Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3901 Dec 20-Jan 3 | Page 15

ys ph ur M Altaville El. 1541 4 G Vallecito El. 1750 Copperopolis (2) To Stockton Tuttletown Recreation Area ad m Ar or Pe i lch a C Co ove ve Jamestown Overlook Gu ng Store, Gas & Supplies Iron Canyon Lo To Yosemite Junction, Hiways 108 & 120, China Camp, Tulloch Groveland and Reservoir Yosemite Natl. Park E18 El. 1405 108 49 Columbia El. 2143 Columbia Airport 49 k Cr laus Ro Dam Deadmans Bar Fe rr y Middle Bay on m or M Vermont Bar Vermont Bar E15 Black Bart Cove Glory Hole Boat Ramp Marina Abbeys Ferry Ramps off OldHwy 49 & Parrots Ferry Road are semi-improved where road enters lake Horseshoe Bend Dev ils C ove Office Glory Hole Recreation Area Store Store, Groceries, Ice, Tackle, Gas & Boat Supplies Angel's Cove Boat Ramp Camping k Stanis Moaning Cave Angels Camp El. 1379 Day Use - No Camping South F 4 e d ra To Salt Springs Valley, Milton and Valley Springs 49 To Arnold, Calaveras Big Trees, Bear Valley, Ebbets Pass, Markleeville, Topaz Lake and Bridgeport Douglas Flat Calaveras & Tuolumne Counties Location and size: New Melones is part of the Bureau of Recla- mation’s Central Valley Project. It is located off of Highway 49, some 8 miles north of Sonora and 6 miles south of Angels Camp, in the Mother Lode. The reservoir is impounded by the New Melones Dam, and has a 2,400,000 acre feet capacity with a surface area of 12,500 acres. When full, the shoreline is more than 100 miles long. The reservoir and dam are located west of Jamestown and Sonora, and south of Angels Camp. The Archie Stevenot Bridge, completed in 1976, carries Hwy 49 across the lake and border between Calaveras and Tuolumne Counties Each year, approximately 600,000 visitors enjoy New Melones’ numerous recreational opportunities. Facilities include day use areas; boat launch ramps; more than 300 campsites; hiking, biking and equestrian trails; a visitor center and museum; and abundant water-based recreation. Fish Species: Rainbow trout, brown trout, kokanee salmon, spotted bass, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, black crappie, bluegill, channel catfish and other species offer fishing year round. Lake conditions vary seasonally at New Melones Lake depending on weather and annual rainfall. Please see the following link for the most up-to-date lake condition information: http://cdec.water. ca.gov/cgi-progs/staMeta?station_id=NMS History: The original Melones Dam was completed in 1926, forming a smaller Melones Lake reservoir. The New Melones Project was authorized in 1944 to create a much larger reservoir and to establish a new hydroelectric plant. It would also be specifi- cally designed to prevent floods. It was a controversial project. The dam’s opponents argued that its presence would inundate the river valley, eliminate the natural whitewater rapids, flood many of the massive unique limestone cave formations characteristic of the area, and destroy archaeo- logical resources found along the river. The environmental organi- zation Friends of the River was formed to fight the dam, according to Wikipedia. Initial archaeological surveys were made by the Smithsonian River Basin Surveys in 1948 (Fredrickson 1949). Further surveys were done by regional universities. The consensus after the surveys was that the dam would be built. Upon the dam’s comple- tion, the valley filled with water, covering the old mining town of Melones and the original Melones Dam. The lake was constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and transferred to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation shortly after its completion in 1980. Fishing Information: Glory Hole Sports, Angels Camp, phone (209) 736-4333, web: gloryholesports.com Murphys El.2171 New Melones Lake Recreation Area New Melones Facts 13 Dec 20, 2019 - Jan 3, 2020 MAP FEATURE VOL.39 • ISS. 1 Sonora El. 1796 108 To Twaine Harte, Miwok, Strawberry, and Sonora Pass To Highway 395 and Bridgeport Highway 108 to Knights Ferry, Oakdale, Riverbank, & Modesto at Hwy 99 Highway 49 south to Moccasin Creek, Don Pedro Lake, and Mariposa. Junction with Highway 120 East Leads to Yosemite National Park's North entrance Fishing Notes • Rainbow Trout - Fishing is productive throughout the year. Anglers find the top action in the spring and fall while trolling minnow imitation lures in shallow water and bank