Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3822 Oct 11-25 | Page 3

Up-To-Date and Published Locally... By Sportsmen... For Sportsmen! 37 Years Serving Sportsmen Sacramento River Map Feature MADE IN U.S.A See Page 16-17 Vol. 38 - ISS.22 Our 37th Year T Since 1982 October 11 - 25, 2019 “The Magazine for West Coast Sportsmen!” Have Duckworth, Will Travel… Livin’ The Dream Fish Sniffer Style! he past week was so packed with action that it went by in a blur and served to define the lifestyle I love, being both a full-time editor at the Fish Sniffer Magazine and the producer/host of one of the West’s most popular fishing focused YouTube channels, Fish-Hunt-Shoot Productions. In addition to writing articles and reports to fuel the engine at the Fish Sniffer and creating daily video content to feed the F.H.S. channel, I spent a good deal of time on the road with both my Duckworth powerboat and Hobie Kayak in tow, seeking out the best fishing Fish Sniffer Country has to offer. What a week it was! The week started off with a crazy trip to Lake Shasta to play around with my new lineup of trout fishing grubs. With late summer trout fishing being consistently poor at my home lakes, Wes Ward and I decided Shasta offered the best option. Yes, it was a 3-hour drive from home. Yes, we’d only be able to fish for about 4 hours. And yes, we’d have to drive another 3 hours back home… That’s 6 hours driving for 4 hours fishing. The positives were that the drive-up Highway 5 is easy and that we’d have Wi-Fi and cell phone reception the entire way so that we’d be able to take care of a bunch of calls and office work while on the road. Plus, I had a source up on the lake, named Robert that had identified an area for us that was holding fish, meaning we wouldn’t have to spend a lot of time searching. After a dark-o-thirty drive, Wes and I were in the parking lot at Bridge Bay before sunrise and by the time we had filming light we were motoring down the McCloud River Arm of the lake. When T Cal Kellogg was elated after landing this 24.5- inch Lake Shasta rainbow while fishing with the Fish Sniffer’s Wes Ward. Photo by WES WARD, Fish Sniffer Staff. we started marking fish 75 to 100 feet deep off a long rock wall we dropped the downriggers and started working the marks with Fire Cracker and Cotton CONTINUED ON PG 11 which told me that fish were here to be caught. Dan set us up with 8’ 2” G. Loomis graphite rods with Shimano Curado reels loaded with red Tuf Line braid. Terminal tackle was T55 and T60 Flatfish in chartruese/silver and hot pink/silver, with a sardine wrap and 40 lb P Line leader. We started in about 12 feet of water, with 2 rods having 6 ounce weights and 2 with 5 ounce weights on the dropper. Dan set us up to backtroll above a couple other boats. I dropped my Flatfish down, felt it bounce the bottom once, and then felt a good hit from a salmon! I wasn’t in the water 10 seconds when I had the first fish of the day on and fighting! The heavy salmon took line immedi- ately, and then jumped behind the boat 3 times as he sought to throw the hook. After a strong fight, Dan netted our first fish of the day, a muscular 12 pound WHAT’S HOT by Paul Kneeland David Barsi landed this huge Sacramento River king salmon while working a T-55 Flatfish during a recent trip with Captain Dan Ponciano and the Fish Sniffer’s Paul Kneeland. Photo by PAUL KNEELAND, Fish Sniffer Staff. F ish S niffer T IP OF THE W EEK Area Reports FRESHWATER REPORTS Lake Almanor - Berryessa Lake.............................4 Bullards Bar/Englebright Reservoir - Collins Lake ........................................................7 Collins Lake.......................................................... 13 Davis Lake - Eagle Lake...................................... 15 East Delta - Feather River............................. 18-19 Folsom Lake - Redding/Red Bluff ................ 20-21 Shadow Cliffs/Chabot Lakes - San Pablo Reservoir.............................. 22-23 Shasta Lake - West Delta.................................... 25 SALTWATER REPORTS Baja Roundup........................................................... 29 Berkeley - Bodega Bay............................................ 28 Fisherman’s Wharf - Monterey Bay................. 30-31 Where...When...How... Sacramento River Salmon Starting to Heat Up! he Sacramento River salmon season is underway, and the fish are starting to fill the river and fish boxes up and down the system. I fished the upper river with guide Dan Ponciano and my friends Dave Barsi of Oak Run and Brian Garcia of Colfax. Brian and I hit the road in Colfax at 3:30 am and were at the Ball’s Ferry Boat ramp about 10 after 6. Dave drove in at the same time, and Dan was ready to launch his 25 foot North River sled as we arrived. It was a gorgeous morning on the river, with no wind and a cool temperature of about 54 degrees. The river looked beautiful, fairly high but very clear with a water temperature of 52 degrees. We boarded the North River and ran downstream for about 20 minutes and set up to backtroll just above the famous Barge Hole. There were several boats in the area, even on a Thursday morning, INSIDE FEATURES GONE FISHING by Cal Kellogg Special Section Catch & Release Fishing - pg 7 CONTINUED ON PG 27 Typically, river run kings strike plugs with a good deal of force. When you feel the strike, wait as long as you can and then drive the hooks home with authority. Salmon are strong and the fish is likely holding your plug very firmly in its mouth. To effectively set the hooks you’ve got to break the fish’s grasp on the lure. FALL FISHING BOAT SALE......................... 8,9,11,12 BAJA ROUNDUP......................................................31 BULLETIN BOARD.....................................................3 CATCH & RELEASE - FLY FISHING: Cal Kellogg....14 FISH SNIFFER COUNTRY: Steve ‘Hippo’ Lau..........29 GO FOR IT: Staff.........................................................2 HOW-TO: Cal Kellogg................................................6 KAYAK FISHING SPOTLIGHT: Cal Kellogg ...............5 MAP FEATURE: Dan Bacher...............................16-17 MIXED BAG FISHING: Ernie Marlan........................24 SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION: Dan Bacher......26 STAFF TACKLE What We’re Using Cal Kellogg - fished the West Delta with Wes Ward from the Fish Sniffer 18 foot Duckworth Advantage Sport. For soaking a variety of baits Cal and Wes used a pair of Cal’s 8 foot Striper-Halibut-Salmon rods topped with PENN Fathom 15 level wind reels spooled with 65 pound Yo-Zuri braid. The duo landed stripers to 23 inches during the outgoing tide near the power lines on the Sacramento. Dan Bacher - fished for rainbow trout at Loon Lake. 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 Fluorocarbon 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. Dan coated his baits and lures with Bloody Tuna scent Pro-Cure Super Gel. Paul Kneeland - fished the Indian Ocean out of St. Lucia, South Africa with his brother Ken and John Brassfield of Trucksmart stores. They caught yellowfin tuna to 25 pounds using Shimano Beastmaster Rods and Shimano TLD 25 reels loaded with 65 lb Daiwa Braid, trolling silver and chartreuse Rapalas at 7 knots on the surface right behind the boat.