Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3825 Nov 22- Dec 6 | Page 23

FRESHWATER VOL.38 • ISS. 25 FRESHWATER REPORTS: other valley lakes are closed to boating. SAN PABLO “Boaters RESERVOIR are experiencing Angler Catches 49 Inch fair bass Sturgeon at Season’s fishing while End tossing out EL SOBRANTE – Bill reaction Robinson of Berkeley finished baits such as off the season in a big way Keitech lures at San Pablo Reservoir by along with catching a 49-inch sturgeon on jigs,” said November 1, reported Marcella Clements. Shoemaker at the Rocky “Crappie Mountain Recreation Company. up to 1 The season closed on pounds are November 11, 2019 at the also hitting reservoir. Before the closure, small jigs the trout fishing was starting to around the pick up with the cooler weather. boat ramp at Lily Folan of Vacaville caught Calero.” a trout using PowerBait. Bruno Chesbro Zambonin of San Francisco and and Uvas Friend caught 7 rainbows while reservoirs fishing in various locations from are kicking a boat. out bluegill Marquis Mercado and a and some Patty caught this huge Lake Shasta brown trout while trolling a Gold Popped Eye Spoon friend of Vallejo caught 3 trout smaller on October 8. weighing a total of 8 lbs. Their Photo courtesy of ROBERT HOWER, Redding. largemouth biggest trout, a 3 pounder, hit at bass in the the rockwall. half to 1 The lake level is 296.6 feet in lb. range. elevation and the surface temperature is Point area,” reported Mickey Clements Shore fishermen are hooking the panfish 65 degrees. at Coyote Bait and Tackle. “People are on redworms and the bass on Ned Rigs drifting jumbo minnows throughout the and Spider Grubs. Chesbro is 50 percent day and tossing out top water lures in the of capacity, while Uvas is 49 percent. early morning hours. Most of the fish are Coyote Lake, now 20 percent of in the 18 to 21 inch class, but larger fish capacity, is yielding a few crappie for bank are showing also.” anglers using crappie jigs. Shore anglers are hooking stripers also - Dan Bacher SANTA CLARA VALLEY while throwing top water lures or soaking LAKES/SAN LUIS anchovies from the rockwall. Shore anglers are also heading to RESERVOIR Checks #12 and #13 in the O’Neill Boaters Hook Striped Bass Forebay to target striped bass, a mixture SHASTA LAKE off Portuguese Point of shakers and smaller keepers. “They are Fish Sniffer Readers Land Big doing best while tossing out bloodworms COYOTE – San Luis Reservoir stripers and anchovies,” said Clements. Brown! are the hottest prospect for San Jose Calero, 43 percent of capacity, is area anglers at this time. REDDING - “My wife and I spent four producing the best boat fishing of the “Boaters are hooking stripers on the days fishing at Lake Shasta. We caught Santa Clara Valley lakes. Anderson and main lake while fishing in the Portuguese quite a few rainbows, but the biggest fish CONTINUED FROM PG 19 HOW TO knot. The final step is to tie a hook to the end of the leader using a palomar knot. There are several popular and productive baits and bait combinations for tempting trout, but the best baits all have one thing in common, they float up off the bottom. Trout will seldom pick a bait directly off the bottom. You want a bait that floats up and away from grass and debris, so that a cruising trout can find it easily. For the uninitiated anglers out there, I’m going to share a dirty little secret with you. Not only are worms one of the most effective trout baits available, but are also among the simplest to employ effectively. The key here is presenting your bait NEAR the bottom, not ON the bottom. This is why Fire Bait, PowerBait and other trout dough concoctions float. Taking a cue from your dough soaking brothers, you’ll want to float your worm off the bottom too. This can be accom- plished by teaming your worm with a marshmallow or injecting your worm with air using a worm blower or hypodermic needle. In most cases I prefer to float my worms with an injection of air, because this makes for a more natural looking offering. The first time I ever used PowerBait back in the 1980’s my buddy and I hooked 27 trout at a heavily fished East Bay lake. From that day forward, I’ve never doubted the effectiveness of PowerBait. It is something that should be in every bait angler’s bag of tricks. These days I carry a selection of PowerBait as well as a selection of Zeke’s Sierra Gold Bait. Fire Bait utilizes the scent of salmon eggs combined with krill By Cal Kellogg continued from page 5 to tempt trout into striking. PowerBait, Zeke’s Sierra Gold and Fire Bait come in a long list of colors and combination colors. Most dough baiters have handful of colors that they have a lot of confidence in and as a result they use these personal favorites almost exclusively. Rainbow is very popular as is chartreuse. My