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FRESHWATER REPORTS:
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SHASTA & WHISKEYTOWN
Fish Bite, But Anglers Stay Away
REDDING— As of this writing, yet another series of wet storms was in the process of marching across northern California. As a result, Lake Shasta is on the rise, having come up almost 3 feet in the past 24 hours. The lake is now less then 15 feet from the top.
With all this big weather, most anglers have been staying away from Shasta, but those that have hit the lake have caught fish.
The bass bite has been very good for spotted bass. All of the lake’ s arms are booting out bass. Look for the fish to be holding on large points. The best results are being had by guys working from 20 to 40 feet deep. Mother’ s Finest Worms pinned on drop shot rigs are working well as are duh! Spoons.
Spots in the 12 to 14 inch range are average and fish exceeding 4 pounds are common.
Rainbow trout and the occasional brown trout are being caught by trollers. Hum Dingers, Tasmanian Devils and Speedy Shiners are all working. Anglers are advised to stay on the move and work the water column from the surface to 50 feet deep. Areas that feature inflowing water are potential hot spots.
Overall the Sacramento Arm and the main body have been offering the best trout trolling.
Next door to Shasta, bass anglers are searching for trophy caliber spotted bass at Whiskeytown Reservoir. Whiskeytown has some dandy spots, but due to the extreme clarity of the water they can be tough to fool.
One of the best times to hook a big Whiskeytown spot is when the water is a little cloudy like it is right now. Anglers looking to go big are pounding offshore structure and long sloping points with trout and kokanee pattern swimbaits.
SMITH & CHETCO RIVERS
Both Rivers Produce Bright Steelhead
SMITH RIVER— Eight teams competed in the Rowdy Creek Steelhead Derby, hauling in a total of 122 steelhead from the Chetco and Smith rivers this year.
First place( Tolowa Dee-Ni’ Nation) won silver belt buckles( Gist Silversmiths) and rods made by Chrome Seekers Custom Rods.
Second Place( JB Const. & Dry Creek Landfill) won Silver Knifes( Gist Silversmiths). Third place( America Ag Credit) won custom plaques( Champion Awards).
Wes White caught the Big Fish at 36.5” with Guide Zack Larson, winning silver belt buckles made by Gist Silversmith.
The most fish( 6) were caught by John Flinn with Guide Mike Stratman-Rods made by Chrome Seekers Custom Rods
The best total inches guess( total of the two days) of 3364” was 3312” by Terry Fogal, He won a rod made by Chrome Seekers Custom Rods.
“ It was a great derby,” said Phil Desautels of Phil’ s Smiling Salmon Guide Service.“ Eighty
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percent of the fish caught were fresh steelhead. My team, Jay and Diana Hight of Bayside, caught three fish the first day while fishing on the Smith and two the second day on the Chetco. Their fish ranged from 23 to 33 inches.”
– by Dan Bacher
SOUTH FORK RESERVOIR
The Lake Is Ice-Free
TOPAZ— South Fork Reservoir is ice-free and anglers are hooking decent numbers of rainbow trout.
“ Anglers have caught fish using PowerBait or worms and fly fishermen have had luck with disco balls, chironomids and hares ears,” reported Joe Doucette of the Nevada Department of Wildlife.“ The trick is to not fish to far from shore as the fish are moving into the shallower warmer water and to use very small presentations.”
He noted,“ The county road is severely pot holed and rough.
SOUTHERN OREGON ROUNDUP
Now Is The Time For South State Steelhead!
ROSEBURG— The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is reporting that southwestern rivers are in shape and producing good numbers of winter steelhead. They include the North and South Umpqua, Coos and Coquille basin rivers, Illinois and the lower Rogue. River levels are expected to rise later this week through the weekend, so now is the time to get out on the water
The Lower and Middle Rogue is currently fishable. Remember that the river is much clearer from Big Butte Creek to Cole Rivers Hatchery providing an opportunity to fish for steelhead and trout when the rest of the river is not fishable. Anglers can keep 5 hatchery rainbow trout per day. Non-adipose fin-clipped rainbow trout and all cutthroat trout must be immediately released unharmed.
The upper Rogue is currently covered in snow; however, there are fish and if you find a safe place to do some fishing try using bait as the trout are slow to move due to very cold water temperatures. The mainstem Umpqua is closed to wild steelhead harvest but remains open year-round for adipose fin-clipped steelhead. The mainstem has slowly been dropping into shape, and there have been reports of decent numbers of steelhead being caught throughout the mainstem. Steelhead fishing should continue to be solid, but river levels are expected to rise this weekend.
Winter steelhead are being caught throughout the North Umpqua, and there were a number of reports of steelhead being caught this past weekend.
On the Chetco, high flows are expected through the week. Bank anglers will have the best chance to start picking up steelhead as flows drop below 10,000 cfs. Steelhead fishing was good prior to the recent high water and should fish well once flows drop.
