Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3822 Oct 11-25 | Page 12

10 FRESHWATER Oct 11 - 25, 2019 FRESHWATER REPORTS: CONTINUED FROM PG 7 COLLINS LAKE cont. Collins Lake fisherman, who saw all the recent catfish and decided he had to get up here and get a line in the water right away. On Tuesday August 27, he sat out in front of Campsite #116, hook baited with chicken liver. Around 9pm there was a tug at line, and on the other end was this humongous catfish, which topped out our calibrated scale. By the time we got a bigger scale on site the fish was gutted and cleaned. I know it’s always a point of contention, guessing at weights, but I’d put this one at no less than 28 pounds, which would have been a lake record had we gotten an official weight. Sandoval’s penchant for catching catfish isn’t just a matter of dumb luck, the next night he caught two more whiskerfish, 3.5 and 7.5lbs, but the biggest one of all will remain the stuff of legend & lore…. how much do you think it weighs? The day Hilario left Vinny Simpson of cured salmon roe. The rainbows know what salmon eggs are and have a tough time passing them up.” Trout fishing in the lower Sacramento River is a year-round deal. Water levels through the river’s primary trout water from Redding through Red Bluff rise and fall with the seasonal releases at Shasta and Keswick dams, but you can catch just as many rainbows in the dead of winter as you can in the middle of summer. “You can’t say that about very many of our trout waters,” Bogue adds. VOL.38 • ISS. 22 with lots of catch & release out near the dam and in coves on top water lures as well as rubber worms and live crawdads. Of the fish that were kept we got a picture of Greg Hauglin from Roseville with a five and a quarter pound spot caught from a kayak with a rat-tail and Gurdit of Lincoln who caught 3 bass near the dam on Rapalas. Trout typically take a break this time of year and I’d be lying if I told you it wasn’t slower than spring and early summer but even so, there’s still a consistent catch coming in and quite a number of larger rainbows reeled in each week. Lucas Alves was one of the few to limit out, and he did so trolling near the dam 40ft down, which is probably still the best strategy until the lake turns. Jacson, Marquez and Jacob from Natomas caught four smaller trout near the dam on nightcrawlers before landing a beautiful 7 pound rainbow. Megan & Justin Cisneros were all smiles catching a pair of rainbow trout, the first on an orange jig/Dodger combo and the second trolling about 20ft deep with a fire tiger Rapala. Finally Gabriel Maillend caught CONTINUED ON PG 15 Santa Rosa cast some chicken liver much further north near campsite #488 and caught a 10.5 pounder. The day after that, friends Pepe, Giovani & Ricardo from Oroville caught a pair of six pound catfish on worms way out on the east side. Moments later Justin from Sacramento showed us a cat caught on worms up at the bridge. These folks took a September trip to Collins Lake and scored five Other notables rainbow trout to 7 pounds and some ice cream too. Photo courtesy of the COLLINS LAKE RECREATION AREA, Oregon House. include Cesar Sanchez’s 9 lb. caught this last Saturday. Seems the catfish caught catfish are everywhere. on redworms near the beach and Kelly While catfish have certainly topped the Cutler’s 8.25 pound fish caught around list we’ve also seen a jump in bass activity the same area on pink PowerBait, both HOW TO By Cal Kellogg with springs, covered the valley that now makes up the bottom of Lake Almanor. It’s the rich soils of those meadows that drives the food chain at this north-state trout factory. The reservoir boasts both a prolific amount of aquatic insect life and a huge biomass of Japanese pond smelt. The nutrient-rich lake waters make for a vast reserve of plankton the pond smelt eagerly gobble up. The result is that Almanor’s browns and rainbows are never far from their next meal, which supports their growth to to massive proportions. “It’s no big secret that Almanor has Northern Sierra: Lake Almanor browns that run up to over 10 pounds, Lake Almanor is, at once, inspiring but a lot of folks overlook the size of the and frustrating. To be sure, the trout that lake’s rainbows,” says Bryan Roccucci of dreams are made of swim the waters of Big Daddy’s Guide Service in Quincy. “I Almanor, but they don’t come easy! have an Almanor rainbow on my wall that Before Canyon Dam was completed weighed over 10 pounds.” in 1927, centuries-old meadows, dotted Roccucci is, perhaps, the most knowledgeable and successful