Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3621 Sept 29- Oct 13 2017 | Page 3

Up-To-Date and Published Locally... By Sportsmen... For Sportsmen! Lake Valley Map Feature MADE IN U.S.A See Page 18 Vol. 36 - ISS.21 Our 35th Year Since 1982 Sept. 29 - Oct. 13, 2017 “The Magazine for West Coast Sportsmen!” ith Northern California in the midst of a brutal heatwave, I was looking for an escape from the heat, preferably something that involved fishing. At the start of the week, I had made an early morning bass trip to Folsom Lake. The first few hours were refreshing, but the tough bite and crazy boat traffic ruled out a sequel. What to do, what to do? A quick call to Captain Jonathon Smith on the Happy Hooker revealed he had a few spaces available for the holiday weekend. That’s all it took and I was good to go. When I arrived with Ian Rigler at the Berkeley Marina, it was t shirt weather at 5 am, a rarity to say the least. At the dock we were greeted by Captains Chris and Jonathon Smith who would share duties for the day. Once on board Ian and I made our way to the bow where we found our fishing spots along the rail. With Captain Chris at the wheel, he made a quick stop at Pier 47 to pick up several scoops of live anchovies from the bait receiver. Once underway again, Smith set course for the Farallon Islands some 30 miles to the west of San Francisco. I always say that one of the best things about fishing are the CONTINUED ON PAGE 23 Area Reports RIO VISTA BASS DERBY..........................7-9, 11-13 BAJA ROUNDUP...............................................34-35 BULLETIN BOARD................................................... 4 COOKIN’ YER CATCH Paulette Kenyon................. 29 FISH SNIFFER HOW-TO: Cal Kellogg................... 17 GO FOR IT: Staff....................................................... 2 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR...................................... 3 MAP FEATURE: Dan Bacher.............................18-19 SALTY TIPS Steve “Hippo” Lau.............................. 34 SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION - Dan Bacher.... 27 WHAT’S HOT SALTWATER................................... 30 Captain Jonathan Smith (left) and Ian Rigler pose to show off one of Ian’s quality Farallon Island Iingcod during a recent bottomfish foray aboard the Happy Hooker. Photo by MARK FONG, Fish Sniffer Staff. be holding offshore around deep water structure, but things change quickly when short days and chilly nights combine to drop the water temperature. With cool wa- ter temperatures, Lahontan Cut- throat move from their deep water sanctuaries to the shallows. This creates a fantastic winter trout fish- ery on Nevada’s Pyramid Lake for anglers like Denis Isbister who (weather permit- ting) troll plugs parallel to the shoreline in water depths ranging from 5-to-20 feet. “We make big zigzag Denis Isbister holds up a beautiful Pyramid Lake cutthroat that slammed a frog pattern U-20 size Flatfish last winter. When the water temperature patterns while trolling, drops at the lake later this fall, Isbister will once again be probing the shal- going from as little as four- lows with his Flatfish in hopes of hooking one Pyramid’s epic double digit to-five feet of water (where trout. Photo courtesy of BUZZ RAMSEY, Yakima Bait Company. you can see bottom) before he trout season at Pyramid Lake will kick off on October 1. Early in the season the lake’s cutthroats will INSIDE Where...When...How... Are You Ready For Pyramid Lake’s Winter Trout Action? T PAGE 34-5 FEATURES GONE FISHING by Mark Fong SEE OUR NEW BAJA ROUNDUP SECTION ON FRESHWATER REPORTS Almanor/Bucks Lake - Amador Lake.....................4 American River - Camanche Lake.......................10 Carson Pass Region - Lake Don Pedro......... 14-15 Eagle Lake - Eastern Sierra................................16 Feather/Yuba River - New Malones Reservoir........................ 20-21 Lake Oroville - Redding/Red Bluff ......................22 Rio Vista - South Fork Reservoir................... 24-25 Southern Oregon Roundup - Western Nevada....28 SALTWATER REPORTS Berkeley - Bodega Bay.........................................30 Fisherman’s Wharf - Peninsula Shoreline........ 31-32 Farallon Islands Adventure Provides Fast Paced Bottomfish Excitement W 35 Years Serving Sportsmen turning outward into 20-to-25 feet of wa- ter before aiming our boat toward shore again, while keeping our speed at 1.4 to 1.6 MPH,” Denis shared. What’s important to realize, according to Denis, is that Cutthroat like to be teased into biting. There- fore, it’s important to troll erratically, use a high action lure, and make sure your offering is bouncing the bottom on a regular ba- sis. What some anglers do, in addition to all the above, is to add even more action to their lure by regularly pumping their fishing rod up and down. This lifting and lowering of the rod tip is just another tease that of- ten results in hook ups. To keep from snagging lures on b ottom, Denis employs this trolling method along shorelines having a sandy bottom. He also feels that the fish bite best where his lures kick up a cloud of sediment as they strike the WHAT’S HOT by Buzz Ramsey CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 Federal Audit Reveals $84.8 million Misused For Delta Tunnels Planning See Page 27 STAFF TACKLE What We’re Using Cal Kellogg - Fished the lower Columbia River with legendary salmon expert Buzz Ramsey. For trolling Yakima Bait Company’s Mulkey’s Guide Flash Spinners and Big Al’s Fish Flash flashers Cal used a 9’ Berkley Buzz Ramsey Air Series Trolling rod paired with an Abu Garcia Ambassadeur 6500 line counter reel spooled with 65 pound test Berkley Trilene Tracer braid. Salmon to 21 pounds were caught using this rig. Paul Kneeland - fished Stampede Reservoir with Gary Caruso of Auburn and Brian Garcia of Colfax in the Fish Sniffer 21’ Rogue Jet Coastal. They caught Kokanee to 15 inches using an ultralight 8’ Phenix Reaper com- posite triggerstick kokanee rod with a Team Daiwa Z ultra light reel loaded with 6 pound Berkley Vanish fluorocarbon line. They trolled pink Paulina Peak spinner hootchies and Yakima Bait Spin & Glo Kokanee rigs behind pink/copper Paulina Peak dodgers off the Canon Downriggers 35 to 55 feet deep at 1.2 mph. Dan Bacher - fished again for largemouth bass at Ruck- er Lake off of Bowman Lake Road in Nevada County. He used a Berkley Ugly Stick GX2 6’ 6” medium action spinning rod, teamed up with a Shake- speare GX235 spinning reel filled with 6 lb. test P-Line CX Premium Flourocarbon Coated Line. He caught and released largemouths in the 12 to 14 inch class while tossing out Yamamoto Senkos in wa- ter melon/green pumpkin patterns on Ga- makatsu #1 worm hooks.