FRESHWATER REPORTS
BILL ADELMAN 510 – 232-9991 grumpygrampabill @ sbcglobal. net
and Livermore off Vasco Road
First Time Anglers Welcome!
Beautiful TROUT
Spring Wild Flowers
Nestled between
Brentwood and Livermore off Vasco Road
10 MARCH 17- 31, 2017 VOL. 36 • ISS. 07
FRESHWATER REPORTS
FRESHWATER REPORTS:
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9
he found only 6 inches of visibility and only one small bass for their efforts.
Alan Fong of the Fishermen’ s Warehouse in Sacramento has been finding quality largemouth bass to 7.5 pounds flipping Missile’ s D-Bombs or Sweet Beavers in White Slough, but he said,“ Finding decent water is going to be a challenge.”
Dan Mathisen of Dan’ s Delta Outdoors in Oakley said,“ The black bass bite in Discovery Bay is rolling, as evidenced by the 28.50 pound limit winning the weekend’ s tournament out of Russo’ s Marina. Most anglers are sticking with jigs and slow rolling blades searching ledges near sparse tuie flats. Others looking to beat the clear conditions are starting to crank Red-Eye Shad and Big Poppa’ s. In Frank’ s Tract, the bass bite is picking up at a consistent pace with Black Blue Fizzles, Swim Jigs and FatSack jigs along with spinnerbaits.”
Dan’ s Delta Outdoors first tournament will be held March 18 at the Big Break Marina.
– by Dave Hurley
EASTERN SIERRA
Anglers Dodge Snow For Owens River Trophy Trout
BISHOP—“ More winter storms have hit the Eastern Sierra region with wind and rain included at times,” reported Tom Loe of Sierra Drifters Guide Service.“ Snow drifts on the highways and turnoff roads have made it tough at times for getting around, but the storms are short lived and high pressure has been setting in with mild and warm temperatures.”
“ The forecast is calling for some on and off snowfall with what looks to be a long awaited break from winter’ s fury. Upper Owens has still been the star of the show here with large numbers of trophy rainbows with a few browns mixed in hitting the net. Crystal eggs have been best. East Walker River is on a steady flow decrease from its complete blowout and the river is starting to clear. Hot Creek still walk in access with fish hitting dry flies during high pressure days. Middle Owens has been slow, but Pleasant Valley Reservoir and the Gorge giving up a few fish.”
At Pleasant Valley Reservoir, fly guys aren’ t the only ones scoring fish. Bank anglers tossing Zeke’ s Sierra Gold and inflated night crawlers are also taking home a few trout and some of them have hit the scales at over 3 pounds!
FEATHER RIVER
Hatchery Has Finished Spawning Steelhead This Season
OROVILLE— The Feather River Fish Hatchery trapped 910 adult steelhead and 66 half pounders this season, spawning a total of 830 adults, reported Penny Crawshaw of the hatchery.
“ The California Department of Water Resources today stopped releases over the spillway and combined releases are now 2,400 cfs below the Thermalito Afterbay Outlet,” she said.“ We are warning that there is a flexible flow schedule as crews work on the spillways, so the flows can rise at any time.”
“ Today CDFW staff are rescuing any stranded fish in the river, including both steelhead and green sturgeon.” she said.
The hatchery now has 1,311,581 green steelhead eggs and 891,000 eyed eggs.
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During the Oroville Dam spillway crisis, CDFW staff completed a successful relocation of 6.5 million young Chinook salmon imperiled by raging, muddy flows of 65,000 cfs below Oroville Dam.
The rescue was completed a couple of days before the Department of Water Resources and law enforcement agencies ordered the evacuation of over 188,000 people from Butte, Yuba and Sutter Counties because of the feared failure of the auxiliary spillway.
Staff relocated the 6.5 million fall-run and spring run Chinooks to the hatchery annex near the Thermalito Afterbay, according to Andrew Hughan, CDFW spokesman.
These fish, approximately 1 inch long each, would die from suffocation in the turbid, sediment-laden water if left in the raceways of the hatchery.
Approximately 1.5 million juvenile salmon will remain in the hatchery where they will be benefit from sediment ponds set up to cleanse the water. Engineering staff have also set up a charcoal filtration system utilizing a fire hydrant pump for the 1 million eyed steelhead eggs remaining in the hatchery.
– by Dan Bacher
MOTHER LODE ROUNDUP
By Dan Bacher
AMADOR IONE— Bass fishing has picked back up in the last couple of weeks and lots of people are also catching rainbow trout at Lake Amador.“ What beautiful weather we are having,” said Elizabeth Lockhart at the Lake Amador Resort.“ Both fish and fishermen are loving it.”