fishing with Powerbait and nightcrawlers. During the summer troll lead core line and downriggers after finding the depth of the fish. • Brown Trout - Troll Rapalas, Rebels and Sparklefish along shoreline in Stanislaus River Inlet. • Kokanee Salmon – Grow big and fat in the lake’s forage rich waters. Troll with hoochies, spinners and spoons, tipped with white corn, behind dodgers. • Black Bass - fish jigs, worms and senkos in submerged brush and off rockpiles for largemouth and spotted bass. Some smallmouth are taken with plastic worms off rocky points. • Crappie - use mini jigs and minnows off brush and submerged trees throughout the lake. Night fishing under floating lights is also excellent. fingerlings in 2019, according to Kyle Murphy, Senior Environmental Scientist Supervisor at the CDFW. “We lost the subcatchable brown trout that were allotted for New Melones and other lakes in the flood of March 2018, but the San Joaquin River Fish Hatchery below Friant Dam had extra brown trout and we put some of those into New Melones,” said Justin Kroeze, manager of the Moccasin Creek Fish Hatchery. The hatchery is just getting back Rick Hansen of Wilton successfully battled this 3 lb. 8 oz. kokanee in operation. “We salmon while fishing with Kyle Wise of HeadHunter Sportfishing at took 1.2 million New Melones in July. This fish hit a pink Jpex with a Paulina Peak pink big eye dodger. eyed rainbow trout Photo courtesy of HEADHUNTER SPORTFISHING. eggs from brood stock at Mt. Shasta deep. Hatchery. Six hundred thousand of these The California Department of Fish were Shasta-strain and the other 600,000 and Wildlife has planted New Melones were Eagle Lake strain. In addition, we with catchable rainbows for decades, purchased 200,000 eggs from out of state but the reservoir hasn’t been stocked when he finally got the water back in the with catchable rainbows since 2018 hatchery this March. These fish won’t be after the Moccasin Creek Dam burst and up to catchable size until July 2020,” he the Moccasin Creek Fish Hatchery was explained. flooded, with thousands of pounds of trout “We didn’t have water from March going into the creek and then the water 2018 to March 2019 as repairs were being below the dam. conducted on the Moccasin Reservoir However, the CDFW was able to stock dam,” he noted. the lake with 70,200 brown trout finger- “We haven’t done allotments for the lings in 2018 and 20,160 brown trout lakes in our region for next year and we won’t have them until June 30, 2020. We kokanee in 2018 and 50,000 in 2019. should be getting back into producing fish. This was a great year for kokanee If we choose to allot fish for New Melones fishing at New Melones, with many fish next year, catchable rainbows would be exceeding the 2-pound mark. Rick Hansen planted in October or November 2020,” of Wilton caught a 3.8 lb. kokanee, the said Kroeze. largest ever reported at the reservoir, while Over the past couple of years, the only using a pink JPex lure behind Paulina rainbows stocked in New Melones have Peak dodger while fishing with Kyle Wise been those raised in the pen-rearing of HeadHunter SportFishing. program at the lake. New Melones Lake is located on the “Kokanee Power once again has come Stanislaus River in the central Sierra through this year with another plant of Nevada foothills within Calaveras County trout for the 2020 fishing season of 350 and Tuolumne County. The New Melones pounds of 12-inch rainbows,” said Gene Dam and reservoir are a water collection Hildebrand of Glory Hole Sports. “They and transfer unit of the federal Central will be kept in the trout pen until May, Valley project. where Kokanee Power and the marina For more information, call Glory Hole staff will feed them.” Sports in Angels Camp, (209) 736-4333. These healthy trout were transported from the Moccasin Fish Hatchery on November 16 and placed in a holding pen to be raised for the next 6 months. The net pen also received 480 pounds of rainbow trout in 2017 and another 360 pounds in 2018, according to Murphy. The CDFW plants the lake most years with kokanee fingerlings. The agency stocked 50,020 kokanee at New Melones After this big rainbow trout inhaled the bait and screamed off 150 yards of line and drug the boat 30 yds, these two anglers finally landed this in 2017, no fish at New Melones Lake. Photo courtesy of JOSH PARRIS GUIDE SERVICE, San Andreas.