Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3907 Mar 13-27 | Page 19

March 13-27, 2020 VOL.39 • ISS. 7 17 Catch & Release Fishing! Hook More & Bigger Fish With Flies... Sponsored by Kiene’s Fly Shop 916-483-1222 • www.Kienesflyshop.com 9550 Micron Ave. Suite B • Sacramento, CA The Mighty McCloud! Courtesy of Kiene’s Fly Shop HOW TO out the worm on 10 to 12-pound fluoro- carbon, allow it to sink and slowly drag it across the bottom using both the reel and rod tip to move the bait. When you feel rubbery pressure, taps or if slack develops reel down and set the hook! Trout Trolling During the spring when trolling for trout, I find that it pays dividends to move quickly at 2 to 3 mph with minnow imitating lures. I don’t utilize dodgers or flashers for this work. I just troll the baits naked. My three pet lures for this kind of presen- tation are spoons like Hum Dingers and Speedy Shiners or 2 ¾ inch Rapalas. When it comes to the spoons chrome based minnow patterns work great when By Cal Kellogg the sun is high. When the light level is low, all copper, black nickel and frog gold baits get the nod. I keep things simple when it comes to Rapalas. Silver/black is my favorite color, but I like rainbow trout and perch finish baits too. While I don’t use them a lot, the florescent orange/gold Rapala has a reputa- tion for being a trophy trout killer. When speed trolling during the spring I like one lure right up on the surface toplined 200 feet behind the boat on straight 8 or 10-pound mono. I run my second bait on a modern leadcore outfit and work depths from 8 to 12 feet deep. Delta Stripers Since spring is known as the time to troll for Delta stripers you probably think I’m going to talk about pulling lures, but I’m actually going to toss you a curve and talk about bait fishing. During the fall and winter my go to striper baits are shad and bullheads. While these baits will work in the spring, my all-time favorite spring bait is bloodworms. Bloodworms? Yep that’s right and I’m not really sure why the bass 100 Rounds are so fond of them, Sporting Clays but they are. I’ve Only $36 caught more limits 1000 Rounds of spring bass then Sporting Clays Only $320 I can count while Company or Corporate shoots soaking bloodworms available at reasonable prices! on a sliding sinker Pheasant Season Is Now Open, rig both above and So Book Early For Best Dates And Rates! below the Isleton Bridge. 45 Miles North To rig up all you of Sacramento www.lincraahauges.com • traahauge@yahoo.com need to do is set up 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 17 Station Sporting Clay Course! (530) 724-0552 The first major hatches in the spring (river opens the last Saturday in April) are March Browns and Golden Stoneflies Flies that hatch from May through June. There are some giant Salmon Flies too. As temperatures warm up in May the Pale Morning Dun’s and Caddis begin to hatch. Caddis can be quite active at dusk. It should also be mentioned that early in the spring, the Blue Wing Olives are still hatching and can be quite prolific on cloudy days. They can continue hatching into July. continued from page 5 a standard Delta sliding sinker rig, tip the comes along and takes the bait you’ll know leader with a single 8/0 hook and thread it! a worm on it. Since sturgeon have been Over the years at lakes like Folsom known to inhale bloodworms too, you and Berryessa I’ve picked up some very might want to utilize a barbless hook, with nice smallmouths and largemouths while a Bait Button to keep the bait in place. waiting out catfish strikes. The best catfish Reservoir Catfish action takes place early and late in the day The channel cats that inhabit most of our as a general rule. During the middle of the reservoir are very aggressive during the day it often pays to fish a bit deeper where spring. They are late spawners, typically sunlight is more diffused. dropping their eggs in May and June. During the early part of the spring their focus is on eating and putting back on weight that was lost during the winter. A lot of different baits can be used for these fish, but my all-time favorite is a live shiner in the 3 to www.unclelarryslures.com 4-inch range. Channel cats are very aggres- sive and they have a tough time laying off a 3825 MADE IN THE USA helpless minnow. I fish these baits on a spinning or bait- casting rig spooled with 10-pound test, but attach a 24 inch 15 lb. fluorocarbon leader to the business end via a swivel. I We Offer 15 FULLY tip the leader with CONTAINED CABINS an appropriate size With Private Docks octopus hook. Since I fish very close to and Free Wi-Fi the shore I attach a On The Sacramento Arm single split shot just Of Lake Shasta above the swivel. The minnow is pinned through the lips. After casting put your rod in a holder Your Hosts Harold and Arlene Jones and pull out a bit of (800) 953-4432 19667 Lakeshore Dr. • Lakehead, CA 96051 slack. When Mr. Cat (530) 238–2448 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! (209)609-7034 FISH LAKE SHASTA Come up for some Great Spring Fishing! www.shastacabins.com SUGARLOAF COTTAGES RESORT The McCloud River is arguably the holy water of California Fly Fishing. If anything, it is the mother of Rainbow Trout fishing around the world, as it was the eggs from its fish that were transported to many places in the world that had been previously barren of trout. Today the ancestors of McCloud Rainbow Trout can be found from Europe to Australia, New Zealand to Argentina and Chili and of course, throughout the United States. The McCloud’s watershed is located in the Southern Cascades about 50 miles south of the California/Oregon border. The McCloud flows west and roughly parallel, to Hwy 89. Before the highway reaches the town of McCloud the river turns south and flows about 30 mi to where it meets the Sacramento and Pit Rivers at Lake Shasta. For fly fishermen, the river can be split into two sections. The upper section above McCloud Lake, can be accessed from several roads that peel off from Hwy 89 that roughly parallel’s the river for several miles. There are several sections of great pocket water and a good population of wild Rainbows that are supplemented by hatchery fish during the summer. The McCloud has strong hatches of Caddis, Mayfly, Stonefly and Midges. Probably the most looked forward to, is the October Caddis hatch each fall.