Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3725 Nov. 23-Dec 7 | Page 16

16 Nov 23 - Dec 7, 2018 FRESHWATER VOL.37 • ISS. 25 FRESHWATER REPORTS: CONTINUED FROM PG 13 PYRAMID LAKE trolling large wrapped Flatfish early and then switching to salmon roe, if and when the plug bite slows down. Most days plugs are putting limits in the box and the roe stays in the cooler! If you’d like to experience the thrill of battling a big trophy class king, now is the time to hit the river. Both Weese and Bogue are available and specialize in putting their clients on impressive salmon. To book a trip with Weese of Northern California Guide Service, give him a ring at (530) 755- 7196. To arrange a trip with Mike Bogue of Mike Bogue’s Guide Service reach out to Mike at (530) 246-8457. cont. least that gives me some kind of an excuse. However, the moon was just as full the day before, so that story doesn’t hold up. Even though the fishing was slow, there was a decent bite vertical jigging to trout with their bellies glued to the bottom off of Blockhouse in about 80’ of water. At one point I decided to run across the lake and hit the area around the Pyramid and Red Bay. The bite was also inexplicably slow over there. The bite has been good overall. A good day of fishing would be in the 20-30 fish for the boat range. Depending on the day, it would be likely to see at least a fish or two over the magical ten pound mark. Trolling U20 Flatfish right along the bottom has been the best bet for success, but fishing Apex’s or Lyman’s off of the downrigger is also producing. Shore fishermen are scoring the occasional big fish at Blockhouse. There can be a long wait in between bites, but the fish are making brief feeding forays into the shallows as they come out of the deep. Spoons are the weapon of choice for spinning rod anglers, while fly fishermen are retrieving Wooly Buggers along the bottom. - Mike McNeilly REDDING/RED BLUFF Jacob Hall of Livermore caught this huge catfish while soaking anchovies at Lake Del Valle on October 5. Photo courtesy of the LAKE DEL VALLE MARINA, Lake Del Valle. REDDING - It’s trophy time on the upper reaches of the lower Sacramento River. Big late fall run chromers are just starting to show and some epic fish will be up for grabs over the next four weeks. As of press time, conditions were less than optimal on the river with big winds, flows dropping down to 4500 cfs and a massive wild fire burning near Chico. Conditions are expected to get back to normal over the next few days. Mike Bogue of Mike Bogue’s Guide Service and Robert Weese of Northern California Guide Service continue putting their clients on limits and near limits of kings in the 15 to 30 plus pound class daily. The recipe for success has been back Anglers Gear Up For Big Kings As Season Enters Final Month When you draw the Action Disc through the water pressure builds on the cupped front surface of the disc. When the pressure reaches a point of instability the disc turns to release it. This is where chaos enters in and creates erratic action. Because the Action Disc is perfectly symmetrical, the direction the disc tilts to dump the pressure is completely up to chance. It can go up, down, left, right or any degree from its center axis. You can run a small Action Disc tight to the eye of the fly or you can use a bobber stop or Slide Lock stopper bead to create distance between the fly and the disc. Adjusting the distance between the Action Disc and the bait changes the action. Setting the disc close to the fly creates a quick vibrating action. Moving the disc up the leader 1-2 inches creates a slower seeking action with more movement of the fly horizontally and vertically. For slow trolling, I like to run the disc right on the nose of the fly, but if I want to speed up my troll I like to create a little distance between the fly and the disc. The bottom line is that by experimenting with the position of the disc and the speed of the boat, you can create the exact action you want. So, what’s so special about the flies themselves? The color combinations are great, but it’s the Arctic Fox fur itself that really makes the flies shine. Back when I was tying an average of 10,000 flies per year, the most “lively” material I had access to was marabou. Marabou in the water has a very fluid motion and is great for imitating things like leeches, but it doesn’t move like a HOW TO minnow. Don’t get me wrong, minnows have a somewhat fluid motion, but they are stiffer and more robotic in their movements than say a leech or a night crawler. Enter arctic fox fur…. Arctic fox fur is very soft and responsive in the water, but it retains some stiffness too. It’s soft, but stiffer than marabou quality makes it the perfect material for imitating minnows. It has the somewhat fluid motion