VOL. 36 • ISS. 15
FRESHWATER REPORTS:
CONTINUED FROM PG 14
REDDING cont. Guide Service.“ My clients have been getting about 30 fish to the boat per trip. The wild rainbows are running from about 8 ounces to 3 pounds with the occasional fish over 3. Live crickets have been the hot bait recently now that the trout are feeding on insects.”
Mike Bogue of Mike Bogue’ s Guide Service has also been enjoying great trout fishing on the Sacramento River in the Redding area. Mike starts out the day back trolling small plugs and then experiments with both roe and single salmon eggs as the day goes on. This allows Mike’ s clients to explore both shallow feeding areas and deep holding areas.
Salmon season will kick off on the Sacramento once again on July 16. If you are planning to fish during the opening week, give your guide a call and lockdown your spot!
RIO VISTA
Hot Weather Keeps Striper Anglers Off Water
RIO VISTA- Angling interest dwindled over the last week due to rising temperatures and rough water.
Very few anglers searched out the Rio Vista area for striped bass this week, according to Craig Kamikawa at Fisherman’ s Warehouse in Sacramento.
“ There was a small spurt of really good action down by the Isleton Bridge last week. Everyone is thinking a lot of those fish were downrunners coming from the Feather River,” he related.
“ If that’ s the case, we should see another burst of fish, but they’ ll probably come at the worst possible time- when no one is there and looking,” he added.
For bait anglers, Kamikawa recommended giving the San Joaquin River a try and fishing tucked into the shoreline on the North Bank below the Three Mile Slough Bridge.“ Those fish are usually residents with a few downrunners in the mix,” he tipped.
- Roland Aspiras
SACRAMENTO AREA
Stripers Are Biting, But Fishing Pressure Very Light
SACRAMENTO- Fishing pressure on the Sacramento River in the metropolitan area has dwindled with the arrival of a record heat wave. Nonetheless, the few anglers getting out early in the morning before the heat becomes intolerable are finding some solid striper action.
One local angler reported catching regularly limits of keeper stripers while shore fishing with sardines in the river in the early morning hours above Swabbie’ s Restaurant & Bar, located above the Elkhorn Boat Launch Facility. Most of the legal-sized fish being caught are spawned out downstream in the 18 to 25 inch class. As usual for this time of year, the shaker fish outnumber the keepers.
“ The fishing for stripers and shad was good out of Discovery Park before the heat wave,” noted Uncle Larry Barnes at Sacramento Pro Tackle.“ However, hardly anybody has been going out fishing on the river in the hot weather
20 % OFF ALL-DAY BOAT RENTALS AT
SAN PABLO RESERVOIR
( 510) 223-1661
LAKE DEL VALLE
( 925) 449-5201
Offer valid on all boat rentals Monday- Friday
For more information about Boating, Camping & Recreation Visit WWW. ROCKYMOUNTAINREC. COM All other boat rental terms and conditions still apply. Offer subject to boat rental availability. Offer expires on 12 / 31 / 2016 and is not valid with any other coupon / discount.
3303
Dustin Pestana caught and released several West Delta sturgeon on June 17, including this fish.
Photo courtesy of FISHSNIFFER. COM.
and with all of the recreational boat traffic.”
On Saturday, July 1, the California Department of Fish and Game’ s“ Fishing in the City” program and the Fulton El Camino Recreation and Park District will host a free fishing instruction clinic from 8:30 a. m. until noon at Howe Park in Sacramento.
The pond will be stocked with channel catfish and there will be free loan of rods, bait and tackle. The park is located off Howe Avenue at Cottage Way. Fishing clinics are fun for all ages and reservations are not required. Since July 1 is also a designated“ Free Fishing Day”, fishing licenses are not required for all anglers throughout California on that day. All other regulations still apply. For more information, call( 916) 358-2872
- Dan Bacher
SAN PABLO RESERVOIR
Take Your Pick Of Trout, Catfish Or Crappie
EL SOBRANTE- Anglers are enjoying a summer angling cornucopia of rainbow trout, channel catfish, black bass and crappie at San Pablo Reservoir.
“ We are still seeing trout brought in, in the early morning and the late afternoon,” reported Marcella Shoemaker of the Rocky Mountain Recreation Company.“ There are still a lot of shad is the water, so your best bet is to use a lure that resembles shad. Fishing down by the dam is your best bet, as that is where the lake is the deepest.”
“ Catfish, crappie and bass are also biting,” she tipped.“ Chicken liver, anchovies or nightcrawlers are your best bets for catfish. Crappie will bite on a redworm, Crappie Nibble or an Atomic Teaser.”
The lake level is 309.4 feet above sea level and the surface water temperature is 71.
Mt. Lassen stocked 1,200 lbs of rainbow trout in the lake on June 15. The lake management also stocked channel catfish the week of June 26.
- Dan Bacher
SANTA CLARA VALLEY LAKES
Calero And Chesbro Kick Out Crappie
COYOTE- Bass anglers continue to catch spawn bass tactics, while others seek out crappie.
