Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3902 Jan 3-17 | Page 22

20 FRESHWATER Jan 3-17, 2020 VOL.39 • ISS. 2 FRESHWATER REPORTS: CONTINUED FROM PG 19 EASTERN SIERRA Big Snow Doesn’t Stop Trouters BISHOP - “Winter has arrived with a wallop! A good-sized winter storm rolled in bringing rain to most of California and a solid start to the winter snowpack. Reports from around the area range from 54″ at Mammoth Mountain to a foot around the Crowley Lake area,” disclosed Tom Loe of Sierra Drifters Guide Service. “With more snow in the forecast, we will be accessing the Upper Owens River by snowmobile very early this year which is great news. The big rainbows are in and will continue to move up river,” said Loe. “Hot Creek still fishing well in both sections, although you may have to start getting creative to get into the canyon section from here on out. The Interpretive Site is still accessible by vehicle,” Loe advised. “On the Lower Owens, flows have finally come down to the perfect level for fall and the coming winter. Water clarity is improving daily and the fishing has been great from our drift boats. All areas of the river are looking good and some bigger browns and rainbows have been showing up daily. We have been sending streamer patterns downstream and retrieving them back to the boat on sink tip lines. As the water gets lower, more fish are concentrating in the larger and deeper pools. Work the undercuts and eddy pools along the edges as well, as these are great holding spots for trout this time of year,” Loe concluded. FOLSOM LAKE Fast-Trolled Lures Produce Wild Rainbows AUBURN – If you want to catch rainbows or king salmon at Folsom Lake, your top prospect is to troll in the North Fork of the reservoir. Rob Cooper has been catching quality rainbows on recent trolling adventures. His latest trip produced five wild and holdover rainbows in the 12 to 19 inch range. He has been trolling with chrome and blue Speedy Shiners in the North Fork at 15 to 30 feet dee in the North Fork. This angler was all smiles after battling this big Collins Lake rainbow during a November outing. Photo courtesy of THE COLLINS LAKE RECREATION AREA, Oregon House. “The water is extremely clear still at Folsom,” advised Cal Kellogg, Fish Sniffer Editor. “A little murk in the water should improve the fishing. If you’re not getting the fish on Speedy Shiners, you should switch over to trolling with nightcrawlers behind flashers.” Bank fishermen interested in catching salmon or trout should toss out PowerBait, minnows and nightcrawlers for trout and salmon at Browns Ravine, Folsom Point, Granite Bay, Five Percent and other areas on the lake. A mixture of spotted, largemouth and smallmouth bass are available at Folsom Lake. You should employ drop shot rigs with Robo Worms, jigs and tubes off main lake points and fish very slowly in the cold winter weather. Channel catfish in the 5 to 10 lb. range can be caught from shore and boat during the winter months at Folsom by anglers soaking mackerel, chicken liver, anchovies, sardines and other “smelly” baits. Folsom Lake is holding 509,274 acre feet of water, 52 percent of capacity and 108 percent of average. The water level is 417.69 feet in elevation. - Dan Bacher 20% OFF ALL-DAY BOAT RENTALS AT SAN PABLO RESERVOIR SHADOW CLIFFS LAKE LAKE DEL VALLE LAKE RANCHO SECO (510) 223-1661 (925) 449-5201 (925) 426-0197 (209) 748-2318 LAKE PARDEE (209) 772-1472 Offer valid on all boat rentals Monday - Friday For more information about Boating, Camping & Recreation Visit WWW.ROCKYMOUNTAINREC.COM All other boat rental terms and conditions still apply.Offer subject to boat rental availability. Offer expires on 12/31/2020 and is not valid with any other coupon/discount with any other coupon/discount. UNCLE LARRY’S LURES Great Spinners that will carry Nightcrawlers or Grubs for hungry winter Trout! Use the best, catch the best and the biggest! www.unclelarryslures.com (209)609-7034 3825 MADE IN THE USA KLAMATH RIVER An Amazing Steelhead Catch! - By Mario Gomez, Ironhead Guide Service HAPPY CAMP - With the cleansing of winter on its way, I would like to take a moment to say thanks to all my customers, family, and friends for supporting my passion and business. I would also like to share a fishing story with all of you. An amazing summer steelhead season on the Klamath River has come and gone. This year we reached a new milestone and was blessed with this 13-pound big beautiful hen. To date this is the largest summer steelhead I have laid my hands on and the largest summer steelhead that I have seen documented on the Klamath