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