Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3801 Dec 22-Jan 4 | Page 11

Dec 21, 2018 - Jan 4, 2019 VOL.38 • ISS. 1 11 Thoughts On Folsom… presents T ^ Folsom Lake offers a long list of gamefish, including trout, three species of black bass, king salmon, channel cats and more. Paul Kneeland of the Fish Sniffer and James Netzel of Tight Lines Guide Service are seen here showing off some very nice Folsom rainbows and a chunky king that were caught on copper Speedy Shiners. > When it comes to trolling Folsom Lake for trout during the cold weather months, Cal Kellogg’s go to offerings are small Ex-Cel Spoons and 1/6 ounce Speedy Shiners. He pulls these spoons quickly, from 2.5 to 3.5 mph. Kellogg could only use one bait at Folsom Lake, it would be live minnows. When fishing them under a bobber, Cal likes to back hook his minnows as shown here. When fishing them off the bottom, lip hooking is the way to go. lake’s tributaries. These wild fish seem to be descendants of the original American River steelhead that were present when Folsom Dam was constructed. These are the big square tailed rainbows that range up to and beyond 5 pounds and fight like demons. If you want to catch planters work the areas in the main body with PowerBait, Kastmasters and other standard offerings where the fish are planted. I tend to ignore the planters in favor of chasing holdover and wild rainbows. When trolling for these fish, my best lures are a copper colored Speedy Shiners or a small baitfish pattern Ex-Cels. I troll these lures from 2.5 to 3.5 miles per hour, generally using a hybrid leadcore rig working anywhere from the surface to 25 feet deep during the cold-water months. If fast trolling isn’t working, I break out my night crawlers and pull 1.5 inch sections of threaded worm behind either a Sep’s Strike Master dodger in the water- melon color or a set of small flashers such as the mylar Mack’s Lure Flash Lite flashers. These offerings have produced a lot of limits for me and a lot of big trout over 3 pounds. In addition to trolling I’ve done really well anchoring up and fishing bait in the lake’s arms, particularly the North Fork. Live minnows and mini-crawlers are my baits of choice and I mix it up, fishing some baits just off the bottom and some suspended under slip bobbers. When I’m targeting trout exclusively, I like to set up off a big granite studded point. The rainbows like to hang out around these in the winter months pouncing on pond smelt when they get the chance. Sitting in the boat, sipping coffee and by Cal Kellogg < If Fish Sniffer editor Cal he good news about Folsom is that it’s close to the Sacramento metro area and surrounding community and it holds a range of species including king salmon, rainbow trout, channel cats and all three varieties of black bass. The bad news is that catching fish at the lake can be a real challenge much of the time. This sums up the consensus that I get when talking to a lot of local anglers. A lot of guys, after getting skunked time after time, have actually given up on the lake. That’s a mistake! In our How To column this week rather than looking at a certain species of fish or a certain technique, I thought I’d share what I know about fishing Folsom Lake. I’m far from an expert on Folsom and I get skunked out there just like everybody else, but that doesn’t happen to me very often and I’ve caught some really big fish at the lake over the years including a 27 inch king, rainbows to 4.5 pounds, large- mouths to 8, smallmouths to 5 and a huge 15 plus pound channel cat. Winter is my hands down favorite time to fish the lake and that’s why I’m writing this piece now. Let’s break it down by species and dive in. Your mileage may vary, but I’ll detail my most consistent approaches. FISH SNIFFER HOW – TO Slip bobbers are a must have tool for anglers visiting Folsom Lake during the winter. This bobber is armed with a section of night crawler and a white Power Egg. This is a deadly offering for Folsom Lake trout as are live minnows. > Folsom Lake In Winter Trout Folsom has three types of rainbows. There are standard issue government planters fresh out of the hatchery truck. Next, we have holdovers that originally came out of a truck and have survived long enough for their tails and fins to heal and they’ve dialed into the lake’s pond smelt and shad forage base. And the third type are wild fish that were spawned in the CONTINUED ON PG 12