Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition 3815 July 5-19 2019 | Page 3

Up-To-Date and Published Locally... By Sportsmen... For Sportsmen! 37 Years Serving Sportsmen Spicer Reservoir Map Feature MADE IN U.S.A See Page 16-17 Vol. 38 - ISS.15 Our 37th Year Since 1982 July 5 - 19, 2019 “The Magazine for West Coast Sportsmen!” Halibut, Stripers And Rockfish Bite on the Bay A fter a long week in the office, the last thing I wanted to do was set a 2 a.m. alarm for Saturday. But when it comes to fishing, I do it happily…and I didn’t even hit the snooze button that morning. I hit the road an hour later with my usual essentials: Dramamine, bottled water, and a hoagie. My destination? The Berkeley Marina. My target? Halibut. BIG halibut! I had the chance to speak briefly with Captain Chris Smith of Pacific Dream Sport- fishing when I booked my trip. “It’ll be the first boat you see at K Dock,” he said. “It’s new and it’s BEAUTIFUL!” He wasn’t lying. It was big and shiny and clean and looked gorgeous in the rising sun. A dozen anglers had already beaten me to the punch by 5 a.m., but the vessel was so large and spacious that three times as many folks could fit comfortably. And they did – we had a full load with 30 anglers that morning. I staked out a spot just outside the captain’s quarters in hopes of getting some insider tips to increase my chances of catching, and by 6 o’clock we were off! The morning got off to a shaky start; Chris was on the radio with several other captains who were also concerned with the outgoing tide and north wind. I quickly learned that these were not optimal fishing conditions, but our fearless leader was able to locate several good spots as we headed north from the marina. I grabbed a squirmy live anchovy, hooked it on, and dropped my line. Captain Chris had lent me a special rod he built himself over 20 years ago, nicknamed the “Green Goblin”. I was hoping it would bring me lots of luck that day. Just as the crew started cranking up the W Merv and Patty Arnold of Citrus Heights, Gary Caruso of Auburn and Brian Garcia of Colfax. Bridget Looney and I were in our small cabin and Dave and Wanda Barsi brought up their travel trailer to join in the fun. Bridget and I fished Friday morning and it was cold! 39 degrees when we launched and a 10 to 25 mph north wind blew all day!! Bridget had 7 layers of clothes on, and she was still cold! The lake looks great, up a couple feet from last year. The boat ramp at Spalding is very usable, and the Eagle Lake RV park even has their slips in! We motored out to Pelican Bridget and Paul took a trip to Eagle Lake this week and Point and set up the Big Jon boated a double limit of big rainbow trout despite fishing in sideplaners off the Rogue Jet a cold wind. Coastal and fished all the way Photo by PAUL KNEELAND, Fish Sniffer Staff. Area Reports FEATURES Where...When...How... Fish Sniffer staffer Stacy Barawed landed several fish when she took a trip aboard the Pacific Dream this June including this quality keeper halibut. Photo courtesy of CHRIS SMITH, Pacific Dream Sportfishing. 80s rock over the loud speaker, I had my first fish on! I took the rod out of the holder and started reeling like crazy, as if it was a largemouth bass during one of my club tournaments – and that was my CONTINUED ON PG 25 Hot Fishing at a Cold Eagle Lake! e had our annual “Eagle Lake Flotilla” the second week of June up at Eagle Lake. Al and Deanna Fiske opened their big cabin in Spalding to INSIDE FRESHWATER REPORTS Almanor - Camanche Lake.....................................4 Clear Lake - Lake Del Valle................................. 13 East Delta - Folsom Lake.................................... 14 Klamath/Trinity Rivers - New Melones Lake ....... 