Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3625 Nov 24- Dec8 2017 | Page 20

18 Nov . 24 - Dec . 8 , 2017 VOL . 36 • ISS . 25

FRESHWATER REPORTS :

CONTINUED FROM PG 17

SACRAMENTO AREA

Metro Chinook Action Remains Off & On

SACRAMENTO - The same salmon fishing pattern continues on the Sacramento River in the metropolitan area – good one day , slower the next .

“ Last week produced good fishing ,” said James Netzel of Tight Lines Guide Service . “ We landed 5 fish and lost 3 fish on Thursday ; caught 4 salmon and lost 3 Thursday ; then landed 2 fish Friday .”

“ Then today , Tuesday , three of us just went out in two hours and landed two fish weighing 3 and 16 pounds ,” he noted . “ Many of the late fall run fish we ’ ve been seeing so far are jacks in the 3 to 5 lb range .”

They trolled with Brad ’ s Cut Plugs and Pro Troll Flashers in the stretch of river from Miller Park to Garcia Bend .

“ The salmon fishing has been hot and cold ,” said Jerry Lampkin of TNG Motor Sports Guide Service . “ On Thursday , two of us landed 4 bright salmon weighing 10 , 8 , 6 and 6 pounds . We trolled with Flatfish at first light and then fished with cut plugs . ”

“ The next day fishing was tough ,” said Smith . “ We hooked two and lost them both .”

Monte Smith of Gold Country Fishing confirmed the up and down fishing . “ The two anglers fishing with me on Thursday landed three salmon to 13 pounds and two salmon at the boat , he reported . Then Friday ’ s trip was slow , with one 16 lb chinook for 3 anglers .”

“ We ’ ve been trolling Brad ’ s Cut Plugs behind flashers from Miller Park to Garcia Bend ,” said Smith .

While most people are targeting salmon , some boaters and bank anglers are starting to fish for striped bass in the Port of Sacramento .

“ Most boaters are drifting jumbo minnows or jigging spoons ,” said Dennis Pfanner of Sacramento Pro Tackle . “ Like the salmon fishing , the action is good one day and slow the next .”

- Dan Bacher

Andy Doudna landed released this 25 pound striper while trolling the West Delta with legendary troller Clyde Wands .

Photo by CLYDE WANDS , Sacramento

SAN PABLO LAKE

Season Ends With 28 Lb Channel Catfish Landed

EL SOBRANTE - San Pablo Recreation Area closed for the season on November 12 . The reservoir will reopen the 2nd of February 2018 .

Yao Saelee of San Pablo finished the season with a bang when he hauled in a 28 lb . catfish while soaking shrimp at the boat launch .

Before the lake closed , anglers found some of the top trout fishing of the season , with the CDFW planting 1,000 lbs of trout at the boat launch on November 1 .

Carter Ma of San Francisco caught a trout weighing 1.05 lbs . while using red worms . Chris Carter of San Ramon caught a stringer of trout weighing 10.54 lbs . while soaking PowerBait . His biggest trout weighed 4.66 lbs .

Matt Anderson of Layfette landed 4 trout while soaking chartreuse PowerBait . Mike Antis of Pacifica landed 4 trout using Power Eggs and chartreuse PowerBait .

Ian Deleoz of San Francisco caught a stringer of trout with a Kastmaster . Finally , Heather Grey , an employee of Rocky Mountain Recreation Area , also caught a trout using a lure fishing at the boat launch .

SANTA CLARA VALLEY LAKES

Calero Largemouths Hit Reaction Baits

COYOTE - Angling interest dwindles as fall progresses in the Silicon Valley , with bass headlining reports .

An eight pound largemouth was landed this week at Calero by an angler fishing a jig , as noted by Alex Tran at Coyote Bait and Tackle .

“ The fish are being caught primarily on reaction baits , but that fish apparently wanted a jig ,” Tran laughed . “ Ripbaits , spinnerbaits and chatterbaits are all working good down there .”

“ Anderson has really slowed down with only a few guys going out . Your best bet is to fish a drop shot and you can get numbers .”

Crappie and catfish reports were slow , according to Tran .

- Roland Aspiras

SHADOW CLIFFS LAKE

20 Lb . Channel Cat Paces Catches

FREMONT – While trout fishing is occupying most anglers ’ attention , it was a huge catfish that led recent catches at Shadow Cliffs Reservoir .

Rudy of Livermore caught a 20 lb . catfish while fishing with chicken livers on the first dock , reported Joe Sullivan of the East Bay Regional Park District .

“ Limits of trout are being caught all over the lake ,” said Sullivan . “ Sam of Pleasanton has been catching limits of trout early in the morning on his boat .

“ Brian Schermerhorn also limited out at Shadow Cliffs on Halloween while using a spoon on the first dock ,” said Sullivan . “ His biggest fish was 7.7 lbs .”

Robert Muchna caught a 3 lb . trout fishing off the Stanley shoreline with pumpkin PowerBait . Ben of San Jose caught a 5 lb rainbow fishing the east side of the Stanley shoreline while soaking chartreuse PowerBait .

