Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3708 March 30-April 13,2018 | Page 13

FRESHWATER REPORTS:

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BERRYESSA LAKE

The Trout Are Scattered

WINTERS – In contrast with a couple of months ago when the rainbow trout at Berryessa were concentrated on schools of bait, the fish are scattered throughout the main body of the lake.

“ Anglers are catching a trout here and there,” said Alan Fong of Fisherman’ s Warehouse.“ Now it takes all day long to get your limit of rainbows.”

Trollers are finding the top action while using the new Rapala Scatter Raps in shad # 5 or # 7 patterns. The trout are quality holdovers ranging from 14 to 18 inches long.

Black bass fishing is productive at Berryessa“ Anglers using drop shot rigs with Robo Worms and other baits are picking up mainly smallmouth and largemouth bass now,” said Fong.“ Experienced fishermen are reporting catching 15 to 16 lb. five fish limits in the main body of the lake”

“ I guided an expert angler yesterday all over the lower end of Berryessa, showing him areas that were new to him,” reported Larry Hemphill, fishing guide.“ We experienced all sorts of weather- mostly cold and a little wet. Early afternoon we even had the big north wind hit- rare during a storm, followed by more south wind.”

“ The bite was slow as the water temperature was the same as a month ago- 52-54 degrees, He did catch two nice bass, largemouth and smallmouth, in the 2-3 / 4 lb range. He missed a few good ones, as the bite was timid. It was fun to run into a bunch of near keepers at the last place we stopped. They probably moved up as the sun finally came out. Robo Worms worked as always,” Hemphill noted.

“ The bass do seem ready to come shallow in spite of the weather. Our bigger bass were not too deep. Water is clear- so far,” Hemphill concluded.

BULLARDS BAR RESERVOIR

Limits of Kokanee hitting Now!

SMARTVILLE- Anglers are catching lot of kokanee in the 12 to 14 inch range at Bullards Bar Reservoir, according to Gary Coe, President of Kokanee Power.

Richie Hight, of Paulina Peak Tackle, his wife Samantha and his son Cody had a great time catching their 10 fish limits of kokanee early at Bullards Bar.

“ They launched out of Dark Day and turned east away from the river and dam,” said Coe.“ They started toplining down to 15 feet and then went deeper to 35 feet. They trolled with the new hammered Bigeye Dodgers and Spinner Micro Hoochies and Micro Hoochies in pink, orange and chartreuse. They used tuna and garlic scents on their white corn.”

“ Their 12 to 14 inch fish were of the highest quality, perfect silver bullets weighing over a pound,” said Coe.

Mary Dunham and Chris Dunham, former Fish Sniffer staffer, trolled the bowl in front of dam on a recent trip to Bullards Bar.“ They only landed three kokanee, but two of them were 15 inches long,” said Coe.

If fish of this quality are biting already, just wait until the summer bite when anglers can expect to hook some huge kokanee!

- Dan Bacher

CAMANCHE LAKE

Bass, Crappie Reward Mother Lode Anglers

BURSON- This is the time of year to catch big largemouth and spotted bass at Lake Camanche. Just ask Martin Rojas of Galt, who was fishing for trout when he hooked an 8 lb. largemouth.

“ I was ljigging a PowerBait minnow shad on the north shore while using a 7 ′ ultralight rod and reel,” said Rojas.“ I released the 8 lb. fish back into the lake. It was a fight of a lifetime on a 4lb test line.”

Trout fishing is also going strong. Richard S. of Rancho Cordova brought in a 4.81 lb. trout while using a spinner by the dam.

Trout plants continue every week, with 1200 pounds of Mt. Lassen Hatchery rainbows split evenly between the South Shore Pond and the South Shore Marina during the last plant.

The rainbows are moving into the main body of the reservoir near the dam, but there are still lots of fish upriver past the Narrows. Shore fishing is best in the pond with PowerBait or crappie jigs.

Jeff and Owen traveled to Lake Amador from Carmichael in late February and fooled this quartet of rainbows with Berkley Power Eggs.

Photo courtesy of LAKE AMADOR CAFÉ, Lake Amador.

One angler, Jeff Howard, also brought in a monster channel catfish while fishing at the south pond over the past week.

Crappie are also showing in the catches. Nick Hicks of Ione was fishing upriver when he hauled in a 2.21 lb. crappie while using a white grub.

Armando Palacios posted to Instagram, reporting productive crappie fishing:“ I went to Camanche with Ramirez for his birthday and we helped our mom and pops catch their first crappie ever! Just another crappie day of fishing,” he quipped.

Lake Camanche has dropped to 72 % full elevation 218.39 while Pardee Lake as climbed up to 93 % full. With rain in the forecast, we hope to see an increase in the lake level.

Lake Camanche was releasing approximately 342 cubic feet per second into the Mokelumne River while receiving approx. 264 cfs. from Pardee at the time of this report.

- Dan Bacher

CLEAR LAKE

Crappie, Bluegill Reward Shoreline Jig Tossers

CLEARLAKE – If you want to catch crappie, bluegill or black bass, the best advice is to head to the north end of Clear Lake.

“ The north end gets warmer first, so that’ s where to fish,” said Dave Burruss of Clear Lake Outdoors.“ The crappie fishing is the top action available now. Shore anglers are getting crappie in the 1 to 2

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lb. range while fishing crappie jigs and medium minnows at Library Park in Lakeport, the Nice shoreline, Clear Lake State Park and Clear Lake County Park. The largest fish I’ ve heard of caught lately weighed 2-1 / 2 pounds.”

“ Bluegill are also showing in the same areas as the crappie,” he noted“ Use redworms for them.”

He gave the bass fishing a slow rating, but the fishing should perk up as the water temperature warms up and the largemouths become more active.

“ Your best bet for the bass is to throw Keitech lures on A-Rigs, again in the north end,” said Burruss.“ Most of the bass are in the 2 to 3-1 / 2

COLLINS LAKE

Huge Trout Grace Scales

OREGON HOUSE- The Collins Lake Resort is planting the reservoir once a week with 1000 pounds of rainbow trout, including 20 percent in the 5 to 8 lb. range. Boosted by the plants, a lot of anglers have reported catching large trout lately.

“ Before the latest storm, the fishing was really good,” reported Lakota Martin of the Collins Lake Resort.“ Anglers are catching most of the larger trout while fishing PowerBait from shore off the swim beach and the dam.”

Big fish honors go to Tony, who landed an 8.8 lb. rainbow while fishing a rainbow Rapala by the bridge. Rick Schmaus of Challenged bagged a 7 lb. trout while using green PowerBait from shore near the dam.

Eric Samay brought in two rainbows weighing 6 and 1-1 / 2 pounds while trolling a Rapala on the lake’ s north end. Charlie Moore landed a 7-1 / 4 lb. rainbow while fishing all color PowerBait off the Swimming Beach.

Gary Musick of Grass Valley reeled in a 6-1 / 2 lb. rainbow while fishing a jerkbait in the main channel from a boat for bass. Weston Burton of Grass Valley caught a 5-3 / 4 lb trout using worms off the beach. David Bunting of Yuba City landed a 5-1/ 2 lb. trout and a 2-1 / 4 lb. trout using PowerBait by the dam.

Most anglers are concentrating on trout, but bass and crappie are also available. For example, Hank and Ava caught two bass and a 2 lb. crappie. John Schembari caught a 5.25 lb. trout in the middle of the lake while floating minnows and Cheryl Schembari caught one bass and one crappie.

The lake is currently 3-1 / 2 feet from full and the surface water temperature is 51 degrees with 3 foot visibility.

- Dan Bacher CONTINUED ON PG 10

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