strategy is to keep things simple. I like to have chartreuse and orange colors on hand for stained water and subtler yellows and pinks when the water is clear. Now that we’ve taken a look at rods, reels, rigs and baits it’s time to get out to the lake and put these tools to work. Over the years, I’ve had some of my best bank action while working areas where a shallow flat drops into deep water. During low light periods trout typically move onto flats to feed. When the sun is on the water they tend to retreat to holding areas adjacent to the security of deep water. Spots where flats transi- tion into deep water are high percentage areas because they provide the trout with immediate access to both shallow water feeding habitat and the safety of the depths. Narrows or bottlenecks, while not occurring at all lakes, typically feature hot action wherever they are found. The reason productive action generally can be found in bottlenecks is simple. These areas concentrate the trout and whenever you can find a large number of trout passing through a limited area, your chance of success rises significantly. Once you’ve identified some promising areas to explore, it’s time to bait a hook 21 Nov 22 - Dec 6, 2019 of the trip was an 8-pound brown that my wife caught first thing in the morning on the first day,” reported Mel Bishop of Sacramento. “I’ve always done well in Waters Gulch, so that’s where we started. I put out a silver and black Rapala and Sylvia used a chrome and blue 3-inch Mag Lip. She had just put her rod on the holder when it just bent over. It happened fast and the tip wasn’t shaking. I figure she’d hooked a stick or something, but when she started reeling the fish came to life. It made a short run and then dove down into deep water. It took about 10 minutes, but she wore the fish down and I was able to net it. After a couple photos, we let the fish go. It was quite a thrill,” exclaimed Bishop. “We got rainbows to 3 pounds during the trip. We probably landed around 18 total trout. Needlefish spoons were the top lure for rainbows, but we caught them on Wiggle Hoochies, Rapalas and Hum Dingers too. Everything was hooked in the top 15 feet,” related Bishop. Variety is the word for bass anglers fishing at Shasta. The bass are spread out and they will hit a variety of different lures. If you like working reaction baits, spinnerbaits and crankbaits are both working. Anglers that enjoy working soft plastics will find action while working worms on dropshot rigs, Carolina Rigs and jig heads. Dead sticking 4 inch Senkos is working too. The average bass is a 12 inch spot, but spots to 4 pounds and largemouths to 6 pounds are showing up from time to time. Lake Shasta is currently 45 feet from the top and boat launching remains in full operation. TAHOE Limits the Rule for Mack Hunters! SOUTH LAKE TAHOE- Fall trollers that visit Lake Tahoe are being rewarded with limits of mackinaw. Most of the fish go 3 to 6 pounds, but lakers to 12 pounds have shown. “I’ve been getting limits every time I hit the water while trolling from 150 to 200 feet deep,” reported Capt. Gene St. Denis of Blue Ribbon Charters. “Minnows and blades have been working best for me. Our top fish over the past couple weeks went about 12 pounds. Fish in the 4 to 6-pound range have been plentiful.” and get down to business. Early and late in the day or during periods of overcast weather it is smart to make your first casts into relatively shallow water, before moving deeper. When the sun is on the water it is wise CONTINUED ON PG 23 to start out plying moderately deep water. Of course, the water temperature plays a critical role in how With Pro Bass Fisherman deep you should position your offering. The colder the water Learn Progressive Techniques for Bass the shallower you’ll On The Delta, Clear Lake & Berryessa want to fish. Cold ALL SKILL LEVELS WELCOME water trout tend to www.jcbassfishing.com crowd the shoreline. (925) 216-2757 In this situation, 3811 jasoncordiale79@gmail.com you want to make sure that you are not casting out beyond the lion’s share of the 3204 trout activity. A final point to remember is that the 5 hours most successful bank $ anglers tend to stay on the move. You don’t want to pick All Gear Provided out a spot and spend the entire day fishing it if the trout are not responding. Instead • Discounts for Cash • • Large or Small Groups • you should give a spot Group Discounts • Gift Certificates anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to Over 50 Years Experience on The Lake produce. If nothing P.O. Box 488 happens it’s time to Carnelian Bay, CA 96140 move on in search of E-mail: bigmack-2@att.net • www.mickeysbigmack.com greener pastures. JC BASS FISHING GUIDE SERVICE Jason Cordiale Fish Lake Tahoe! DaiLy Trips 90 (800) 877–1462 (530)546–4444