Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3712 May 25- June 8 | Page 10

10 May 25 - June 8, 2018 FRESHWATER VOL.37 • ISS. 12 FRESHWATER REPORTS: feet of water, 95 percent of capacity and 99 percent of average. - Dan Bacher CONTINUED FROM PG 4 AMERICAN RIVER cont. but the fishing hasn’t busted loose yet on the lower river yet. However, that is all expected to change soon. From May 7 through May 14, the Bureau of Reclamation raised flows on the American River below Nimbus Dam to 3,500 cfs and them ramped them back down to 1,750 cfs. “This was a pulse operation, coordinated with the fisheries agencies,” reported Peggy Manza, Reclamation spokesman. This pulse flow is expected to draw some more shad into the lower American. The shad fishing has been slow so far this season, but you can expect the fishing to pick up. “The guys fishing the lower American have reported catching 4 or 5 per evening while throwing out a variety of shad jigs and grubs,” said Alan Fong at the Fisherman’s Warehouse. Dennis Phanner, the owner of Sacramento Pro Tackle, reported good fishing from his boat on a recent trip to the mouth of the American. “We caught and released a dozen shad, a mixture of males and females ranging from 1-1/2 to 3-1/2 pounds, while fishing red/white and red/white/blue shad darts,” explained Pfanner. - Dan Bacher CAMANCHE LAKE 13.7 Lb. Largemouth Leads Catches The rainbow bite is going full speed at Lake Almanor. These fish were landed during an early May trolling adventure. Photo courtesy of BIG DADDY’S GUIDE SERVICE, Quincy. BULLARDS BAR/ ENGLEBRIGHT RESERVOIRS Smaller Bass Are Abundant SMARTVILLE - Larry Hemphill, fishing guide, reported a wide-open bite on smaller spotted bass at Bullards Bar Reservoir on his latest trip there. “I had a nice guide trip with a very good lady bass angler who I have guided before,” said Hemphill. “Fishing had really changed in the last week with a move to the shallows. We caught them as shallow as 2 feet. Average depth was around 10 to 15 feet in the morning and down to 25 feet in the afternoon,” said Hemphill. “When we left the ramp at Bullards, it was sunny and calm - until about 11 am. The wind found us,” he noted. “This time is was a Clear Lake pattern - wind switching directions all the time. It didn’t seem to slow the bite, however, except maybe for the bigger bass.” “We did catch lots of keepers up to near 2 lbs. but didn’t get any toad bites,” he explained. “She came prepared with some of her favorite baits and they worked well. Drop-shotting MM111 Robos worked well for me. Maybe because of the winds, big bass seemed hard to find,” he said. “The smaller bass bite was wide-open. Flats with a drop-off produced well . The bigger bass were always a little deeper, 20-25 feet. The Senko bite in the trees was pretty good,” he added. Boaters continue to find top-notch action on kokanee ranging from 10 to 13 inches long while trolling pink hoochies and other lures, tipped with white corn, behind dodgers, at Bullards Bar, reported Alan Fong at Fisherman’s Warehouse in Sacramento. Bullards Bar is holding 932,499 acre feet of water, 97 percent of capacity and 120 percent of average. At Englebright Reservoir, anglers are targeting rainbows while bait fishing with PowerBait and nightcrawlers or trolling with spoons, spinners and nightcrawlers behind dodgers. Englebright is holding 66,336 acre NorCal’s Premier Trout Fishery LAKE PARDEE Increased Trout Plant Program Starts Now Call For Details! Stocked With: TROUT BURSON - The bass bite had been tremendous with a 13.7-pound largemouth caught and released during pre-fishing on Friday for Saturday’s Angler’s Press event, but the overcast conditions on Saturday slowed down the action for the 127 boats participating in the event. Beau Courtoul of the Lake Camanche Recreation Company said, “There were some big boys found the day before, but the bite slowed down on Saturday in the overcast conditions. Out of the 127 boats, there were two limits over 22 pounds, but the pressure on Friday was heavy.” Mike Gomez of Berserk Baits said, “We lost a big one right off of the bat on a Senko that we estimated at 12 pounds, and this fish was on for a few minutes before coming unbuttoned. The cloud cover killed the bite as anglers were scoring limits in the 18- to 25-pound range on Friday when the sun was out, but the fish are far less aggressive with the cloud cover.” “I had been on a good Swaver bite, but everything on Saturday came on a shakey head. The heavy pressure on Friday and earlier during the week was also a factor as the majority of our fish came in shallow water at 2 to 7 feet. When the fish are shallow, runn