roe , yarn balls or cocktail shrimp . They can also still be caught on small K-9 or K-11 plugs . Fly anglers are doing well swinging copper johns or egg imitations .

Chinook fishing in the Umpqua estuary is steady , but slow . Bank anglers in Half Moon Bay and the boat basin are consistently catching Chinook and a good number of hatchery Coho . There have been reports of folks catching fish throughout the main .

From July 1 – Dec . 31 , anglers can harvest two wild Chinook per day , and in combination with the other salmon / steelhead recorded on your salmon tag , up to 20 fish total . Fin-clipped hatchery fish can be recorded on a separate hatchery harvest tag that is available .

LAKE TAHOE

Macks Attack Lures , Rigged Baits

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE - Full limits of fish in the 2 to 8 pound range , that ’ s the word from guides and private anglers fishing the waters of Lake Tahoe in recent days .

Gene St . Denis of Blue Ribbon Charters

Now Booking for …

Smallmouth • Steelhead Salmon • Trout Sturgeon

2315

Phone Bill Kremers at …( 541 ) 754 – 6411 bkremers @ comcast . net 29606 N . E . Pheasant , Corvalis , OR 97333

For instance , the gas tax is another Brown creation that ’ s mutually hated by both Democrats and Republicans . If Bernie Sanders had become president , he would have increased corporate taxes and also gone after those corporations that dodge taxes by keeping their money in oversea tax havens .

He had planned to use that money to fund infrastructure projects – like road and bridge improvements . But , that didn ’ t happen ; so , we have states using these regressive taxes rather than instituting their own version of taxing those who actually can afford it . The military has plenty of dough ; but , they ’ re getting an increase in funding ; so , just where the

money for roads will come from is anyone ’ s guess .

On his way home from gathering supplies for his next big waterfowl hunt , Eric noticed our neighbor with the large hulled boat had just gotten back from enjoying the crab opener . Eric thought it was too bad we won ’ t be bringing home any crab this season . I guess I ’ ll have to buy it at the store – like everyone else . Meanwhile , at least we have some rockfish , striper , bass , abalone , and a little bit of salmon to help us through the winter .

So this time around , the rockfish that Eric caught in Shelter Cove and Half Moon Bay makes an appearance in a dinner I made for us using two kinds of mushrooms . I had gone crazy at the store one day buying several packets of seasoning mixes that were on sale . I fished one out for this occasion , using it to flavor the rock fish . Eric thought it was delicious . Hopefully , you will too . reports pulling minnows and dodgers for limits of mackinaw in the 2 to 8 pound range . St . Denis asserted that there are some larger fish available too . If luck is with you , you might just end up with something over 10 pounds .

Mickey Daniels of Mickey ’ s Big Mack Charters has been successfully trolling Carnelian Bay . Mickey starts out trolling briskly in shallow water before slowing down and working progressively deeper . His clients are hooking macks running up to 8 pounds .

Fish Sniffer readers Mark and Dennis Clayton , took a break from pounding stripers in the West Delta and hauled their kayaks up to Lake Tahoe for a crack at some macks and they did well .

“ My brother and I ended up landing 11 mackinaw between us . The top fish weighed in at just over 7 pounds . We got some fish while working jigs , but overall , we had the best luck pulling Arctic Fox trolling flies behind 6 inch Gold Star dodgers from our crank Scotty downriggers ,” said Dennis .

“ The shallowest fish we caught was at 25 , but the best fishing was down around 80 . We kept limits of macks , filleted them and smoked them just like you ’ d do with salmon . We used a sweet brine and the results were so good . We are planning to hit the lake again before it gets really cold up there just to lay in a good supply of smoked mackinaw ,” exclaimed Dennis .

WEST DELTA

Stripers , Sturgeon Chomp Baits

BRANNAN ISLAND - The water is 58 degrees near Pittsburg , ideal for bait fishing for both sturgeon and stripers .

