Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition 3815 July 5-19 2019 | Page 22

20 FRESHWATER July 5 - 19, 2019 FRESHWATER REPORTS: largemouth bass in the Thermalito Afterbay. For example, Jacob Mariner placed first with an 18-1-/2 inch largemouth, while Mike Erwin placed second with a 17-3/4 inch largemouth on a recent Tuesday night turkey shoot on the afterbay, according to Jamey Sorenson at North Valley Tackle and Pro Shop. - Dan Bacher CONTINUED FROM PG 19 NEW MELONES LAKE VOL.38 • ISS. 15 cont. past week, and he said, “We have limited out every trip, and the fishing was ‘stupid good’ during the middle of the week with limits by 8:30 a.m. The bite was a bit tougher on Saturday, and it took until 9:30 to put in two limits. The thermocline is at 35 feet, and the shallowest we have been landing kokanee is 38 feet which is unheard of for this time of year as the surface temperature is 72 degrees.” “We ran over a huge school of kokanee this week, but there is a lot of grass in the water with some massive trees and logs. You have to be aware of the hazards out there right now. I continue to run hoochies or Mack’s spinners behind a Sling Blade for our success,” he added. PARDEE Joe Aksamit of Joefish Guide Service LAKE took out brothers Luke and Lucas Tress of Stockton along with their friend Dario Bank Swanson for limits of kokanee running Fishermen Rocky Mountain Tackle’s pink Plankton Aurelio used PowerBait in Los Vaqueros Reservoir’s South Cove to Squids or Radical Glow spinners tipped Target Trout fool this 9 plus pound rainbow on June 1. Photo courtesy of the LOS VAQUEROS RECREATION AREA, Livermore. with corn scented with Pro Cure’s IONE– If you want Bloody behind a pink/purple Moonshine to hook trout, fishing dodger at depths from 45 to 60 feet. He Service took a trip to Melones from his from shore in the confirmed the amount of grass and debris normal haunts of Camanche and Pardee, main recreation area offers you the best in the water, and his key has been to fish and his friends, Diana and John Stockton, prospect of going home with fish at Lake away from the fleet as the kokanee are posted 9 big kokanee along with released Pardee now. starting to pod up with the heavy boat a number of small kokanee to 14 inches “The fishing is best after a plant,” said traffic.” trolling away from the boat traffic near the Dave Keyser of the Pardee Lake Marina. Steve Wirfs of Modesto and Al Zurilgen Spillway. “Fishermen are experiencing the top of Ripon landed 9 kokanee and a - Dave Hurley success while tossing out garlic green 5.25-pound rainbow trout running kokanee or rainbow PowerBait off Rainbow Point, gear at depths to 50 feet. Porcupine Point and the Mud Hole. The Robbie Dunham of Koke Machine Guide fishing is better there because it is clearer than where the Mokelumne River flows OROVILLE LAKE/ into the lake.” THERMALITO AFTERBAY The lake is being stocked with rainbow Landlocked Kings Get Bigger trout weekly, with a total of 29,00 pounds of trout planted this season. OROVILLE - The average size of the The reservoir, now 102 percent of landlocked kings salmon being caught 3810 capacity, continues to go over the spillway at Lake Oroville is going up, according and the continued flows through the lake to Rob Reimers of Rustic Rob’s Guide are contributing to tough kokanee and Service. trout fishing for trollers, he noted. “On my latest trip to Oroville, the fish “One boater brought in a 17 inch ranged from 15 to 19-1/2 inches,” said Under New Management kokanee yesterday, but most of the fish Reimers. “The 10 fish that the two of us being hooked now are smaller salmon in kept included one 18, two 17 and several GREAT Fishing for: the 10 to 12 inch range that anglers are 16 inch fish. We had our limits by 10:30 releasing,” said Keyser. “The bigger fish in a.m.” Trout • Kokanee • Catfish the 14 to 18 inch range that anglers were Reimers trolled with Brad’s Cut Plugs in Large & Smallmouth Bass catching earlier this year are now few and the Fatal Attraction color behind dodgers far between. Trollers are doing best while Crappie • Bluegill • Sunfish at 30 to 40 feet deep in the Bidwell using pink and orange hoochies at 25 to Canyon area. Store • Campsites/RV sites 30 feet deep.” On his previous trip to Oroville, he and “Smallmouth and largemouth bass are Marina • Boat Launch four clients landed 20 salmon, topped in ipost-spawn mode. Anglers reporting by a 21-1/2 inch chinook. They trolled in New