Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3902 Jan 3-17 | Page 9

Jan 3-17, 2020 FRESHWATER VOL.39 • ISS. 2 FRESHWATER REPORTS: hook an occasional wild brown while trolling with Rapalas and other stickbaits in the river arm. Bullards Bar is holding 635,153-acre feet of water, 66 percent of capacity and 118 percent of average. Englebright Reservoir is holding 67,621- acre feet of water, 97 percent of capacity and 109 percent of average. - Dan Bacher CONTINUED FROM PG 4 BERRYESSA LAKE cont. throughout the lake. Bass fishing has been tough this fall, according to Larry Hemphill, fishing guide. “The bait has been really scattered this year,” he said. “On my latest trip, I caught and released a 3-1/2 lb. largemouth, 3-1/4 lb. largemouth and 2 lb. spotted bass in Pleasure Cove, all within 15 minutes. I was drop shotting with the MM3 6 inch Robo Worm in the top 5 feet of water.” “However, those are the only three fish the three of us caught. This has been the slowest fall for black bass that I’ve seen at Berryessa. On every trip I made this fall, the water has been flat and clear. That makes the fishing tough,” said Hemphill. - Dan Bacher BULLARDS BAR/ ENGLEBRIGHT RESERVOIRS Trollers Battle Feisty Kokanee DOBBINS – Fishing pressure has been very light lately at Bullards Bar Lake, but experienced anglers have reported success on kokanee while fishing there. “The kokanee fishing is really easy now,” reported Sean of Shaun’s Guide Service. “I was asked to take a group out from Wildlife Rehabilitation and Release (Northern California) on December 14. The plan was to look at possible release sites for the juvenile bald eagle that was CAMANCHE LAKE Big Trout Plants Boost Fishing These anglers took a trip to Lake Amador in the middle of December and rounded up these big trout. Photo courtesy of MATTHEW PRUITT, Lake Amador rescued last year. Anyway, we had a couple of hours to get some kokanee in the boat, 19, and ran out of time.” On the next day, the crew went back out to release the eagle. “We had an hour to fish and caught 15 kokanee in the 10 to 11-inch range,” he added. “On both trips we were using Paulina Peak dodgers and hoochies in dark colors on the main body HOW TO at 50 to 70 feet deep.” The bass fishing is slow, with mostly smaller spotted bass showing. Anglers are using soft plastics to entice the spots. Fishing pressure remains very light at Englebright Reservoir. Rainbow trout are available for anglers trolling with nightcrawlers, spoons and spinners behind dodgers or flashers. You can also By Cal Kellogg the fish moving up and down in the water column throughout the day, shallower to feed, deeper to rest. Trout follow a similar pattern. Given a choice trout like to feed on shallow flats, but they like to suspend and rest over deep water. This gives them an immediate escape route when a big bass or other predator comes along and threatens them. This being the case your challenge is to find a deep-water area that is both near the bank and adjacent to a shallow water flat. Find such an area and you’ve found a honey hole that will produce fish year after year! I’ve scouted out spots like this at Rollins, Collins, Folsom, Sugar Pine and list of other lakes and you should do the same. The second big hotspot is a location where water is flowing into the lake in the form of a seasonal feeder creek. Water flowing into the lake often brings food and nutrients with it. The water is often warmer then the water in the lake and it will often create an area of clear water in the vicinity of where it flows in. And it doesn’t have to be a raging river either. I’ve found trout heavily concentrated around inflows that were a foot wide and a couple inches deep at best. Fishing inflow areas is standard operating procedure at Lake Shasta and I first learned the approach from Gary Miralles of the Mack’s Lure team, but it works at a lot of other lakes too. As a special note, catfish and bass can often be found in the same spots. Finally, in terms of location, points round out my top three honey holes. Points are always good, cast your gear on the upwind side and let your offerings drift across the point. Start out with short casts covering the near shore water and then cast further. If the wind is in your face, cast out as far as possible and then manage your slack as the bobber comes back your way. Scents Pro-Cure