“ The tides had been a little small for sturgeon , but we were still catching fish ,” reported Captain David Hammond of Delta Pro Fishing . “ Now that the tides are ramping up I think our success rate is going to get even better .

“ I ’ ve been running with a full selection of baits recently . I ’ d say that eel is number one , but if you go it ’ s a good idea of have some shrimp baits and salmon roe two . If you ’ ve got decent roe , I ’ d say that is the number two bait . At this point I ’ m focused on deep water areas in Suisun Bay from Pittsburg on down ,” he tipped .

Stripers are still being caught by trollers here and there , but the best results are coming for folks soaking natural baits . Shad is hands down the number one bait for a limit of keepers .

If you want to hunt for those bigger bass live baits such as mud suckers and bullheads work great and baits you ’ ll need to catch yourself such as split tails , pike minnows and bluegill work even better . Yet , be warned that it takes a lot of patience to fish big live baits effectively .

These anglers teamed up and boated this husky 50 inch sturgeon while fishing the West Delta with Capt . Barry Canevaro this October .

Photo courtesy of FISH HOOKERS SPORTFISHING , Isleton .

INGREDIENTS

• 2-4 rockfish fillets

• 1 packet Grill Mates Korean BBQ Marinade

• Vinegar , oil , water

• Ingredients for a stir fry :

• 8-10 shitake mushrooms , stems removed and sliced thin

• 6-8 mushrooms , white or brown , sliced thin

• ½ large green bell pepper , sliced thin crosswise halfway up , cut into 1 ” pieces

• 6-8 large brussell sprouts , cut crosswise thinly , stems discarded

• 1 Cup green kale , no stems , torn into small pieces

• stir fry seasonings : ( something with soy sauce , ginger , oyster sauce , sesame seeds / oil , etc )

• oil ( usually a light oil with a splash of toasted sesame seed oil )

• cooked white rice

DIRECTIONS

Ground up the saltines ( either plain or salted ) with the Goldfish crackers . You can use a processor or you can place the crackers between wax paper or in a bag and use a rolling pin or wine bottle to crush the crackers up . Sprinkle in some lemon pepper and a dash of cayenne pepper . If you want , you can also sprinkle in a little paprika for extra color , if you want . I didn ’ t ; but , I just thought of that and it would be fine . If you use salted saltines , I wouldn ’ t salt the abalone , as it ’ s already so thin that it doesn ’ t need much in the way of salt .

Put the ground crackers on a piece of wax paper or in a container like a round cake tin ( which is what I use ). Dip each piece into the egg mixture and then into the crumbs . Lay the coated abalone slices onto a piece of wax paper for the crumbs to set . Do this with all the slices and then heat up a skillet with plenty of oil in it ( so that the inside of the pan has about 1 / 4 inch of oil in it ).

Heat it to a relatively hot heat so that it browns quickly . Everyone ’ s stove is different . On mine , I have to put it way up high . Quickly lightly brown each side ( should only take less than 30 seconds per side ) and remove to paper towels to drain off the excess oil . Serve with slices of lemon , your favorite tartar sauce , or on soft lightly toasted rolls with chopped lettuce and mayonnaise . Serves 2-3 folks . If you have any questions , comments , cooking tips or recipes to share , feel free to write me at Cookcatch @ comcast . net or at

Paulette or Cookin ’ Yer Catch ; c / o The Fish Sniffer ; PO Box 776 ; Colfax , CA 95713-0776 . Go for it !

11844 Atwood Rd • Auburn 530-888-7825

3624

• Professionally Installed

• Custom Fit

• Same Day Service

6455 Pacific St • Rocklin 916-773-7333

All Gear Provided

5 hours

$

• Discounts for Cash •

• Large or Small Groups • Group Discounts • Gift Certificates Over 50 Years Experience on The Lake

P . O . Box 488

Carnelian Bay , CA 96140

E-mail : bigmack-2 @ att . net • www . mickeysbigmack . com

3204