Pyramid Lake Trout Action Is Underway! | The Fish Sniffer
Pyramid Lake Trout Action Is Underway!
By Fish Sniffer Staff10/15/2019
simple lure into the mix. Using a reliable sonar will help you locate the schools and increase your chances of success.
As the season progresses, the fishing techniques may need to adjust. While early season anglers often benefit from boat fishing, shore fishing can also yield impressive results as the fish begin to spread out. Be prepared for changing weather conditions and varying water temperatures, which can influence fish behavior.
Pyramid Lake is not just a destination; it's an experience. The stunning scenery and unique environment contribute to its allure. Whether you are an expert angler or a beginner, the thrill of hooking a massive cutthroat trout in this picturesque setting is incomparable.
Planning your trip ahead of time, understanding the local regulations, and having the right gear will enhance your fishing experience. So pack your tackle box, hit the road, and make memories at Pyramid Lake. Trust me, it’s a trip you won’t regret.
Livermore - At an unusually packed Board of Directors hearing the night of Wednesday, March 16, Alameda County Water District Zone 7, a State Water Project contractor, rejected a request to vote in support of Governor Jerry Brown's Delta Tunnels project, according to a Restore the Delta news release.
Board members noted the lack of key information including environmental impacts, costs, and the willingness of agricultural contractors to pay their share, Restore the Delta said.
Joan Buchanan, President of Restore the Delta said, “I appreciate the board’s willingness to listen and delay its decision until all the impacts and costs are known. It was the prudent and responsible action for the residents and ratepayers they represent.”
Speaker after speaker in the packed Board room expressed concerns about the irreparable environmental damage additional freshwater diversions from the Delta would cause and the need to rush to support the Delta Tunnels prior to the release of the Environmental Impact Report and the cost impact on local water users. Many also questioned why Zone 7 should state its support when no other federal or state water contractor has gone on record, Restore the Delta said.
Local taxpayer groups were also there in support of the letter from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association delivered that day. The Association's letter outlined in precise detail the legal reasons that the Board could not pledge property taxes to help pay for the tunnels without a vote of the electorate.
Jonas Minton from the Planning and Conservation League reminded the Board members of their fiduciary duty to their ratepayers and bondholders to conduct full due diligence before acting.
After three hours of hearing, the Board voted overwhelmingly to await the final Environmental Impact Report, Record of Decision, and complete financial analysis before considering its position. Those documents are...
By Fish Sniffer Staff10/24/2015
MSJ Guide Service has been consistently finding schoolie sized fish on the Feather River.
Another great day on the Feather River. Both clients Reno and Rueben had their limits of striped bass by 9:30 am. We decided to hang out longer so the Captain could get his two fish too. If you would like to get in on this early striped bass action, get a hold of me by phone or message me through Facebook. Things are just getting started.
Over 250 anglers participated in the NorCal Trout Angler Challenge Tour event at Lake Amador, hosted by Angler’s Press and the Fish Sniffer magazine, on Saturday, March 18.
The lake was in prime shape for trout fishing, with the lake full and going over the spillway and the Mother Lode foothills surrounding the lake displaying verdant green colors resulting from the winter rains. Anglers caught big rainbows from both boat and shore while enjoying the warm and sunny weather.
Lon Garland won first place in the adult division by bagging a 5.95 lb. rainbow. He was fishing in his boat with Ryan Baird and Matt Tomchick, all from Loomis.
"We only landed 3 fish while trolling Rapalas at 25 feet deep," said Garland. "It was the first time that I’ve ever fished Lake Amador. In addition to the three fish we boated, we also lost another trout.
"We thought we were going to get skunked until we hooked our first fish, the big one, after several hours of fishing," he noted.
Adam Papini, a shore angler, won second place with a 5.84 lb. fish that he hooked around 1:30 pm. "I hooked the fish while fishing off the spillway a few minutes ago," he excitedly told me as he brought the still-wriggling trout to the certified scale for Vince Harris of Angler’s Press to weigh.
The third through tenth place winners were (3) Mike Hart, 5.42; (4) Tom Wolfenburger, 4.82; (5) Mark Sepelyak, 4.58; (6) James Townley 4.57; (7) Jesse Trejo Sr., 4.43; (8) David Tabuchi, 4.23; (9) Brandon Wu, 4.19; and (10) Paul Costa, 4.06.
The participants weighed 94 fish in the adult division, with the smallest fish weighing .81 pounds. To qualify for the top 50 adult winners, you had to catch a 1.72 lb. rainbow.
Just a year after the massive Refugio Oil Spill fouled the pristine waters off the Santa Barbara Coast, a leak in an oil pipeline in Hall Canyon in Ventura County was reported at 5:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 23. As many as 700 barrels of crude oil — 29,400 gallons — have been spilled.
The company responsible for the Ventura oil spill, Crimson Pipeline, has a decade-long history of oil spills in California. Spills like this one are becoming increasingly common in a state where Big Oil has captured the regulatory apparatus — and the oil industry is the most powerful corporate lobby.
Fortunately, Ventura County Firefighters halted the oil from flowing towards the ocean, according to Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Mike Lindbery.
“The forward oil flow progress has been stopped,” said Lindbery. “There is no environmental threat to ocean and no evacuations in the area.”
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife Office of Spill Prevention and Response confirmed that no oiled wildlife have been observed or reported — and no oil has reached the ocean or other water from the pipeline spill.
