VOL . 37 • ISS . 08

March 30 - April 13 , 2018

21 day . We ended up with 13 rainbows , losing another pair by 3:00 p . m ., before calling it a day .”

Joe Akasamit of Joefish Guide Service along found success with Jen Lane Mat earlier in the week with two limits of rainbows near the mouth of the river .

Grubs within the top 10 feet of the surface have been the top set up .

Pardee was the host of the final day of the Angler ’ s Press Tournament of Champions , and preliminary reports were of a tough bite facing the fishermen in the event .

- Dave Hurley

PYRAMID LAKE

Shore Cutthroat Action Changes With Weather

RENO - Overall , the shore bite for Lahontan cutthroat trout is quite good at

Pyramid Lake . However , the biggest key to having a good day of fishing has been to have a little inclement weather .

By far the best days of fishing have been coming when the weather is at least slightly disagreeable . Cloudy , windy , snowy and rainy have been the conditions most conducive to catching cutthroats . High sun and still conditions are drastically slowing the bite for shore fishermen .

The best circumstances have been when the wind blows from the north or the south . A west wind is actually not beneficial at all for anglers in the Sutcliffe area at popular beaches like the Nets and Pelican . When the wind blows from the north or the south , it tends to build a good swell , and the incoming swell tends to churn up the lake ’ s bottom .

Ideal conditions are when the swell is mucking up a good mud line . This will encourage hordes of cutthroat to enter the shallows , and with the reduced visibility ,

they usually feel comfortable and strap on the feed bag .

When the water loses visibility , fly rod anglers are really scoring . Those fishing with nymphs under a bobber are really doing well at this time .

When the water is cloudy , it also means that midge larvae are being stirred up off of the lake ’ s bottom . The cutthroat will often be seen cruising mere feet away from an angler ’ s ladder . The bite can be red hot suspending a midge larvae imitation under an indicator .

- Mike McNeilly

CONTINUED ON PAGE 22

Randall Parvin landed and released 3 dandy largemouth bass while fishing at Lake Camanche on February 26 .

Photo courtesy of the LAKE CAMAN- CHE RECREATION AREA , Lake

Camanche .

Brad Schmidt of Reno holds up a quality keeper striper that he pulled out of the West Delta on March 8 .

Photo by CAL KELLOGG , Fish Sniffer Staff .

deck daily . In fact , during the three trips before my March 8 , School of Fishing adventure , 4 fish over 30 pounds were landed aboard the Dragon .

You can never count big fish before they are actually landed , but I ’ ll admit that visions of huge bass being caught on video were dancing in my mind as I made the two plus hour pre-dawn drive to the Pittsburg Marina on the 8th .

The conditions looked perfect . As small low pressure area was moving in late in the day , so I figured the bite would be good . Heck I ’ ve had wide open striper fishing in the West Delta while fishing the leading edge of a low pressure area .

Hayden had told me and our six anglers to show up at the Pittsburg Marina at 6:45 in the morning , but of course most of us were early . We all chatted in the parking lot for a while and then made our way past the fuel dock to Hayden ’ s impressive yacht . After introductions , we stowed our gear , Zack our deckhand untied the lines and Hayden steer the huge boat beyond the breakwater and into Suisun Bay .

The run to the fishing grounds wasn ’ t long , or complicated or even secretive .

“ The fish have been holding and cruising right along the channel ,” Hayden related as his eyes scanned the screen of the big Furuno sonar unit . “ I ’ ve been fishing a few different spots , but I let the sonar unit determine where I fish from day to day .”

We hadn ’ t cruised far when the screen of the Furuno started registering an array of marks from fish that looked to range from big to downright huge .

“ Some of those fish are sturgeon , but a lot of them are stripers . We ’ ll concentrate on stripers , but we ’ ll have a sturgeon rod in the water just in case ,” Hayden told me as Zack lowered the anchor .

With the anchor holding and the final push of the incoming tide underway , Hayden and Zack baited 6 rods with large live and dead baits for stripers and a seventh rod was baited with a spawn sack filled with salmon roe

for sturgeon .

The best fishing for stripers and sturgeon typically takes place at the beginning and ends of the tides and we hoped to convert one of those big marks we ’ d seen on the sonar into a big hookup !

But alas our hopes and dreams were crushed during the remainder of the incoming tide when we didn ’ t get so much as a nibble .

“ Oh well ,” I thought . “ I ’ ve had better luck on the outgoing tide ”. During slack water Hayden moved down to Honker Bay and repositioned the boat . Back into the water went the baits . An hour passed and then another . We had a few pecks and bumps , but nothing you could really call a bite .

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When the drifting weeds started to get really annoying , we were on the move again to get away from the salad and to find a good spot for the second half of the outgoing tide .

The best marks were in the same basic area where we ’ d started the day . Hayden and I were both optimistic . Those big fish were due to go . They been hitting every day …

“ When the bite came on Merle ’ s rod it was very light to begin with . The reel was out of gear and the fish moved off slowly playing with the bait . The fish seemed sluggish , but eventually the bass picked up speed and the hook sunk home … Fish On !

Merle ’ s 7 pound striper wasn ’ t the monster we were looking for , but at least we were on the score board . Better still , Merle ’ s bass was barely in the box when Brad Schmidt ’ s rod got hit .

Brad ’ s fish also moved away slowly , but eventually got serious and took off . Again we were hoping for a double digit trophy , but it wasn ’ t meant to be . Brad ’ s striper

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was a hair bigger than Merle ’ s fish . At this point it seemed like we were in the grove , but as quickly as the fish started biting they stopped and Brad ’ s bass was the last fish of the day .

I ’ d gotten some decent video , but not of the monster bass I hoped to capture . Both Brad and Merle earned rod and reel combos courtesy of Diawa and Okuma .

Fast forward to the next day and I started getting text messages from Hayden early in the morning . Of course , the big fish action was back on track with bass weighing 40 , 31 , 10 and 10 pounds coming aboard the Dragon ….

Yes I should have been there yesterday , I mean tomorrow … Well actually I should have been there pretty much any other day …. LOL !

If you ’ d like to head out for trophy stripers and sturgeon , give Captain Hayden Mullins a call at ( 925 ) 428-1103 . Chances are if I ’ m not on the boat with my video camera , you ’ ll hook something huge !

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