19 Oroville Lake/Thermalito Afterbay - Rio Vista Area........................................ 20-21 Rollins/Scotts Flat Lakes - Stampede Lake.... 22-23 Tahoe - West Delta.............................................. 25 SALTWATER REPORTS Baja Roundup........................................................... 31 Berkeley - Bodega Bay.......................................28-29 Half Moon Bay - Monterey Bay.............................30 GONE FISHING by Stacy Barawed Special Section Catch & Release Fishing - pgs 6-7 down to Shrimp Island. We concen- trated on water 8 to 15 feet deep, and the sideplaners allowed us to run our lures in much shallower water. The bite was on! We hadn’t trolled 200 feet when the inside sideplaner released and a fat trout was dancing behind the boat. Bridget grabbed the rod and fought the feisty trout until I netted a 19 inch rainbow! A great way to start the day. We had constant action on both the sideplaners and 2 other lines set at 8 feet deep off the Canon downriggers. The hot lures were the char- treuse red dot Excel spoon and firetiger Speedy Shiners trolled at 2.2 to 2.5 mph. The wind picked up and the thermometer in the boat read 49 degrees, but if felt like 25 degrees! We fished until 10:30 until we couldn’t stand it anymore, and headed in to the cabin. We landed 15 fat trout and kept 4 from 19 to 21 inches. Saturday the weather was just the same – a fairly brisk wind that blew all WHAT’S HOT by Paul Kneeland F ish S niffer T IP OF THE W EEK When trolling for ocean kings you can make your rigged tray bait even more effective by spiking it with Pro-Cure Super Gel. Not only does a shot of sardine or anchovy scent make the baits smell even more appealing, the UV properties of Super Gel also makes your baits more visible in the dark nutrient rich water salmon frequent. - Cal Kellogg CONTINUED ON PG 19 SALMON JOURNAL...................................8-11,15,18 BAJA ROUNDUP......................................................31 BULLETIN BOARD.....................................................3 CATCH & RELEASE - FLY FISHING: Cal Kellogg......6 CATCH & RELEASE - FLY FISHING REPORTS........ 7 FISH SNIFFER COUNTRY: Dan Bacher...................27 GO FOR IT: Staff.........................................................2 HOW-TO: Cal Kellogg..............................................15 KAYAK FISHING SPOTLIGHT: Cal Kellogg ...............5 MAP FEATURE: Dan Bacher...............................16-17 MIXED BAG FISHING: Ernie Marlan........................24 SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION: Dan Bacher......28 STAFF TACKLE What We’re Using Cal Kellogg - fished Oxbow Reservoir for rainbow trout. Cal employed a 7’ Fenwick HMG 70 ML rod rated for 4 to 10-pound test matched with an Abu Garcia Revo SX spinning reel. The reel was spooled with 6 pound Yo-Zuri Hybrid and a 6 lb. fluorocarbon leader was employed. Cal caught 5 rainbows to 17 inches while soaking inflated worms coated with anise scent Pro-Cure Super Gel. Paul Kneeland - fished Eagle Lake with Bridget Looney, Gary Caruso and Brian Garcia in The Fish Sniffer Rogue Jet 21’ Coastal. They caught rainbow trout to 21 inches and 3 1\2 pounds using a Lamiglas Fish Sniffer special 7’6” ultra light graphite downrigger rod with a Abu Garcia Revo MGX Extreme level wind reel loaded with 6 lb test Yozuri TopKnot fluorocarbon line. They trolled red, green and orange Speedy Shiners and Tasmanian Devils on the surface off Big Jon Sideplaners at 2.4 mph. Dan Bacher -fished for rainbow trout at Alpine Reservoir. He used a Berkley Ugly Stick GX2 6’ 6” medium action spinning rod, teamed up with a Shakespeare GX235 spinning reel filled with 6 lb. test P-Line CX Premium Flourocarbon Coated Line. He fished with rainbow Berkley PowerBait, 1/8 oz. gold and black Panther Martins and 2/5 oz. gold/red stripe Little Cleos. Dan coated his baits and lures with Bloody Tuna scent Pro-Cure Super Gel.