Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3801 Dec 22-Jan 4 | Page 6

6 Dec 21, 2018 - Jan 4, 2019 FRESHWATER VOL.38 • ISS. 1 FRESHWATER REPORTS LAKE ALMANOR feet.” Trollers are employing a mixture of spoons, spinners, Rapalas and nightcrawlers behind dodgers. Bank anglers are hooking the trout while using PowerBait, nightcrawlers, Rapalas and jigs. In one day before Thanksgiving, the lake management stocked 4000 pounds – a whole months allotment – off the spillway so they would spread out quickly. 3500 pounds of the fish were rainbows and 500 pounds were Lighting trout. After the latest plant, Elizabeth Lockhart stated, “We stocked 500 lbs. of what other lakes call TROPHY TROUT. We call them Amabows! It’s been so long since we raised our own trout and it FEELS GOOD! “You know...Cutbow, Donaldson, even Golden Rainbow Trout - they are all Amabows because it’s all in how you raise them. The most nutritious feed, optimal conditions, and good husbandry are the factors that create what we bring to you, a hard fighting 4-pound trout with beautiful colors, red flesh and ALL ITS FINS,” she explained. The catfish action has slowed down, while bass anglers should fish drop shot rigs with Robo Worms, jigs and spoons in deep water off the points for the largemouths. The Lake Amador Trout Derby began on November 23 and will run through March 3. The event will feature 300 tagged trout in 3 months – and over $3000 in cash and prizes. There is a $7 one time entry fee. - Dan Bacher Trout Fishing Remains Solid at Almanor CHESTER - “The fall bite is just continuing to go off here at Lake Almanor with good numbers on a mixed grade of fish. Depending on the day we are seeing everything from mild to wild action,” exclaimed Captain Bryan Roccucci of Big Daddy’s Guide Service. “We have been seeing fish from 2 to over 5 pounds with and occasional slob going up to and over the double-digit mark. Water temps are cool running in the mid-forties, which means the fish are shallow looking for food all over the lake. The east side, west side and the north end are all kicking out fish right now,” said Roccucci. “The tactics and baits are also all over the place and fish are being caught on slow pulled software like soft plastics and flies as well as fast trolled hardware such as spoons and minnow plugs, but most are being caught in the top 10 feet of the water column. This type of fishing is a blast with big hookups, fish exploding out of the water and taking off on blistering runs. It’s light tackle trophy trout action at its best,” Roccucci asserted. LAKE AMADOR Anglers Battle Big, Bold Trout IONE – Trout fishing is going strong at Lake Amador, where weekly plants continue. “Anglers are catching a mixture of rainbows and lightning trout,” reported Sandy Lockhart of the Lake Amador Resort. “Boaters are hooking fish at a variety of depths, including both in the top 10 feet of water and down at 25 to 30 LAKE AMADOR AMERICAN BASIN/ STAMPEDE RESERVOIR 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 Halsey Forebay, Sugar Pine Offer Best Trout Options. AUBURN – Winter The KFBK OUTDOOR SHOW 3507 1 Rated with your Outdoor Radio Show host for 26 years! # Bob Simms Fishing • Hunting • Destinations Conservation • History Dedicated to the Northern California Outdoorsman Listen Every Saturday Morning from 5 am to 8am on BOB SIMMS CALIFORNIA’S LONGEST RUNNING OUTDOOR TALK SHOW! Boom! Thomas Yang went big while fishing Collins Lake recently when he successfully landed this impressive 6 plus pound rainbow. Photo courtesy of the COLLINS LAKE RECREATION AREA, Oregon House. has arrived in the Sierra Nevada with the first series of snow storms of the season hitting the region. Fishing reports on Sugar Pine, French Meadows and other waters have been scarce lately. Trout can still be caught on Sugar Pine Reservoir, located on Shirttail Creek, a tributary of the North Fork of the American River. Bank anglers should toss out nightcrawlers, PowerBait, Kastmasters, Little Cleos and other lures from the bank. The CDFW planted trout in Halsey Forebay during Thanksgiving week, so that spot is worth a try. Anglers here should also toss out an array of baits and lures. “Most of the people I talk to are either going to Pyramid Lake in Nevada to fish for the lake’s huge Lahontan cutthroat trout or are heading to Suisun Bay and the Delta to target sturgeon,” said Craig Newton at Willfish Bait and Tackle. “I tried fishing for salmon in the Sacramento at the mouth of the American in my boat along the colorline this week, but didn’t get bit although I saw some fish on the graph. The Sacramento at press time was high and muddy from the recent storms. The hatchery has taken in 6.9 million eggs to date. right on schedule, according to Novak. “We pulled 600 to 700 salmon carcasses off the weir yesterday and pulled 2,000 fish off the weir last week,” he noted. “We found a skull of a big sturgeon on the weir.” He is very encouraged about the steelhead showing at the hatchery. “We trapped 77 steelhead, including 49 males and 28 females, during our last count,” he said. “In another week and a half, we will try spawning steelhead. These are all Nimbus Hatchery Eel River-strain fish. We have also seen a few Central Valley strain fish that we’ve released back into the river.“ Because the numbers of naturally spawning fish in the river are so low so far, the hatchery purposely didn’t bring some fish into the hatchery so that there is some natural spawning in the system. Bureau of Reclamation water releases to the American below Nimbus Dam remain at 1800 cfs.. - Dan Bacher BERRYESSA LAKE AMERICAN RIVER Salmon Numbers Down, Steelhead Numbers Promising ORANGEVALE – The numbers of fall run Chinook salmon showing on the American River below Nimbus Dam are still lower than normal, although there was a brief spike in fish returns after the season’s first storms. At the same time, the number of steelhead showing to date is promising. The hatchery has taken in a total of 5,126 salmon, including 1039 jacks and 169 jills, according to Gary Novak, hatchery manager. “We have three spawns left to do and plan to do our last spawn on December 13,” he stated. “The Bureau pulled the hatchery weir on Monday, December 10. We have seen a lot less fish on the river this year than usual, but still plan to meet our production goal of 4 million smolts.” Trollers, Spooners Bag Chunky Rainbows NAPA – Fishing for large rainbows to 6 pounds has picked up at Lake Berryessa as the fish feed upon schools of threadfin Continued on Pg 7