Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition 3816 Jul 19- Aug 2 2019 | Page 21

FRESHWATER VOL.38 • ISS. 14 SAN PABLO AREA cont. trout on the troll (one he released) and two trout from shore. The lake level is 307.35 above sea level and the surface water temperature is 71.0 degrees. SHASTA/WHISKEYTOWN LAKES ‘Bows Bite At Shasta, Kokanee Chomp at Whiskeytown REDDING - North Valley trout and salmon anglers have to look no further than Lake Shasta and Whiskeytown Reservoir for outstanding action. At Lake Shasta, the rainbows are holding from 25 to 50 feet deep. The average fish is about 2 pounds, with high end fish pulling the scale down to 4 pounds. To hook Shasta rainbows, anglers are advised to work the main body and lower end of the lake’s arms and focus on power trolling with both plugs and spoons. Speedy Shiners, half ounce Hum Dingers, Rapala Minnows and Yo-Zuri Minnows are all working. Focus on trolling from 2.5 to 3.5 miles per hour and stay on the move. The trout are cruising and looking to feed so there should be no reason to slow down most days. Bass anglers are using topwater lures early and late. During the daylight hours, standard soft plastics worked from 15 to 40 feet deep do the trick. It’s a typical summer pattern at Shasta, with the average fish going about 12 inches, but much bigger fish are potentially in the mix. Spots are most common, but largemouths and smallmouths are showing too. At Whiskeytown, the kokanee are going 15 to 17 inches. The 299 Bridge and coldwater curtain are two spots that are booting out consistent limits. Hoochies, spinner hoochies and Wedding Ring Spinners are all working. Most anglers are teaming their lures with U.V. Sling Blade dodgers. Anise and shrimp flavored corn works well. Early you can find salmon as shallow as 20 feet. When the sun gets high in the sky the salmon will drop down as deep at 45. TAHOE July 19 - Aug 2, 2019 19 are still big numbers of stripers coming Anglers down the system,” Wrangle reported Captain David Hammond of Husky Macks, Delta Pro Fishing. Kokanee Yet “Recently we’ve seen to Show a lot of big fish in the 12 to 20-pound SOUTH LAKE class showing in the TAHOE - Fishing is catches while trolling. hot at the sierra’s I’m expecting very biggest lake. good summer striper Mackinaw are action right through the providing steady month of July and the limits and the lakers sturgeon bite is really are running larger good too.” than usual. For striper success The team at while trolling or bait Tahoe Sportfishing fishing at this point it’s is putting their important to stay on clients on macks the move and seek that average around out the fish because 5 pounds and range they are scattered up to 8 plus pounds, and traveling in pods while mainly fishing Captain Rob has been putting his clients on big numbers of quality king salmon while trolling Brad’s lures at Lake Oroville. Here we see Rob posing with a double limit of kings on as they head for San around the south June 26. Francisco Bay. end of the lake. Photo courtesy of RUSTIC ROB’S GUIDE SERVICE, Yuba City. Trollers are having Minnows rigged with the best luck with flashers are working deep running Yo-Zuri well as are minnows Crystal Minnows, but shallow runners are teamed with large dodgers. The occasional mackinaw. In 4 hours, we put 5 macks hooking some fish early and late. brown is also showing up during mackinaw to 7 pounds into the cooler. It was a fun Bait anglers will have to sort through hunts. memorable trip that produced a bunch of shakers for keepers while soaking baits The Tahoe Sportfishing Team offers both mackinaw fillets,” related Erickson. like shad, sardines and chicken livers. If charters and open load trips on a variety you want to hook fewer and bigger fish of different vessels. Both morning and drifting with live bluegill is the way to go. afternoon trips are available if a half day Sturgeon are holding in adventure fits you schedule. WEST DELTA deep water areas in the upper Kokanee have yet to show on the big Full Summer Menu On Tap reaches of Suisun Bay. Wind lake, but when they do the folks from Tahoe has been an issue, but Sportfishing will get after them! BRANNAN ISLAND- The full summer anglers that can effectively Mark LeBlanc of Hayward pulled his boat menu of catfish, black bass and bluegill deal with it are hooking up to Tahoe to fish with his wife and kids is on tap for West Delta anglers along plenty of keepers while on Father’s Day and they did well landing with a surprising number of stripers and soaking eel and salmon several macks and a high-flying rainbow. sturgeon. roe. “We launched at Cave Rock at around “With the big flows and late spawn there 9 o’clock in the morning and went south. We started out pulling a pair of gold Mag Lips off our downriggers at 80 and 100 feet and we toplined a J9 rainbow pattern Rapala 250 feet back. We’d been trolling for about an hour when the Rapala got hit. I turned out to be an 18 rainbow that jumped at least 6 times before we landed and released it. After that we started hooking the occasional Ernie Marlan and Rick Tietz took a trip to Pyramid Lake on June 30 to jig for cutthroat trout and nailed big numbers of fish including this monster! Photo courtesy of RICK TIETZ, Sacramento.