river. This fish measured in at 33 inches long by 17.5 inches around. I was salmon fishing in September and as we passed a little riffle that looked good I told my customers to make a cast to the right. We got our baits in the seam and after about 5 seconds the rod goes down, harder, and faster than anything I had seen all month. The guy grabs his spool and yells I’m stuck on the bottom, I got a rock, and as the rods starts bouncing I yell let go of that spool it’s a fish. About that time, I see this monster fish come flying out of the water and run all the way across the river and jump into a wall of willow bushes. I thought to myself @#$% that fish is going to get tangled up and we are going to lose it. Just as I almost started crying, the fish bounced off the willows and fell back into the water lol. The battle continued for another 7 to 10 minutes and we finally got that big old girl in the net. I couldn’t believe what just happened, I told the guy that hooked the fish, you just got a steelhead of a lifetime on the Klamath river. After a few grips and grins I put the fish back into the current and let her catch her breath, she was really tired and I spent a bit of time making sure she was going to swim off. As I watched her swim away I thought to myself wow what a story this is going to be. Up till this point my largest summer steelhead was 11 pounds and measured 31 inches and to put things into perspective for everyone 90 percent of the summer steelhead we catch on the Klamath river are half pounders and fish 2 to 4 pounds. This was a real treat and I have been fishing the Klamath river my whole life. It seems like every 10 years or so I run into a fish like this so till next time keep your tip up my friends. 16 with few anglers fishing on the Sacramento River between Colusa and Verona in the last two weeks of the season. After one great trip that produced a pair of 40 and 32 pound late fall Chinooks, the last trip of the season by Rob Reimers Rustic Rob’s Guide Service yielded slow fishing at Knights Landing. “The fishing was either pretty good or you got nothing at all this year,” summed up Reimers. Reimers will now be booking kokanee trips on Bullards Bar Reservoir and getting ready for sturgeon trips on the Sacramento when they begin showing in the system. “There aren’t a lot of people getting out on the river at this time,” reported Tim Boggs of Elkhorn Outdoors in Rio Linda. “I haven’t heard of any sturgeon being caught at Knights Landing so far.” However, sturgeon fishing remains produced in Suisun Bay from the Mothball Fleet to Pittsburg. “On my latest trip to the bay, Greg Clay of Antelope caught a 65 lb. sturgeon measuring 57.5 inches while fishing ghost shrimp in my boat,” said Boggs. - Dan Bacher LOS VAQUEROS RESERVOIR Stripers and Rainbows Dominate Holiday Season Action LIVERMORE – While most anglers are concentrating on the great trout fishing at Los Vaqueros Reservoir, there are some big stripers to be caught in Los Vaqueros Reservoir. John Marfia caught a 20.6 lb. striped bass in Penn Cove while using a Rebel swimbait, reported Katrina Splaine of the Los Vaqueros Marina. Most of the stripers being caught are shakers or legal-sized fish up to 7 pounds. Bait anglers are tossing out anchovies and threadfin shad, while lure fishermen are throwing swimbaits and minnow plugs. The two top areas are Howden and Cowboy Coves. Trout fishing is superb, due to the cold water temperatures and the abundance of trout from recent trout plants. “People fishing from the rental boaters have been limiting out while using lures or PowerBait,” said Splaine. Bank anglers are experiencing the top fishing while tossing out PowerBait, nightcrawlers and lures in South Cove, near the marina and off the Rockwall. Russel Herrera and Dave Bassaro of San Jose teamed up to catch limits of rainbows while using Kastmasters from a rental boat. Kevin, Ron and Brad each caught their limits of rainbows in Peninsula Cove while soaking PowerBait. Big trout honors go to Yekam El Nakar, who caught two 8 lb. rainbows on mini jigs in South Cove The North Side Fishing Access is closed. Portions of the Los Vaqueros CONTINUED ON PG 21 Fish Lake Tahoe! KNIGHTS LANDING/ VERONA AREA Salmon Season Closes; Anglers Gear Up for Sturgeon KNIGHTS LANDING – The salmon season ended on December 3204 5 hours DaiLy Trips 90 $ All Gear Provided (800) 877–1462 • Discounts for Cash • • Large or Small Groups • Group Discounts • Gift Certificates Over 50 Years Experience on The Lake P.O. Box 488 Carnelian Bay, CA 96140 (530)546–4444 E-mail: bigmack-2@att.net • www.mickeysbigmack.com