Up-To-Date and Published Locally ... By Sportsmen ... For Sportsmen !

Our 35th Year

MADE IN U . S . A

Since 1982

SEE OUR NEW BAJA ROUNDUP SECTION ON PAGE 28

own Cal Kellogg , we hooked a very large fish which unfortunately turned out to be a sturgeon . While Cal may have thought he had the striper of the lifetime on the end of his rod , in the end it was something totally unexpected .

A similar scenario unfolded several times during the recent Kokanee Power Lake Pardee Team Kokanee Derby on June third . As my family and I targeted kokanee on a warm Saturday morning , my downrigger rod got slammed . I battled the hard-fighting , head-shaking fish , thinking that I may have a really nice kokanee to add to our weight total .

As my wife Gina swung the net into position , I could see a rosy stripe down the side of the fish . At that point , I knew it wasn ’ t a kokanee , but instead a rainbow trout ! It was not the targeted species , but a nice fish for the cooler none the less .

Bryan Roccucci of Big Daddy ’ s Guide Service has been putting his clients on some fantastic Almanor trout this June . This impressive brown was fooled with a threaded worm on June 20 . Photo courtesy of BIG DADDY ’ S GUIDE SERVICE ,

Quincy .

Catching trout while targeting kokanee is not too uncommon , but Lake Pardee still had a few surprises up its sleeve . Later that morning , we ended up landing a third , more unexpected species of fish .

This year , my derby experience began on Friday , June second , which was the day before the derby . I hadn ’ t fished Pardee much this year , and decided that some pre-fishing to scout out my usual locations were in order . On Friday , I was fishing with Kirby Desha and his daughter Raina .

We had a great day on the water , landing fifteen kokanee and losing fifteen fish by 2:00 pm . The scouting paid off , and I discovered that most of the fish were in the south half of the main lake . We had managed to catch two kokanee over fifteen inches long , and I could only hope to duplicate those kind of results the next day when it counted .

On derby day , the team of my wife and I arrived with our two children Grace and Adam , who would be competing in the

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and nasty chop , but now Larry was hooked up and from all indications he was into something big . The fish wasn ’ t running or headshaking and truth be told it probably didn ’ t realize that it was even hooked .

The trout simply swam slowly back and forth , some 200 feet behind the boat . Larry ’ s downrigger rod was bent sharply against the unseen bulk and despite the fact that he turned the reel smoothly and methodically no line was being gained or lost .

It was several minutes into the “ fight ”, when the fish came to life . Our captain , Bryan Roccucci had gone into the boat ’ s canvas cabin to grab something and Larry was looking down at his reel when the fish bolted ,

Stampede Lake Map Feature

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Grace Naves shows off what turned out to be the Youth Division ’ s 3rd place kokanee during the Kokanee Power Derby at Lake Pardee .

Photo by JACK NAVES , Fish Sniffer Staff .

but since I was shooting video I saw everything .

The fish dug in hard with its tail and ran out to the port side in a crescent shaped blitz that ended in a wild jump .

The fish looked bright yellow and massive against the slate grey water and I felt an instant surge of adrenaline .

“ Whatever you do Larry don ’ t pump the rod or mess with the drag . Just reel . That ’ s a really big fish and it ’ s got a lot of fight left in it ,” I exclaimed .

Instantly Bryan was back on deck and he asked , “ How big Cal four or five pounds ? Bigger ? Rainbow ? Brown ?”

“ It ’ s big , at least 5 pounds and honestly it looked like a big yellow carp . That got a laugh from everyone including Larry , but I continued , “ It ’ s got to be a brown .”

Larry hadn ’ t done much downrigger trolling for trout , but he knew how to handle a fishing rod . He stayed patient

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Delta Stewardship Council Approves Amendments Promoting Delta Tunnels

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FRESHWATER REPORTS Lake Almanor - Lake Berryessa ............................ 4 Bullards Bar / Englebright Lakes - Davis / Frenchmans Lakes ...................................................... 8-9 Del Valle Reservoir - Feather River ................ 10-11 Folsom Lake - Lake Oroville .......................... 12-13 Lake Pardee - Southern Oregon Roundup .... 14-15 Tahoe / Donner Lakes - Wild Horse Reservoir ....... 19

SALTWATER REPORTS Berkeley & Emeryville - Bodega Bay ..................... 29 Fisherman ’ s Wharf - Shoreline Peninsula ...... 30-31

Where ... When ... How ...

BAJA ROUNDUP .................................................... 28 BULLETIN BOARD ................................................... 4 COOKIN ’ YER CATCH - Paulette Kenyon ............... 12 FISH SNIFFER HOW-TO : Cal Kellogg ..................... 7 GO FOR IT : Staff ....................................................... 5 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ...................................... 3 MAP FEATURE : Dan Bacher ............................. 16-17 RV LIVING - CLIFF WOOLARD ................................ 2 SALMON JOURNAL ..................... 18,20-24,26-27 SALTY TIPS Steve “ Hippo ” Lau .............................. 29 SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION - Dan Bacher .. 25 WHAT ’ S HOT SALTWATER - Cal Kellogg .............. 31

Cal Kellogg - Hosted the Annual Couple ’ s Challenge aboard the California Dawn . For light tackle live bait drifting , Cal used a Fenwick 7 ’ 5 ” Aetos casting rod paired with an Abu Garcia Orra Inshore baitcaster with a 7.1:1 gear ratio . The reel was spooled with 30 lb FINS braid . Cal caught several halibut on the combo , but none of them were keepers .

Paul Kneeland - fished Pyramid Lake , Nevada with Bridget Looney in the Fish Sniffer 21 ’ Rogue Jet Coastal . They caught Lahontan cutthroat trout to 4-1 / 2 pounds using a using a new Lamiglas Kwik Series 8 ’ light action Composite trigger stick rigged with an Daiwa ICV15 Accudepth level wind reel loaded with 8 lb test Yozuri Topknot flourocarbon line . They trolled a chartreuse 4 inch Apex and chartreuse / orange dot Silver Horde spoons behind Vance ’ s cannonball flashers off the Canon downriggers at 25 to 55 feet deep and 2.4 mph .

Dan Bacher - fished for rainbow trout at Rollins Reservoir . He used a Berkley Ugly Stick GX2 6 ’ 6 ” medium action spinning rod , teamed up with a Shakespeare GX235 spinning reel filled with 6 lb . test P-Line CX Premium Flourocarbon Coated Line . He fished with Berkley chartreuse glitter and fluorescent orangee PowerBait on # 14 gold Eagle Claw hooks rigged with 4 lb . test Berkley Trilene 100 % Fluorocarbon leaders on sliding sinker set-ups . He also tossed out 1 / 4 and 1 / 8 oz . Yakima Bait Rooster Tails in Brown Trout , Fire Tiger and Rainbow color patterns .