The agency said the oil from the spill has been isolated in Hall Canyon. “There is no oil in the storm drain. Vacuum trucks are collecting the oil,” the CDFW stated.
A multi-agency response has been established to manage cleanup operations in the area impacted by the spill, according to the CDFW in a follow-up statement on June 24. Cleanup crews, including 98 responders and five vacuum trucks, remain on-scene containing and recovering the oil. Air monitoring is being continually conducted to assure safety of responders and residents in the area.
The cause of the spill is currently under investigation. “The unified command response will be independent of that investigation and includes representatives from the...
The Coalition for a Sustainable Delta, bankrolled by agribusiness tycoon Stewart Resnick, submitted a new petition to the California Fish and Game Commission to raise the bag limit and reduce the size limit on striped bass in an attempt to reduce their population. They have also included black bass as a so-called “predator” in their petition.
The Coalition is supported by various agribusiness, water agency, and corporate interests, including the California Chamber of Commerce, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, San Joaquin Tributaries Authority, Southern California Water Committee, State Water Contractors, Western Growers Association, California Farm Bureau Federation, Northern California Water Association, and Kern County Water Agency.
When these water contractors last tried to reduce striped bass through lower size limits and higher bag limits, anglers successfully defeated their proposal with strong attendance at a Fish and Game Commission meeting in February 2012. This effort was supported by Fish Sniffer Editor Cal Kellogg and others who organized over 450 anglers for a meeting in Rio Vista in November 2011.
A spokesperson for the Coalition, Michael Boccadoro, stated that the purpose of the petition is to help preserve Sacramento River Chinook salmon and Delta smelt.
"California families, businesses and farms have sacrificed during this drought to provide water to help preserve salmon and smelt," Boccadoro said. "Modifying size and bag limits for striped bass is an important step to better protect and begin restoring these endangered species. More needs to be done to halt the continuing declines."
The proposed changes would increase the bag limits and decrease the size limits for black bass and striped bass in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and rivers tributary to the Delta.
The black bass size limit would decrease from 12 inches to 8 inches, and the daily bag limit would increase from 5 fish...
Trout fishing continues to be the top story at New Melones with the opportunity for a large rainbow in the 3- to 5-pound range. There are signs that the deep trolling action is starting to slow down, and the bait and rainbows appear to be moving higher in the water column after the past two weekends of rain and runoff. The cold 55-degree water remains at 100 feet in depth, but trollers have to be very cautious when working in deep water in the main river channel upriver from the Glory Hole Marina and the Highway 49 Bridge due to submerged trees grabbing gear.
John Liechty of Glory Hole Sports in Angels Camp said that the recent rainfall, shorter days, and cooler weather have brought the lake temperature down to the low 60s, and generally the lake will start to turnover once the surface temperature reaches 56 degrees. He expects this to happen during the middle of November depending on weather conditions. Trolling anglers have been catching some large 3 to 5-pound rainbow trout while trolling over deep water, and as the surface temperature cools, these fish will move up in the water column.
Michael Nelson and Rod Smith caught a very hefty five fish limit. Their largest weighed 3 pounds, 6 ounces, and all five fish combined weight exceeded 15 pounds. Mario Lopez landed a 4-pound, 5-ounce rainbow trout while trolling a shad patterned Apex in 105 feet of water.
Gary Burns of Take It to The Limit Guide Service said that the rainbows are still deep from 98 to 110 feet, but very soon they should start working their way up to the surface as the weather cools. His best action has been in the main lake from the dam to the spillway at 2.4 mph with Cop-Car...
Trout are offering the top action at Los Vaqueros. Mt Lassen has made two plants of 1200 pounds of rainbow trout so far in 2017, boosting the trout fishing success.
“In addition to trout, we are still seeing stripers and catfish being caught,” said Brian Demmunik of the Los Vaqueros Marina.
Los Vaqueros Road, which runs from the South Entrance gate near Livermore to the Marina, was closed for three days, but is now open.
The reservoir is currently storing 128,500 acre-feet of water, 80 percent of capacity. Pumping resumed on Friday and will continue through the month. The water temperature remains 58 to 59 degrees. Water clarity is now fair.
“Fishing for trout continues to be good,” said Demmunik. “They are being caught in South Cove and Oak Point as well as Peninsula Cove. The baits of choice for shore anglers are garlic-scented Powerbaits, nightcrawlers and Kastmaster lures.”
“With boats, we are hearing reports of fish being caught in Cowboy and Peninsula Coves. A 5.52 pound trout was caught in Howden Cove on a Rapala. Fish are still coming out of South Cove and from past the Rock Wall,” he noted.
“Shakers are the main action with striped bass. We are still seeing many undersized fish being caught for every keeper. From shore, cut anchovies or shad are the baits of choice,” he noted.
“Catfish are hit or miss with fish being reported out of Cowboy and South Coves. For those wishing to target catfish, nightcrawlers and chicken liver are the top baits,” he added.
Chabot
Lake Chabot is filling back up, said Stan Wong of the Lake Chabot Fishing Outfitters. “The rain this past couple of days has muddied up the lake quite a bit. With a few nice days, it should clear right back up....
Three hundred people from throughout the Monterey Bay area and beyond participated in the 13th Annual Sand Crab Classic Surf Perch Derby, a benefit for the Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project, on Saturday, March 11.
