Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3802 Jan 4-18 | Page 22

20 FRESHWATER January 4-18, 2019 FRESHWATER REPORTS: CONTINUED FROM PG 14 EASTERN SIERRA Christmas Time Trouters Find Success BISHOP- “Forecast looking dry for the week with a slight chance of snow for the weekend, but nothing major. Temperatures remain cold at night, with warming reaching its peak around noon. Still some snow on the Upper Owens with most areas accessible,” reported Tom Loe of Sierra Drifters Guide Service. “With very cold nights and lower flows, some larger rainbows and browns have moved up the Owens. They are not concentrated in one area yet as they have really been on the move from day to day. Mornings have been extremely cold this past week, but the afternoon temperatures have been warming things up nicely,” said Loe. “You will observe smaller fish taking small midges after the chill subsides in the mornings. Another solid storm should lay the foundation for the snowmobile rigs to navigate around on. The section from the Benton Crossing Bridge down to the fishing monument is now closed. Flows are now at 86 cfs. Crystal eggs, No. 14-16 San Juan worm red, No,14-16 Level Crystal Leeches, No. 14-16 Parallel Assassin Dark and Light, and No. 16 Broken Back Copper Tiger Midge getting the most bites,” Loe exclaimed. “The section upstream from the Benton Bridge is open year around with special regulations. Seasonal closures and angling restrictions apply downstream from the bridge, check regulations before fishing in this section. We walk and wade guide here. During winter we will access the UO with snowmobiles,” related Loe. “Hot Creek is experiencing a good micro-midge hatch after the frost melts off. Still great dry and dropper action being had here. The East Walker is holding steady at its winter release with the big fish continuing to bite here. Deeper pools are where it has been at,” Loe concluded. FEATHER RIVER Anglers Gear Up For Steelhead Opener OROVILLE – The section of the Feather River below the Feather River Fish Hatchery from the Table Mountain bicycle bridge to Highway 70 bridge will reopen to fishing on January 1, 2019 – and anglers are expecting some top-notch action. The prospects for the opener are Come visit LAKE SHASTA at Lakehead on the Sacramento River arm VOL.38 • ISS. 2 promising, based on the number of steelhead showing at the hatchery. The hatchery hadn’t started spawning steelhead as of press time. “We’ve counted over 600 steelhead to date,” said Anna Kastener, hatchery manager. “The numbers we’re seeing are higher than normal for this time of year.” She noted that DWR staff doing tag and release studies of steelhead have reported seeing fish up to 7 pounds. The promising steelhead run follows a “’very good” fall Chinook salmon run, according to Crawshaw. The facility has collected over 15,000,00 green eggs, more than enough to meet their mitigation goal of 9,000,000 smolts. In addition, they have enough eggs, 202,000, to produce at least 125,000 salmon for the landlocked Chinook program at Lake Oroville. The hatchery counted over 17,000 salmon at the hatchery this fall. This includes 5,848 nontagged males and 1,795 tagged males and 3,798 untagged females and 1,037 tagged females. That number also included 1,682 nontagged jacks and 5264 tagged jacks. Paul Kazar visited Lake Amador this December and landed - Dan Bacher this trio of husky trout while fishing with a broken back Rapala. One of the fish was tagged and Kazar won a two night camping trip at the lake. Photo courtesy of THE LAKE AMADOR CAFÉ, Lake Amador. FOLSOM LAKE Fishing Rated As “Fair” For Trout, Kings & Spots GRANITE BAY- Fish Sniffer editor Cal Kellogg has been spending some time fishing Folsom Lake from his Hobie Kayak. “The lake is very low right now, but the conditions are good,” related Kellogg. “The surface temperature is around 55 degrees and the clarity is okay.” “You can find spotted bass holding off rock structure in 15 to 35 feet of water and the trout and kings are scattered from the surface to about 18 feet deep. There is a lot of bait showing and the bass and trout are holding near the bait. The bait seems to be a mixed blessing. While you can mark plenty of fish on your sonar, hooking them is difficult. They seem to have so much available forage that they aren’t really hungry,” observed Kellogg. “During my last couple trips, I worked around some really good sonar marks using a variety of different approaches and only got one half hearted strike for my efforts,” Kellogg exclaimed. “The bass bite is probably better than the salmon and trout bites, although