Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3801 Dec 22-Jan 4 | Page 3
Up-To-Date and Published Locally... By Sportsmen... For Sportsmen!
Mokelumne River Map Feature
MADE IN U.S.A
See Page 14
Vol. 38 - ISS.01
Our
37th
Year
L
Since 1982
Amador In Winter: A Great
Place For Trout Junkies
maximum amount of territory from my
outpost on the bank.
When the rig splashed down
I allowed it to settle below the
surface for a moment and then
started a slow steady retrieve
with the bobber just beneath
the surface.
As the bobber and fly came
into sight 30 feet away I was
already thinking about my
next cast when I detected a
flash behind the gear. A beat
later the water swirled and my
line came to life.
The trout’s first reaction to
the sting of the hooked was
a brief but vigorous series of
headshakes. When that failed
to shake the fly loose, the fish
panicked and bolted. Line screamed out of
my reel against the resistance of the drag.
For the next several minutes I kept the
pressure on the fish as my buddy followed
me back and forth, up and down the bank,
net in hand. At one point I almost had
GONE
FISHING
by
Cal Kellogg
I
Dec 21, 2018 - Jan 3, 2019
“The Magazine for West Coast Sportsmen!”
ater the fog would burn off, but
just after dawn when I arrived a
heavy overcast hung just above
the lake and the bank was
wet and slick with dew. The
muddy shore gave way to the
seemingly black water. With
zero wind the lake’s surface
took on the properties of a
giant mirror punctuated with
spirals of faint mist that slowly
crept toward open water.
Working at the water’s edge,
I rigged my spinning rod with
a clear bobber, followed by a
30-inch leader sporting a No.
8 black woolly bugger. Once
the bobber was filled with the
water it probably weighed over
an ounce.
Bringing the rod back I let go with
a blistering cast. The heavy bobber
combined with the fact that the reel was
spooled with fine diameter 8-pound mono
allowed me to shoot the fly far down
range, thereby allowing me to cover a
I recklessly dropped the partially formed
roe ball and grabbed a towel to clean my
hands. I fumbled the rod out of the holder
and uttered, “It’s on” to my fishing partner
Kirby.
This scene took place on November 7
during the striper portion of a trip to the
West Delta. You see, I was trying to tie up
roe balls so we could go fish for sturgeon,
but the
stripers
wouldn’t
give me a
break. I can
honestly
say I have
never seen
a striper
feeding
frenzy like
the one we
had going on
that day.
The trip
started at
the Brannon
Island boat
Fish Sniffer field editor Jack Naves nailed this 10 pound striper that slammed ramp at
dawn. Kirby
chicken livers tied to an 8/0 circle hook using Magic Thread. This fish was
landed near Sherman Island, and was released after the photo.
Desha and
Photo by JACK NAVES, Fish Sniffer Staff.
Special Section
Baja Roundup
PG 26-27
INSIDE
Area Reports
FRESHWATER REPORTS
Almanor - Lake Berryessa......................................4
Lake Camanche - Clear Lake...................................7
Collins Lake - Don Pedro Reservoir.......................8
Eagle Lake - Folsom Lake....................................11
Knights Landing - Pyramid Lake..................... 12-13
Quarry Lakes - Sasnta Clara Valley................ 16-17
Shadow Cliff - West Delta.................................... 18
SALTWATER REPORTS
Berkeley - Half Moon Bay.....................................23
Monterey Bay......................................................25
FEATURES
Where...When...How...
Sam visited Lake Amador in late November,
tossed out a Berkley Mouse Tail and scored
his first ever trout.
Photo courtesy of the LAKE AMADOR CAFÉ,
Lake Amador.
the trout within range of the long-han-
dled net only to have it storm off on a
sustained 20 foot run that ended when
the fish catapulted out of the water!
CONTINUED ON PG 19
Wide Open West Delta Striper & Sturgeon Action
looked up to check my striper rod,
but it stood frozen against the clear
blue sky. I spooned a mess of cured
salmon eggs onto a square of netting.
As I attempted to form a salmon roe ball
for sturgeon bait, I glanced up again to
check my rod tip. It was no longer in the
sky. Instead, it was pegged almost to the
surface of the water, pumping wildly.
37 Years
Serving
Sportsmen
I launched the boat raced downstream
to fish the area of the Sacramento River
between Decker Island and Pittsburg.
We set anchor in
about 26 feet of
water and got the
rods all set.
The outgoing
tide had water
speeding past
the boat. It was
generated by the
big gravitational
pull of new moon
period tides. We
started soaking
chicken livers
wrapped with
Miracle Thread
on 8/0 circle
hooks. The plan
was to striper
fish until the tide
slowed, and then flip over to sturgeon
fishing until the incoming tide picked up.
The bites were sparse at first, with only
a few small stripers stealing our baits. In
the first hour, we had one small keeper
and lost another, but mostly had bait
WHAT’S
HOT
by
Jack Naves
CONTINUED ON PG 20
Jerry Brown Backs Deal to
Increase Pumping Delta
Water to Big Ag
See Page 22
BAJA ROUNDUP...............................................26-27
BASS FISHING SPOTLIGHT: Dr Keith Jones........ 16
BULLETIN BOARD................................................... 3
FISH SNIFFER COUNTRY: Mark Fong.................. 24
GO FOR IT: Staff....................................................... 6
HOW-TO: Cal Kellogg.............................................. 9
KAYAK FISHING SPOTLIGHT: Cal Kellogg ............. 5
MAP FEATURE: Dan Bacher.............................14-15
SALTY TIPS: Hippo Lau.......................................26
SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION: Dan Bacher..... 22
STAFF
TACKLE
What We’re Using
Paul Kneeland - fished
Pyramid Lake with John
Brassfield of Auburn in
the Fish Sniffer 21’ Rogue
Jet Coastal. They caught
Lahontan cutthroat trout to 5 1\2 pounds,
using a Daiwa DXS 8’ light action IM-7
graphite trigger stick rigged with a Daiwa
Lexa 100 line counter reel loaded with 8 lb
test P Line Tactical Flourocarbon line. They
trolled Yakima Bait Mag Lip 3.5 in bloody
firetiger and Silver Horde 4 inch spoons in
watermelon off the Canon Downriggers at
30 to 40 feet deep and 2.5 mph.
Cal Kellogg - fished Lake
Berryessa from his Hobie
Pro Angler 14 kayak. Cal
focused on bass fishing
and landed 11 spotted
and smallmouth bass to 2.5 pounds. For
working offshore structure with Blade
Runner Spoons, Cal employed a 7’
Cousin’s Tackle baitcasting rod paired with
an Abu Garcia Revo STX baitcasting reel
spooled with 15 pound Berkeley Vanish
fluorocarbon line.
Dan Bacher - fished for
rainbow trout at Rollins Lake
near Colfax. He used a
Berkley Ugly Stick GX2 6’ 6”
medium action spinning rod,
teamed up with a Shakespeare GX235
spinning reel filled with 6 lb. test P-Line CX
Premium Flourocarbon Coated Line. He
fished with rainbow Berkley PowerBait, 1/8
oz. gold and black Panther Martins and 2/5
oz. gold/red stripe Little Cleos.