that small fish display, but it also has a robotic quality. To my eye, there are very few if any artificial lures that are as good at matching the shape and movement style of baitfish as Arctic Fox Trolling Flies when they are teamed with an Action Disc. In terms of fly color, the Arctic Fox line of freshwater trolling flies checks all the boxes both in terms of natural match the hatch combinations and bright unnatural reaction strike creating hues. The flies are constructed on high quality, super sharp No. 2 hooks. From what I’ve observed, the trout that strike the flies are often hooked in the cartilage in the corner of the mouth. Once that big hook locks into the trout’s mouth like that, there is very little chance of the trout getting away. That’s awesome since my flies seem to be hooking bigger than average trout! Final Thoughts & Observations RIO VISTA AREA Stripers and Crappie Top Delta Catches RIO VISTA – Striped bass and crappie offer the most consistent action in the Rio Vista region of the Delta now, although sturgeon fishing is also on the upswing Alan Fong, manager of the Fishermen’s Warehouse in Sacramento, found the wind blowing too hard to fish successfully CONTINUED ON PG 19 one rod, I’ve been top lining them 65 feet behind my kayak with a single large split shot above the swivel. With this set up I figure my fly is in the top 2 feet of the water column. My second rod sports a hybrid leadcore rig, running 20 pound braid for backing, 3 sections of leadcore, a 60 foot 20lb fluo- rocarbon top shot that terminates at a bead and trolling swivel. The 48 inch leader sporting the fly trails off the trolling swivel. With this rig I can get down to 20 plus feet on the deep end or I can run one color of lead with the fly swimming along at about 5 feet deep about 100 feet back. That’s it for now, I’ll follow up on this piece in the future and tell you what fruits my experiments yield. Until then check out the Arctic Fox website, for more infor- mation, videos or to order some flies of your own: www.trollingflies.com. I think anytime an effective bait pops up on your radar, it’s key to experiment with the bait to figure out how it best fits in with your style of fishing and this is certainly true when it comes to trolling flies. Personally, I’ve just scratched the surface, but I like what I’ve seen so far. I’ve been mostly trolling my flies at 1.5 to 2 mph with the smallest size disc right on the eye of the hook. I’m running the flies on a 48 inch 8 or 10 pound fluorocarbon leader with a quality trolling swivel at the junction between the main line and the leader to prevent line twist. With surface temperatures dropping I haven’t spent much Salmon • Trout • Kokanee time running the flies off a down- rigger. Instead with Custom 23’ Rogue Jet Salmon • Steelhead • Stripers • Book Now For Best Dates! T.N.G. Motor Sports Guide Ser vice (530) 320-0994 Trout Fishing Shifts Into High Gear continued from page 6 Now Booking for Fall Run King Salmon Feather • Sacramento • American Rivers! 3621 QUARRY LAKES FREMONT - It’s trout season at Horseshoe Lake, located in the Quarry Lakes Regional Recreation Area. “We have received 2,950 pounds of trout this month and they are being caught all over Horseshoe Lake, but mostly from Fishermen’s Row,” said Joe Sullivan of the East Bay Regional Park District. By Cal Kellogg However, the big trout plants in Horseshoe didn’t stop Patrick M. of Fremont from catching a six-pound and a seven-pound catfish and a three-and-a- half-pound largemouth bass in Rainbow Lake while using night crawlers. Bob T. of Fremont landed a seven- pound, seven-ounce rainbow trout while soaking rainbow PowerBait along Fishermen’s Row. Kou T. of San Jose caught an 18-inch, 2.78-pound trout with a Kastmaster along Fishermen’s Row. Nick P. of Hayward caught his limit of trout for a total weight of 16 ½ pounds while fishing PowerBait from the Peninsula Point. On his following trip, he also landed a limit of trout while soaking PowerBait. Eliseido R. of Fremont bagged a five- pound trout while using rainbow garlic PowerBait along Fishermen’s Row. “Sexy Dexy” caught a seven-pound, six-ounce trout and a smaller trout while trolling with a Cordell fire-tiger lure in front of Fishermen’s Row. Loc T. of San Jose caught his limit of trout, the largest weighing seven pounds, while fishing green PowerBait along Fishermen’s Row. Israel P. of San Jose caught an eight-pound trout while using green garlic PowerBait along Fishermen’s Row. Note that the use of lead fishing tackle is prohibited at Quarry Lakes. You can exchange lead tackle at the kiosk in a “1 for 1” trade for stainless steel weights. www.tngmotorsports.com Pro Guide Jerry Lampkin -- 25 years experience! • Stampede Kokanee • Oroville Kings • Now Booking Sacramento River Fall Salmon! 3713