Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3901 Dec 20-Jan 3 | Page 6

4 FRESHWATER Dec 20, 2019 - Jan 3, 2020 VOL.39 • ISS. 1 FRESHWATER REPORTS ALMANOR Fishing Pressure Light As Storms Dump Snow & Rain At Almanor CHESTER - “We’ve had a series of storms pushing through the Almanor area,” observed Bryan Roccucci of Big Daddy’s Guide Service. “The bite was good and improving before the storms. Once things settle down and the weather stabilizes a bit I think we can expect good fishing.” “Quality browns and rainbows will likely be holding in the top 10 feet of the water column. Spoons and plugs trolled quickly should work well. If you can’t get them to go on fast offerings, break out the flies and threaded worms,” Roccucci advised. Prior to the storms, trollers were hooking mainly rainbows that ranged up to 4 pounds. The browns have been absent because this is the time of the year they run up tributaries to spawn. They should be back in circulation soon. There have been very few anglers fishing off the bank at Almanor. Anglers that do venture out to Rocky Point or near the dam to fish off the bank are being rewarded with rainbows. Some are fairly recent planters and some are holdovers. Top offerings included inflated worms, orange salmon eggs and PowerBait. LAKE AMADOR Tagged Trout Released into Lake IONE – To kick off the Lake Amador Trout Derby that began on November 29, the resort released 100 tagged trout in a plant of 1000 pounds. “The first release weighed in at 625 lbs. and had the tagged trout in it for the start of our annual Trout Derby,” said Elizabeth Lockhart of the Lake Amador Resort. “The second release was just under 400 lbs.” “The lake level has stabilized and should be rising with all the rain we have received, but the clarity is still good,” stated Lockhart. Omin Gutierrez and friends got a rental boat and caught cutbows in DELTA STRIPERS! 10 Rock Creek with Now Booking Fall and Winter Trips! nightcrawlers. Their Specializing in Light Tackle Live Bait Drifting, two biggest fish Spooning and More! (Flyfishing available) weighed 9.14 and 6.3 lbs. Learn these techniques from Jeff Soo Hoo Yang Moue - Professional Guide caught a lunker trout weighing 8.78 lbs. while fishing with a Kastmaster Boat Departs from Lauritzen Yacht Harbor in Oakley from shore. (925)899-4045 Jennifer Baham www.soohoosportfishing.com from Jackson caught two hefty trout in Jackson Creek while using nightcrawlers. During the previous week, 500 lbs. of trophy-sized cutbows were let go by the Dry camp point and out past the spillway a bit. SUPERSTITIOUSLURES@GMAIL.COM These were all looking to be over 5 SUPERSTITIOUSLURES.COM lbs. many upwards ARE YOU FEELING LUCKY? These boys visited the Sacramento River with Captain James Netzel this fall and loaded up on massive king salmon. Photo courtesy of TIGHT LINES GUIDE SERVICE, Sacramento. of 7-9 lbs. “Some love the bigger fish and some want us to stock smaller fish but nothing’s perfect when farming,” said Lockhart. “These fish here were saved from last year when they were a 2-3 lb. average and now are much bigger. We had to do this in order to have enough fish for this season due to losses from environmental conditions and human error at our farm. After we empty the tank they are in we will be starting on the next tank which has mostly 2-3 lb. fish, and will have enough for the next few months of stocking. “ “We will also be purchasing some trout from Mt. Lassen after the beginning of the year to supplement our stocking program due to those losses we incurred. Don’t worry, though; we will also still be stocking from our farm as well this early spring which will include close to 10,000 GOLDEN RAINBOWS (aka Amador Golds) stocked between February and May,” she concluded. 3809 LAKE AMADOR Trout Planted Seasonally! • Cafe • RV Park • Waterslide • Campground • Disc Golf • General Store Cafe Open Seasonally On Friday, Saturday & Sundays 209-274 -4739 7500 Lake Amador Dr., Ione, CA 95640 WWW.LAKEAMADOR.COM Lake Almanor Now Booking Fall Trout at Eagle Lake La ke Almanor Lake Davis a n d Eagle Lake Bucks Lake Captain Bryan Roccucci Lake Tahoe www.BigDaddyFishing.com Call for Best Dates – (530) 370-1001 Bait & Tackle 3816 Visit The Mother Lode Region’s Official Fishing Tackle Headquarters Today For All Of your Inland Fishing Needs! WIDE SELECTION • GREAT PRICES • YOU SAVE! HOOKD4LIFE.COM RODS • REELS • LINE • FROGS • SWIMBAITS • JIGS BAIT • HOOKS • SPINNERS • TERMINAL TACKLE • HARDBAITS • SOFT PLASTICS • SPECIALS • CLOSEOUTS & MUCH MORE! Visit us on your way to: Camanche, Pardee, Amador, Rancho Seco, New Melones And More ! (209) 790-5100 106 East Main Street, Ione, CA 95640 Salmon • Striper • Trout • Kokanee King Salmon Surge Into Hatchery RANCHO CORDOVA – This has been a slow year for salmon fishing on the American River. Very few anglers are still fishing in the section of river open to fishing from the SMUD powerline at the southwest boundary of Ancil Hoffman Park to the mouth. In contrast, the staff at Nimbus Fish Hatchery is seeing good numbers of salmon this year. “This year it took less time when the latter was opened to get enough salmon to spawn than in previous years,” said Gary Novak, Nimbus Fish Hatchery manager. “The last time we spawned, it only took 20 minutes to get 500 fish that we needed for spawning purposes. In previous years, it might take hours for us to get our fish.” The hatchery this year has taken around 1400 pairs of kings for spawning. They plan to do one more spawn before ending their salmon spawning. “We’ve taken 7.6 million eggs and plan to take nearly 9 million to meet our production goals,” said Novak. “We’ve seen about 15 steelhead to date, including 7 adults up to 38 inches.” 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. - Dan Bacher BERRYESSA LAKE • Stripers • Oroville Kings • Stampede Kokanee Go Deep for Black Bass WINTERS – If you want to catch large numbers of black bass at Lake Berryessa at this time, you need to fish deep. “The fish are hitting best on 1-3/4 oz. Blade Runner spoons at 60 to 80 feet deep,” said Alan Fong, the manager of Fisherman’s Warehouse. “The bass went down with the bait, the shad and pond smelt. The fish are mixture of smallmouth, (530) 272-7137 • (530) 263-4451 www.fishbarebones.com AMERICAN RIVER 3807 Continued on Pg 7