is something I almost always use when chasing trout, but I thinking using scent is of paramount importance when the water is cold, stained or both. Trout are first and foremost sight feeders, but when visibility is limited scent becomes all the more important. Day in day out I generally rely on baitfish scents for trout, but when dealing with cold or stained water I like the sweet stuff. Anise/krill is my all-time favorite. It’s like candy to trout. I was fishing at Lake Almanor one time during the dead of winter. The water was crystal clear. The temperature was in the 30’s. The trout would absolutely not take or even mouth my PowerBait or worms unless I slathered them with anise/krill Pro-Cure Super Gel. Pheasant, Chukar and Sporting Clays At Its Finest • 3 PHEASANTS FOR ...$96 • 8 CHUKARS FOR.......$160 3 Pheasants & • 12 PHEASANTS FOR $388 100 Sporting Clays • 3 PHEASANTS + 4 CHUKARS $130 FOR $170 • Trout • Bass • Crappie • Bluegill • Catfish 17 Station Sporting Clay Course! 100 Rounds Sporting Clays Only $36 1000 Rounds Sporting Clays Only $320 Largest Trout Stocking Program North of Sacramento Lakefront RV Camping BURSON – Trout plants continue at the Lake Camanche, and this week’s plants of 1800 pounds of Mt. Lassen rainbows was split between the South Shore Marina, and the South Shore Pond to bring the total to 15,300 pounds since October. The pond has been kicking out some quality rainbows up to 9 pounds on trout dough bait, nightcrawlers, or Roostertails, and many are still seeking some of the Lightning trout released last week. In the main lake, Robbie Dunham of Koke Machine Guide Service continues to put his clients onto limits of rainbow trout with a variety of techniques in both open water and in the Narrows. He said, “We put in two limits to over 7 pounds on both trips at the end of the week, and we have been finding at least one big fish to just over 7 pounds on every trip. With the water temperature cooling to 56 degrees, I have been starting out with grubs in the early mornings, but the trout Continued on Pg 14 continued from page 6 Company or Corporate shoots available at reasonable prices! Call for Reservations 800-286-0576 www.collinslake.com P.O. Box 300 . Oregon House . California 95962 Pheasant Season Is Now Open, So Book Early For Best Dates And Rates! 3902 8-pound test. Thread your line through string bobber stop. Then thread on a 1/8-inch plastic bead followed by your bobber. Next, below the bobber knot on a small black swivel. Above the swivel place one or two large split shot on the line. To the swivel attached a 30-inch 6 lb. test fluorocarbon leader. Tie No. 8 or 10 wide gap short shank hook to the business end of the leader. Before you bait the hook, adjust the bobber stop for a desired depth. You can reel the string bobber stop right through the rod’s guides and into the reel and you’ll still be able to cast. When the bobber hits the water, your line will slide down through it until the bobber stop wedges itself against the bead atop the bobber. As a result, your offering will be suspended below the bobber. Most of the time I bait up with salmon eggs, worms or small minnows. Floating dough baits don’t work very well with this rig because they tend to float up and tangle the leader. Crappie style jigs also work well for trout when fished on a slip bobber rig. For fishing jigs rig up the same way as described for bait fishing simply substi- tute a small 1/32 or 1/16-ounce tube or marabou jig for the bait hook. When using jigs, I like to wiggle my rod tip. This causes the jig to move up and down errati- cally, imitating a wounded baitfish. A strike is signaled by the bobber twitching under or moving sharply on the surface. When this happens, it’s necessary to set the hook quickly and with authority before the trout can spit it out. Okay, you’re rigged up, you’ve got some salmon eggs, worms and a few jigs. You know you’ll be working the top 10 feet of the water column. What are the best areas to fish? The reality is that you can find trout just about anywhere in the lake during the winter, but there are a handful of areas that I rely on that consistently hold fish and this is doubly true if the water is cold. Talk to a bass pro about the daily movements of bass and he’ll tell you about 7 45 Miles North of Sacramento (530) 724-0552 www.lincraahauges.com • traahauge@yahoo.com