Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3906 Feb 28- Mar 13 | Page 14
12
FRESHWATER
Feb 28-Mar 13, 2020
FRESHWATER REPORTS:
CONTINUED FROM PG 11
DONNER LAKE
Trollers Battle Mackinaw Trout
TRUCKEE - Donner Lake, located in
Truckee on the east slope of the Sierra
Nevada between Interstate 80 to the
north and Schallenberger Ridge to the
south, provides anglers a good chance
of catching a trophy mackinaw during the
winter.
Renowned for its alpine beauty, Donner
hosts the same species that the much
larger Lake Tahoe does – mackinaw
trout, rainbow trout, brown trout, kokanee
salmon and planted Lahontan cutthroat
trout.
In search of big mackinaws and browns,
Shaun Rainsbarger of Shaun’s Guide
Service and Janes Netzel of Tight Lines
Guide Service ventured to Donner on
Saturday, February 1 on a relatively warm
day during a break in the weather in his
heated boat.
Although they did not get the monster
fish they had hoped for, they landed two
gorgeous mackinaw trout up to 5 pounds
while trolling with big custom painted AC
plugs at 50 to 60 feet deep.
“We launched at sunrise and fished
until 1:30 p.m.,” said Rainsbarger. “The
water was very cold, 38 to 40 degrees.
It’s difficult to fish the lake when it’s cold
because the mackinaw are lethargic.
At the same time, the winter is the best
time for your chance to hook a larger
mackinaw or brown.”
In 2016, a client of Rainsbarger’s landed
a mackinaw weighing 25 pounds and
measuring 39-1/2 inches long, the biggest
he’s ever weighed and photographed.
Rainsbarger hooked and released a larger
fish measuring 47 inches in 2005, but
never weighed it.
The largest brown he’s ever hooked was
a 11-pound beauty that a client boated
while trolling an F-18 Rapala last year.
“When the water warms up to around
50 degrees, the mackinaw bite usually
goes crazy,” he noted. “Exactly when
happens, they move quickly to coral the
baitfish up against the rocks. Show these
hunting trout a small crankbait erratically
bouncing along the rocks and chances are
you’ll be yelling fish on.
The best baits for this type of work
are shallow to moderately deep running
crankbaits that are in the 1 to 2.5-inch
range. These baits should closely mimic
the appearance and movement of threadfin
shad or crawfish.
Yakima Bait Mag Lips in the 2.0, 2.5 and
3.0 sizes work very well for this work and
they are also a great trolling bait with their
skip beat action, so a selection of them
• Trout
• Bass
• Crappie
• Bluegill
• Catfish
VOL.39 • ISS. 6
this happens all depends on the
snowmelt. Some years it’s in April
and other years not until June.”
- Dan Bacher
FEATHER RIVER
Smallmouth Bass Show On
River
MARYSVILLE – Mark Morrison of Mark
Morrisons Guide Service and his dad,
John, made a scouting trip on the Feather
EAST DELTA
River out of the Riverfront Park ramp to
Anglers Gear Up for
check out river conditions and to see what
Spring Stripers and
they could find.
“The water was low, but we trolled
Largemouths
minnows and fished nightcrawlers in a 1
STOCKTON – Striped bass
mile stretch of water that is 8 to 10 feet
action remains very slow for trollers.
deep,” said Morrison. “We picked up three
Dave Houston of Livermore was
smallmouth bass in the 1-1/2 to 2 lb range
out this week, and he said, “The
on the nightcrawlers. The smallmouths
water is very murky from the high
were about 15 feet off the bank in still
winds this past week, and the water
water. The water was clear and cold at 49
temperature is just under 52 degrees
degrees.”
in the San Joaquin and 50 on the
“We always get smallmouth bass on
Sacramento.
this stretch of river this time of year,” he
“We only found three keepers to
stated. “The smallmouths are just starting
24 inches working from the Antioch
to make nests. Two of the fish were
Bridge to Connection Slough in the
females and loaded with eggs. Last year
San Joaquin. The fish were dark,
we picked up some nice stripers in this
indicating that they were resident
stretch of river.”
fish. Any day now, we should start
Morrison is available for guided striped
getting the spring run fish,” he
bass and smallmouth bass trips on
forecasted.
the Feather, as well as for trout and
Captain Zach Medinas of
salmon trips on Folsom Lake. For more
Gatecrasher Fishing Adventures
information, call (916) 308-3226.
was able to find a few sturgeon for
Water releases below Oroville Dam are
release on his cured salmon roe,
only 1750 cfs.
and Kevin Pohley of Auburn, along
The Feather River Fish Hatchery is
with Ian and Thom McMahon of
Rob Cooper nailed this big 21-inch king salmon
seeing another good steelhead run this
while
trolling
at
Folsom
Lake
during
the
last
week
of
Ferndale, were able to pose with a
season, with 1738 total adult steelhead,
January.
big diamondback before release.
including 912 males and 669 females,
Photo
courtesy
of
ROB
COOPER,
Sacramento.
