Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition 3813 June 7-21 2019 | Page 25

FRESHWATER VOL.38 • ISS. 13 SANTA CLARA VALLEY LAKES cont. Calero and Anderson. Shore anglers are bagging some crappie while using small jigs at night at Chesbro Reservoir, as well as some largemouth bass while fishing with an array of techniques. Anderson, Coyote Lake, Stevens Creek and Lexington Reservoirs reopened to boating 7 days a week beginning April 15, while Calero remains open to boating. All other reservoirs and bodies of water in Santa Clara County are closed indefinitely to all vessels and floats - these include: Almaden, Chesbro, Sandy Wool, Cottonwood, Grant, Guadalupe, Uvas, and Vasona. San Luis Reservoir striper fishing slowed down during the recent storms. “The action should improve with the arrival of warmer weather,” said Gutierrez. “For the best success, drift jumbo minnows or toss out jerkbaits. The stripers average 15 to 22 inches long.” - Dan Bacher SHASTA LAKE Bass Bite Great, Trout Action Flat REDDING - Lake Shasta continues to be the scene of very good bass fishing and fair trout fishing. The trout being are a mix of rainbows and browns and some of them are large. Most of the bass being caught are spots. The best areas for trout are the lower reaches of the Sacramento, McCloud and Pit River Arms. The trout are holding in the top 40 feet of the water column for the most par with the 30 to 40-foot range offering the most consistent results. The average rainbow runs 14 to 18 inches with some ‘bows as long as 24 inches showing. Browns up to and beyond 6 pounds have been caught. About 75 percent of the fish hooked are rainbows. Salmon have been few and far between. The trout are feeding on shad, so top lures include Speedy Shiners, Ex-Cels and Hum Dingers. On the bass fishing front anglers continue to land and release up to 40 fish per day mostly on the soft plastics such as 6-inch Mother’s Finest Worms and 4 inch Senkos. Early and late there is some reaction action for guys throwing crankbaits and topwaters. The average bass goes about 13 inches and the bigger fish are weighing in at about 3 pounds. Shasta is basically full and boat launching is available at most locations around the lake. HOW TO 20% OFF ALL-DAY BOAT RENTALS AT SAN PABLO RESERVOIR SHADOW CLIFFS LAKE LAKE DEL VALLE LAKE RANCHO SECO (925) 449-5201 23 the staple, but 9:30 in the morning and it turned out to be there have been a 9 pound mack. After releasing that fish, a few browns and the wind came up. I got scared out there rainbows showing in open water and double timed it back to up too. the ramp,” exclaimed Larsen. Minnows teamed with blades have been doing most of the damage for Tahoe Sportfishing WEST DELTA skippers, but Stripers & Sturgeon Offer they are mixing Stellar Action! in some lures too hoping to cross BRANNAN ISLAND- Striped bass and paths with larger sturgeon are on an incredible bite in the fish that are West Delta. gobbling small Striper anglers are getting steady limits. kokanee. The average fish is running 4 to 6 pounds “I took a solo and big fish can weigh as much as 48 trip to Tahoe pounds. to fish out of Sturgeon are on a steady bite my Feel Free throughout Suisun Bay. Most anglers that kayak and I put in a serious effort are landing either a had exceptional keeper or an oversize fish. luck,” reported Capt. Jeff of Soo Hoo Sportfishing Ted Larsen of continues to put his clients on big Stockton. “I numbers of stripers while using a dropped in at combination of jigs and live bait. Before Cave Rock and long Jeff will be leaving the Delta and will had a 4-pound be skippering out of the Emeryville Marina mackinaw on for halibut, stripers and more. the hook within Bait anglers plying the Delta are using 5 minutes of live baits in the form of jumbo minnow starting. The and mudsuckers. In terms of cut baits, fish hit a jointed just about everything is working including kokanee pattern anchovies, blood worms, chicken livers Rapala pulled off and sardines. a downrigger at Captain Hayden Mullins of Dragon 40 feet.” Sportfishing reports very good sturgeon “I kept that fish action. and decided to “Pressure has been fairly light, but the This angler grabbed his lucky Fish Sniffer hat and hit the Delta with let the rest go fishing is off the hook. We are getting a Captain Jeff Soo Hoo this May and ended up with a limit of husky stripers. if I was lucky lot of keepers and oversize Photo courtesy of SOO HOO SPORTFISHING, Brannon Island. enough to hook sturgeon while fishing with a anymore. combination of salmon Well about roe and eel. The fish 20 minutes later I hooked another mack are there and they are TAHOE that was almost identical to the fish I hungry so we are just using Tahoe Trollers Prosper! kept. After that