The derby featured both the biggest perch ever taken during the event and the biggest fish of any kind, a striped bass, during the tournament.
"We hold this event every year on the second Saturday in March," said Mike Baxter of the Let’s Go Fishing Radio, the co-organizer of the event with Allen Bushnell, also from the Let’s Go Fishing Radio. "The fishing was overall good during this classic. The weather was also sunny and calm with a high tide in the morning."
Whereas people have come all of the way from as far north as Crescent City and as far south as Ventura to fish the event, Taylorsville, California was the furthest anybody came this time.
Jeremy Peck won the GrandMaster prize with his 3.4 lb. barred perch measuring 16 inches long while fishing shrimp "between Santa Cruz and Monterey." That was the largest perch of any kind taken in the event.
He reported very good fishing during the classic, catching 10 other barred perch - his limit - off the beach as well.
Ron Martin landed this year’s "Most Exotic Catch," a 17.2 lb. striped bass, the biggest fish of any kind ever weighed in during the event’s history. Martin is a longtime Sand Crab Classic supporter.
He was fishing for perch off of Manresa Beach with a #4 hook and a plastic grub on 10 lb. test line when he hooked the striper. It took him a good 10 to 15 minutes to get the beast to the sand.
That wasn’t the only striped bass weighed in for the "most exotic"...
The deal made between the Jerry Brown and Donald Trump administrations to fast-track the construction of the Governor’s Delta Tunnels project is becoming more apparent every day.
On July 28, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, under the helm of Director Chuck Bonham, issued an incidental take permit for the construction and operation of California WaterFix in compliance with Section 2081(b) of the California Endangered Species Act.
The mission of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is to manage California's diverse fish, wildlife, and plant resources, and the habitats upon which they depend, for their ecological values and for their use and enjoyment by the public.
However, in an apparent violation of its mission, the permit allows the project to kill state-listed species, including Sacramento River spring and winter-run Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta and longfin smelt, and other fish species, during the construction and operation of the two massive 35 mile long tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
Issuance of this permit represents another significant milestone in the WaterFix planning process, according to the announcement on the California WaterFix website. As described in the permit application, WaterFix will implement measures for construction and operation of the project to fully mitigate the impacts of any incidental take of state-listed species, and will provide additional protection through real-time operation of the facilities in a manner that avoids and minimizes incidental take.
Representatives of fishing, conservation, and environmental justice groups were reviewing the over-200 page document at this time.
A number of the staff and attorneys of various organizations are examining the documents for the possibility of litigation, said Bill Jennings, Executive Director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance.
A number of issues with the incidental take permit and related documents are apparent after a quick look at...
Stockton, CA -- Delta tunnels opposition researchers have discovered a draft analysis dated September 15, 2017 of CA WaterFix costs completed by the Kern County Water Agency posted at the Wheeler Ridge-Maricopa Water Storage District.
This recent Kern County analysis provides a comprehensive review of how expensive the Delta tunnels project would be for Kern County farmers, and elucidates more realistic cost numbers for State Water Project Contractors than those touted by Metropolitan Water District.
Researchers found that:
Total WaterFix costs are estimated at $32.1 billion to $41.4 billion over 50 years; however, Kern County Water Agency only looked at interest rates of 3.55% or 3.88%. Higher interest rates would result in significantly higher total costs. These costs do not include potential cost overruns.
Computations in 2033 dollars show that dividing the maximum capital costs by the average water supply yield results in an estimated cost range of $888 per acre-foot of water to $1427 per acre-foot of water for Kern County Water Agency water users. Using 2017 dollars, the price is discounted to $553 to $889 per acre-foot.
Kern's total costs range from $4.9 billion to $7 billion, and annual costs range from $153.9 million to $247.5 million.
Restore the Delta executive director Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla noted, "Water this costly would cut deeply into profit margins for smaller farms within the Kern County Water Agency service area, and even the profits of big industrial farms like Stewart Resnick's Paramount Farms. It is feasible that the real end-goal is for urban ratepayers within the Kern service area and Metropolitan Water District to subsidize the project, or that Kern County Water Agency could resell a portion of water back to Metropolitan Water District to make enough revenue to cover bond repayment."
Prior to Westlands Water District's withdrawal from California...
State Auditor Reveals DWR Broke the Law in Delta Tunnels Planning
The recent audit by the California State Auditor has uncovered significant legal violations by the Department of Water Resources (DWR) during the planning phase of the controversial Delta Tunnels project. The findings indicate that DWR failed to comply with various state laws intended to protect water resources and public interest.
Key points from the audit include:
DWR did not fully consider the environmental impacts of the Delta Tunnels project, which is intended to increase water supply reliability.
The agency neglected to engage in necessary public consultations, limiting transparency and stakeholder involvement.
Budget overruns and mismanagement were reported, raising concerns about the effective use of taxpayer funds.
The Delta Tunnels project, aiming to re-engineer the water conveyance system in California, has faced criticism from environmental groups and local communities. The revelations from the audit have prompted calls for increased oversight and accountability regarding large-scale infrastructure projects affecting California's water supply.
Moving forward, it remains crucial for DWR to address these findings and ensure compliance with existing laws to maintain public trust and safeguard California's natural resources.
Showing the enormous power of the oil industry in California despite the state’s green image, every bill except one opposed by the powerful oil industry has failed to make it out of the state legislature this year and during the 2015-2016 session.
