Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3704 Feb 2-16, 2018 | Page 26

24 Feb 2 - 16 , 2018 VOL . 37 • ISS . 04

FRESHWATER REPORTS :

CONTINUED FROM PG 21

SHADOW CLIFFS LAKE cont . the 60s by the afternoon .”

The water temperature is 54 degrees , depending on depth . The visibility seems to vary between 10-15 feet .

Big fish honors go to Rob , who caught a 6.8 lb trout , and Sal Herrera of Castro Valley , who caught a 7 lb trout on a Kastmaster .

Brian Gyonina of San Ramon landed three trout . Shatara was out boating with his friend and they caught seven trout bait fishing .

Ra Nayfl caught four trout while fishing PowerBait . Mike Jones caught five trout out on his boat . Chris from San Jose and Brian from Concord each bagged four trout .

Rodney and Tomki caught nine trout using a combination of green , orange and pumpkin Powerbait . Finally , Rodney and his sons caught 12 trout on January 4th .

SHASTA / WHISKEYTOWN

Bass , Trout & Kokanee All Available For North Valley Anglers !

REDDING - Bass fishing is currently king at Lake Shasta , but trouters are getting in on some good fishing too . At Whiskeytown , kokanee are on the menu , but few anglers are targeting them .

Spotted bass are on an outstanding bite at Shasta with anglers catching as many as 20 fish per day . A decent fish goes 1.25 pounds and big fish over 3 pounds are showing up with good frequency .

Overall , soft plastics are the way to go . Drop shot rigs armed with baitfish colored Mother ’ s Finest Worms are the top producer , but football head jigs rigged with Yamamoto Spider Grubs work well too , particularly for larger than average fish .

Jeff Goodwin of Jeff Goodwin ’ s Guide Service has been enjoying good trout fishing at Lake Shasta while pulling large spoons . Jeff is mainly catching browns , but there are some rainbows around too . Goodwin reported that his top fish in recent days was a 4 pound brown . He went on to say that the best bite window has been in the morning and is relatively short .

As of press time Lake Shasta was 49 feet from the top and rising slightly .

Trollers that make the trip to Whiskeytown are rounding up limits and near limits of fat Kokanee to 16 inches ! Paulina Peak dodgers and hoochies in orange and pink colors produce well .

SMITH / CHETCO RIVERS

Steelhead Forecast Gets Better With Rain

SMITH RIVER – Steelhead fishing so far this season on the Smith and Chetco rivers has been slow because of low and clear water conditions , but that should change with the forecasted arrival of rain .

“ Well , it looks like we are finally going to get some real rain ,” commented Phil Desautels of Phil ’ s Smiling Salmon Guide

Wickiup Spinner Hoochie

Purple Haze Premium Micro Hoochie

3704

Hammered Gold Scale Big-iDodger

Hammered Copper Big-i Dodger w Pink UV Stripe

Blood Orange Micro Hoochie

Purple Haze Hammered Big-i Dodger

This big sturgeon was caught aboard the Dragon during a January 7 bait fishing adventure . Photo courtesy of DRAGON SPORTFISHING , Pittsburg .

Service . “ So far this season our rivers have not seen a big gully washer and we really need one to bring in some more fish .”

“ The fishing so far has been real tough ,” noted Desautels . “ There are a few fish to be had , but you really need to work hard for them . Let ’ s hope this rain does its job .”

SOUTHERN OREGON ROUNDUP

Steelhead Fishing Ranges From Slow To Good Depending On The River

ROSEBERG - The Oregon Department of Fish And Wildlife

Hammered Moon Jelly Big-i Dodger w Orange UV Stripe

Pink Moon Spinner Hoochie

Hammered Big-i Dodger w Pink UV Stripe

Purple Glow & Nickel Moon Jelly Spinner

reports bank and boat anglers are having some good steelhead success in the middle section of the mainstem Umpqua .

The South Umpqua reopened on Dec . 1 to winter steelhead fishing . Anglers are getting into a few and with a little rain in the forecast fishing should be good .

The lower Rogue is running low and clear . A few winter steelhead are being picked up by anglers plunking Spin-n-Glos . Very few boats are on the river . This is just the beginning of the winter steelhead run .

On the middle Rogue , summer steelhead are available , but cold , clear water is making fishing challenging . Anglers should downsize their tackle and work their offerings slowly along the bottom .

The Applegate River is open for winter steelhead fishing . However , only hatchery steelhead may be retained . Fishing will be slow until rain raises water flow .

Anglers are picking up a few steelhead on the Chetco , but continued low water has been making for some tough fishing conditions . Rain is expected by the weekend which should improve fishing conditions .

In the Coos Basin , rivers are still low , clear water due to the lack of rain . Some anglers have been catching a few winter steelhead near the head of tide on the Millicoma and South Fork Coos rivers . Steelhead should move up river to the more “ traditional ” fishing areas on the next significant rain . Anglers fishing the South Fork Coos River above Dellwood will need a permit from Weyerhaeuser , which allows the angler to access up to the Seven Mile Bridge . Permits can be obtained at Weyerhaeuser ’ s Coos Bay office . In the Coos Basin , 1 additional hatchery steelhead may be retained per day for a total aggregate of 3 adult fish harvested daily .

The steelhead rivers in the Coquille Basin continue to run low and clear . Steelhead anglers have been plunking in the tidewater sections of the Coquille River near the town of Coquille in hopes of the first returning winter steelhead . In the Coquille Basin 1 additional hatchery steelhead may be retained per day for a total aggregate of 3 adult fish harvested .

TAHOE / DONNER LAKES

Macks Bite At Tahoe , Donner

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE - Both deepwater and shallow water trollers are doing well at Tahoe . While the folks trolling deep water are scoring consistent limits , the shallow trolling crowd is catching larger fish .

For trolling deep water , private boaters are using their sonar units to find macks holding near the bottom . After that they slow troll the marks with threaded Gulp ! Minnows rigged behind 5 to 10 inch dodgers . If bites don ’ t come right away continue working the same spot . If you can get one or two fish to go , the bite will escalate from there .

The north end of the lake has been very good for deep water trollers pulling offerings from 100 to 150 feet deep .

Shallow water trollers are primarily pulling Rapalas both toplined and off lead core outfits . The stretch from Richardson Bay to Cave Rock has been good . Macks to 12 pounds have been caught by shallow water trollers and there have been a few browns and rainbows showing too .

A tried and true rig for winter rainbows at Tahoe is a watermelon Sep ’ s Strike Master trailed by half a threaded crawler . You can try a Gulp ! Minnow in place of the worm too .

Mickey Daniels of Mickey ’ s Big Mack Charters has been enjoying solid action at the north end of the lake . Mickey ’ s