Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3822 Oct 11-25 | Page 8

6 HOW TO... Oct 11 - 25, 2019 VOL.38 • ISS. 22 The State’s Best Trout Waters? < Here we see Bruce Wicks of Foresthill with a 6 plus pound Collins Lake rainbow. California anglers are blessed with 100’s of trout destinations to choose from ranging from urban fisheries, to foothill impoundments to pristine high mountain lakes and streams. > Sacramento River Guide Mike Bogue shows off one of the lower Sac’s impressive wild rainbows. Bogue asserts that the Sacramento is one of the nation’s best and most overlooked rainbow trout fisheries boasting both big numbers of fish and trophy caliber fish that can range up to 10 pounds. presents The Guides’ Guide To California Trout Waters W here there’s water, there’s fish… and where there’s fish, there are anglers. In California, our freshwater fisheries are robust with bass and trout going head to head for the title of the state’s most popular game fish. And while a lot of states in the nation boast great trout fishing, none can match California for the sheer number of trout-fishing opportunities, ranging from small, high-mountain streams to large foothill and urban reservoirs. Truth be told when the guys at the Berkley fish- ing-products headquarters in Iowa wanted to test their new-fangled PowerBait in the 1980s, they didn’t go to the spring creeks of Penn- sylvania, the tailwater fisheries of the southeast or the Great Lakes region. Nope. They packed their bags and went West, to the uber-fertile, heavily stocked trout waters of California’s Eastern Sierra. Those scientists and engineers recognized the productivity of California’s mountain trout waters and used them as the testing grounds for what is now arguably the world’s most prominent trout bait on the market! With so many awesome trout waters, the question begs: Where are California’s best trout waters? Certainly, it’s the trout fishing guides of the Golden State who can answer that question best. Service in nearby Oak Run. “The river above Lake Shasta is known for its fly-fishing action, and it produces big numbers of small to medi- um-size fish,” Bogue reveals. “In the tailwater stretch below Shasta, there are just as many trout, but they average much bigger than the upper Sac trout. Below Redding, the rainbows average 14 to 16 inches and fish to 20-plus inches are common. There is also a very small brown trout population in the river. The fish don’t show up on the end of lines very often, but browns in excess of 10 pounds do strike occasionally.” Bogue has been fishing “the Sac” his entire life and says the action with the rainbows has always been good, but he says he saw the fishing go from good to great in the 1990s when the California Depart- ment of Fish and Wildlife pushed to install devices at Shasta Dam to maintain cool water flow in the river. The project was directed to enhance king-salmon numbers, but it has also given the trout fishing a major boost. The river now maintains a temperature of about 56 degrees for much of the year, delivering good growth for both the trout and the insects they rely on forage. “There are sections of the river that can be waded, but, overall, the best fishing is done from either drift boats or jet boats. There are a lot of fly guides on the river, but I prefer to fish with conventional gear,” Bogue says. “The rainbows are big and aggressive, and I rely on back-trolled plugs in the 1- to 2 1/2-inch range for most of our strikes. As a guide, back-trolling gives me a lot of control and I’m able steer the plugs into the spots where the trout hold. On days when the plug bite is slow, or the fish are holding deep, I’ll break out some FISH SNIFFER HOW – TO by Cal Kellogg ^ Bryan Roccucci (L) puts his clients on limits of trout at Lake Almanor fairly often, but he asserts that fishing Almanor is not about limits. It’s about scoring the biggest trout of your life. It’s one of the few places in California were 10 pound wild rainbows exist. ^ Lake Don Pedro is a sleeper in the Motherlode region often overshadowed by the outstanding fishing offered at New Melones. Don Pedro boots our rainbows to 7 pounds along with some massive double digit king salmon. This big rainbow was landed during a spring outing with Capt. Monte Smith. Cascade Region: Sacramento River “I fish the Sacramento River below Redding with guys that chase trout all over the country. Almost everyone agrees that the Sacramento is not only one of the best river-trout fisheries in the country but also one of the most overlooked,” says Mike Bogue of Mike Bogue’s Guide CONTINUED ON PG 10