Boat & Motor Rental Fleet tough fishing while using a variety of the Bidwell Canyon area at 25 to 45 feet Call for Information & Reservations lures,” he noted. deep. One angler brought in a 5 lb. catfish Lake Oroville is holding 3,397,362 acre caught while bait fishing from shore. feet of water, 96 percent of capacity and 4900 Stony Creek Rd. Ione Expect more 115 percent of average. The lake level is consistent catfish www.rockymountainrec.com 891 feet in elevation, nine feet from full. action when the Anglers continue to hook quality water temperature 3814 warms up. presents… - Dan Bacher (800) 416-6992 excellent numbers of fish in the northwest corner of the lake basically from Warrior’s Point all the way up to the Needles. Shore anglers are finding a fair bite in the same area while tossing heavy aerodynamic spoons as far as they can fling them. The fish are surprisingly shallow for this time of the year. Jeff Morris revealed, “The fish are right up top. We have been getting them top lining with Lyman’s. We were out in 30- 40 feet of water, but the fish were just below the surface chasing bait. We tried dragging Flatfish on the bottom, and we caught fish, but the bite was better up top.” Jeff also noted that they had fish up to 11 pounds in their catch. This has been the norm for most boaters hitting the lake at this time. A good double digit fish should be expected for a persistent day of trolling. As the season draws to an end, expect the excellent trolling bite to continue. With all the cold snowmelt flowing into the lake via the Truckee River, the lake is at a below average temperature for this late in the season. Therefore, it is unlikely that a strong vertical jigging bite will develop before the season ends. Typically, the lake would really begin to stratify, and the bait will ball up, but as of this writing that remains to be seen. Meanwhile, the Truckee River has yet to really offer any fishing this spring. When the temperature has dipped below average and the snowmelt slows down, the color of the water is better and a few trout are likely being caught. However, the river is still downright dangerous to attempt to wade. The Humboldt River is flowing at 4,500 CFS and flooding the town of Winnemucca as of this writing. Rye Patch Reservoir and the Humboldt River below the dam was producing some nice white bass x striped bass hybrids (wipers) before the flows really ramped up. - Mike McNeilly QUARRY LAKES/SHADOW CLIFFS RESERVOIR East Bay Anglers Nail Trout Limits FREMONT – Lots of limits of rainbow trout have been caught lately in Horseshoe Lake, located in the Quarry Lakes Recreation area on the border between Fremont and Union City. “The largest rainbow weighed seven pounds, 14 ounces,” said Joe Sullivan of the East Bay Regional Park District. NOW BOOKING NEW MELONES TEAM KOKANEE TOURNEY JULY, 13, 2019 Angels Camp, CA 1 st Place $600 • (based on 125 anglers) Lots of Prizes – Cash paid to 15 Place Team th Entry Fees: Adult $45 (Non Member $55) Lunch Included • Juniors Fish Free (with paid adult) Register Online at: www.kokaneepower.org Pre-Registered Entries Do Not need to check in on Friday Late Registration Friday July 12, 2019 4 to 6 pm at GLORY HOLE SPORTS, 2892 Highway 49, Angels Camp, Ca 95222 (209) 736-4333. All persons in each boat must be registered in the derby – NO EXCEPTIONS – Fishing starts at 5:30 am. – Weigh-In at Calaveras County Fairgrounds. You must weigh in by 2 pm – NO EXCEPTIONS. Chairman: Kevin Smith (888)744-8150 • www.kokaneepower.org Sponsored by: FISHERMAN’S WAREHOUSE DAVEY TREE SERVICE PYRAMID LAKE Cutthroat Trout Season Closes June 30 The 2018/2019 trout season will be coming to an end when the calendar flips to July. In the meantime, the fishing has been extremely good. This is great news considering how slow the spring bite was. Boaters are seeing excellent action much like the fishing they enjoyed when the season opened way back on October 1, 2018. Boaters are seeing CONTINUED ON PG 21 CLEAR LAKE BASS FISHING TRIPS With Pro Guide Tom Guercio Book Early To Learn The Hottest Techniques For Catching Bass! Tom’s Guide Service (925) 813-0792 tcg0920@gmail.com 3813 Fish Lake Tahoe! 3204 5 hours DaiLy Trips 90 $ All Gear Provided (800) 877–1462 • Discounts for Cash • • Large or Small Groups • Group Discounts • Gift Certificates Over 50 Years Experience on The Lake P.O. Box 488 Carnelian Bay, CA 96140 (530)546–4444 E-mail: bigmack-2@att.net • www.mickeysbigmack.com