16 June 22- July 6, 2018 VOL. 37 • ISS. 14

FRESHWATER REPORTS:

CONTINUED FROM PG 11

NEW MELONES RESERVOIR cont. water levels which are unpredictable,” he stated.“ River2Sea Whopper Ploppers are getting hammered early morning along with LuckyCraft Gunfish. Use tube jigs for your finesse fishing.”

More anglers are targeting the catfish on the lake and bringing in some nice cats. For example, David Rocha landed a lunker cat weighing in at 11 lbs. 12 oz. David reported catching 7 total that trip while fishing chicken livers with his dad, uncle, and brother

“ The crappie bite has been very strong on Melones for the last month ago and still going strong,” said Hildebrand.“ The best action has been close to the traveling shad bait in the lake, and by the marina also has been productive, but the fish are showing everywhere. Crappie jigs tipped with Crappie Nibbles or with live minnows is the bait there looking for.”

For information on trout fishing at New Melones, check out the What’ s Hot Freshwater column on page 1 of this publication.

OROVILLE LAKE / THERMALITO AFTERBAY

Afterbay Kicks Out 9.71 Lb. Salmon!

OROVILLE – Fishing for landlocked king salmon remains really good at Lake Oroville, with lots of action reported by boaters using downriggers, but it was a big king salmon taken out of the Thermalito Afterbay that leads the recent fishing news.

Rob Reimers of Rustic Rob’ s Guide Service landed a 9.71 lb. king salmon while trolling a nightcrawler behind flashers in the afterbay.“ The landlocked Chinook record for the Lake Oroville Complex is 10.5 pounds, so it’ s about a ¾ lb. off the record,” said Reimers.

He didn’ t catch any more salmon that day, but he and Bob Bradbury landed 10 landlocked steelhead while trolling nightcrawlers behind flashers on his next trip to the afterbay. The fish averaged 12 inches each, with fish up to 14 inches boated.

Reimers has also been experiencing top-notch king salmon fishing, with his latest trolling adventures producing limits of salmon on trolled Brad’ s Cut Plugs. Reimers is currently guiding for king salmon

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on Lake Oroville and for kokanee salmon on Bullards Bar Reservoir and will begin fishing for salmon on the Feather and Sacramento Rivers starting July 16, the opening day of salmon season.

The salmon fishing at Oroville is a about as good as it gets.“ The 4 people with me on my latest trip experienced lights-out fishing, bringing 35 fish to the boat and keeping their limits,” said Brett Brady of Bare Bones Guide Service.“ We trolled at 35 to 45 feet deep with white and green hoochies from in front of Foreman Creek to the green bridge.”

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Hank hit Lake Don Pedro this May and got into some great rainbow trout action.

Photo courtesy of GOLD COUNTRY SPORTFISHING, Oakdale.

“ Most of the fish were 15 to 17 inches long,” he noted.“ We got two big holdovers to the boat, but lost them both.”

“ On my previous trip, the fishing was a little tougher, with a lot of short strikes,” he said.“ We had to work for them, but the two anglers fishing with me went home with their limits.”

- Dan Bacher

PARDEE LAKE

Trout Plants Boost Catches

IONE – Calaveras Trout Farm planted 1,000 pounds of rainbow trout on May 31, but few anglers have been fishing at the lake, due the arrival of hotter days.

“ I’ ve only talked to one angler who limited out on trout lately,” said Brad Hot at Pardee Lake Marina.“ He landed rainbows averaging 2 pounds each while fishing lemon lime PowerBait with garlic scent.”

Channel catfish all also worth a shot.

One fisherman landed a 5.5 lb. catfish while fishing Gulp! Bloody shad.

For smallmouth

and largemouth bass, Hoyt suggested tossing out watermelon Senkos, Flicker Shad, Racy Shad and other baits

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around structure on the lake.

The kokanee fishing remains dismal, prompting the cancellation of the annual Russ Faught Memorial Derby originally scheduled for June 9, according to Hoyt. Some 2 year old kokanee measuring around 10 inches have been landed, but that’ s about it.

Pardee is holding 201,803, acre feet of water, 99 percent of capacity and 106 percent of average.

PYRAMID LAKE / LAHONTAN RESERVOIR

Fishing Season Will Close June 30

RENO- The fishing season will close on June 30 at Pyramid Lake – and won’ t reopen until October 1. Some cutthroats are still lingering in the shallows, but most of them have sore mouths. While other fish are in deep offshore water, but they are scattered from the surface to the bottom since a pronounced thermocline has yet to form.

Overall, boaters have the advantage at this time. Shore anglers tossing ¾ ounce to 1 ounce spoons from deep drop-off beaches like Spider Point and Blockhouse will continue to grind out Cutthroats at about the same pace they have all year. Note the word,“ grind,” in that last sentence, as the action will

Sacramento River Feather River

Smith River Klamath River

Now Fishing Striped Bass and Steelhead be slow. Boaters

3712

We also fish Folsom, Oroville, Donner, Stampede, Boca, Lake Tahoe and the Sacramento River. covering a lot of water with 4.0 Watermelon Apex Lures or a size 4 Lyman will do the lion’ s share of the catching.

The biggest fishing news in the Western Great Basin at this time were the results of a NDOW electro-fishing survey at Lahontan Reservoir. NDOW staff and volunteers shocked a couple of huge wipers in the high teens + size range. This is a great sign as Lahontan Reservoir is truly a world class wiper fishery. I

In years past, fish in the mid twenty pound range were a possibility. Lahontan has produced fish within a few pounds of the world record, and the limiting factor is almost always drought. With three average or above average water years in a row in the Western Great Basin, things are really looking up.

As spring progresses into summer, this lake will be one of the top prospects for Nevada anglers. Lahontan offers huge walleye, wipers, channel catfish and crappie when conditions are right.

- Mike McNeilly

QUARRY LAKES

17 lb. Catfish Leads Horseshoe Catches

FREMONT – The water level is still extremely high for this time of the year and fishing has definitely picked up again at Quarry Lakes, especially with the 1,750 pounds of trout planted in Horseshoe Lake over a two day period.

“ The catfish are also biting! Fishermen’ s Row has been THE hot spot lately, but fish are also showing off the Peninsula,” said Edward Culver of the East Bay Regional Parks District.

Just ask Fernando Medina, who caught a monster 16-pound, 14-ounce catfish while fishing from the Peninsula with Mice Tails. Joey Kaudy of Fremont also landed a fourpound catfish while using orange Power Eggs from the disabled-accessible pier.

Michael Galbreath of Union City caught a six-pound, 11-ounce catfish using white glitter Powerbait along the far end of Fishermen’ s Row.

Anthony Moore of San Jose did double duty when he landed his limit of trout and a catfish. He was using an orange and white Mice Tail and garlic green pumpkin PowerbBait along Fishermen’ s Row.

Wes Anderson of Fremont caught his limit of trout on two consecutive trips while using nightcrawlers along Fishermen’ s Row. His top fish weighed 3 pounds, 13 ounces.

Lennie Nguyen of San Jose successfully battled a five-pound trout while using a jig along Fishermen’ s Row. On his next trip, he caught a five-pound, eight-ounce rainbow trout again from Fishermen’ s Row.

Lenny Paradise of San Jose reeled in an eight-and-a-half-pound trout while soaking PowerBait and a #! 8 treble hook along Fishermen’ s Row.

Finally, Shin Kato of Fremont caught his limit of trout, including a six-pound trout and a four-pound trout. Shin was using a spoon along Fishermen’ s Row.

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