The Applegate River is open for trout and steelhead fishing but the river is currently very high and off color. Only hatchery steelhead
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may be retained and anglers must take care in releasing wild fish. Steelhead fishing in the Applegate is usually slow in February, however, with the high flows we have had this year, fishing could be good once outflow out of the dam decreases and the river clears. Wild trout must be released.
Currently all steelhead rivers in the Coos Basin are high and muddy. The West Fork Millicoma River will be the first river to clear. When water conditions are good, anglers are still catching fish throughout the Coos Basin. Anglers are drifting eggs or corkies along the stream bottom or using a jig suspended under a bobber. Anglers fishing the South Fork Coos River above Dellwood will need a permit from Weyerhaeuser, which they can pick up at the Dellwood office.
All of the Coquille Basin steelhead rivers were high and muddy this past weekend. Anglers have been catching hatchery steelhead at LaVerne Park on the North Fork Coquille River and on the South Fork Coquille River from Powers downstream to Broadbent. Bank anglers have been plunking with Spin-n-Glos and bait near the town of Coquille. Anglers have had success drifting eggs or corkies. In the Coquille Basin 1 additional hatchery steelhead may be retained per day for a total aggregate of 3 adult fish harvested daily.
Wild steelhead over 24-inches long may be harvested in the Illinois between Klondike Creek and Pomeroy Dam( located near Cave Junction); 1 per day and 5 per year. Fishing is restricted to artificial flies and lures. The Illinois River is open for trout fishing. The Illinois is currently in great shape for fishing. Rain later this week could dirty things briefly but expect great fishing conditions for the weekend.
LAKE TAHOE
Anglers Chase Macks Between Storms
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE— Big snows and wintery Sierra conditions are make traveling to Lake Tahoe a challenge. If you make it over the pass and get out onto the big lake, the mackinaw fishing has been outstanding.
Most anglers are going home with a limit of macks in the 3 to 6 pound class. That has been the case for folks fishing with the Tahoe Sportfishing Team in recent days. Minnows and flashers have been the combo of choice for Tahoe Sportfishing skippers.
“ When we finally got a break in the storms I took my little boat out on Tahoe,” related Mark Wiza.
“ Robert Varik and I could not catch a shallow rainbow or brown trout, so we trolled a little deeper and caught a few nice lake trout. Kept one seven pounder for fillets, and released the others. When it was almost sunset, the lake got a little rough, we were cold, I was just telling Rob to reel in because I really needed to go to the bathroom and Bam! The big fish of the day slammed my lure,” Wiza exclaimed.
Wiza landed and released the big lake trout that looked to be in excess of 15 lbs. The fish could lay off a handmade rainbow pattern AC Plug. CONTINUED ON PAGE 26
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This amazing brook trout jumped all over a pink and gold Vibric Rooster Tail.
Photo courtesy of YAKIMA BAIT.
FISHING SPINNERS FOR TROUT:
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working their way along the shoreline or from a drifting boat. What I’ ve observed is trout are likely to be found cruising near the surface when water temperatures are cool, early in the morning, on overcast days, or evening time periods. Trout are more likely to be found near bottom( or at some level above it) during the middle of the day when the sun is bright or at times during the heat of summer when the surface water temperature is warm.
To determine the depth your spinner is running and being able to return to it, may require you to practice what’ s known as the“ count-down” method, which is mostly used in lakes or other still water. In preparation for learning the“ count-down” technique, realize that most weighted spinners will sink at a rate of one foot per second. Here’ s how: cast out, and allow your spinner to fall freely to the bottom, counting one-one thousand, two-one thousand, etc. until it hits bottom signified by your line going slack. Now that you know the bottom depth based on counting you can begin your retrieve after your next cast at varying depths above bottom, which will help you avoid hang ups. Using this simple procedure will allow you to search for fish at different depths and reliably return to the fish-producing level on subsequent casts.
In addition, working your lure near bottom may require you to step up to a larger / heavier spinner size; for example, a light to medium weight spinner will likely perform best when fish are near the surface, say in the top ten feet of water, but you may need to step up to a larger / heavier spinner size to get down when fish are lurking deep in the water column.
CAST AND RETRIEVE: RIVERS
The most common method used in rivers is to cast your weighted spinner out, across and slightly upstream; allow it to sink near bottom while you reel up any slack line between your rod tip and where your line enters the water. Then pull back on your rod tip( this will cause the blade to begin to spin) at which time you should begin reeling your spinner back to you. The river current, combined with your retrieve, will cause your spinner to sweep cross current near bottom where fish often hold. Once your spinner swings in near shore, it’ s time to reel in and cast again. What many anglers do( including me) is to make a few casts and then take a few steps downstream before casting again – this way you can cover a large amount of water in a short amount of time.
You will be much more successful if you don’ t get caught
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