The latest victim of intense lobbying by Big Oil is Senate Bill 188, a bill authored by Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) to prohibit new pipelines or other infrastructure needed to support new federal oil and gas development.
Senator Jackson introduced SB 188 in response to President Donald Trump’s recent executive order opening the door to expanded offshore oil and gas drilling in federal waters off the California coast.
The oil industry killed that bill, Senator Jackson told the Sacramento Bee on September 1. They are far too powerful.
The defeat of the bill is a big victory in Sacramento for the oil industry and the Trump administration. The Western States Petroleum Association, the California Independent Petroleum Association, the California Chamber of Commerce and California Manufacturers & Technology Association spent big money lobbying to defeat the legislation, as well as pass the oil industry's wish list cap-and-trade bill, AB 398.
A long list of environmental, consumer, fishing and indigenous groups supported the legislation, including the California Coastkeeper Alliance, Environmental Defense Center, Defenders of Wildlife, Food and Water Watch, Friends of the Earth, Seventh Generation Advisors, Sierra Club California, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations and Wishtoyo Chumash Foundation.
The Committee on Appropriations, chaired by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, D-San Diego, held the bill in suspension during their hearing on Friday, September 1. Gonzalez Fletcher’s Office declined to comment on the bill in response to a phone call and email.
Before the bill died in Appropriations, the bill passed through the Assembly Natural Resources Committee by a vote of...
In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, Interior said its position had not changed.
"While the Department of the Interior shares the goals of the state of California to deliver water with more certainty, eliminating risks to the California water supply, and improving the environment, at this time, the Department under the current state proposal does not expect to participate in the construction or funding of the CA WaterFix. The Department and Reclamation will continue to work with the state and stakeholders as the project is further developed," the department said.
place as drastically as they do underwater. Water can filter certain wavelengths of light, affecting how colors appear. For instance, red light tends to diminish quickly in deeper water, while blues and greens penetrate more effectively.
This means that the visibility of a lure's color can change depending on water clarity and depth. In clear water, lighter colors may stand out better, while in murky conditions, brighter or more fluorescent colors could make a bigger impact.
Additionally, fish may also associate certain colors with specific prey. Over time, if they have experienced positive encounters with a given color, they may be more likely to bite lures of that color.
Ultimately, the best approach is to experiment with different colors and pay attention to what works during different conditions. The effectiveness of a color can also depend on the location and time of year, making adaptability key for anglers seeking success on the water.
While there may not be one definitive answer regarding the importance of lure color, understanding the underwater environment and being willing to try different approaches can significantly enhance fishing success.
Here in the Northern California foothills fall is in the air. We’ve had a bit of rain, nighttime temperatures are dipping and if you look at the ridges the leaves on the hardwoods have gone from green to brown and soon they’ll be bright yellow.
On the trout fishing front, it won’t be long before handsome holdover rainbows and reclusive browns that spent the summer feeding in deep water migrate back into shallow water making themselves ideal targets for both topline trollers and bank anglers.
I really enjoy targeting trout during the fall. The fish are typically ready strikers and the fishing pressure at most destinations is light. Over the years I’ve compiled a short list of go to trout techniques that typically produce solid results during the fall and early winter. Let’s take a closer look…
Sep’s Strike Master Dodger Teamed With A Worm Or Fly
Sep’s Strike Master dodgers fill an important spot in my trout trolling arsenal. They are the dodger I reach for when I want some attraction, but don’t want all the vibration and flash created by a standard size herring dodger.
Sep’s Strike Masters are oval shaped and measure 2.5 by 3 inches. They work well when trolled from 1 to 1.5 miles per hour. When I’m fishing in higher elevation lakes during the fall the trout are typically pretty aggressive, but they can be spooky at times so I like the subtle action Strike Masters offer.
Typically when fishing a lake like Caples or French Meadows, I’ll run a threaded mini-crawler about 12 to 14 inches behind either a brass/chrome or watermelon colored Strike Master. High elevation trout earn their living gobbling up aquatic insects and they seem to have a real sweet tooth for worms.
Rancho Cordova The salmon ladder at Nimbus Hatchery in Rancho Cordova opened Monday, Nov. 2, signaling the start of the spawning season on the American River.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) hatchery workers opened the gates in the ladder at 9:30 a.m. and may take more than a half-million eggs during the first week alone in an effort to ensure the successful spawning of the returning fall-run Chinook salmon.
California is entering what may be a fifth year of unprecedented drought. Because of current river conditions, salmon are returning later in the year than typical. Overall, the fall-run Chinook salmon return numbers are lower than normal. CDFW seeks to match historic hatchery production goals this year, but that may not be possible given the conditions.
Drought conditions may affect the number of salmon returning to the river to spawn, but hatchery workers will continue to collect eggs throughout the fall with a goal of producing four million salmon fry, said CDFW Program Manager Dr. Bill Cox. We are working closely with other federal and state agencies to release cold water into the river system to give salmon the best chance to get up river to the hatchery.
The three major state-run hatcheries in the Central Valley – the Nimbus Hatchery in Sacramento County, and hatcheries on the Feather River in Butte County and the Mokelumne River in San Joaquin County – will take approximately 24 million eggs over the next two months in order to produce Chinook salmon for release next spring.
Once the young salmon reach 2 to 4 inches in length, one-quarter of the stock will be marked and implanted with coded wire tags prior to release. CDFW biologists use the information from the tags to chart the salmon’s survival, catch and return rates.
