Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3819 Aug 30-Sep 13 | Page 17
VOL.38 • ISS. 19
DEL VALLE LAKE cont.
Anglers who fish at the lake early in the
morning are nailing stripers while fishing
swimbaits, flukes and top water lures.
“The stripers are averaging behind five
and eight pounds,” according to Captain
Jacob. “Lots of the bigger fish are being
caught in Heron Bay and in the Narrows.
The striper boils are growing, and
fishermen are taking full advantage, with
the boils only lasting from about 6:00 a.m.
– 7:00 a.m.”
“After the boils die down, the best bet is
frozen cut baits like anchovies, sardines,
and shad. The hot striper lures include
Flukes (white/silver/blue), Super Spook
Jrs, and anything that could mimic a shad.
They are being caught just before Swallow
Bay and near the dam,” he tipped.
“We planted a total of 1500 pounds of
catfish in the lake over the past month.
They like the Narrows and Swallow
Bay and all the coves with structure.
Anchovies, mackerel, nightcrawlers and
sardines have also been a hot ticket for
these cats,” Captain Jacob advised.
The bass are holding in deeper water,
hanging around rock points, weed lines,
drop offs, and any structure you can find.
Lots of smallmouth in the two-pound
range are hitting baits, drop shots, and
grub jigs. Trollers can catch the smallies in
Heron Bay in about 15-foot of water while
using panther martin spinners.
“We aren’t expecting the trout to pick up
again until the water temp starts to drop.
One angler did land one 7lb trout while
using salmon eggs. The trout are all in
the deep water by the dam,” he added.
If you want crappie and bluegill,
he recommended using red worms,
nightcrawlers, and little jigs.
Big fish honors go to R. Kirk of San
Jose , who caught an eight-and-three-
quarter-pound striped bass while fishing
with anchovies. J. Sisneros of Brentwood
also landed a six-pound striped bass while
soaking anchovies.
N. Hashimoto of San Jose caught the
biggest catfish, a six-and-a-half pound
channel cat, while tossing out anchovies.
EAGLE LAKE
Anglers Score Limits Of
Quality Rainbows!
SPAULDING - I just returned from a
week up at Eagle Lake. Here’s what’s
going on. For at least the last five years
FRESHWATER
Aug 30 - Sept 13, 2019
big fish landed.
I expect fishing
to be at least as
good this fall.
Hopefully, we
will continue to
see good snow
and rain amounts
in the coming
winters which will
only help improve
conditions. There
are numerous
new tule stands
in many areas
of Eagle Lake.
I am looking
forward to fishing
these early next
season.
Whether you
are fishing
with me or not,
feel free to call
me with any
questions or for a
current report on
Jim Wolfe landed and released this dandy smallmouth bass when he
Eagle Lake.
visited Lake Del Valle recently.
Tim Noxon,
Photo courtesy of THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN RECEATION COMPANY, Lake
Fish
Traveler
Del Valle.
Guide Service
you could not have said the following in
the middle of August.
“The bite is on and its limits and near
limits of Eagle Lake trout daily.”
That’s what’s happening. Here is what
we are doing to catch the fish.
The early bite is best so start early. Fish
the thermocline. Run your baits around 30
feet deep. in 45-50 feet of water. Spoons
in red and gold colors have been working
well. Fish the west shore line between
Shrimp Island and Wildcat Point.
The average Eagle Lake trout we put
in our box was 2.5-3 lbs. Fish up to 4 lbs.
have been caught recently. The surface
temperature on Eagle Lake has been
around 71. Night time lows are in the mid
to low 40’s.
As the night time temperatures cool, the
fish will again move into shallower water,
becoming more accessible. This should
begin to occur around the first part of
September.
The trend I am seeing is that the fishing
at Eagle Lake is improving year to year.
Fishing was really good in June this year.
Last June it wasn’t so hot. This year in
midsummer the fishing is limit style. Last
summer the fishing was not good. Last fall
the fishing was really good with a lot of
15
time to get the net. “
“There hasn’t been a pattern this
summer as we are catching 100
largemouth bass with no perceivable size
one day, and on the following day, the
numbers are down, but the size is up.
This is on the same tides. You can catch
them any way right now: chatterbaits,
frogs, topwater lures, squarebills, Pocket
Rockets, and plastics are all working.
Younger Tommy also scored with a
5-pound largemouth on the same day
after previously losing a similarly-sized
fish.”
For striped bass, the majority of the
linesides remain on the western edge
of the San Joaquin system, and Dave
Houston of Livermore said, “We fished
the San Joaquin from the Antioch Bridge
to the Sacramento River, and the water
is very brown with a lot of grass, both
suspended and floating on top. We scored
with shallow running P-Line Angry Eye
Minnows or Yozuri Crystal Minnows as
long as they had chartreuse in them in the
dinghy water. We landed seven keepers
in the 3- to 6-pound range before getting
off of the water by 9:00 a.m. to avoid the
heat.”
In the Stockton area, bluegill and catfish
dominate action from the back sloughs
east and south of Stockton.
- Dave Hurley
EAST DELTA
Largemouth Bass Hooked on
Array of Lures FEATHER RIVER
STOCKTON - It has been hot, hot,
and hot in the East Delta with triple-digit
temperatures making for uncomfortable
conditions for anglers, but the largemouth
bass bite has been outstanding for those
using a variety of techniques.
Vince Borges of Vince Borges Outdoors
and Phenix Rods took out Olympic gold
medal freestyle skier, Jonny Moseley, and
his two sons, Jack and Tommy, out for
a birthday trip for Jack for the third year
in a row. Borges said, “Jack has broken
his personal best with us every year, and
this year within the last 10 minutes of
our trip, he landed a largemouth pushing
8 pounds on a Yozuri 3BD Squarebill
crankbait in crawfish pattern on a Phenix
X13 composite crankbait rod. I tossed out
a crankbait and received a hard strike,
and it wasn’t another 20 yards down the
bank when Jack laid into his personal
best. I was teasing him about getting the
net because we didn’t know what he had
on there, but once we
saw the bass, it was OROVILLE – After a couple of slow
weeks, the salmon action on the Feather
has picked up as bright fall Chinooks
begin to slowly move into the river.
“On the first trip I made, the 2 anglers
fishing with me landed 2 salmon in the
14 to 16 lb. range,” said Rob Reimers of
Rustic Rob’s Guide Service. “We anchor
fished with Brad’s Killer Fish in the
Dragonfly pattern below the Thermalito
Afterbay Outlet.”
“On the next trip, the two adults and a
child fishing with me caught one 18 lb.
salmon while fishing the same lures,”
he said. “The fish was very bright; we’re
probably seeing the leading edge of the
fall run now.”
“There aren’t a ton of fish in the river
yet,” he added. “I expect that we will get a
big push of salmon into the Feather during
the next full moon.”
Fishing for striped bass, catfish and
other species on the Feather over the past
Fall Chinooks Begin to Show
CONTINUED ON PG 18
The rainbow trout bite is still on at Lake Pardee. This big trout decided
to strike on July 24.
Photo courtesy of the LAKE PARDEE RECREATION AREA, Lake Pardee.