angler Mark Morrison fishing Guide Service fishing Almanor Salmon, Stripers, Trout, American Shad at this time, but even he admits 1-6 people - Full day trips that successfully Fishing gear supplied catching trout at the lake is far from a Sacramento, American and Feather rivers slam dunk. “Do my 916-308-3228 clients get limits markmor14@gmail.com at Almanor? Often, they do, but markmorrisonfishingguideservice.com 3817 Almanor isn’t about 3813 numbers, it’s about big fish. There are lots of lakes in the GREAT FISHING AT CAPLES LAKE! on Highway 88 at Carson Pass • Cabins and Lodge Rooms • Fishing Tackle • Camping Supplies • Marina • Boat Rentals For information, call (209)-258-8888 CAPLES LAKE RESORT P.O. Box 88, Kirkwood, Ca 95646 www.capleslakeresort.com state that boot out trout to 5 pounds, but very few lakes or reservoirs consistently produce wild and holdover fish that range from 7 to 10-plus pounds like Almanor does,” he says. Roccucci uses a variety of trolling tactics to take those big rainbows. “During the fall, winter and early spring, Almanor’s trout target pondsmelt. In the late spring, summer and early fall aquatic insects are the preferred forage,” he explains. “When the trout are targeting the smelt I troll spoons, small minnow plugs, flies and soft-plastic minnow imita- tions. I troll quickly with the spoons and plugs and slower with the other offerings, matching my approach to the temperament of the fish on any given day. When insects are on the menu, I pull 1-inch sections of threaded night crawlers slowly, just off the bottom, almost exclusively. The threaded worm isn’t an exact match for the insects the trout feed on, but it’s close enough to draw strikes from some very nice trout.” Central Sierra: Lake Don Pedro In 1848, gold was discovered on the Tuolumne River at a place called Don Pedro Bar. By 1923 the bar was under water as a result of the construction of the old Don Pedro Dam. In the early 1970s, the dam was upgraded, and Don Pedro Reservoir, as we know it today, took shape. At full capacity, the reservoir has a surface area of 13,000 acres and covers about 26 miles of the Tuolumne River bed. Located 50 miles east of Modesto, the lake is home to clouds of threadfin shad that support a wide range of game fish, including three species of black Furnished bass, two species of Cabins from landlocked salmon, $60 per night or brown trout, rainbow $360 per week EAGLE LAKE CABIN RENTALS Awesome • Trout Fishing • Hiking • Biking • Relaxing trout and more. But it’s Don Pedro’s huge rainbow trout population that really captures the imaginations of “in the know” anglers. “There are lots of great trout lakes in the Mother Lode region of the Sierras, but my hands down favorite is Don Pedro Reservoir, primarily due to the lake’s rainbow trout fishery,” says Monte Smith of Gold Country Sportfishing based in Oakdale. “You can catch rainbows at Don Pedro all year long. In the summer, you’ll find the trout holding deep in the main body, near bait. During the cold months, rainbows are available in the main body, but it’s the river channel that really shines. When it’s cold the shad run in the arm and pull up tight to the bank looking for pockets of warmer water, and the rainbows will be found nearby.” Smith reports the average rainbow at Don Pedro runs about 1 1/2 to 3 pounds, but fish up to and beyond 6 pounds are not out of the question. “Since the rainbows feed primarily on shad, two of my three most-pro- ductive approaches focus on imitating shad,” Smith reveals. “If I can, I like to power-0troll with spoons, running them fast, from 2 1/2 all the way up to 4 miles an hour. When the rainbows are hot and chasing bait, this approach is absolutely deadly.” On days when Smith’s “spoon bite” isn’t producing, he turns to the shad themselves. “When pulling shad, speeds from 1 to 1 1/2 miles an hour are about right. If the rainbows really have lockjaw,” he says, “my go-to day saver rig is a half a threaded night crawler, trolled slowly behind a small dodger. If you end up running worms, don’t be impatient when you get hit. Typically, the trout won’t get hooked on the first hit, but once they taste that worm they will come back and strike repeatedly until they find the hook.” Fish the Sacramento River with Rentals — Real Estate — Lots & Land For Reservations and info: (530)825-2131 www.eaglelakeheritage.com 3816 Mike Bogue’s Guide Service (530)246-8457 • www.mikebogue.com Book Early for Best Dates • Salmon • Steelhead • Trout 3603 Ken Salvi caught this 4 lb, 24 inch German brown near Emigrant Creek. continued from page 6