14 April 27 - May 11 , 2018 VOL . 37 • ISS . 10

FRESHWATER REPORTS :

CONTINUED FROM PG 7

DAVIS / FRENCHMAN LAKES

Lake Is 96 Percent of Capacity !

PORTOLA – The water level at Lake Davis has risen to 5773.79 feet in elevation with recent storms . The lake is currently holding 79,579 acre feet of water , 96 percent of capacity and 124 percent of average .

Jim Graham at the J & J Grizzly Store and Camping Resort said he hasn ’ t heard any fishing reports from anglers in the past couple of weeks , but the rainbow trout fishing should shift into high gear soon . Both trollers using worms and lures and bank fishermen tossing out PowerBait and nightcrawlers should do well .

You can also expect the black bass , catfish and bluegill fishing to heat up as the water clears from storms and warms up .

“ The Lightning Tree boat ramp is accessible and useable .

Coot Bay and Mallard Cove are accessible , but watch out for the tire eating potholes at Mallard Cove ,” he advised .

“ Honker Bay is still snowy and icy ; I don ’ t recommend trying it yet .,” he noted . “ The west side is still not passable , a vehicle got stuck today ; looks like high centered .” Likewise , no fishing reports were

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Paul and Sean paid Lake Amador a visit on April 2 and nailed rainbows that weighed up to 7 pounds !

Photo courtesy of THE LAKE AMADOR CAFÉ , Ione .

available from Frenchman Lake , but that should change soon also . Frenchman is holding 52,418 feet of water , 94 percent of capacity and 128 percent of average . The lake level is 5,586.03 feet above sea level .

DEL VALLE RESERVOIR

Black Bass Fishing Busts Loose

LIVERMORE – The bass fishing is going strong at Del Valle , as evidenced by

( based on 200 anglers )

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For more information , contact :

Harold Jones , Sugarloaf Cottages Gary Coe , Derby Chairman ( 800 ) 953-4432

( 916 ) 985-4943 www . kokaneepower . org

3709 the latest venture on the lake by Jeff Cooper of San Ramon .

“ Saturday I had the honor and privilege to fish with east coast angler Chris Cooper of Cabot , PA ,” said Cooper . “ He also happens to be my brother and mentor in bass fishing . As we hit the lake at dawn with our spirits high , we knew we were in for a good day . This week had warm temperatures in the 70 ’ s and 80 ’ s which brought the morning water surface temperature to 60 degrees , and peaked at 63 degrees by the end of the day .” “ We started our day fishing the rock piles and laydowns in the Narrows before Tarantula Cove . It didn ’ t take long before we boated a couple nice smallmouth bass on homemade swim jigs Chris taught me to make . Throughout the day we just slowly worked our way around the lake picking each piece of cover apart ,” he stated .

“ Rotating from lipless crankbaits , and square bill crankbaits , to shaky head , and wacky rig finesse worms , we picked up fish here and there . While the boat was moving from spot to spot , we threw swimming baits . When we stopped at cover or rock piles , we slowed our presentation down and used soft plastics ,” stated Cooper .

“ Chris had most of his success today on a green pumpkin color Rage Craws with a 5 / 16 oz tungsten bullet weight , catching 4 bass on this lure alone , including a 3-1 / 2 lb largemouth that turned out to be our big bass of the day . We caught several bass in the 2 lb category , and a 5 lb . rainbow trout . Today ’ s catch total featured 14 fish , including 5 smallmouth , 5 largemouth , and 4 trout .”

Other successful anglers include Tom Rosenlind of Livermore , who caught a 24 ” long striper weighing 5 lbs while using a deep diver spoon . Brian Buss of Livermore also caught an 18 ”
 trout near the dam using a wounded minnow lure .

Gary Howard reported very slow trout fishing on his latest trip to the reservoir . “ I had a few trout bites ; I caught one about 18 ” in Heron Bay . The water is muddy all the way to Swallow Bay . Heron Bay is clearer , but still stained , with 10 ’ visibility ,” he stated .

DON PEDRO

Trout Bite Comes to Life

FREMONT – The trout bite has come to life at Don Pedro with the addition of 39,000 fish saved by the Department of Fish and Wildlife from the washout at the Moccasin Hatchery . Monte Smith of Gold Country Sport Fishing

We also fish Folsom , Oroville , Donner , Stampede , Boca , Lake Tahoe and the Sacramento River .

found tremendous action on two separate trips earlier in the week , but he cautions anglers to release the smaller rainbows and brooks that are mixed in with the larger trout .

Smith said , “ We left the ramp at Moccasin , and within 100 yards , we hooked up with 7 trout running my custom spoons on leadcore line . In total , we caught 51 trout with an uncountable number of strikes using the spoons on leadcore and also on the downrigger at depths from 25 to 35 feet around the Moccasin ramp . There is a trash barrier to the southwest of the launch ramp , and this is collecting a lot of debris , and there is another trash barrier further up the river arm near Rough and Ready .”

“ Our largest trout weighed three pounds , and we hooked a number of brook trout in deeper water . The following day I took out15 and 11-year brothers , and we caught and released over 60 trout , keeping the largest 14 fish to 15 inches using the same techniques . Some of these rainbows are so small that I hope fishermen will release them to grow larger later in the season . There should be good fishing to come once the water temperatures stabilizes and warms up ,” stated Smith .

For bass , the team of Jason Remmers and Alex Niapas took Saturday ’ s NewJen Bass Tournaments event on Saturday with a whopping 32.77-pound five-fish limit including an 8.24-pound kicker . Despite the heavy rains on Saturday morning , there were 17 limits over 10 pounds weighed in by the 20 teams participating in the event .

Don Pedro will be hosting a number of bass tournaments this month including the California Tournament Trails on April 14 , Mother Lode Kayak on April 15 , Sierra Bass Club on April 21 / 22 , and Best Bass Tournaments on April 21 . There should be some huge weights in these events with the big females returning to the beds . The lake held at 88 percent .

- David Hurley

EAST DELTA

San Joaquin Stripers Are Hitting

STOCKTON - Clyde Wands , shallow trolling expert , was on the San Joaquin River on Tuesday , and he reported good action for striped bass to 8 pounds .

He said , “ We made three stops , and there were good fish at each stop . We released a number of stripers to 7 pounds , and the only fish kept were males . I always say , turn the big ones loose .”

Randy Pringle , the Fishing Instructor , has been on the San Joaquin River searching

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JAMES NETZEL

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