there have been some good rainbows to 18 inches and kings to 2 pounds or so being caught on Rapalas. For the bass, drop shotting Gulp! Minnows and other smelt pattern baits is the way to go. I’ve talked to a few bass guys on the lake and they are getting around a half dozen spots to 3 pounds per outing,” said Kellogg. “If you visit the lake, you need to use extreme caution. The park staff have been doing a great job of marking rock hazards, but some of them are slipping through the cracks. I’ve seen some very nasty unmarked rocks lurking a foot or so beneath the surface waiting to destroy props. The speed limit is 5 mph, but even at that slow speed avoiding the abruptly rising unmarked rocks would be difficult, especially when you consider that many of them are well offshore and are sitting in water that is 40 to 60 feet deep,” Kellogg warned. www.tsasdiresort.us Great Food & drinks, newly remodeled bar, outdoor patio, lots of fun! (530)962-3050 DaiLy Trips Salmon Season Ends With A Bang KNIGHTS LANDING – The salmon season ended with a bang on the Sacramento River at Knights Landing, at least for Rob Reimers of Rustic Rob’s Guide Service. 3204 Jay Hawkeswood of Magalia and Reimers landed 5 hours two exceptionally 90 $ All Gear Provided (800) 877–1462 3705 Drift Boat Trips Over 50 Years Experience on The Lake Carnelian Bay, CA 96140 (530)546–4444 E-mail: bigmack-2@att.net • www.mickeysbigmack.com Limits of Catfish, Trout Highlight Holiday Season Catches BYRON – While most anglers are focusing on rainbow trout at Los Vaqueros Reservoir, experienced anglers continue to land big stringers of channel catfish. Just ask Yekam El Nakar and his buddy, who limited out on catfish while using anchovies during their latest shore fishing adventure in South Cove “There have been multiple fish plants recently, with more on the way,” according to the marina. “Lots of limits of trout have been coming in. Limits were also spotted coming out of Howden Cove and along the shoreline in both South Cove and past the Rock Wall.” “A 7.88 pound trout was caught in Cox Cove using a Kasmaster. Peninsula Cove gave one angler a 5.85, 5.2 and 3.2 pound group of trout while using mice tails. Cowboy Cove produced several limits including a 4.8 and 3.6 pound trout also on Mice Tails.” Juan Romo and Derick Choi caught their limits of trout in Cowboy Cove while using lures. Russell Barreras caught some big trout in Pen. Cove while fishing Mice Tails. Striper fishing has slowed down with the cooler weather, although some shakers and legal sized fish are being caught around the reservoir. Cut anchovies or shad are the baits of choice, either from shore or a boat. The water level is currently at 148,000 acre feet. With the cooler days and windy weather the water temperature is floating between 59 and 61 degrees depending on the time of day. Boaters Target Bass with Cold Water Techniques ANGELS CAMP - Bass action is set to explode in the coming months, and there is optimism for an improved rainbow trout bite starting in the spring with the reloading of the Kokanee Power net pens at the New Melones Marina. Gene Hildebrand of Glory Hole Sports in Angels Camp said, “With the turn of the weather bass angling went to a slow bite with anglers reporting challenging CONTINUED ON PG 22 Now Booking American River Steelhead and Folsom Lake Trout • Discounts for Cash • • Large or Small Groups • Group Discounts • Gift Certificates P.O. Box 488 LOS VAQUEROS RESERVOIR NEW MELONES LAKE KNIGHTS LANDING Fish Lake Tahoe! • Fully equipped cabins with decks overlooking the lake • Free Boat slips at private dock • Gameroom, volleyball, pool, horseshoes and more! (530)238-2575 bright Chinooks weighing 30 and 25 pounds. They were anchor fishing near the Highway 113 Bridge with Brad’s Killer Fish. “I saw nine other boats fishing throughout the day,” he added. “One angler lost a salmon right at the boat, but I didn’t see any other salmon caught where I was fishing.” Anglers are catching a few stripers while fishing sardines around Knights Landing. One fisherman also landed a 24 inch striper while soaking ghost shrimp below First Beach, reported Tim Boggs of Elkhorn Outdoors. For the best chance of catching a legal- sized sturgeon, Boggs recommended fishing with ghost shrimp, lamprey eel and salmon roe in Montezuma Slough or Suisun Bay. - Dan Bacher Custom 23’ Rogue Jet Cpt. Jerry Lampkin – 25 years of experience fishing Salmon, Steelhead, Stripers, Trout & landlocked Kings on the Feather, Sacramento, American Rivers and Folsom Lake 3802 T.N.G Motorsports Guide Service (530) 320-0884 • www.tngmotorsports.com