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

Up-To-Date and Published Locally... By Sportsmen... For Sportsmen! New Melones Map Feature MADE IN U.S.A See Page 12 Dec 20, 2019 - Jan 3, 2020 Vol. 39 - ISS.1 Our 38th Year T Combo Action On The Happy Hooker! GONE FISHING by Mark Fong T Since 1982 “The Magazine for West Coast Sportsmen!” he cold mornings, short days and charter boats filled to capacity can only signal one thing. Crab, of course. These are sure signs that the recre- ational season for Dungeness crab has arrived. So far this has been a banner season with anglers finding a bounty of quality commer- cial grade crabs ranging between 2 and 3 pounds each. Charter boats on all sides of San Francisco Bay are busy running crab and rock fish combination trips. At the Berkeley Marina, customers fishing aboard the Pacific Dream and the Happy Hooker have been treated to limit style crab and rock fishing. That’s 10 38 Years Serving Sportsmen Dungeness crab and 10 rockfish per angler per day. Not wanting to miss out on the action, I recently joined Captain Jonathon Smith aboard the Happy Hooker for a day at the Farallon Big commercial size crabs have been the rule for anglers venturing beyond Islands. the Golden Gate aboard the Happy Hooker. Photo by MARK FONG, Fish Sniffer Staff. When I arrived at K on the return trip we would stop and Dock, the area was awash with activity. pull crab pots. With that said, I found a Anglers milled around the dock and the comfortable seat and settled in for the boats were full of chatter and loud banter. long ride to the Islands. Aboard the Happy Hooker, I was greeted I was a bit disappointed to learn that as by Captain Jonathon and deckhands Greg of late the lingcod have been off the bite. and JT. Captain Jonathon informed me Following the crew’s recommendation, I that the strategy for the day was to start out targeting the for rockfish and then CONTINUED ON PG 19 Kayaking For Big Rainbows At Lake Davis! could see some ducks swimming in the distance I had the 12-gauge shotgun resting across my lap. The birds were out of range, but I was hoping to change that. Behind the Hobie Pro Angler I had an orange trolling fly working at about 2 feet deep on a topline and a tui chub pattern fly working 6 feet deep just over the top of the weeds on a hybrid leadcore rig. I was focusing hard on the ducks when a squeaking sound caught my attention. I glanced down and my heart shifted into overdrive. The leadcore rod was bent deeply and bucking hard as a big trout slashed and head shook trying to free When Cal visited Lake Davis on November 15 he ended up with a itself of the fly. limit of holdover rainbows that included four fish from 20.5 inches to 23 inches! I leaned into the he cold air seemed charged with electricity. Success had come early often. During the first 30 minutes of daylight I’d hooked and lost a heavy strong fighting trout and landed and released another in the 2 plus pound class. At the moment, I was on the West Side of Lake Davis’s big island and since I peddles to keep the line tight as I scrambled to stow the shotgun, grab the net and slide the rod from its holder. For the first minute or so I worked the reel, the trout put up a great fight and then the rod loaded up and got super heavy. I could still feel the trout, but the fish felt immobilized. I’d hung a big clump of weeds! Lucky for me the trout was well hooked in the hard part of the mouth. When I got the clump to the boat I couldn’t really see how large the trout was so drug the whole mass of weeds and the gyrating rainbow into the net and started sorting through the salad, revealing an impressive 23-inch- WHAT’S HOT by Cal Kellogg Photo by CAL KELLOGG, Fish Sniffer Staff. F ish S niffer T IP OF THE W EEK As most avid trollers know, rolling shad is one of the best ways to catch big trout and landlocked kings, yet shad can be tough to obtain, store and rig and they are not legal to use at many of our lakes. This is where Gulp! Minnows come in. Gulp! Minnows come in a variety of different sizes, but I favor the 3 inch models. They are small enough to interest pansize fish, but big enough to grab the attention of the big boys too. Most anglers run my Gulp! Minnows behind dodgers. The minnows themselves have zero built in action, so it’s wise to rely on a dodger to impart action CONTINUED ON PG 11 Special Section KAYAK Fishing: pgs 6 INSIDE Area Reports FRESHWATER REPORTS Almanor - Berryessa Lake......................................4 Bullards Bar/Englebright Reservoirs - Collins Lake....................................................7 Davis Lake - Don Pedro Lake.................................8 Eagle Lake - East Delta ...................................... 10 Eastern Sierra - Pyramid Lake........................ 14-15 Quarry Lakes - Sacramento Area....................... 17 Smith/Chetco Rivers - West Delta....................... 18 SALTWATER REPORTS Baja Roundup........................................................... 23 Berkeley - Half Moon Bay...................................20-21 Monterey Bay......................................................22 FEATURES Where...When...How... BAJA ROUNDUP........................................................23 BULLETIN BOARD.....................................................3 CATCH & RELEASE - FLY FISHING: Cal Kellogg............9 FISH SNIFFER COUNTRY: Steve ‘Hippo’ Lau..........20 GO FOR IT: Staff.........................................................2 HOW-TO: Cal Kellogg................................................5 KAYAK FISHING SPOTLIGHT ...................................6 MAP FEATURE: Dan Bacher...............................12-13 SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION: Dan Bacher......16 STAFF TACKLE What We’re Using Cal Kellogg - fished Collins Lake from his 14’ Hobie Pro Angler kayak. For trolling Trigger Spoons, Cripplures and grubs, Cal used a pair of his signature series leadcore trolling rods teamed with Abu Garcia 5500 line counter reels spooled with his Hybrid Leadcore rigs. Cal landed a limit of rainbows to 3.5 pounds during the trip. Paul Kneeland - fished Englebright Reservoir with Richard Percy of Peardale in the Fish Sniffer 21’ Rogue Jet Coastal. They caught rainbow trout to 14 inches using a Lamiglas Fish Sniffer special 7’6” ultra light graphite downrigger rod with a Abu Garcia Revo MGX Extreme level wind reel loaded with 6 lb test Yozuri TopKnot fluorocarbon line. They trolled firetiger Uncle Larry’s Spinners and red/white Tasmanian Devils with Rooster Tail Trout/ Kokanee spray off the Canon Downriggers from the surface to 15 feet deep at 2.2 mph. Dan Bacher - fished for rainbow trout at Folsom 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, nightcrawlers and 2/5 oz. gold/red stripe Little Cleos.