She said the spillway is still a hot area for shore fishermen.
“ With the sunny weather, the dam should be a good area while fishing the debris line,” said Lockhart.“ Trout usually like to hang out in the
Los Vaqueros Reservoir
and Livermore off Vasco Road
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shade underneath. As usual, PowerBait and Power Eggs are knocking them out when used shallow and close to shore.”
“ Bass fishing has been very good with large jigs, Brush Hogs, and swim baits in the 10-25’ range. Usually the main hot spot for bass is up toward the back of the lake this time of year, but some are being caught closer by the Dock and RV Park point,” Lockhart stated.
The NorCal Trout Anglers Challenge is coming up on March 18.“ Don’ t forget to check us out on Facebook for more catches and details,” she said.
Jeremy Silvas from Pine Grove did well at the Spillway on green PowerBait, catching three rainbows weighing up to 3.86 pounds. Papa Greg caught his limit of rainbows, with his best fish weighing 4.5 lbs., at the Spillway while soaking garlic PowerBait and white Power Eggs.
Gary Bush limited out on trout while fishing from his boat. His two biggest fish weighed 5.1 and 4.1 pounds. Finally, Ryan Jones caught and released an 8 lb. largemouth bass while using a baby Brush Hog at the RV Point.
PARDEE IONE— The trout fishing is going strong at Lake Pardee, while the black bass fishing is tough.
Big trout plants continue at Lake Pardee, boosting the catches for shore and boat anglers. A total of 12,400 pounds of rainbow trout were released during the opening weekend, and another 3,000 pounds of trout were planted on Friday, Feb. 24.
The trout plants are the result of a cooperative effort between the Lake Pardee Recreation Company, East Bay Municipal Utilities District, and Department of Fish and Wildlife that raises rainbow trout in the Mokelumne River Hatchery. The fish released so far are part of the 45,000 pounds of triploid rainbow
Nestled between
Brentwood and Livermore off Vasco Road
$ 25 boat rentals every
Los Vaqueros Recreation Co. Monday
9990 Los Vaqueros Rd. thru Friday
Byron, CA, 94514
( non holidays)
www. NORCALFISHING. COm A Contra Costa Water District Facility
2907
3125
Ryan Jones pulled this beautiful 8 lb largemouth out of the muddy waters of Lake Amador on February 25 while working a Baby Brush Hog.
Photo courtesy of the LAKE AMADOR CAFÉ, Lake Amador.
trout being raised at the reservoir for release into Pardee this season.
Shore anglers are catching the trout on blue and silver Kastmasters, PowerBait and nightcrawlers, reported Robert Smalldon of the Lake Pardee Recreation Company. Fishing pressure has increased with the arrival of beautiful spring-like weather.
Larry Hemphill, fishing guide, went bass fishing at Pardee, reporting,“ We didn’ t have much hope of succesms due to the sudden cold front and the icy winds as the water temperature dropped to 48 degrees and up to 51 degrees in some areas.“
“ We looked over the entire lake and landed a few largemouths to 3 pounds in the south end on jigs with Havoc bait trailers,” said Hemphill.“ The main body has little debris, but the river arm is a different story, as you have to run very slowly through the debris. The water is still dinghy, but it is fishable. Every cove has a little waterfall entering the lake, and this is beautiful.”
CAMANCHE BURSON— Although it was close, EBMUD and Mother Nature managed to hold off Lake Camanche from spilling by a mere 21 feet or so.
This year the highest elevation was recorded by the Department of Water Resources at 4 p. m. was on Friday, Feb. 24 at 233.77 feet or 97 percent of capacity. Now that the inflow is less than the outflow the lake level, will start to go down again helping to prepare for the snow pack melt and spring runoff.
Sunshine and calm weather has brought the anglers out for bass, trout and crappie. The water clarity has been fairly good on the main lake with visibility to 4 to 5 feet. The river channel is still murky with floating debris west of the Lancha Palana Bridge.
1,200 lbs. of Mount Lassen trout were delivered on Thursday, Feb. 23 with 600 lbs. going in at both the north and south ramps. Another 1,200 lbs will be delivered this week before the weekend.
Saty alert for floating debris while out on the lake.
Cynthia Lenard commented,“ What a day! It started out slow for us, with nothing for over an hour. Nate said he wanted to use a certain lure and said he had a feeling it will work, and boy did it!
“ We had a double hook-up. I lost one right at the boat and was upset but redeemed myself with a 4.6 lb. rainbow.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 20