For largemouth bass, Randy
counted to date. They also returned 80
Pringle, the Fishing Instructor, said,
half pounders to the river.
“It’s been fun on the Delta right now
“The egg total is 1.5 million eggs so far,”
the
weeds.”
as we are fishing light line at 8-pound
reported Anna Kastner, hatchery manager.
“The
weight
of
the
hook
is
light,
and
mono working the outside weed lines
“We have to take at least 1 million eggs
it will allow a slow-moving bait. I run it
with access into deeper water as the
to meet our production goal of 450,000
weedless
by
hooking
one
side
of
the
bass are slowly working up into the
smolts.”
plastic
and
reversing
it
to
hook
the
other
spawning grounds. I have been using
The CDFW is now planting steelhead
side.
There
is
a
good
window
in
the
early
plastics like the Berkley General with
smolts in the river. They also hope to
morning
before
the
bite
slows
down,
but
it
Max Scent with a Texas-style light wire
stock 15,000 steelhead or more into the
will pick up again by mid-morning into the
hook in the middle of the worm. I want
afterbay.
afternoons
from
11:00
to
3:00
p.m.
The
both sides to hang over the weeds, and
- Dan Bacher
south-facing
banks
along
the
north
sides
using this style of rigging the plastic
of
the
levees
on
east/west
waterways
are
will keep them on top of the weeds and
CONTINUED ON PG 17
still the best locations to target,” he stated.
allow it to parallel instead of a drop-shot
-
Dave
Hurley
or Neko-rig that will have the plastic into
HOW TO
By Cal Kellogg
will do double duty for you as both trolling
and casting baits.
Since small crankbaits are light and
trout waters tend to be clear, I like to fish
these bait on a medium light spinning rod
spooled with 8 to 10-pound test fluoro-
carbon line.
Crankbaits can be fished either from a
boat equipped with an electric trolling
motor or from the bank using the same
basic technique. In general, you want
to make a long cast at a shallow angle
parallel to the bank. If you are fishing from
a boat, stay a few yards offshore and make
your cast right up against the bank. If you
are on the bank,
fire your lure down
the bank, so that it
lands 10 to 20 feet
offshore.
After the plug
lands start cranking
it steadily back.
You want it moving
quickly in most
cases. When it
makes contact
with the rocks,
don’t worry about
continued from page 5
snagging. The crankbaits lip will almost
always keep the bait from hanging up.
When you feel it bounce off the rocks,
either twitch the rod tip or speed up the
reel, making the lure dart away from the
rocks. The strike will often come just as
the lure accelerates.
Cranking is a simple way to cover lots
of water and I’ve found that often the trout
I hook using this method average larger
than the trout I get trolling or bait fishing
in the same lake. I stay out of coves when
cranking for trout. Experience has shown
me that points and steep shorelines in a
lake or reservoir’s main body represent the
most productive areas for cranking.
Spooning is the secret method of many
tournament bass anglers. Spooning refers
to vertically jigging a heavy spoon out in
open water or around deep water structure
that either holds gamefish or baitfish.
As the spoon rises and falls it gives the
impression of being a mortally wounded
baitfish and this makes it look like an easy
meal.
Trout like an easy meal just as much
as bass do and many bass anglers fishing
lakes such as Collins, Shasta, Folsom and
Berryessa have accidentally found out that
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hefty rainbows won’t hesitate to grab a
spoon intended for hard charging spotted
bass.
For trout spooning you don’t want a light
weigh trolling spoon such as a Needlefish,
nor do you want one of the heavy 1 or 2
ounce slabs that bass anglers routinely use.
Instead, the ideal choice for average
size rainbows and browns is a relatively
small dense spoon that produces a lot of
fluttering action when it falls through the
water. Good choices include Kastmas-
ters, Krocodiles, Little Cleos, half ounce
Hum Dingers, Speed Spoons and Cripple
Herring spoons. My personal favorites
are quarter to half ounce Hum Dingers or
Speed Spoons.
I don’t think color is a huge issue when
spooning, but just the same, I adhere to a
match the hatch philosophy with metallic
colors being my top choices.
In terms of technique, spooning is pretty
simple. The first task is to find an area
using your sonar unit that is dotted with
fish, bait or preferably both. Note the level
of the sonar returns and drop your spoon
down to a depth just above the sonar
marks. Using an 8 o’clock to 11 o’clock
motion lift the spoon with a flip of the
wrist and then let it fall on a slightly slack
line.
Strikes seldom occur on the up stroke.
Both trout and bass prefer to hit a spoon
as it falls. If the line stops or you feel a
tap, it’s time to set the hook. Generally,
you won’t feel a thing, but when you start
the next upstroke the fish will simply “be
there”.
There are other bass techniques that can
be applied to the sport of trout fishing such
as drop shotting and ripping, but alas we
are out of space for now.