Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3726 Dec 8-21 | Page 13

FRESHWATER VOL.37 • ISS. 26 FRESHWATER REPORTS: CONTINUED FROM PG 8 FOLSOM LAKE cont. a lot of bass on spoons,” said Alan Fong of the Fisherman’s Warehouse. “Spotted, smallmouth and largemouth bass were hitting Blade Runner spoons in the morning dawn colors in the main body at 35 to 45 feet deep.” Since the lake dropped so low, he hasn’t heard any more reports from bass or trout anglers. As water temperatures cool, you can expect the rainbow trout and king salmon bite to perk up on Folsom. As the reservoir undergoes its annual fall turn over, shore fishing can be as good or even better than fishing from a boat as the fish move into the shallows to feed. - Dan Bacher Dec 7 - 21, 2018 13 Rob Reimers of Rustic Rob’s Guide Service reported landing bright salmon on his latest two angling adventures at Knights Landing. “Brad’s Cut Plugs keep producing, with a little bloody tuna to sweeten it up,” he reported. Tim Boggs at Elkhorn Bait and Tackle said stripers and catfish are also hitting. Dan Curtell landed a 22 inch striper on a live jumbo minnow, while other anglers have been catching small channel cats on G&S Dip Bait above the Highway 113 Bridge.” Boggs noted that Curtell landed a 44 inch sturgeon in his boat while fishing ghost shrimp in Suisun Bay off Pittsburg during a recent catch and release derby. “The best salmon fishing has been at Miller Park and Garcia Bend on the Sacramento. “It’s been off and on. Some guys will report catching their one fish limits by 10 am, while others will report hooking nothing while using plugs and spinners,” he noted. KNIGHTS LANDING Salmon, Stripers Offer Top Prospects RIO LINDA – Late fall Chinook salmon are starting to hit in the Sacramento River above and below Knights Landing. LAFAYETTE RESERVOIR Rainbow and Lightning Trout Boated PORTOLA – Kristy and Mike Carpentier made their first trip to Lafayette Reservoir in almost a year and found trout success. “We were worried about the smoke from the fires but it wasn’t too bad,” said Kristy. “Someone left a couple of N95 masks in the rental boat but we didn’t need them. Thank you, though!” Mike and her hit the water about 7 am. “We had the whole lake mostly to ourselves,” she stated. “We picked up a nice Mt. Lassen trout early and then a double shortly after.” “Then Mike’s pole gets slammed and I see gold! And I net him up a nice 19” lightning trout and his very first to boot!,” said Kristy. “It was our last fish of the day, but so satisfying!. We didn’t even know they had planted them before we got there.” The bite slowed and they cut out early. “We had a sweet lunch at the Walnut Creek yacht club before heading home,” she noted. “It’s Just the start of the trout bite at Lafayette! Looking forward to going back soon with our fishing John Navarra was tossing a Senko at Lake Del Valle on friends,” she concluded. November 9 when this largemouth bass decided to strike. - Dan Bacher Photo courtesy of the LAKE DEL VALLE MARINA, Lake Del Valle. HURRY! DON’T MISS OUT!! Call Now For Special Financing Options On All Alumacraft Boats In Stock! 2017 PROWLER 175 17’Length 84” Beam $15,995* This Sacramento River king went Trick or Treating on Halloween and ended up in Captain Monte Smith’s fish box! Photo courtesy of GOLD COUNTRY SPORTFISHING, Oakdale. OROVILLE LAKE/ THERMALITO AFTERBAY Fishing Pressure Light With Carr Fire OROVILLE – Few anglers have been fishing Lake Oroville in the past couple of weeks, due to the dropping lake level and the smoke from the devastating Carr Fire, Lake Oroville continues to drop. The water level has gone to 672.35 feet above sea level. The reservoir is holding 1,055,806 acre feet of water, 30 percent of capacity and 49 percent of average. The only boat ramp available to launching is Bidwell Canyon, with three boat lanes and a dock available, according to Sorenson. Targetting the lake’s landlocked Chinooks is probably not a great idea until the spring when the fish will be of catchable size. Anglers trying to catch the large holdover salmon will be getting hit constantly by the small fish now when they troll through an area. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife stocked 139,000 chinook salmon from the Feather River Fish Hatchery in late September 2018 for Lake Oroville’s popular landlocked salmon program, according to Penny Crawshaw, hatchery manager 2. “The fish are about 23 to the pound, about 6 inches long,” she noted. Few fishermen have been fishing for the landlocked steelhead in the Thermalito Afterbay lately. The Feather River Fish Hatchery stocked over 231,682 steelhead in a variety of size ranges in the winter and spring of 2018, according to Crawshaw. - Dan Bacher 1 At This Price! Mercury 60hp 4-Stroke • Minn Kota Trolling Motor Large Livewell • Tons Of Storage • Trailer • Great Price! B B’S MARINE 3724 1608 Oakdale Road • Modesto, CA 95355 (209) 551-2165 • www.bobsmarine-ca.com * Boat shown with options. Price excludes tax, license, prep, and DMV fees. See store for details. PYRAMID LAKE Trollers Slam Big Cutthroat Trout SUTCLIFFE - November has been full of big fish for trollers working U-20 Flatfish slowly along the bottom of the lake. Lou Varela related a tremendous day of fishing on a recent outing. Lou started out the day with a 15.6 pound beautiful male Lahontan Cutthroat. As almost an afterthought he added, “Oh yeah, I also got a 10.6.” Lou is not alone. Most trollers are seeing good scores and finding an occasional ten plus pound fish to real spice up the action. Working Flatfish along the bottom has been very consistent, but trollers working Lyman’s and Apex’s close to the bottom are also sniping the occasional giant. Meanwhile, shore fishing is still pretty slow, which really isn’t too concerning. Typically around Thanksgiving the shore bite starts to pick up a little more. However, now that Dago Bay is closed to shore access, the hottest fall beach is no longer an option. The last time Dago Bay was open, it was by far the best beach during the months of November and December. As the shore bite intensifies, just where the fish will show up is anybody’s guess. For whatever reason, the Nets Beaches always seem to produce big fish. For the time being, the best shore bite remains at Blockhouse and Spider Point as both of these beaches give anglers access to nearshore deep water. - Mike McNeilly QUARRY LAKES Anglers Bag Big, Bold Rainbows FREMONT - Trout are the main targets of anglers fishing at Horseshoe Lake, located in the Quarry Lakes Recreation Area. The last CDFW plant featured 1000 pounds of rainbows, while the latest EBRPD plant consisted of 1000 pounds of trout. Shawn R. from Foster City landed three trout on Fisherman’s Row. He hooked one on a nightcrawler, one on green pumpkin CONTINUED ON PG 12