SHADOW CLIFFS LAKE
( 925) 426-0197
LAKE RANCHO SECO( 209) 748-2318
FRESHWATER
The crappie bite continues to run strong at several of the area lakes in the Silicon Valley according to the pro anglers at Coyote Bait and Tackle.
“ The coves at just about all of the lakes have crappie and you can get them on minnows or jigs under a bobber about three to four feet. Calero and Chesbro are still
SHADOW CLIFFS LAKE
Anglers Keep Nailing Trout In Deep Water
PLEASANTON – Trout plants at Shadow Cliffs Reservoir are over until fall – but don’ t despair- channel catfish plants are in full swing.
The park district planted 750 pounds in the lake the week of June 12 and another 500 pounds the week of June 26, reported Joe Sullivan of the East Bay Regional Park District. While the catfish action is expected to pick up with the hot weather, anglers have still been focusing on rainbow trout while fishing deep water. The water temperature has risen to over 70 degrees. The lake water is clear, with the visibility ranging from 10 to 15 feet deep.
Sam of Pleasanton caught his limit of trout bait fishing early in the morning. On the following day, a boater caught his limit of lighting trout in one hour while bait fishing near the middle if the lake.
M. Gutierrez of San Jose caught his limits of rainbow trout early in the morning while using PowerBait by the 1st dock. Finally, R. Samuels of Tracy caught 2 lighting trout while fishing left of the boat launch with pumpkin PowerBait.
SHASTA / WHISKEYTOWN LAKES
Schooling Bait Improves Trout Trolling
REDDING- Spring trout fishing at Lake Shasta is always a little hit and miss until maturing shad minnows start schooling. The schooling bait concentrates the trout and as a result the trolling bite becomes a lot more consistent. That’ s exactly what is happening at the big lake right now. The shad are forming into bait balls and the trout are feeding heavily.
“ I took my first ever trip to Lake Shasta last week and we did well on rainbows that weighed up to about 3 pounds,” reported Captain Monte Smith of Gold Country Sportfishing.“ Since I’ d never fished the lake before, I figured it was a good idea to troll quickly and cover as much ground as possible.
3523
For more information, visit our website at:
3615 the best lakes,” said Jason Dominici.
Bass anglers continued to make use of finesse and reaction baits for bass.
“ Crank, spinner and chatter baits in the morning, drop down to a drop shot or carolinarig during the day. That’ s been working for Calero and Anderson. The mats are just starting to show at Calero, but the bass aren’ t quite sticking to them yet.”
Catfish interest remained slow, according to Dominici.
- Roland Aspiras
July 7- 21, 2017
17
I started off fishing the Sacramento Arm and never left. We caught a nice rainbow about 200 yards into our first troll and it was on. The trout were relating to pods of bait and they would really go after a shad imitating spoon trolled quickly.”
Changing gears, post spawn bass fishing is productive at Shasta. The spots are holding 15 to 30 feet deep during the day, but move shallower during low light periods. Overall a Mother’ s Finest worm rigged on a drop shot set up is the top offering, but poppers, walking baits and crankbaits are scoring fish early and late in the day. The average spotted bass runs about a pound, but fish to 4 pounds have been landed in recent days.
As of press time, Lake Shasta was 8 feet from maximum pool and dropping slowly.
At Whiskeytown Reservoir, limit style kokanee fishing is creating excitement. The fish are averaging 14 plus inches and range up to 17. A variety of lures are hooking fish, but Brad’ s new Cut Plug kokanee lures seem to be about the best offering going with orange being the top color. Apex lures, hoochies and Sling Blade dodgers and Wiggle Hoochies are also producing results.
Of course, anglers are tipping their lures with corn and soaking the corn in scent. Pro- Cure herring, bloody tuna and predator scents are all working well.
SOUTHERN OREGON ROUNDUP
Diverse Opportunities On Tap In Southwest
ROSEBERG- Whether you want to fish rivers, lakes or the ocean, you’ ll find plenty of early summer action in southwestern Oregon.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is reporting that spring Chinook fishing is good in the North Umpqua. Shad fishing has been good on the Umpqua River too.
On the Lower Rogue, spring Chinook fishing continues to be good, with boats and even bank anglers picking up fish on a regular basis.
Summer steelhead are just starting to make their way through the lower river. With the higher flows, plunking may be a good option to pick up these early returning fish.
The first summer steelhead arrived at Cole Rivers Hatchery recently, so both summer steelhead and spring Chinook are available for upper river anglers. Fishing for spring Chinook has been slow to fair since relatively few Chinook have made it to the upper Rogue so far. Anglers are reminded that only hatchery Chinook with clipped adipose fins may be retained. Due to low returns of spring Chinook salmon to Cole Rivers Fish Hatchery, the popular“ Hatchery Hole” has been closed to all fishing through July 31. The fishing deadline has been moved downstream 1,200 feet. This closure is necessary to help ensure Cole Rivers Fish Hatchery collects enough Spring Chinook to meet future production goals.
Moving on to lake fishing, trout fishing has CONTINUED ON PAGE 19
Download the Go Wild Rivers Coast app for updates along the Wild Rivers Coast.