bass have moved up with the rising water level,” reported Don Paganelli of Paganelli’ s Bass Fishing Experience.“ The smallmouth, spotted and largemouth bass are all showing in the top 15 feet of water.”

“ The spotted and smallmouth bass are spawning now, while the largemouths are cruising in the shallows and looking for areas for their nests,” said Paganelli.“ Anglers are fishing an array of plastic worms, rip baits and other lures.”

“ On my latest trip to the lake, an afternoon solo trip, I caught and released 15 bass,” said Paganelli.“ All were spotted bass except for two smallmouths. The fish ranged in size from 1 to 3 pounds. I hooked all of the fish on Keitech swimbaits in the top 10 feet of water in the South Fork.”

Folsom Lake is holding 792,995 acre feet of water, 81 percent of capacity and 121 percent of the 10 year average. The water level is 448.77 feet above sea level, 17.23 feet from maximum pool.

- Dan Bacher

KLAMATH RIVER

Fish & Game Commission Approves Salmon Season

SACRAMENTO- In contrast with last fall when recreational salmon fishing was closed on the Klamath and Trinity rivers, anglers will able to fish for salmon this year in both rivers. The Klamath Basin quota this season 3,409 fish 22 inches and over.

On April 12, the California Fish and Game Commission at a teleconference meeting quickly approved a season of August 15 to December 31 on the Klamath River and September 1 to December 31 on the Trinity River.

The bag limit is 2 fish, with not more than one adult over 22 inches. The possession limit will be 6 fish, with not more than 3

Brett Brady 530.272.7137 • 530.263.4451 adults over 22 inches.

In addition, the Klamath Spit Area at the mouth of the river has addition regulations:

• This area will be closed to all fishing after 15 percen tof the total Klamath River Basin Quota has been met

• All legally caught adult salmon must be retained.

• Anglers must leave the split area once the adult daily bag limit is met.

• Anglers can fish other areas of the Klamath River to fill their daily bag limit( i. e. jack component.)

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Los Vaqueros Recreation Co. Monday

9990 Los Vaqueros Rd. thru Friday

Byron, CA, 94514

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LOS VAQUEROS RESERVOIR

The Catfish Keep Biting

BYRON – The catfish bite at Los Vaqueros hasn’ t let up since 5000 pounds of channel cats were planted in the lake over two weeks ago.

Anglers are finding the top action in the South Cove and the Pier by the Marina while tossing out anchovies, nightcrawlers and chicken livers.

Gou Yang had a great day when he caught four catfish weighing up to 12 pounds, along with a trout and a keeper striper, while soaking anchovies from shore. Morbella Mulato also nailed a hefty catfish while soaking bait from shore.

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Hayden and Carter nailed a couple crappie and a hefty rainbow while trolling Speedy Shiners near Little Hat Island on Lake Camanche this March.

Photo courtesy of the CAMANCHE RECREATION COMPANY, Lake Camanche.

“ We had our last plant of 1,000 pounds of rainbow trout on Wednesday, April 11,” said Mike Allain of the Los Vaqueros Marina. Anglers are using PowerBait, nightcrawlers and other baits in the South Cove and other areas around the lake to entice the hardfighting rainbows.

Big fish honors go to Jonnell Rojas, who landed a 7.25 lb. trout while soaking chicken liver in Cowboy Cove. Jerry and Don Brown teamed up to land a 5.2 lb. rainbow while soaking Power Bait.

Anglers continue to catch both shaker and legal-sized stripers at Los Vaqueros. Cut anchovies or shad are the baits of choice, fished either from shore or a boat.

The reservoir is currently storing 146,000 acre-feet of water. The water temperature is between 54 and 56 degrees. Water clarity remains between good and fair.

- Dan Bacher

NEW MELONES

12.98 Lb. Largemouth Tops Bass Catches

ANGELS CAMP –“ It’ s been a bass fairly close to the bank. Will there be fish offshore? Yes, but there will be lots of bass near the bank, so let’ s focus on them. You’ ll find them on structure. In our waters that mostly means rocks. The bass will be holding around boulders, rocky points and rocky drop offs.

They will hold on stumps and trees to if you can locate that type of wood structure. In the spring when the water is high you’ ll often find big stands of willow trees in the backs of coves. These submerged trees will hold bass, but I’ ve never had much luck hooking fish in them.

