Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition 3815 July 5-19 2019 | Page 18
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July 5 - 19, 2019
MAP FEATURE
VOL.38 • ISS. 15
Every spring, thousands of rainbows move up Hobart Creek to spawn. Fishing in the creek is closed until July 1. This is the inlet to Hobart
Creek near the boat ramp.
Photo by DAN BACHER, Fish Sniffer Staff.
T
A Trout Trip to Spicer Reservoir Gone Awry
he person that came up with the
phrase, “The worst day of fishing
is better than the best day at work,” has
obviously not gone fishing with me.
Mixed in with those epic days of
fishing are plenty of tough days – and
some really horrible days when you
wish you had stayed home. A trip to
Spicer Reservoir on June 14,
was one of those days.
After receiving reports
of excellent fishing at
the lake, I left Sacra-
mento in the late
morning and expected
to arrive at Spicer in the
early afternoon
Spicer is located in the
Ebbetts Pass region
on the border
between
Tuolumne County and Alpine County.
The reservoir, situated at an elevation
of 6,620 feet in the Stanislaus National
Forest, impounds the waters of
Highland Creek, a tributary of the
North Fork of the Stanislaus River.
The recreation area is 8 miles
southwest of Highway 4 on
Spicer Reservoir Road
and is about a 45-minute
drive from Arnold –
and about 3-1/2 hours
from Sacramento.
The lake features
beautiful square-tailed
rainbows that are
wild or grown out from
CDFW fingerlings.
I first encountered a
long road work delay on
Sunrise Boulevard out
of Sacramento and then
another one where a
road crew was
repairing
the
Shore fishing is
productive at Spicer
Reservoir, as this shore
angler can attest.
Photo by DAN BACHER,
Fish Sniffer Staff.
The area near the dam is one of the top locations for anglers to target rainbow trout at
Spicer.
Photo by DAN BACHER, Fish Sniffer Staff.
pavement on the Jackson Highway
between Rancho Murieta and Jackson.
When I got on Highway 49, I
encountered the worst traffic I’ve
ever experienced driving to the
Central Sierra. Maybe it was
because of the Father’s Day
weekend, but the drive was
grueling.
Finally, I got on Highway
4, where the traffic was much
better, and went into Ebbetts Pass
Sporting Goods to talk with Bill
Reynolds, the owner, and buy some
hooks, bait and gear.
I encountered another major “road
work” sign on Highway 4 before
Big Trees State Park. I shut off the
motor where the flaggers had stopped
traffic and we waited and waited and
waited. Finally, the pilot car arrived
and the long line of cars followed,
only to be diverted into the park
entrance to wait for another pilot car.
I finally arrived at the lake five hours
after I had left my house.
One angler bank fishing near the boat
ramp told me, “I haven’t got a bite. I
landed two 20 inch rainbows at the
same spot yesterday.”
One boat with two anglers from
Stockton pulled in at the ramp. “Did
you catch any fish?” I asked. “It
was tough. We landed six trout while
trolling,” the successful angler replied.
Trollers usually catch easy limits
of rainbows at Spicer, along with
releasing plenty of fish. Six fish is
a very tough day for two trollers at
Spicer.
One family and a couple pulled in to
fish the area from shore. I threw out
Power Bait and nightcrawlers on two
rods myself. After a couple of hours
with no bites from any of the anglers,
I left to check out the dam.
“Hook any trout?” I asked two shore
fishermen near the dam. “Not a bite,”
one replied. “We’ve been watching the
boats here and have seen only two fish
caught by a guy in a pontoon boat.”
The next time I go to Spicer the
fishing and traffic will just have to be
better, like it has been other days since
the road to the lake opened.
For example, several days before