Bass fishing has been best in the Arroyo Del Valle ponds . G . Rezendes caught and released 8 bass float tubing in the arroyo and he was using Senkos .

The water temperature is 60 degrees , depending on depth . The water visibility seems to vary between 10-15 feet .

SHASTA LAKES

Scout Trolling Key For ‘ Bows

REDDING - With salmon in the Sacramento River and overall tough trout fishing at Shasta , the fishing pressure has been light on the big lake .

As of press time , Shasta ’ s rainbows and browns remain scattered across the lake at a variety of different depths . Once the weather cools the trout will be drawn up to the surface where anglers will be able to target them as they bust bait , yet with fair warm weather in place over the north state it ’ s anyone ’ s guess when that type of action will develop .

The bright side right now is that there are rainbows to 5 pounds available for trollers that find themselves in the right place at the right time . In order to achieve success , it ’ s important to stay on the move quickly pulling shad imitating lures across a range of different depths . Some anglers refer to this approach as “ scout trolling ” since they are basically scouting for trout while pulling lures .

Once you get hit , you ’ ll want to work the area for a while . You might have crossed paths with a single biter or you might have stumbled on a micro area that holds several fish . The area where the river arms join the main lake are good places to start your search , but after that be prepared to roam far and wide in the hunt for hookups . folks think that since crabs are scavengers they ’ ll eat just about anything . That may be true to some extent , but just as with other forms of fishing for the best success you ’ ll want to put some time and effort in making sure you have the most effective bait available .

Over the years , I ’ ve tried all kinds of different baits , but these days I rely primarily on three : turkey wings or chicken wings , squid and sardines . Scent draws crabs to your trap . Once inside you want the crabs to find plenty of tasty hard to eat food . The sound of crabs having a party inside your trap , does nothing but attract more and more crabs . If the crabs inside the trap run out of snacks not only will the trap stop attracting new crabs but the crabs you ’ ve already got inside will get restless and unless your traps are really fool proof some of them will find their way back out !

Crabs make their living cleaning up fish carcasses . If you use something like filleted bottom fish carcasses for hanging bait , crabs clean the bones in nothing flat . Apparently , they don ’ t get much practice dealing with the turkey skin because it takes them a lot longer to clean a couple turkey wings than it does a lingcod carcass .

When I bait my traps , I like to put a bait bottle inside crammed full of chopped squid and sardines . I wire a pair of turkey wings inside making sure that they are suspended in the center of the trap . It ’ s the scent of the

chopped bait that draws the crabs in , but it ’ s the turkey that keeps them eating and satisfied once they get inside .

Pots baited the way I ’ ve just described will catch plenty of crabs , but you can take things one step further and make your sets even more effective by incorporating Pro- Cure Crab & Shrimp Attractant into your baiting routine . Crab & Shrimp Attractant is a moderately priced blend of potent fish oils , salmon egg oil , amino acids and a touch of anise . This blend has been extremely effective for both species .

You can add Pro-Cure Crab & Shrimp Attractant to your jar baits right before you put them into the water , but I prefer to prepare my bait at home . After chopping or grinding my squid and sardines I put the bait in a bucket , pour in Pro-Cure Crab & Shrimp Attractant and mix . I then bait the jars and put them in a garbage bag and toss all of them into the freezer .

Next I put my turkey or chicken wings in large one-gallon zipper bags , pour in a good shot of Crab & Shrimp Attractant and then put the bags in the fridge . I like to marinate them for at least 24 hours and if you can let them soak for two or three days they ’ ll work even better !

As I mentioned earlier I like to work shallow water areas and if possible I like to work close to port . This means I ’ ll usually have competition in the form of other angler ’ s pots soaking in the vicinity of mine . Using

Pro-Cure Crab & Shrimp Attractant requires a bit of preparation time , but it ’ s worth it because out on the water I ’ m confident that my bait will out fish the bait in the other guy ’ s pot every time … Well that is unless he reads this piece and stocks up on turkey wings and Crab & Shrimp Attractant too . Did I just shoot myself in the foot …?

Well we ’ re out of space for now . I wasn ’ t able to touch on any of the finer points of crabbing like the pro ’ s and cons of cooking your crabs alive and then cleaning them versus killing , cleaning and then cooking , but maybe I ’ ll do a follow up piece in the future and we can talk about that and more .

For now , get your traps in order , stock up on a supply of bait and grab a few bottles of Pro-Cure ’ s Crab & Shrimp Attractant to

Hosted by Cal Kellogg

• $ 15 Per Chukar

• $ 25 Per Pheasant Single And Group Hunters Are All Welcome !

tip the odds in your favor . Crab season is on and you ’ ll want to claim your share of the tasty bottom crawlers !

at Raahauge ’ s Hunting Club

Lunch Included

Bird Cleaning Dogs and Dog Handlers

Available !

DEC 2 , 2017

This Hunt Is Going To

SELL OUT FAST !! ( 530 ) 724-0552

A Sheldon Bright Production

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