Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition 3816 Jul 19- Aug 2 2019 | Page 3

Up-To-Date and Published Locally... By Sportsmen... For Sportsmen! Frenchman Lake Map Feature MADE IN U.S.A See Page 14 July 19 - August 2, 2019 Vol. 38 - ISS.16 Our 37th Year Since 1982 “The Magazine for West Coast Sportsmen!” Epic Salmon Action Aboard The New Easy Rider! T here is something special about ocean salmon fishing. When there are salmon lurking beyond the Golden Gate, you can feel the electricity in the air at Bay Area ports and saltwater enthu- siasts have a spring in their step that just isn’t there when salmon are missing in action. I’m happy to report that big numbers of salmon are on the feed outside the Golden Gate and it seems like more fish are arriving all the time. The fishing has been good to very good since the spring opener and I’ve been chomping at the bit to get out. It finally happened a few days ago when I jumped aboard the New Easy Rider with Captain Joey Gallia and his crack deckhands, Cooper and A.K. I’ve been fishing with Joey for nearly 15 years and I can attest that he is one of the best salmon skippers in the game. If there GONE FISHING by Cal Kellogg are kings to be caught, Joey will put you in a position to put them into the box! The bite had been very good in the days preceding my trip with limits and near limits being the rule on fish pushing up to and beyond 20 pounds, so I was pretty excited when we cleared the dock, passed the Berkeley Marina break water and started across the bay. I was expecting to see a bunch of salmon caught, but you’ve always got some butterflies of doubt in your stomach when it comes to salmon fishing. Even when salmon are around in abundance, there is always the chance that you’ll head out on that one day of the month when the fish decide not to bite for some strange reason. I knew that we were in for a 90 minute to two-hour cruise to get to the fish, so I settled into a seat and was asleep by the time we reached Alcatraz. I felt the swells generated by tide action when we passed the Golden Gate but I didn’t open my eyes and was quickly back to snoozing. The next thing I knew, Joey was backing off the throttle. We’d arrived on the salmon grounds someplace beyond the North Bar and a few miles offshore of CONTINUED ON PG 16 O n Saturday, June 1, I made the early morning drive from my home in Foresthill, Ca to Stampede Reservoir near Truckee to attend a fishing event with an organization call, Purple Heart Anglers. I got the invite from Marc Christophel of Christophel’s Guide Service. Marc is on the Mack’s Lure pro staff and guides on both Donner Lake and Stampede Reservoir. Marc works closely with the Purple Heart Anglers and is good friend with Randy Houston, the organizations founder. When he told me that we’d be fishing with Mr. Houston I was pretty excited. I knew the kokanee bite at Stampede was going strong and I looked forward to learning more about Purple Heart Anglers. Marc wanted me to be at the lake by 5:30. I rolled in about a half hour early and snoozed in my truck until Marc and the other guides started arriving. The weather was clear and warm down INSIDE Area Reports FRESHWATER REPORTS Almanor - Berryessa Lake......................................4 Bullards Bar/Englebright Reservoirs.......................7 Clear Lake - Eagle Lake..................................... 8-9 East Delta - Klamath/Trinity Rivers ......................11 Los Vaqueros Reservoir - Pyramid Lake........ 12-13 Quarry Lakes/Shadow Cliffs Reservoir - San Pablo Reservoir................................. 16-17 Shasta/Whiskeytown Lakes - West Delta............ 19 FEATURES Where...When...How... The quality of the salmon showing up outside the Golden Gate has been amazing. Average fish go 6 to 9 pounds and there have been plenty of 15 to 20-pound fish like this chromer. Photo courtesy of NEW EASY RIDER SPORTFISHING, Berkeley. in the foothills, but on the east side of the Sierra summit dawn broke through a heavy mantle of fog. The fog was so thick that it felt more like we were gearing up for an ocean salmon trip rather than a high mountain kokanee hunt. By 6 o’clock all the guides, Randy Houston and a dozen decorated vets had arrived and it was time to hit the water. Mr. Houston and I jumped about Marc’s beautiful North River and off the launch ramp we went. A short while later and we were motoring off into the fog, watching out for other boats and observing scattered pods of kokanee on the sonar unit. When we stopped I started peppering Mr. Houston about Purple Heart Anglers as Marc armed several rods with Mack’s Lure Sling Blades, Double D dodgers, Kok-A-Nuts and hoochies. Mr. Houston, isn’t a veteran but his WHAT’S HOT by Cal Kellogg F ish S niffer T IP OF THE W EEK Special Section KAYAK Fishing: pgs 5 SALTWATER REPORTS Baja........................................................................... 25 Berkeley - Half Moon Bay........................................ 22 Monterey Bay......................................................24 Stampede Reservoir With The Purple Heart Anglers Marc Christophel’s clients have been nailing some very nice kokanee at Stampede Reservoir while trolling Mack’s Lure Sling Blades and Kok-A-Nuts. Photo courtesy of CHRISTOPHEL’S FISHING GUIDE SERVICE, Truckee. 37 Years Serving Sportsmen Virtually every manufacturer of hard baits offers a lipless crankbait. Most of these lures share common characteristics. They all shake violently when retrieved, most have internal rattles that generate a ton of noise and they all drive bass crazy. Lipless cranks present bass with several different triggers including sound, vibration and flash. CONTINUED ON PG 9 SALTWATER JOURNAL................................20-25,27 BULLETIN BOARD.....................................................3 CATCH & RELEASE - FLY FISHING: Cal Kellogg............7 FISH SNIFFER COUNTRY: Mark Fong....................27 GO FOR IT: Staff.........................................................2 HOW-TO: Cal Kellogg................................................6 KAYAK FISHING SPOTLIGHT: Kevin Hofer ...............5 MAP FEATURE: Dan Bacher...............................14-15 MIXED BAG FISHING: Ernie Marlan.........................10 SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION: Dan Bacher......26 STAFF TACKLE What We’re Using Cal Kellogg - fished Rollins Lake from his 14 foot Hobie Pro Angler kayak. For tossing small topwater poppers for smallmouth bass Cal used a 7 foot Cousins Tackle GSP 703 spinning rod matched with an Abu Garcia Orra spinning reel spooled with 20 lb. test P-Line braid. On the business end Cal tossed a variety of 2-inch-long plastic poppers. On these rigs, Cal caught several smallmouth and spotted bass to 13 inches. Paul Kneeland - fished Lake Berryessa with Brian Garcia of Colfax in the Fish Sniffer 21’ Rogue Jet Coastal. They caught Kokanee to 16 1/2 inches and 2.4 lbs 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 firetiger Uncle Larry’s Spinners and pink Shallow Glass spinner hootchies with Rooster Tail Trout/Kokanee spray behind pink Paulina Peak and Vance’s dodgers off the Canon Downriggers 25 to 45 feet deep at 1.2 mph. Dan Bacher - fished for rainbow trout at Pinecrest 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 Fluorocarbon 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.