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

FRESHWATER Nov 22 - Dec 6, 2019 VOL.38 • ISS. 25 FRESHWATER REPORTS ALMANOR Trout Key on Smelt! CHESTER - Trout fishing at Lake Almanor is a good news, better news proposition. Right now, the fishing is good, but the weather is stagnant. The air temperature has consistently been 10 to 15 degrees above normal and there has been little stormy weather. The surface temperature is in the middle fifties. As a result, the trout have not been spurred into the intense pre-winter bite we typically see this time of the year. When the weather changes significantly we should see a rapid acceleration in the bite and the fishing should shift from good to great. Currently Almanor’s trout are spread out and feeding primarily on pond smelt. Trollers are hooking 5 to 10 trout per day while trolling smelt imitations in the top 20 feet of the water column. Most of the fish are rainbows that run 2 to 4 pounds, with a few bigger showing up here and there. Bank anglers working the Hamilton Branch area and the coves near the dam are hooking 3 to 5 rainbows per outing while soaking various baits, but most of the trout they are hooking are DFW planters. Shifting gears, the Lake Almanor Fishing Association announced this week that they have stocked their trout cages with 50,000 Shasta Lake rainbows. These fish will be provided with a high protein diet all winter while they get accustomed to their new home. Come April they will be released into the lake to fend for themselves in Almanor’s forage rich waters. LAKE AMADOR Trout Plants Begin with Cooler Weather IONE - Fall trout plants have begun at Lake Amador – and anglers are already catching some big trout from shore and boat. “We released 500 pounds of cutbows on October 30,” reported Elizabeth Lockhart at the Lake Amador Resort. “I saw a few trophies in the 10 lb. class, which you can clearly see in the video that we posted on our Facebook page. It’s huge.” LAKE AMADOR Trout Planted Seasonally! Then on November 6, the resort planted another 600 pounds of cutbows. Big fish honors go to Kyle Robello from Sacramento, who caught a 5.72 lb. cutbow with a Kastmaster from shore. The current lake level is 34 feet from full and the surface temperature is 63 to 64 degrees and going down with these cooler nights. The launch ramp is open. “We will discount our day use fees from $10 to $8 until the water levels come up a bit, maybe until later this month,” said Sandy Lockhart. For more information, call (209) 274-4739. - Dan Bacher AMERICAN RIVER Nimbus Hatchery Fish Ladder Open Now RANCHO CORDOVA – The biggest excitement on the American River is that the salmon ladder at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery opened on Monday, Nov. 4, signaling the start of the spawning season. Most anglers reported slow fishing on the river for salmon before the upper stretch of river closed on October 31. California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) hatchery workers opened the gates in the ladder at 10:30 a.m. and took an estimated half-million eggs during the first week alone in an effort to ensure the successful spawning return of fall-run Chinook salmon. The three major state-run hatcheries in the Central Valley – Nimbus Fish Hatchery in Sacramento County, and hatcheries on the Feather River in Butte County and the Mokelumne River in San Joaquin County – will take approximately 24 million eggs over the next two months to produce Chinook salmon for release next spring. Each hatchery has a viewing area where visitors can watch the spawning process. The visitors’ center at Nimbus Hatchery includes a playground with replicas of giant salmon. Nimbus Hatchery is open to the public free of charge from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends. For more information about spawning schedules and educational opportunities at each hatchery, please visit the CDFW website at www.wildlife.ca.gov/ fishing/hatcheries. There are 209-274 -4739 7500 Lake Amador Dr., Ione, CA 95640 WWW.LAKEAMADOR.COM Salmon • Striper • Trout • Kokanee BERRYESSA LAKE Boaters Target Smallmouth Bass with Spoons WINTERS – Boaters using spoons are catching and releasing big numbers of black bass at Berryessa this fall, while trollers are picking up limits of quality rainbow trout. A lot of the bass are suspended at 15 to 20 feet deep as they feed on threadfin shad. “Most of the bass being caught on spoons are smallmouths, with some spotted bass and largemouth bass mixed in,” said Alan Fong at Fisherman’s Warehouse. “Anglers are casting out the ¾ oz. Blade Runner spoons and working it back to the boat. They are also vertically jigging with the 1-/3/4-ounce Blade Runner spoons.” “The largest smallmouths are in the 3 to 4 lb. range,” noted Fong. “The best area to target the bass is on the east side of the reservoir about half way up the vineyards.” “Today two buddies of mine really lit up the trout,” said Furnished Fong. “They landed Cabins from ten trout in the 15 to 22-inch range while $60 per night or trolling with Shad $360 per week Raps at 10 to 20 feet in the main body. Awesome Shore fishing • Trout Fishing should be picking Rentals — Real Estate — Lots & Land For Reservations and info: (530)825-2131 (530) 272-7137 • (530) 263-4451 3807 up at Berryessa as the fish move into shallower water with the arrival of the fall turnover. Try fishing with minnows under bobbers, inflated nightcrawlers and PowerBait for the best results. - Dan Bacher BULLARDS BAR/ ENGLEBRIGHT RESERVOIRS Target Spotted Bass with Drop Shot Rigs • Hiking • Biking • Relaxing • Stripers • Oroville Kings • Stampede Kokanee www.fishbarebones.com eight state-run salmon and steelhead hatcheries, all of which will participate in the salmon spawning effort. These spawning efforts were put in place over the past half century to offset fish losses caused by dams that block salmon from historic spawning habitat. Once the young salmon reach 2 to 4 inches in length, one-quarter of the stock will be marked and implanted with a coded wire tag prior to release. CDFW biologists use the information from the tags to chart their survival, catch and return rates. EAGLE LAKE CABIN RENTALS • Cafe • RV Park • Waterslide • Campground • Disc Golf • General Store Cafe Open Seasonally On Friday, Saturday & Sundays Maribeth Noxon landed this incredible 4 plus pound rainbow while fishing at Eagle Lake on October 18. Photo courtesy of FISH TRAVELER GUIDE SERVICE, Spalding. www.eaglelakeheritage.com DOBBINS – Spotted bass fishing should improve as the water cools down and the fish go on their fall feed. Anglers should use drop shot rigs with Robo Worms, jigs, and Blade Runner spoons for the bass. Boaters have reported catching mostly smaller spotted bass in the 10 to 14 inch class lately, but the larger fish that Bullards is known for should start showing soon. Adult kokanee are spawning or have already spawned in the tributaries of Bullards Bar and other northern California reservoirs. You can hook the smaller “next year’s kokanee” while trolling with hoochies, tipped with white corn, behind dodgers at Bullards Bar, but virtually nobody is doing it. Trolling or tossing out spinners and spoons in the river inlet for wild rainbows is worth a try, but again, nobody is trying. Fishing pressure is also light at Englebright Reservoir. Rainbow trout are available for anglers trolling with nightcrawlers, spoons and spinners behind dodgers or flashers. You can also hook an occasional wild brown while trolling with Rapalas and other stickbaits in the river arm. Bullards Bar is holding 640,941 acre feet of water, 66 percent of capacity and 119 percent of average. Englebright Reservoir is holding 65,534 acre feet of water, 94 percent of capacity and 112 percent of average. Continued on Pg 8 Lake Almanor Now Booking Fall Trout at Eagle Lake Lake Almanor Lake Davis a nd Eagle Lake Bucks Lake Captain Bryan Roccucci Lake Tahoe www.BigDaddyFishing.com Call for Best Dates – (530) 370-1001 4