Not much has changed at Lake Berryessa over the past couple of weeks – the bass bite continues to rage and the trout and salmon fishing remains slow.
“For the better fish, we’re working drop shot rigs and Blade Runner spoons from 30 to 50 feet deep,” said Don Paganelli of Paganelli’s Bass Fishing Experience. “The fish are feeding heavily on the threadfin shad now.”
On his latest guided fishing adventure, Paganelli and his client caught and released 15 bass. “Our largest fish included a largemouth pushing 5 pounds, a 3-1/2 lb. smallmouth and a spotted bass going about 4 pounds,” said Paganelli.
They concentrated on the main body north and south of Big Island. “The surface temperature is still in the high sixties and we need cooler days and nights to cool the temperature down for us to see more variety, including rainbow trout and crappie, in the catches,” he noted.
When the lake finally turns over, bank anglers can expect to nail rainbow trout and king salmon while tossing out minnows and nightcrawlers under bobbers in the lake’s coves.
Stockton Water hyacinth remains the story in the San Joaquin as the floating green menace continues to plague area boaters. Extensive mats of hyacinth have forced the closure of the City of Stockton’s launch ramps at Buckley Cove and Louis Park, leaving only Morelli Park as the only viable launch in the area.
Alex Breitler of the Stockton Record said, “The alien weed stretches from bank-to-bank across Buckley Cove near the west end of March Lane, and has engulfed all of the docks there. Two neighboring marinas are socked in as well.”
Freezing temperatures are needed to kill the hyacinth, and so far into November, the temperatures have remained very warm, allowing the hyacinth to grow.
The recent winds have cleared some of the bank areas in the southern part of the Delta, and Brandon Gallegos of H and R Bait said, “The Whiskey Slough Road side of the slough was cleared out by the wind which pushed the hyacinth up on the opposite bank, and stripers in the 21 to 24-inch range have been landed with live mudsuckers or fresh shad. In the main San Joaquin River, stripers in the 17 to 23-inch range are taken on the same baits in the clearer areas.”
“The Tracy Oasis is a good location for redear sunfish or largemouth bass, but striper fishermen need to drift live mudsuckers due to the hyacinth,” he tipped.
Further west, Randy Pringle, the Fishing Instructor, said, “We have been catching and releasing up to 70 stripers throwing the ima Big Stick or Little Stick for topwater while working below the surface with the Optima Double AA Bubba Shad or 2-oz. P-Line Laser Minnows in chartreuse/silver or blue silver.”
Their larger fish have come in the shallows with swimbaits, but the schools are thick in the San...
The first fall trophy trout plant, weighing a total of 1,800 lbs, arrived at Collins Lake on October 23. The load included 25% trophy sized trout and 75% catchable ones, reported Kathy Hess of Collins Lake Resort.
"Our lake level is low but now stabilized," said Hess. "The water will no longer be released. All we need is rain to start filling us up again; all of the long term forecasts say we should expect a wet winter."
A 5 lb. 8 oz. bass was caught by Stetson Stokes of Chico. Stetson was trolling a Rapala type lure on the east side just south of the islands.
Noah LaPointe of Auburn was shore fishing near the dam with PowerBait when he hooked a 6 lb. 12 oz. catfish.
"Prohbat Palma had a great couple of fishing days, bringing home a limit of bass on the first day," said Hess. "He fished from a boat near the islands and the biggest one on his stringer was close to three pounds. The next day he caught one bass and one catfish on PowerBait."
"Come on out this weekend and enjoy the great weather and great trout fishing. Don’t forget to stop in at the store and have your photo taken or, better yet, take one on your phone and send it to kathy@collinslake.com so I can use it my next report," she added.
If you want to fish in solitude, you can definitely find it now at Folsom Lake. The lake is at its lowest level in history, holding only 151,089 acre feet of water, 15 percent of capacity. The lake level is 353.67 feet in elevation, 112.33 feet below.
While few anglers have been fishing the lake, shore fishermen willing to do some hiking should find improving rainbow trout and king salmon action off the shore at Granite Bay and Browns Ravine as the water cools down and the lake turns over. Fish PowerBait and inflated nightcrawlers on sliding sinker rigs or minnows and worms under bobbers.
The guys who reported catching black bass while trolling with crankbaits a couple of weeks ago aren’t talking now. They were hooking a lot of fish, mostly spotted and smallmouth bass to 4 pounds, while fishing at 10 to 15 feet deep with Strike King and Timber Tiger medium diving crankbaits and similar lures.
While all concrete ramps on Folsom Lake are currently closed due to the low lake level, the two anglers were carefully launching their boats from shore. The lake must be above elevation 369' before the Granite Bay ramp will return to operation.
Pittsburg While sturgeon anglers had been marking sturgeon in the West Delta throughout the fall, the fish just recently started hitting in a major way. As of press time outstanding sturgeon fishing is now raging in the Pittsburg area.
The sturgeon fishing has gotten really good recently, related Captain David Hammond of Delta Pro Fishing. We’ve had keeper sturgeon on our last three trips along with lots of shaker action. Roe has been the hot bait in the Pittsburg area. While targeting sturgeon this past week we also picked up a 21 pound striper.
Speaking of bass fishing, the striper bite remains a little inconsistent. Some days we troll up limits and other days we struggle a bit and end up with near limits. I think the striper action is really going to get exciting once the water temperature drops a bit more, added Hammond.
Captain Steve Mitchell of Hook’d Up Sportfishing has also been enjoying very good sturgeon fishing in Suisun Bay. On his most recent trip his clients got a keeper sturgeon and a pair of oversize fish. The oversize fish hit at the same time. They had several other bites on the trip, but no other fish were hooked. The day before Steve’s anglers got a pair of keepers, 4 shakers and a keeper striper.
Oroville: You need a 4-wheel drive vehicle to launch at both the spillway and Bidwell Canyon launch ramps, but the wide-open bass fishing available on Lake Oroville definitely makes it worthwhile.
“Fishing is really good now,” said Brent Cline at Oroville Outdoors. “Boaters are hooking and releasing 50 to 60 fish during a trip. Most of the fish are spotted bass in the 12 to 15 inch range, but two 7 lb. largemouths were also reported lately.”
“You can pretty much use any method you want to use to catch fish,” he emphasized. “You can throw top water lures such as Zara Spooks and Ricos. You can toss out worms and Senkos in bait fish patterns. And you can cast tubes and jigs in green pumpkin patterns all over the lake.”
King salmon fishing has also improved with the cooler water. Boaters are trolling hoochies, tipped with anchovy strips, behind dodgers at 40 to 50 feet deep to catch fish averaging 3 to 4 pounds, according to Cline. The best areas are the dam, spillway and Green Bridge.
“Bass fishing in the Thermalito Afterbay was good last week when the water temperature was warmer, but it is slower this week with the cooler water,” said Cline. “Anglers have been doing best on largemouths from 2 to 4 pounds while flipping jigs in the tules and fishing Senkos, crankbaits and spinnerbaits.”
Lake Oroville was holding 1,023,835 acre-feet of water, 29 percent of capacity and 48 percent of average, at press time. The water level is 667.57 feet above sea level.
(Ione) The big news at Lake Amador is that the long awaited trout plants have started – and shore anglers are hooking fish averaging 1 to 2-1/2 pounds.
"We planted 3500 pounds on Thursday, October 22 and another plant of 3,000 pounds on November 5," reported Lee Lockhart at Lake Amador Resort.
"Two anglers limited out while fishing off the docks with pink and white Power Eggs on the bottom today," he stated. "Yesterday a guy limited out on trout while using pink Power Worms off the docks."
Shore fishermen are also employing orange PowerBait and orange Kastmasters to entice the trout. Trollers should troll Rapalas or nightcrawlers behind flashers at 15 feet deep.
Bass fishermen are few and far between. Lockhart recommended throwing top water lures off the main points in the mornings and evenings.
The water level is 46 feet from full and the surface water temperature is 69 to 70 degrees and dropping.
Camanche
(Burson) Anglers fishing at Lake Camanche this fall have reported some superb fishing for crappie and catfish.
Ty and his son Beau brought in a nice bunch of 36 crappie weighing a total of 29.4 lbs. "Ty was fishing down the Narrows with a jig," according to Terry Willard at the Camanche Recreation Company. "This makes Ty the winner of this week's Lake Camanche Monster Fish T-Shirt!"
"Cats are hot," she added. "Henry Barner of Concord was fishing nightcrawlers off the north shore peninsula when he bagged a stringer of five catfish weighing a total of 36.76 pounds. The biggest two fish weighed 12.52 and 11.32 pounds."
The lake management will begin planting rainbow trout in the South Trout Pond and at the North Shore and South Shore any day now as the water cools down.
A lazy crowd of people were sauntering down Main Street in Rio Vista on a balmy October afternoon. I emerged from the waterfront holding a large fish. The crowd started to stir as I walked up to the Rio Vista Bass Derby weigh-in table.
A woman quizzically asked, “What kind of fish is that?“ It’s a salmon”, I replied. It struck me as kind of funny that somebody wouldn’t know the difference between a striped bass and a salmon.
Then again, not everybody has been trying to figure out how to catch them for as long as I have. And why in the heck was I bringing a salmon to a striper derby anyway?
I’ve been on a quest to catch river salmon for as long as I can remember. I’m not the only one who becomes salmon-obsessed during the fall months. Have you ever taken an October drive down Highway 160 between Sacramento and Rio Vista? If so, you know that hordes of salmon seekers line the shores and choke the waterways to no end.
It doesn’t really make a lot of sense. Aside from producing great smoked salmon, the table quality of river salmon is fair at best. The musty flavor is hard to mask and doesn’t compare to the meat of a freshly caught ocean salmon. Although they get big and put up a decent fight, river salmon don’t pack the same punch as equally sized striped bass.
So why do we chase them? For me, it’s the lure of mystery. There is nothing more exciting than trolling for several hours only to hear the staccato ‘zzz-zzz-zzz’ of your clicker going off. Is it another ten pounder? Or maybe it’s the next state record, eclipsing the 88 pound king caught in 1979.
Traditionally mid-November marks the high water mark for Delta striper fishing. This is the time of the year when the bulk of the striper population is holding in the west Delta. Since the water temperature is typically in the middle to upper 50’s at this time of the year, the stripers are biters cooperating equally as well with bait anglers, trollers and pluggers.
While the Delta is one of northern and central California’s most important fisheries, I meet anglers every year that have never fished the Delta. They would love to get out on the brown water in search of stripers, but with 1,200 plus miles of waterway to explore and multiple fishing techniques in play, they simply don’t know where to begin. Maybe I can help!
For the beginning angler, I recommend starting out with bait fishing so that you can focus on the basics of finding fish and putting them into the boat. Remember success leads to more success.
Trolling and plugging, while fun and effective, add the complexities of moving boats, moving lures and depth control. Let’s say for example you’re trolling shallow running plugs. Your speed is perfect. Your lure color and model are exactly right and there are stripers in the area, but instead of staying in water that is 6 to 8 feet deep, you spend your time in water that is 10 to 12 feet deep. You are going to get few strikes because your lures are running above the strike zone of the fish.
With bait fishing, once you locate some bass presentation and strike execution are much easier than when trolling or plugging. Let’s get started!
A good Delta bait fishing rig consists of a 7 foot conventional rod capable of handling sinkers up to 3 ounces, teamed with a high...
Most anglers start off their day by checking out weather reports or just looking outside; do I go or not? Just remember that when you look outside and your neighbor’s tree is blowing over, it might not be a bad thing at this time of the year.
Wind in the winter is a whole different ballgame. It just makes it unbearable to fish at times. However, wind in the fall and summer can make the fishing red-hot! You just have to believe in one thing, the wind is your friend.
You can’t change Mother Nature, you’ve got to go with it. For example, if you are a weightless worm fisherman, you are going to have to adjust.
The key to how the wind affects the action is water temperature. At 70 degrees or higher, fish need to eat a lot. So even though the weather may not be to your liking, the fish are still eating. Speaking for myself, I want to feed them!
Let’s talk about the different kinds of wind. Let’s set the table for your day on the delta. The water temperature is in the 70’s; of course it is windy, but is it a cold wind and white caps? Most likely, throughout the night the water temperature dropped, so it will be hard to get a morning topwater bite; not impossible, but tough.
My selections in this case are subsurface baits with a couple of modifications. The first bait I’d turn to is a crankbait. A couple baits come to mind. I need baits with a big wobble, the more commotion, the better. Strike Kings 4S in a crawdad or bluegill pattern and Ima’s Shaker also in a crawdad or bluegill pattern.
Cranking the bait down and ticking the structure with a stop and go retrieve...
Stockton striped bass remain the top species in the San Joaquin River, but the encroachment of water hyacinth continues to plague boaters in the East Delta.
Water hyacinth has clogged up all of the boat ramps in the Stockton area, with Ladd’s Marina, Louis Park, and the Morelli Boat Launch all loaded with the aquatic vegetation. The section from the Interstate 5 Bridge to Weber Point in Stockton is choked with hyacinth, and freezing temperatures are necessary to cause the weeds to die off and sink. As a result, East Delta boaters are heading further west to launch, and the Lazy M Marina and River ’s End have become more popular in the past few weeks.
Brandon Gallegos of H and R Bait said, “Stripers in the 12 to 13-pound range have been caught near the Highway 4 Bridge on the Old River, and there have also been limits of stripers in the 24 to 26-inch range on the Bacon Island Road side of the Middle River near the Bullfrog Marina. Bluegill are biting like crazy, and we sold out of 20 dozen red worms over the weekend with the best fishing off of Whiskey Slough, off of Inland Drive, and near the Tracy Oasis.”
“Discovery Bay is starting to come into play for striped bass, and there have been some good reports in the area. Crappie are showing up near Turner Cut on mini crawlers under a bobber near the docks,” said Gallegos.
Chris Lauritzen of Lauritzen’s Yacht Harbor in Oakley said, “As far as I am concerned, False River is open to all boat traffic. Watch out if there are still buoys in False River alerting boaters to the construction site. For the past month or so, the Ross Island Dredge number 8 has been working on either the...
Rancho Cordova Nimbus Fish Hatchery workers have counted a total of 2,765 Chinook salmon, including 789 jacks and jills (two-year-old fish), at the facility since the salmon ladder opened Monday, Nov. 2.
Considering the low flows of 500 cfs, this return is surprisingly good. Last year at this time the hatchery had counted approximately 2,950 salmon, including 350 adults.
The other good news is that the water temperature on the river has cooled down 5 to 7 degrees over one week.
“The water temperature has gone down to 55 to 57 degrees, depending on which gauge you go by,” said Gary Novak, hatchery manager. “That’s phenomenal; last year the water temperature didn’t cool down to this temperature until the middle of November.”
The hatchery has spawned salmon three times to date. Novak noted that many of the fish at the facility are still “green,” not ready for spawning yet.
The 300,000 juvenile steelhead that will be released into the river system next February have also returned to the hatchery, after spending the summer at the Feather River Fish Hatchery in Oroville, due to high water temperatures at Nimbus.
The weather is finally cooling down and the fall largemouth bite has started on Clear Lake, reported Dave Brabec of Clear Lake Outdoors.
The water temperatures are now around 60 degrees. It was foggy and frozen this morning.
Guys are catching bass on both the north and south ends of the lake. The Alabama rig bite has started and you can catch fish on shallow and deep crankbaits, said Brabec.
The LV 500 bite has been good and will continue to be through March, he tipped. The jig bite is slowing down. We just got a shipment of minnows and they are bigger than they have been; that bite is just starting to get good. The fall/winter is when big fish are caught here.
Catfish action remains good, with anglers fishing mackerel, chicken livers and live jumbo minnows in deep water off Shag Rock, Konotyee and other areas.
Brisk fall fishing is available at Los Vaqueros Reservoir, where anglers fishing from both shore and rental boats are bagging rainbow trout, catfish, striped bass and largemouth bass.
"Fishing for trout continues to be fair with the mixed weather we have had lately," said Brian Demmunik at Los Vaqueros Reservoir. "The rainbows are being caught in South Cove and Oak Point as well as around the lake. The baits of choice for shore anglers are garlic-scented PowerBaits, nightcrawlers or Kastmasters."
Trolling is popular with anglers using Rapalas and other lures in the coves. "A number of limits came out of Howden Cove this week," Demmunik stated.
Fall trout plants are in full swing. Mount Lassen Hatchery planted 1,000 pounds of rainbows and the CDFW stocked 1,000 pounds of trout on Thursday, November 12.
"With the recent rains, the shoreline is slippery – please be careful and watch your footing," he advised.
Chomuam Loth experienced top-notch catfish action when he landed 8 fish weighing a total of 44.49 pounds, topped by an 8.49 pound cat, along with seven more weighing an additional 36 pounds. He was soaking nightcrawlers in Howden Cove.
Bert Palmon of Fremont caught and released a 5.5 pound largemouth bass while tossing out a swimbait from a rental boat.
Night fishing is back every Saturday during November. Every Saturday this month the lake will be staying open until 8 p.m. for night fishing.
"Shakers are still the main action with striped bass," noted Demmunik. "We are still seeing 15-20 undersized fish being caught for every keeper. There have been more boils reported in Cowboy and Howden coves as well as Peninsula Cove, but anglers are having difficulties enticing the fish to bite with swimbaits and other lures. From shore, cut anchovies or shad are the top...
(Sacramento) After a flurry of solid salmon action two weeks ago, fishing in the metropolitan area has died down, at least until more late fall-run Chinooks show on the Sacramento River.
The water temperature has cooled down to 55 degrees, but fishing yesterday was tough for us, on the river from Miller Park to Garcia Bend, said James Netzel of Tight Lines Guide Service. We couldn’t get them to bite. The water was clear and when fishing was good two weeks ago, the water was colored from dredging at Miller Park.
We did have a great trip last Friday when the four anglers fishing with me hooked three salmon in 20 minutes, said Netzel. The fish were bright kings ranging from 13 to 18 pounds. We trolled with glow nose Brad’s Killer Fish and Kwikfish for our fish. After the sun came out, we didn’t hook any more salmon.
Tim Boggs of Elkhorn Outdoor Sports also reported slow fishing. We went out for a couple of hours on the river from Garcia Bend to the Sacramento Yacht Club and then down to Freeport, he said. We only saw 3 salmon caught by anglers in 30 boats up and down the river.
Anglers are catching a few salmon here and there from shore and boat in the Sacramento area, said Jimmy Perez of Broadway Bait Rod & Gun. However, we haven’t weighed in any fish in the shop over the past couple of weeks.
With the temporary closure of the Dungeness crab season, rockfish and lingcod are filling the bill for the time being.
A big swell and heavy winds over the weekend of November 13 put the lingcod off the bite, but rockfish counts remained solid for party and private boats. When the seas were calm earlier in the week, bonito were abundant for trollers working offshore.
The Queen of Hearts scored 30 limits of rockfish in the big sea on Saturday with the Riptide returning with 12 limits and a lingcod, according to Sherri Ingles of Half Moon Bay Sport Fishing. The ling counts were limited by the 9 to 12 foot swell, which results in the groundfish hunkering down to the reefs.
Captain Tom Mattusch of the Huli Cat took out a Becoming an Outdoor Woman charter on Saturday, November 14, and the participants were treated to limits of rockfish off Martin’s Beach and Tunitas Creek with a number of school fish in the mix.
James Nguyen of Dockside Bait was searching for bluefin tuna during the week but didn’t find any tuna. They did find an excellent bonito bite with several fish over 10 pounds and ranging from 27 to 28 inches.
They were trolling Mexican Flag zukers, and they had as many as five on at one time. He said, “We had to go way out to 400 feet in depth to find 59 degree water, but once we hit the warm water, it was on.”
Lake Amador has come up 3 feet so far from the latest storm – and another storm had arrived at press time. The lake is currently 44 feet from full – and rising as you read this.
Trout plants are in full swing. “We planted 3500 pounds of rainbows on October 22, 3500 pounds on November 5 and 1200 pounds on November 12,” said Debbie Grayson at the Lake Amador Resort.
Bank anglers and float tubers are experiencing the best action while tossing out PowerBait, Power Worms, nightcrawlers and Kastmasters now; the trollers haven’t showed in force yet. The dam, spillway and docks are the hot spots.
Jim English of Cameron Park bagged a limit of rainbows averaging 2 pounds each while fishing pink and green Power Worms from the docks. Another angler reported catching a 3-1/2 lb. rainbow, according to Grayson.
“One girl showed me a photo of an 8 lb. largemouth, her largest ever, that she caught and released on the lake,” added Grayson.
Camanche
The long awaited rainbow trout plants have finally arrived at Lake Camanche!
“A whopping 4,500 lbs of Mt. Lassen Trout have been planted, including 2,000 lbs in the pond and 1,250 lbs in the lake on each shore,” according to Terry Willard at the Camanche Recreation Company.
Bank anglers should employ PowerBait, Power Eggs, