Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3725 Nov. 23-Dec 7 | Page 6

6 Nov 23 - Dec 7, 2018 VOL.37 • ISS. 25 The fall bite is on at Eagle Lake. This beautiful rainbow smashed a fly during a late October outing. Photo courtesy of BIG DADDY’S GUIDE SERVICE, Quincy. FRESHWATER REPORTS ALMANOR Big Trout on The Prowl CHESTER- Trout fishing for big rainbows and the occasional brown is going very well for anglers visiting Lake Almanor. However, with the great bite now taking place at Eagle Lake, crowds on Almanor are exceptionally light. Both trollers and bait anglers are hooking up at Almanor. The trout are feeding on pond smelt primarily, so trollers are pulling a variety of offerings including Needlefish and Speedy Shiner spoons. On days when fast trolling with hardware fails to produce, anglers are switching over to flies, soft plastics and threaded worms trolled from 1 to 1.5 mph. Most of the trout are in the top 15 feet of the water column at this time. Bait anglers are scoring while mooching meal worms, crappie jigs slathered in Pro- Cure and 1-inch pieces of night crawler. Shore guys near the dam are starting to pick up fish on inflated worms and cured roe, while fly guys working Geritol Cove from float tubes and small boats are hooking up while stripping various streamer flies. Currently the average trout is a 3 pound rainbow, but ‘bows to 7 are showing up. Browns are starting to stage for the spawn, but browns to 5 pounds are still showing up for trollers. Overall about 80% of the fish being landed are rainbows. LAKE AMADOR Anglers Nail Steelhead, Cuttbows and Catfish IONE – The trout season is in full swing at Lake Amador, with weekly plants of Donaldson-strain steelhead and rainbows going into the lake. “Our last plant was 1,000 pounds, bringing to a total 3300 pounds the amount of trout stocked so far this fall,” said Elizabeth Lockhart at the Lake Amador Resort. In addition to the cuttbows and steelhead, 15 of the first plant of the season were a mixture of trophy lighting trout and rainbows, ranging from 6 to 10 pounds. “The fishing has been pretty good so far this fall, said Lockhart,” said Lockhart. “A lot of anglers are using Kastmasters and Rooster Tails from shore. Others have been using garlic PowerBait to catch fish off the docks.” The trout average 2-1/2 to 5 pounds, with some larger fish mixed in. “Fishermen are also hooking of lot of catfish averaging 2-1/2 to 5 pounds while tossing out PowerBait,” said Lockhart. The lake is currently 29 feet from full and the boat launching facilities are in full operation. - Dan Bacher AMERICAN BASIN/ STAMPEDE RESERVOIR French Meadows Kicks Out Rainbows, Browns AUBURN – French Meadows Reservoir is a superb option for catching rainbow and brown trout from both boat and bank this time of year. “One bank fisherman reported landed five fish, a mixture of rainbows and browns, while bait fishing from shore on his latest trip to French Meadows,” said Craig Newton at Willfish Bait and Tackle. “The fish ranged from 15 to 18 inches long.” “A boater also reported catching several rainbows while trolling Rapalas and worms behind dodders,” said Newton. “He said he was able to launch his boat with a wheel drive vehicle.” Fishing reports from Hell Hole, Sugar Pine and other local waters have been very scarce lately. However, on float tuber reported catching and releasing a couple of limits of rainbow trout while fly fishing at Fuller Lake. Bret Brady of Bare Bones Guide Service has been targeting rainbows and Lahontan cutthroat trout at Stampede Reservoir. Recent trolling adventures there produced lots of rainbows averaging 15 inches long, along with a 4-1/2 lb. cutthroat, according to Brady. - Dan Bacher LAKE AMADOR Trout Planted Seasonally! • Cafe • RV Park • Waterslide • Campground • Disc Golf • General Store Cafe Open Seasonally On Friday, Saturday & Sundays 209-274 -4739 7500 Lake Amador Dr., Ione, CA 95640 WWW.LAKEAMADOR.COM Lake Almanor Now Booking Fall Trout at Eagle Lake La ke Almanor Lake Davis a n d Eagle Lake Bucks Lake Captain Bryan Roccucci Lake Tahoe www.BigDaddyFishing.com Call for Best Dates – (530) 370-1001 AMERICAN RIVER Salmon and Steelhead Fishing Perks Up on Lower River ORANGEVALE – Salmon spawning season is in full swing at Nimbus Fish Hatchery on the American River – and the fishing is improving in the section of lower river still open to fishing. “The salmon fishing is starting to pick up for anglers fishing spinners, roe and plugs,” said Alan Fong at Fisherman’s Warehouse. “Anglers are also catching steelhead averaging 1-1/2 pounds each while fishing nightcrawlers and roe from Goethe Park to Howe Avenue.” “They’re here,” according to a Facebook post from Nimbus Fish Hatchery. “They took their time coming up on Friday after the ladder opened -maybe they were a little camera shy? - but we have a full pool at the top of the ladder now. Egg-taking began on Monday, November 5. Going forward, we’ll collect eggs on Monday and Thursday mornings except on holidays.” The biggest salmon reported caught on the river to date, a bright fish estimated to weigh between 30 and 35 pounds, was taken by Daryl Carter of Sacramento while shore fishing on the American River at Paradise Park. “It took a half hour to get the big fish in,” said Carter. The Bureau of Reclamation raised water releases below Nimbus Dam to 1800 cfs on November 1. - Dan Bacher LAKE BERRYESSA Spooners Light Up the Bass NAPA – Spoonmeister Rick Tietz (Blade Runner Tackle) and Larry Hemphill, fishing guide, finally went to Berryessa for a great day of spooning for bass. “I did drop-shot a bit, but most mostly spooned all day,” said Hemphill. “You don’t count the number of spoon fish when you fish with Rick - he will catch a million and I am only in the thousands.” “We covered the whole lake - even into Putah Creek some. There were a few slow areas, but when you found the feeding schools of bass - WOW! One doesn’t keep count on a day like that - but at least 80 plus. AND - my 9 lb. catfish hooked at 50 feet took several minutes out of my day.” “We saw massive schools of bait in the main body - and the bass were eatin’. Our best five weighed about 16+ pounds. By the way, the 7th out of 8 trips at Berryessa with totally flat water - not a HINT of a breeze all day - even into evening. This was on the main body - there was some breeze in the narrows.” “Some days when a spoon bite like that is on, it seems any color will work. Rick and I do have our favorites - he was using his UV Morning Dawn most of the day and I went with my favorite Black Shad. He even makes a UV Black Shad, but I was using the old fashioned plain Black Shad.,” stated Hemphill. “We only use the 1 3/4 oz size as one wants to get down to the “eatin’ zone” quickly - where the action is!! The bait balls were always near the bottom but later in the afternoon moved up to the 25-30 foot depth. Remember, don’t spoon below their feeding depth because fish can’t see down, only level and up,” Hemphill said. The water temperature was 67-70 degrees. The trout fishing has slowed down at Lake Berryessa lately. “It was a tough bite on my latest trolling trip to Berrryessa,” said Rich Crispi of TW Guide Service. “I had two young lads, Nate and Amir, on the boat and they tried hard, but it was just one of those day. We got 3 trout to the boat and about 5 bass and we missed or lost about 10 other strikes. Transition time is upon us at Berryessa.” LAKE CAMANCHE Trout Plants Raise Angling Success Rates BURSON – Trout plants at Lake Camanche continue with another 3600 pounds of Mt. Lassen Hatchery rainbows released into the lake with 1200 pounds at the South Shore Pond along with both the Continued on Pg 7