Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition 3817 August 2- 16 2019 | Page 22
20
Aug 2 - 16, 2019
VOL.38 • ISS. 17
Kittle’s Waterfowl Sale & State Duck Calling
Championship Slated For August 24 & 25!
I
f you’re a duck and goose hunter, the
annual Kittle’s Outdoor & Sport Company’s
waterfowl sale is the one event you can’t
afford to miss out on.
Why, you ask? The answer is simple, Kittle’s
is celebrating their 20 year anniversary and
during the sale there will be storewide savings
on everything you’ll need when the season
opens and the birds start streaming back into
the Sacramento Valley!
On August 24 & 25 you save 20% on calls,
clothing, decoys, guns and fishing gear along
with special pricing on ammo.
There will be a 4 hours hot buy sale
on Saturday that offers super savings on
Greenhead Gear Full Body Speck Harvester
Packs, Hevi Shot Waterfowl Loads, Sitka Gear
Core Crew Zip Tees and Kent Fast Steel 2.0.
As if the annual waterfowl sale isn’t exciting
enough, the California State Duck Calling
Championship will take place amidst the sale!
The 2018 California State Duck Calling
Championship
The 2019 California State Duck Calling
Competition is set for August 25 & 26
The City of Colusa and Kittle’s Outdoor
& Sport Co. once again have the honor of
hosting this fantastic event. The State Cham-
3817
pionship Event gives California Sportsman
and Sportswoman the opportunity to test their
calling skills in a competitive environment,
and possibly qualify for the prestigious 83rd
Annual World Championship in Stuttgart,
Arkansas. The competition consists of
numerous classes including but not limited
to; Open Contest, Intermediate Contest, and
Junior contests.
The calling contest will be held at Colusa’s
Veteran’s Memorial Park right across from
Kittle’s.
For more information, check out the Kittle’s
ad in this edition of the Fish Sniffer!
Kittle’s is located at 888 Market St. in
Colusa, Ca. If you have any question or
for more details you can call (530)
458-4868 or visit the Kittle’s
website-www.kittlesout-
door
WHAT’S HOT
continued from page 1
morning, and persistent periods of wind
throughout the day. We had a tough time
keeping the boat straight and the lines in the
water. My wife Gina and kids kept busy
putting corn on the hooks as I tried to keep
the boat straight.
The good news was that the fishing was
off the hook. I estimated that we landed in
the neighborhood of 40-60 kokanee, and
lost many as well. The bad news was that
most of the fish were in the 8 to 13 inch
range, much too small to factor into the
derby.
We were able to shake most of the small
fish off at the back of the boat. I also
developed a technique where I unhooked
fish and put them into my bucket. Once
revived, I lowered the bucket over the
side and let the lake water mix into the
bucket until the fish swam away. Anything
Fish Sniffer Field Editor Jack
that didn’t revive was kept for dinners of
Naves shows off a pair of jumbo
cornmeal crusted kokanee.
kokanee that he landed while
Although it wasn’t great for our weight
fishing the Kokanee Power Derby at
totals, the smaller fish kept the kids busy
Whiskeytown Reservoir this summer.
landing and netting fish all day. It was a fun
Photo by JACK NAVES, Fish Sniffer
Staff.
family day of fishing, but our weight totals
after day one were pathetic compared to the
leading teams. We were over two pounds behind the leading team, and I knew we
would have to change it up for day two.
The second morning was much nicer in terms of weather. We still had a
northwest breeze, but it wasn’t to the point
where it affected our ability to fish. While
we had fished in the main lake on day one,
I decided to fish the Whiskey Creek arm of
the lake on day two. The decision paid off
immediately, as my side planer got slammed
just a few minutes after the start of fishing
time at 5:30 am.
My rod doubled over and the orange side
planer violently surged into the water. “Nice
fish”, I relayed to Gina, as the kokanee
started peeling line off my reel. As Gina
was unclipping the side planer, I heard my
son Adam yelling “Daddy! Fish!” Adam’s
downrigger rod was bouncing, but I wanted
to focus on getting my fish into the net first.
His fish crossed under my fish to the opposite
side of the boat, and Gina netted my fish a
few moments later. I quickly flipped the
large kokanee into the bucket and assed the
situation regarding Adam’s fish.
The second kokanee had swam around the
back of the boat and wrapped the line across
the two port side downrigger cables. In a
twist of luck, the fish reversed course and
moved into position behind the boat. It made
a few runs and then thrashed on the surface.
I immediately freaked out, thinking that the
hook would come flying out at any second.
Fortunately, I was able to slip the net under
the fish a few moments later, and Adam had a
hog in the box.
Adam’s kokanee was the second heaviest
fish weighed in for the derby, coming in
at 2.28 pounds! After catching dozens of
small fish on the first day, we mysteriously
managed to catch only big fish on the second
day. We headed to the weight station at one
o’clock with 14 kokanee in the box, most of
which were over 15 inches in length.
Although we didn’t crack the top five
places, we were able to come back far enough
on Sunday to earn a check. Both kids got
trophies and prizes for their fish, and overall it
was a nice chance spend the weekend fishing
and socializing with the other participants. It
was great to see several different year classes
of kokanee thriving once again at Whiskey-
town Lake.
The Red Lion hotel in Redding is only
about 25 minutes from the lake, and it
provides great accommodations to the derby
participants. The pool, restaurant, and bar
all provide great places to relax and socialize
with other contestants in the derby.
For those of you who haven’t tried it, I
suggest making a mini-vacation out of one
of the Kokanee Power events. They have
more derbies lined up this summer, and I
recommend attending any of their future
events if you can. Information is listed on
their website at www.kokaneepower.org