Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3725 Nov. 23-Dec 7 | Page 24

24 Nov 23 - Dec 7, 2018 FRESHWATER FRESHWATER REPORTS: CONTINUED FROM PG 19 SHASTA Cold Weather Needed For Hot Fishing At Shasta Kenny Khu nailed the quality striper while fishing near the dam at Lake Del Valle this fall. Photo courtesy of the LAKE DEL VALLE MARINA, Lake Del Valle. GONE FISHING tough, and trout had been caught from the surface down to 100 feet deep. The few fish caught came on spoons, plugs, wiggle hootchies, and several other lures. There was no pattern that anyone could discern. Just have to keep your lure in the water and hold your mouth right!! Saturday morning we were all in our boats in the slips by 6:30 am and ready to go. The weather was beautiful! A cool 48 degrees in the morning with some northerly breezes until about noon. Then it heated up to over 90 degrees by midafternoon. John and I headed to one of our favorite spots – the mouth of the McCloud. We ran up to the Caverns, and turned and trolled downwind. We didn’t see as much bait here, and saw no interesting marks. Finally, about 11 am we caught our first trout on a Hart’s Indian Special Excel spoon at 10 feet deep. We moved to the dam area and caught 3 more medium size trout – at least we had enough to weigh in! About 2 pm, we were trolling out in front of the dam in 300 feet of water, when John’s line went off and started tearing out line. His braided line was disappearing fast when he yelled “I’m about to be spooled!” I put the 15 hp Evinrude kicker quickly in reverse, just in time for him to gain a little line! I cleared the other 3 lines, 2 of which were wrapped around downrigger lines because of the sudden reverse, and in a few minutes, we landed our biggest rainbow of the trip, a feisty 3-½ pounder that came on a red/UV Mack’s Lure Humdinger trolled right on the surface. After weighing in our fish at the Bass Hole, we attended derby dinner at the Lions club across the street. The meal of barbequed tri tip or chicken, rebaked potatoes, seasoned vegetables, Caesar salad and great cake for dessert was REDDING - Both trout and bass fishing at Lake Shasta are productive. Bass anglers are enjoying the best fishing right now because the bass are holding on structure. On the other hand, the trout remain scattered. When you find the rainbows, they will bite, but you’ve got to cover a lot of ground to hook up. Both the trout and bass bites will go from fair to excellent once the surface temperature gets down into the middle to lower 50’s. For that to happen, we need colder weather and some rain. “I spent four days paddling Shasta during the last week of October,” reported Sid Nelson, a kayak angler from Fairfield. “I stayed on the move and camped in a different cove every night. As I traveled I trolled with leadcore and Hum Dinger Spoons. The trout action was steady, but not red hot. I averaged 6 hookups per day on fish to 17 inches.” “For me the bass bite was really good. I primarily targeted bass early and late up in the Squaw Arm. I fished from both the kayak and the bank. I hooked spots and largemouths on both Rebel Pop R’s and Berkley Flicker crankbaits. The biggest bass I caught probably went about 3 pounds and it was easy to hook a dozen bass per VOL.37 • ISS. 25 day. The best bass fishing took place off rocky points. During the daylight hours, the bass would drop down, but when the sun was off the water they would move right up to the top. A couple times I saw bass attacking bait right at dawn,” related Nelson. “I’ve been fishing Shasta for many CONTINUED ON PG 24 TAHOE SPORTFISHING est.1953 Lake Tahoe’s Largest Fishing Fleet year-round fishing Half & Full Day Charters single fisherman to large families & private parties We supply everything you need to fish! Mackinaw Kokanee Salmon Rainbow Trout Brown Trout Call or Book Online (530) 541-5448 tahoesportfishing.com|@tahoesportfishing continued from page 1 excellent, as usual. There was a spirited raffle that was very efficiently run, and we were out of there by 8:30 pm. Then we headed back to get some sleep and be ready for the final day. Sunday morning dawned bright and clear. John and I headed for Bass Cove off the main body, and Bruce and Al went back to Big Backbone where they had luck yesterday. We put down the gear and just as we turned into the cove, my top line went off and we were into a nice trout. This one was about 1 ½ pounds on a shad pattern Doctor spoon. As I was unhooking the trout, my other line was bouncing on the downrigger and I grabbed the rod and another fish! This one however, was the bane to all good trout fishermen – a fat spotted bass! We trolled through Bass Cove and had 4 trout in the box by 8:30! We were very happy to have enough to weigh in, especially considering how tough trout were to come by. We ended the day over by the dam with a total of 7 trout to the boat. Most of our fish came right on the surface, trolling about 2.5 mph and 200 feet behind the boat. The deepest fish we caught all weekend was at 14 feet. Back at the Basshole for the final weigh in, we were not surprised to see few anglers checking in. Some of the very best fishermen I know were skunked on Sunday! That happened to John and I last year. Bruce and Al had 4 nice fish to weigh in, all caught in Big Backbone the same as Saturday. The rest of our group had the same bad luck as most everyone else. However, a few guys caught some really nice trout! The team of Nick and Gerry Flanagan won the derby with a two-day weight of 26.2 pounds, including big rainbows of 4.54 lbs. on Saturday and 5.99 lbs. on Sunday! They caught their fish trolling both large and small Kastmasters on the surface and down to 15 feet near Digger point. John Brassfield caught this impressive Lake Shasta rainbow while trolling a Mack’s Lure Hum Dinger just beneath the surface. Photo by PAUL KNEELAND, Fish Sniffer Staff. As always, we had a great time fishing this derby, in spite of the tough fishing. All the folks in Lakehead who put on the derby are very friendly and want everyone to have a good time. We stayed at the comfortable Sugarloaf Cottages Resort. They offer 16 comfortable cabins right on the lake, with one, two or 3 bedrooms, full kitchens with utensils and dishes, comfortable beds and bedding, and great patios with barbeques overlooking the lake. For more information, call (800) 953-4432 or go to www.shastacabins. com. For more information on the Fall Trout Derby, as well as the spring Trout & Salmon Derby, contact Harold at Sugarloaf Cottages or the Basshole Bar & Grill at (530) 238-2170. SHASTA FALL TROUT DERBY WINNERS: 1st Place – Gerry & Nick Flanigan – 26.20 lbs 2nd Place – Tony & Diana Whiteside – 20.80 lbs 3rd Place – Doug Philpott & Tim Sellars – 18.55 lbs 4th Place – Dale Gibbons & Jason Tidwell – 18.36 lbs 5th Place – Paul Kneeland & John Brassfield – 18.33 lbs 6th Place – Jim Brittan & Chad Watson – 16.90 lbs 7th Place – Al Fiske & Bruce Wicks – 16.67 lbs 8th Place – Dave Stockton & Mike Shoemate – 15.65 lbs 9th Place – Pat & Jim Griffith – 14.11 lbs 10th Place – Larry Abernathy, Rand Smith & Allen Finocchio – 13.84 lbs 11th Place – Chris & Mary Dunham – 13.58 lbs. 12th Place – Chris & Butch Jacobsen – 13.25 lbs 13th Place – Jack Shulltz & Allen Traynor – 12.77 lbs 14th Place – Charlie & Darrell Davies – 12.70 lbs 15th Place – Kenny McDonald & Steve McSween – 12.42 lbs.