dinner. This year’s trip was the best we’ve ever had and we are thinking of going back,” said Jerry. “After launching at Cave Rock we trolled north pulling a Rapala floating minnow and a Rapala Husky Jerk. We hadn’t gone a quarter mile before Todd landed a 5 pound brown on his Husky Jerk. After putting that fish into the cooler Todd got another brown about 3 pounds and then I caught one about the size of Todd’s first fish. The action stayed steady for about two hours. In all we caught 7 browns and 3 macks. We each went home with a big brown and a mackinaw. Our top mack weighed exactly 6.33 pounds.” 45 Miles North of Sacramento (530) 724-0552 www.lincraahauges.com • traahauge@yahoo.com