Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3710 April 27- May 11 2018 | Page 13

FRESHWATER REPORTS :

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BERRYESSA LAKE

The Spring Bass Bite Is On

WINTERS – Larry Hemphill , fishing guide , reported solid black bass fishing on his latest trip on Lake Berryessa .

“ I was beaten by a six-year-old ,” Hemphill quipped . “ It is actually true , but not like it sounds , sorta !! I was looking forward to guiding a six-year-old young lady with her dad and his brother ! I fished some and they fished hard and she beat all of us men with her 3 = 1 / 4 lb largemouth . She hooked , fought , and landed the bass by herself . Do I hear junior high bass tournaments ?? Fun , fun !!”

“ We had another good day at Berryessa and doing some sight fishing for the first time . Water is clear enough to do that . With 4 in the boat , we were limited to mostly drop-shotting Robo worms , and MM111 was again the best color . Morning dawn worked too . Points to the very backs of coves held bass ,” he said .

“ We stayed in the narrows as I wasn ’ t sure how the little one would do after several hours ,” stated Hemphill . “ She did fine !! We found some deep bass also , 25 to 30 feet We caught 20 + bass with again a nice limit around 14 lbs , all released . Mostly spots and largemouth with a very nice smallie .”

“ I saw an amazing thing that one doesn ’ t see often ,” he disclosed . “ We were fishing a good spot in the early afternoon and saw a few bass close to the boat . Along comes this 4 to 6 lb smallmouth , swimming slowly about 2 feet under the surface . What a sight ! She seemed to be fine - don ’ t think anything was wrong with her .”

The water temperature was 61-64 degrees and the water clarity was 4 + visibility .

The Berrryesa trout fishing is also improving with the spring weather . “ The trout bite is starting to ramp up with the warming surface temperatures ; it rose to 58 degrees by 1pm on my last trip ,” said Rich

Crispi of TW Guide Service .

“ It ’ s been a good morning bite ,” he stated . “ My buddy Joel Gleason from Novato and I landed 7 fish total , as well as losing 3 right behind the boat . We had a total of 14 take-downs .”

“ We trolled Rocky Mountain Tackle Serpent spoons and # 3 Trinidad Tackle spoons in Skier ’ s Cove at 20 feet deep . We fished the Serpent spoons at 2.5 mph and Optimizers at 3.8 to 4.1 mph ,” he stated . “ We landed trout to 3 lbs ., 21inches long .”

BULLARDS BAR / ENGLEBRIGHT RESERVOIRS

Trollers Nail Kokanee Salmon Limits

AUBURN - Boaters are still bagging limits of scrappy kokanee salmon at Bullards Bar Reservoir , though the bite has slowed down a bit .

“ The Willow Creek area of the lake is producing the top action ,” reported Craig Newton at Willfish Bait and Tackle . “ Anglers are doing best while trolling micro hoochies and Arctic Fox flies in pinks , reds and oranges behind Shasta Tackle Sling Blades at 15 to 40 feet deep . The fish average 12-1 / 2 inches long and go up to 13-1 / 2 inches .”

Anglers are also picking up some quality spotted bass in the 3 to 5 lb . range while fishing jumbo minnows on Bullards Bar , reported Tim Boggs at Elkhorn Outdoors in Rio Linda .

Bullards Bar is holding 870,254 acre feet of water , 90 percent of capacity and 121 percent of average .

The Skipper ’ s Cove Marina in March released over 5,000

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Ron Brown used yellow PowerBait to tempt a limit of Amador rainbows on April 4 .

Photo courtesy of the LAKE AMADOR CAFÉ , Lake Amador .

pounds of their pen-raised trout into Englebright Reservoir , resulting in hot fishing for rainbows in the 2 to 5 pound range after the release .

However , the recreation area has just reopened after flooding from recent storms , reported Kelsey at the

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Skipper ’ s Cove Marina . The water was still muddy at press time .

- Dan Bacher

CAMANCHE LAKE

Trollers Find Solid Trout Action

BURSON - Trout plants continue with 1800 pounds of Mt . Lassen Hatchery rainbows split evenly between the South Shore Marina , the South Shore Pond , and the North Shore launch ramp .

The water of the main lake and the river arm remains clear despite the inflow , and trolling continues to be solid near the dam at depths to 25 feet with Speedy Shiners , Needlefish , or Rapalas .

Bass fishing has been outstanding with the fish in the shallows from 3 to 5 feet with plastics on the drop-shot , brown / purple jigs , or Senkos as the bass are on the beds . There are also a number of smaller fish in the 1.5 to 2.5-pound range in the shallows with most of the bass in the main lake being largemouth while the river arm is loaded with spotted bass . The lake has risen to 82 percent of capacity .

- David Hurley

Largest Trout Stocking Program North of Sacramento

Call for Reservations

CLEAR LAKE

The Crappie Bite Is Amazing

CLEARLAKE – The crappie bite has ignited on Clear Lake , with the top action going to anglers fishing the lake ’ s north end .

“ The best areas to fish include the County Park , State Park and Library Park ,” said Dave Burruss at Clear Lake Outdoors . “ Most of the fish range from 1-1 / 2 to 3 pounds . Shore anglers and boaters are hooking them on a mixture of jigs and minnows .”

The crappie are showing in 6 to 8 feet of water off docks and near shore , although some are moving into even shallower water .

Bluegill are also showing around docks and structure in the coves as they get ready to spawn . Fishing for them is best with redworms or mealworms .

Black bass fishing has shifted into high gear on the lake also . “ The fish are now spawning on the north end and are in prespawn mode in the south end ,” Burruss explained .

“ Boaters are hooking fish from 2 to 10 pounds while using an array of lures , especially small Keitech swimbaits ,” he tipped . “ Other anglers are drop shotting with Robo Worms in the Margarita Mutilator # 3 color or fishing with jigs . We ’ ve even heard of some bass caught on spinnerbaits .”

“ We ’ ve heard of quite a few bass in the 8 to 10 lb . range caught lately ,” he noted . “ However , the largest fish reported was a 12 lb . largemouth taken on a spinnerbait .”

- Dan Bacher

COLUSA / KNIGHTS LANDING

Striped Bass Bite Will Resume After Water Clears

COLUSA – The Colusa and Knights Landing areas of the Sacramento River were producing both good striper action before the river rose from the Pineapple Express storms that hit Northern California .

As anglers waited for high flows to recede , anglers reported catching some channel catfish averaging 1-1 / 2 to 2 pounds in the Knights Landing area of the river . Tim Boggs at Elkhorn Outdoors recommended fishing with G & S Dip Bait and chicken liver for the channel cats .

Before the river blew out , Stewart Mattos at Kittle ’ s Outdoors in Colusa reported catching and releasing shaker and keeper stripers while tossing out soft plastic swimbaits after work from shore in the Colusa area .

“ The fishing was on fire before the river below out ,” said Mattos . “ Anglers were catching stripers while fishing both above and below Steelhead Landing . Anglers caught the fish on pileworms , ghost shrimp and jumbo minnows .”

The river now is still a little high , but receding , although another spring storm could result in the river level going up again .

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