VOL . 37 • ISS . 16

Freshwater reports :

Continued from pg 17

Tahoe cont .

June 29 .

“ I launched out of Cave Rock at around 7 o ’ clock in the morning and headed up to the north end . I put on a small white Flatfish and dropped it down to 110 feet . I was hoping for a limit of mackinaw . I ended up with two good macks that weighed about 6 pounds each and I released several smaller macks . The surprising thing is that I caught and released a pair of nice browns . The first one weighed over 5 pounds and was 23 inches long . The second brown was smaller , probably around 3 pounds ,” related Erickson .

Mickey Daniels of Mickey ’ s Big Mack Charters has been enjoying solid action at the north end of the lake . Mickey ’ s clients have been hooking mackinaw up to 7 pounds . Some fish are being kept for the table while the others are tagged and released . Mickey employs a variety of different lures for his fish including Shasta Tackle Kok-A-Nuts teamed with Sling Blade dodgers .

Trinity River / Lake

Kokanee Show On Reservoir

WEAVERVILLE- Trinity Lake is providing good action for kokanee salmon now , but “ the size is a bit on the small side ,” said Jeff Goodwin of Goodwin ’ s Guide Service .

“ It is still early , so we should see some bigger kokanee in Trinity as summer moves along towards the end of August ,” noted Goodwin . “ King salmon is on the slow side , but there are some fish worth waiting for , swimming in Trinity Lake every year . “

“ I ’ ve heard of some good bass fishing and July is , and has been , a good time to go chase the smallmouth bass along the rocky points and stump fields ,” he stated .

Trout are available throughout the lake , but the Stewarts Fork is always a safe bet for trollers , he added .

Boaters are bagging smallmouth and largemouth bass while tossing out Senkos , Ned rigs , Pop Rs and other lures in the dredger piles of the lake ’ s north end , reported Tim Brady of Trinity Outdoors .

“ Anglers are still picking up spring run Chinook salmon in the upper

section of the Trinity River ,” said Brady . “ Bank anglers are using tuna balls and roe , while the drift boaters are employing a variety of plugs . The fish are showing up in the Lewiston area .”

- Dan Bacher

West Delta

Summer Anglers Hook Stripers , Sturgeon & Cats !

BRANNAN ISLAND - It ’ s been hot and windy but West Delta anglers are still landing stripers . Both trolling and bait fishing have been effective for hooking summer bass .

The best trolling is taking place in the San Joaquin , but you can troll up bass on the Sacramento side too . The top of the tide is the best time . Shallow running Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnows , Rapalas and P-Line Predators have been working well .

Bait anglers are working the edge of the ship channel near the Power Lines on the Sacramento side with success . The top baits have been shad , pile worms , sardines and anchovies .

July 20 - Aug 3 , 2018

19

Fish Sniffer readers Steve and Jeanette Davidson recently had an exciting outing near Light 18 on the Sacramento . While soaking filleted shad they boated 3 keeper stripers to 9 pounds . They also picked up a 55 inch sturgeon on their shad , which they had to release because it was landed on a barbed hook .

Sturgeon are available , but the action isn ’ t concentrated . Fish have been caught from the Pittsburg Power Plant all the way up into Cache Slough . The top baits for sturgeon have been roe and eel , but as Steve and Jeanette learned , other baits are working too !

Catfish anglers are reporting very good fishing in the evening hours and after dark while working smaller sloughs such as Three Mile Slough and Cache Slough . Clams are the bet bait , but worm , anchovies and chicken livers are working too . between the boats and the bank . This is a really cool area to fish . You can stay in the shade until late in the morning . Since we are so close to the boats we are trolling in the 5 mile per hour area , so we won ’ t be bothered by wakes or fast boats ,” Brett remarked .

“ Oh they ’ re here . They are just a bit deeper than they have been . They are holding at about 60 feet right now . They are pretty schooled up and the schools will get even tighter as the sun hits the water and the fish start concentrating in the shade along the bank ,” disclosed Brett .

Brett is a pro staff for Brad ’ s Killer Fishing Gear and he ’ s been hooking a lot of kokanee on Brad ’ s Kokanee Cut Plugs . I think Brad ’ s rolling baits are fascinating . Rolling baits are deadly and nothing rolls like a Brad ’ s Cut Plug . My goat for the day was to watch Gena , Kathy and Larry reel in fish while I shot video and talked

Brad ’ s Kokanee Cut Plugs like these proved to be deadly effective on big hard fighting Bullards Bar kokanee .

Photo by CAL KELLOGG , Fish Sniffer Staff . aforementioned Kokanee Cut Plugs tipped with shoe peg corn soaked in tuna scent he quipped ,” I bet I can ’ t get all four of these rods on the downriggers before we hook the first fish .

Brett was correct . He barely had rod No . 2 in the water before Rod No . 1 was dancing from the gyrations of a kokanee at the end of the line .

That fish escaped but the next two made it into the cooler … 5 minutes into the trip and we ’ d hooked 3 salmon . We were off to a fast start on what would prove to be an epic day of kokanee fishing . The fact of the matter is that it was

The Yo-Zuri KNUCKLE BAIT™ is a brand new style wire bait with a 3D Prism Ball or a Painted Sound Ball . It cast long distances and when retrieved , the ball wobbles in an erratic action , much like a knuckleball thrown from the pitchers ’ mound . The new cutting-edge KNUCKLE BAIT™ ™ is designed to catch big bass .

PRISM BALL Black Blue

SOUND BALL Chartreuse White to Brett about kokanee gear and tactics . As Brett started dropping rods armed with Paulina Peak dodgers and the

Yo-Zuri . com

BOBBY LANE -Yo-Zuri Pro Staff likely the fastest kokanee bite I ’ ve ever been a part of and I ’ ve done a lot of kokanee fishing with a lot of the best guides in the game .

A few of the fish were dinks in the 10 inch range , but the vast majority of the fish ranged from 13 to 15 inches . They were perfect eating-size fish . The salmon were fat , sassy and perfect in appearance with zero blemishes from parasites . They were true chromers !

The bite started out great and got better . We had too many double hook ups to count . We had a triple or two and a four way hook up . We probably could have had a bunch of 4 way hookups except it was a rare occurrence when all 4 rods were actually in the water at the same time .

Between hookups we watched bald eagles and ospreys grab fish from the surface of the water . At one point an allout fight between crows , an eagle and an osprey broke out with lots of squawking and power dives !

By 10 o ’ clock the cooler was filling up and the bite was doing nothing but getting more intense . The fish dropped down a little deeper , but lost none of their enthusiasm .

With the hook ups coming one after another , there was plenty of smack talk and laughing going on . Larry was outnumbered by the girls and taking the brunt of the abuse !

By 11 o ’ clock the cooler was packed with 40 kokanee and we ’ d either lost or released an equal number . In fact , I wouldn ’ t be surprised if we had 100 total hookups on the day . It was amazing !

Brett is a top hand when it comes to catching just about anything including , kokanee , trout , landlocked kings , river kings , stripers and sturgeon at a long list of northern California waters .

If you ’ d like to sample the outstanding kokanee bite at Bullards Bar , give Brett a call at ( 530 ) 263-4451 . He ’ ll put you on the salmon and answer any and all questions you might have about kokanee fishing .