An isolated tree or two is a completely different ball game. I’ ll go out of my way to work around an isolated tree or two and I’ ve done very well. The same is true for big isolated boulders.

I distinctly remember a day at Folsom a few years ago when my partner and I stumbled on a big truck size rock sitting all by itself in a cove. The top of the rock was about 2 feet below the surface. I pulled a pair of 3 pound spots off the rock by dead-sticking a 4 inch Senko right beside it ….

To sum up, look for your bass in shallow to moderately deep water near the shoreline. Work any irregular features you find in the form of rocks, drops or wood. The areas I tend to avoid are big featureless flats and featureless stretches of bank. These areas can produce fish, but overall, you’ ll do better focusing on identifiable structure. The Lures For the casual basser, the lure selection doesn’ t need to be extensive. If I were you and just starting out, I’ d want a couple types of finesse baits and couple reaction baits.

On the finesse side, you need a soft plastic you can

attack on New Melones with the bass on their beds spawning,” reported Gene Hildebrand of Glory Hole Sports.

“ Josh Parris of Angels Camp had an awesome day slamming the bass on Melones,” said Hildebrand.“ He tantalized a 12.98 lb. female just off of her spawn with a not often heard of Balam 300 swimbait. After watching her swim up to the bait a couple times but not getting her to strike, Josh set up his Go Pro and the next cast, she slammed his bait, capturing the scene on video. He also landed a 7 lb. bass.”

Anglers are also having success using the Strike King XD crankbait with 12 lb. flourcarbon allowing the bait to dive deep, according to Hildebrand. Strike King / Booyah spinner baits and buzz baits are also getting the attention of the spawning bass protecting their beds.

The trout fishing has been off for the past couple of weeks, but the fish being landed are big ones.

Just ask Matt Kain of Twain Harte, who was trolling Angels Creek arm at 30 ft. with a Kastmaster on the line when he hooked into a 7 lb. 7oz. beauty.

“ Look for trout in the creek arms being fed by streams coming into the lake. Trolling speedy shiners, Apex lures and Pro Troll lures has brought success to some anglers,” noted Hildebrand.

There’ s a new lake crappie record now.“ Ric Ochos came to fish and blasted last month’ s newly crowned lake crappie record for New Melones with a 3 lb. 4 oz. beefcake,” stated Hildebrand.“ Eric was fishing off shore in a Tuttletown cove using live minnows and was fishing 20 ft. deep.”

“ Crappie fishing has just been off the charts the last two weeks with 25 count stringers of fish coming into Glory Hole Sports for pictures,” he said.“ Crappie jigs, flukes, live minnows, artificial minnows and small spinnerbaits are all getting the attention of crappie on Melones.”

The New Melones Lake level is currently at 1056.00 ft. and 32 ft. from full. With recent rains, locals soon hope to see water levels exceed last year’ s level of 1068.55. and are anticipating seeing water levels at 95 % of capacity by early summer. The surface water temperature is between 65 and 68 degrees.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

present vertically and one that you can drag along the bottom. I use a Senko wacky rigged and dead-sticked for the vertical dimension.

My go to drag lure is a finesse worm pinned“ Texas Style” on a split shot rig. Basically, a worm with one or two split shot clamped on the line about 14 inches above the bait.

Some guys use bright colored plastics. I tend to prefer natural colors. Think baitfish and crawfish colors and you’ ll have something on your line that the bass will hit.

In terms of reaction baits I’ d advise you to go with some sort of spinner bait, either a traditional wire arm bass style spinnerbait or a large“ trout” style in line spinner like a Rooster Tail or Panther Martin.

My go to in this category is a ¼ ounce yellow Rooster Tail.

The other reaction bait should be some sort of floating crankbait. I like minnow plugs, but you might like something that has a more compact shad shape.

The reason you want a floater is that you are going for maximum versatility. Most of the time you will be casting the bait and cranking it back. But, if you think the bass are on the surface or looking to the surface you can work the lure with a series of twitches and pauses, allowing the bait to return to the surface between twitches.

With a couple rods and a small selection of finesse and reaction type lures you can do very well on bass in the spring and summer. Overall I think the biggest part of bass fishing success is the mental game of figuring out where the fish are holding and what their mood is at any given time. With a limited selection of basic lures, you’ ll be forced to really think about your strategy and to concentrate on working your baits correctly. And these things will turn you into a good basser, no jersey or hair dye required!