there was a lull, but then I standard tactics and it’s caught back to back rainbows in the 20- SOUTH LAKE TAHOE - If you want a working really well,” inch class. I hooked my last fish around limit of macks for the grill and perhaps said Mullins. a bonus brown or rainbow, set a course for Lake By Cal Kellogg continued from page 15 Tahoe. To get in on the action you Okay let’s troll… Once at the fishing grounds, the whistle. Pull on the rear of the release and the tines can either tow your skipper will instruct how deep to lower your bait. of the cotter pin inside the release retract and slide own boat to lake Don’t just free spool your rig down, rather lower it behind a slot in the tubing. The eye of the sinker is or jump on one of to the specified depth with one foot “pulls” of line. placed into the slot, the tension is relieved on the Tahoe Sportfishing’s This will ensure you’re at the proper depth, while cotter pin and one of the tines will skewer the eye of vessels. preventing tangles. After the bait or lure is at the the sinker, holding it in place. When a salmon hits, it For anglers proper depth engage the reel’s clicker and place the pulls on the cotter pin, the tines retract and the sinker fishing with the rod in the holder. falls out. Tahoe Sportfishing Team mackinaw in When a salmon strikes don’t grab the rod too Of course, your 5 to 7-foot leader attaches to the the 3 to 6-pound quickly. Let the fish fight the rod tip for about 10 opposite end of the release and that’s where you’ll be class have been seconds before making a move, this ensures that the attaching your offering be it rigged bait or a lure. Now Booking Bucks Lake Bucks Lake Lake Almanor Trout & Kokanee Davis Lake and Almanor Eagle Lake trophy trout! Captain Bryan Roccucci Lake Tahoe www.BigDaddyFishing.com Call for Best Dates – (530) 370-1001 (510) 223-1661 June 7 - 21, 2019 (925) 426-0197 (209) 748-2318 LAKE PARDEE (209) 772-1472 Offer valid on all boat rentals Monday - Friday For more information about Boating, Camping & Recreation Visit WWW.ROCKYMOUNTAINREC.COM All other boat rental terms and conditions still apply.Offer subject to boat rental availability. Offer expires on 12/31/2019 and is not valid with any other coupon/discount with any other coupon/discount. salmon is firmly hooked and allows the sinker time to fall away. When you hook up yell “Fish On” and then follow any and all of the deckhand’s orders. He’ll be directing traffic and doing his utmost to ensure that you put the fish into the box! This last bit of advice will make charter skippers, deckhands and experienced charter boat trollers all scream in pain, but here it goes anyway. You’re on a charter boat out on the ocean. There is water and salmon all around the boat, so it shouldn’t matter where you are positioned along the rail right? Wrong! I’ve spent hundreds of hours trolling from charter boats and I can tell you from direct observation that the guys fishing off the rear of the boat, particularly the back corners and the guys fishing off the bow hook the most fish most days. Baits trolled Now Booking Folsom Lake Trout & Salmon! off the bow theoretically encounter the fish first. Guys fishing off the transom have the Also Fall Run Kings on the Sacramento River luxury of fishing deeper than anyone else Custom 23’ Rogue Jet on the boat since they don’t have to worry about snagging an angler fishing behind them. Both of these advantages can be huge when it comes to competing with 25 other anglers to hook fish. Cpt. Jerry Lampkin – 25 years of experience fishing The early bird gets the worm, but while Salmon, Steelhead, Stripers, Trout & landlocked Kings on that bird is hunting worms, the early the Feather, Sacramento, American Rivers and Folsom Lake arrivals to the charter boat get to camp out 3813 on the prime locations and almost always T.N.G Motorsports Guide Service end up eating salmon fillets! (530) 320-0994 • www.tngmotorsports.com Now I love to run hoochies and Apex Lures and I’ve killed many an ocean salmon on both. While I never set foot on a salmon boat without some of these offerings in my bag, the most effective bait day in day out is rigged anchovies and/or herring… These days there are a lot of innovative plastic hoods and bait rotators on the market that you can “snap” your bait into the make it roll perfectly every time. These rigs hook a lot of salmon, but overall I prefer my baits on an old school crowbait rig or impaled on hook fitted with a stainless steel wire tether like those that Captain Joey Gallia of the New Easy Rider constructs (see illustration). While bait works much of the time, there are days when salmon just aren’t interested in the real stuff and that’s when you want to break out a Krocodile spoon, Apex Lure, or Hoochie.