Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3625 Nov 24- Dec8 2017 | Page 3

Up-To-Date and Published Locally... By Sportsmen... For Sportsmen! Collins Lake Map Feature MADE IN U.S.A See Page 14 Vol. 36 - ISS.25 Our 35th Year Since 1982 Nov. 24 - Dec 8, 2017 “The Magazine for West Coast Sportsmen!” Rig Up With Fluorocarbon For More Steelhead! S ometimes it’s the seamless drift of a single egg through a furious flow that triggers a strike. Other times it’s a textbook drop-back presentation with a glob of bait or a wide-wobbling plug. Every so often it’s making the perfect pass while pulling spoons or body baits through a school of baitfish. And then there’s the moments the subtlest presentation of live bait at the lake’s floor is what it takes. The target species we’re talking about? Steelhead – one of the hardest fighting fish swimming the Great Lakes, Pacific Ocean and their tributaries. With just a few, minute tweaks in your technique, you’ll find these anadromous rainbow trout (that’s a ‘bow born in freshwater, which swims out to the sea to live its adult life and then heads back to the very flows it started life to procreate) aren’t really all that hard to fool. And using fluorocarbon leaders is one of the easiest ruses no matter what tactic you decide to use. The hardest part about catching a steelhead? Well, that’s actually being able to land a steelhead. These fish turn hot headed the millisecond Steelhead like this beautiful fish are widely regarded as the hardest fighting fish you set the in fresh water. Photo by DR. JASON HALFEN, The Technological Angler. hook. Leaps and bounds that measure multiple feet out hooked why diehard steelhead anglers of the water? Oh yeah! Rips rely on Seaguar’s 100% fluorocarbon through a river so wild they can burn up a STS Salmon and STS Trout/Steelhead brand-new drag? It’s a heart-breaking fact. leader lines. These leaders deliver Battles often last mere seconds because incredible abrasion resistance, the chrome-colored fish you just hooked withstanding impacts against ragged blasted its way into a log jam or around rocks and wrapping and slicing into a boulder faster than a silver bullet? You downed trees. better plan on it… Ever lose a salmonid, reel in and find Overall, if you only land half the your hook or lure’s gone and the end of steelhead you hook it’s a tremendous day. your line is all spiraled up? That’s the And it’s th e finesse needed to fool these telltale sign of knot failure, which is a fish followed by the manic mayhem once CONTINUED ON PAGE 19 GONE FISHING by Dr. Jason Halfen Your Guide To Sac City Salmon! T he chinook salmon run is the most anticipated fishery in the in the Sac- ramento Area each year. Some anglers start as early as the opener in July, hoping to intercept some initial fish blasting through. The problem with fishing in the Sacramento Region is that on some days, you have a better chance of winning the lottery than you do of hooking a salmon. Salmon fishing can be broken down into two basic requirements. First off, decent numbers of salmon have to be present if you are going to stand a chance of hooking one. You can’t just pick a single salmon off of a spot like you would be able to do while largemouth bass fishing. There needs to be a lot of them moving through. In addition to being present, they actually have to be biting when your lure goes whizzing past. I used to do a lot of salmon fishing in the early 2000’s when way more salmon were pres- ent in the river system. I can tell you even on days when salmon were rolling everywhere, we still would only catch them during a few brief bite windows each day. Now imagine fishing when only a few schools of salmon move through all day. Were they biting when they passed you? If not, welcome to Skunksville. To start this season off, my choice of days to fish hadn’t been great. All of my trips were those “you missed the morning bite”, or “should have been here yesterday” type of deals. When I found myself questioning my own techniques, I had to take a time out and remind myself of the basics. Don’t overthink fishing for river salmon! If they are there, it’ll happen. Armed with some newly polished Silvertron spinners and a fresh mindset, I returned the Sacramento River with Gil Perez of Sacramento this October. The red glow of sunrise provided a beautiful backdrop to start our trolling journey. We trolled downstream, starting above the Garcia Bend area. As we approached the Freeport Bridge, two anglers in a boat were photographing a freshly caught king salmon. “They’re in WHAT’S HOT by Jack Naves Fish Sniffer field editor and Delta fishing guru, Jack Naves tempted this 18 pound Sac River king with a pol- ished Silvertron spinner. Photo by JACK NAVES, Fish Sniffer Staff. 35 Years Serving Sportsmen CONTINUED ON PAGE 20 Conference Committee Rejects Westlands Drainage Settlement Rider See Page 22 SEE OUR NEW BAJA ROUNDUP SECTION ON PAGE 26-27 INSIDE Area Reports FRESHWATER REPORTS Almanor Lake - American River.............................4 Lake Berryessa - Collins Lake...............................8 Colusa/Knights Landing - Eagle Lake..................11 Eastern Sierra - Los Vaqueros Reservoir............12 New Melones Lake - Rollins/Scotts Flat Lake.... 16-17 Sacramento Area - Southern Oregon Roundup ..17 Lake Tahoe - West Delta ....................................17 SALTWATER REPORTS Berkeley - Bodega Bay.........................................24 Half Moon Bay - Peninsula Shoreline....................25 FEATURES Where...When...How... HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE...........................6-7, 9-10, 13 BAJA ROUNDUP...............................................26-27 BULLETIN BOARD................................................... 4 COOKIN’ YER CATCH - Paulette Kenyon............... 21 FISH SNIFFER HOW-TO: Cal Kellogg..................... 5 GO FOR IT: Staff....................................................... 2 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR...................................... 3 MAP FEATURE: Dan Bacher.............................14-15 SALTY TIPS Steve “Hippo” Lau.............................. 26 SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION - Dan Bacher.... 22 WHAT’S HOT SALTWATER by Dave Hurley and Cal Kellogg................ 23 STAFF TACKLE What We’re Using Paul Kneeland - fished Davis Lake with Richard Percy of Peardale in the Fish Sniffer 21’ Rogue Jet Coastal. They caught fat rainbows to 22 inches and 3 ½ lbs using a Cousins 7’6” ultra light graphite down- rigger rod with a Abu Garcia Revo MGX Extreme level wind reel loaded with 6 lb test Yozuri TopKnot fluorocarbon line. They trolled red Sockeye Slammers and red/white Dick Nite spoons off the Canon Downriggers 5 to 10 feet deep at 2.0 mph. Cal Kellogg - fished the West Delta for striped bass with Sam Evans. Cal used a 7’ Lamiglas Certified Pro baitcasting rod matched with an Abu Garcia 7000 narrow Big Game reel spooled with 65 lb Yo-Zuri braided line for fishing filleted shad on a sliding sinker rig. The anglers landed and released several small striped bass to 24 inches. Dan Bacher - fished for rainbow trout at Union Res- ervoir. He used a Berkley Ugly Stick GX2 6’ 6” me- dium 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 tossed out 1/8 oz. Yaki- ma Bait Rooster Tails in Brown Trout, Fire Tiger and Rainbow color patterns and 1/8 oz. gold and black Panther Martins.