VOL. 36 • ISS. 24

FRESHWATER REPORTS:

CONTINUED FROM PG 13

TRINITY RIVER / LAKE cont. acre-feet of water, 74 percent

of capacity and 107 percent of capacity.

- Dan Bacher

WEST DELTA

Stripers And Sturgeon Chomp!

BRANNAN ISLAND- For the most part fishing is really good in the West Delta, but there are some slow days and weeds are a major challenge in some areas.

Striper anglers are hooking up on both bait and plugs. Trollers pulling deep running Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnows are hooking limits regularly. Average size bass run 5 to 7 pounds and pull the scale down to 25 pounds on the big end of the spectrum.

Pluggers are smacking fish on consistently on Fish Traps and occasionally on big topwater baits such as Spooks and Delta Wood Bombers.

These folks smashed limits of big Sacramento River king salmon while trolling Brad’ s Killer Bait Cut Plugs with Captain James Netzel on October 9.

Photo courtesy of TIGHT LINES GUIDE SERVICE, Loomis.

Overall the easiest way to score a limit of bass is soaking shad. You’ ll have to sort through some shakers, but if you stick it out you’ ll likely take home a limit of schoolies. If luck shines on you a

jumbo in the 15 to 25-pound class may grab that shad.

If you want to trophy hunt, pike minnows, split tails and live bluegill are the way to go.

Stripers are definitely the focus

Nov. 10- 24, 2017 depending on if you are fishing shallow fast water or deeper slower water. No matter if you are fishing shallow or deep water your lure has to be working near the bottom, so if the lures you have are not heavy enough to work within a foot of the bottom, don’ t be afraid to add split shot to the line about a foot above the lure.

The first thing you’ ve got to understand about presentafor most anglers these days, but sturgeon enthusiasts are bagging keepers. The upper reaches of Suisun Bay is the place to look for diamond backs. Roe is the best bait, but eel is a must have too. In general, the best fishing has been taking place in water that ranges from 25 to 50 feet deep.

While there are lots of sturgeon holding in the West Delta, not all of them are biters, so don’ t squat and rot. When you set up on good marks give them a chance to bite and if that bite doesn’ t come, make a move and find some hungry fish.

WILD HORSE RESERVOIR

Shore Anglers Lay Into Trout

ELKO – The lake still has more algae than normal for this time of year but fishing is very good here as shore anglers report good fishing for trout in the Hendrick’ s Arm on both sides of the highway, according to the Nevada

17

Department of Wildlife( NDOW).

Fish are averaging 14 to 17 inches with the occasional fish between 20 and 24 inches. From Hendricks to the dam, the water is clearer than the southern two thirds of the lake. Penrod arm is also fishing well as is the area on the west side of the lake near the hot springs.

Boaters are also doing well, though no report on how the canyon by the dam is fishing. Minnow imitators with black or blue over white or silver should work as well as fire tiger patterns. Fishing Bait fishermen should use the usual worms or PowerBait for trout.

While most fly rodders report good luck with leeches, especially when fished under an indicator( bobber), they also should be trying the standard fall reservoir patterns: scuds, damselfly nymphs, and blood midges. Chironomid patterns should also be near the top of the list for flies.

Wild Horse was stocked last week with approximately 20,000 trout bringing this year’ s total to almost 148,000 fish.

- Joe Doucette

experience to consistently hook salmon while tossing hardware, but the strikes you get are savage and often occur right at your feet. Let’ s take a closer look at this adrenaline filled underutilized form of river fishing.

Rods for tossing hardware don’ t need to be heavy, yet this really isn’ t a light tackle method. A good rod is either a spinning or conventional stick that is 7 to 8 feet long. The rod should feature a medium action and be rated for 10 to 20 pound mono.

In terms of reels you don’ t need a huge line capacity. A baitcaster or spinning reel capable of holding in the neighborhood of 100 yards of 20 pound mono will work just fine.

This brings us to fishing line and this is where any notion of hardware fishing being a light tackle approach goes right out the window. For hardware

• $ 15 Per Chukar

• $ 25 Per Pheasant Single And Group Hunters Are All Welcome! fishing you don’ t want to use less than 20 pound test line. Salmon and steelhead aren’ t line shy and since the hits you get on hardware are reaction strikes line diameter and visibility aren’ t big concerns.

If you choose to use monofilament, limp abrasion resistant 20 pound test is the way to go. However, 20, 30 or even 50 pound test braid is an even better choice. 30 pound braid is much finer in diameter that 20 pound mono and this allows you to get lighter lures deeper and cast farther than you could with mono.

Okay now that you’ ve got a rod and reel combo rigged up it’ s time to pick up some lures. In general, lures ranging from a ½ ounce to one ounce are most useful, but you can toss in a few ¼ ounce

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3620 models too. For spoons you’ ll want to stick with standard wobblers like the Krocodile, the Mepps Syclops or Blue Fox Pixees. Your spinner selection should be a little more extensive. You’ ll want lures with Colorado, Indiana and willow leaf blades. Colorado’ s run the shallowest while willow leafs run the deepest and Indianas are a compromise in terms of running depth. There are a myriad of different spinners on the market that will work including the Mepps Longcast, Mepps Flying C, the classic Blue Fox Vibrax or the new Panther Martin Two Tone Roe Spinners.

I’ d like to tell you that you don’ t need a big selection of lures, but that isn’ t the case. Color is critical. When you find salmon or steelhead grouped in a pool, initially they will hit just about any color lure, but then the bites and follows will taper off.

To get more strikes from that group of fish you have to keep switching lure styles and colors. Once they become accustomed to one lure or color typically no more strikes will come on that offering. Standard must have colors include, brass, silver, pink, orange, chartreuse and firetiger.

When it comes to working these lures there are two basic presentations

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3624 tion is that if a lure approaches salmon or steelhead from the tail it will spook them. To get strikes a lure has to approach the fish’ s head from the front or side.

When working deeper slower water you want to cast upstream and reel the lure across and downstream toward the fish. Getting the lure deep with this type of presentation is seldom an issue, but you’ ll have to reel quickly to make the lure work as it moves with the current.

In shallower faster water cast the lure directly across the stream, allow it to sink a bit and then allow it to swing across the current on a tight line. Usually the current is enough to make the lure work, but if not slowly retrieve line. Using this method, proceed to move downstream one step with each cast and you’ ll cover riffles and runs very systematically.

Finally, as you work your lures remember you want them to be working as slowly as possible.

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• SALMON & STEELHEAD

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The longer they stay in the strike zone the better your chances. As you retrieve your lures keep them in the water all the way to the rod tip. Very often salmon and steelies will follow the lure all the way to the bank before striking.