Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 2724 Nov 9-23 | Page 11

Nov 9 - 23, 2018 VOL.37 • ISS. 24 11 Must Fish Trout Spots presents ^ Here we see author Cal Kellogg with a quality Lake Shasta brown trout. During the late fall and winter fishing for both rainbows and browns can be amazing at Shasta and best of all, crowds tend to be very light during the cold weather months. A ^ French Meadows is a great high sierra producer of both browns and rainbows for both boaters and bank anglers. Fall is a great time to visit the lake when cool temperatures bring the trout to the top of the water column where they feed vigorously in preparation for winter. < Collins Lake is a great place to spend a fall or winter day with the family. Collins is one of the north state’s most heavily stocked trout lakes and the rainbow fishing can be inspiring during the late fall. > These big rainbows were caught during a trolling trip to Don Pedro Reservoir. Don Pedro is one of the best rainbow fisheries in the state. The average trout goes 2 pounds and 5 pounders are common. In the late fall and winter you’ll find the trout on top feeding on shad. Top Trout Destinations For This Fall & Winter s I sit here at my desk looking out the window, I’m preparing to go on the road to Lake Almanor and Butt Valley Reservoir in search of trophy fall trout from Hobie kayak. When I get back from Plumas County I’m going to spend a week or so hunting for deer and bears and then I’ll be back on the water searching for big trout once again. The questions is where? Thinking about this question provided the catalyst for this article! With so many fine trout fisheries dotting the state, sometimes it’s tough to settle on a destination. There are a long list of spots that I might fish in the coming weeks and months and then there are the “MUST FISH” destina- tions that I absolutely have to visit. I’ve come up with a quartet of fisheries dotting northern and central California that I’ll be visiting in the not so distant future. Perhaps review my notes on these fisheries will inspire you to visit one of more of them. If you see a guy on the water in a kayak with a yellow lab, that’s probably me! is staggering. The average rainbow caught at Shasta ranges anywhere from 12 to 16 inches. Fish ranging up to 20 inches and 3 plus pounds are pretty common, but rainbows larger than that are a rare commodity. This means that fishing for rainbows at Shasta is more of a numbers game rather than a trophy hunt. While you can catch rainbows at Shasta during any month of the year, the fall is a special time on the big lake. The lake’s rainbows as well as it’s spotted bass feed well during the fall, but with hunting seasons underway and big bad kings in the Sacramento River, fall fishing and boating pressure on Shasta is typically very light. For me my coming Shasta adventure is going to be a multiple day camping trip. I’m planning to stay on the move in my kayak, camping in a different cove every night. I’ll be trolling the top 20 feet of the water column with Mack’s Lure Hum Dingers and other shad imitations. I plan on hooking a bunch of rainbows and some bonus spotted bass. FISH SNIFFER HOW – TO by Cal Kellogg Lake Shasta: The State’s Premier Rainbow Reservoir That’s a pretty bold statement, but it’s absolutely true. Lake Shasta is truly a magnificent fishery. It sets a high standard against which all other California Lakes are measured. The lake is enormous in size, impounding water from the Sacramento, McCloud and Pit Rivers. The waters of the lake support a massive forage base in the forum of threadfin shad. The biomass of rainbow trout that reside in the lake, both in the form of planted and naturally spawned fish French Meadows Reservoir: ‘Bows And Browns Near The Sierra Crest French Meadows Reservoir is situated in a heavily timbered granite valley at 5,200 feet near the headwaters of the Middle Fork of the American River. The Sierra Nevada crest is a scant 9 miles distant. The lake is fairly large boasting 1,900 surface acres and more than 8 miles of shoreline when at full capacity. The nearest town to French Meadows is the hamlet of Foresthill, which sits east Auburn, California. French Meadows has a strong population of wild brown trout that range up to an beyond 6 pounds. The lake is stocked with CONTINUED ON PG 12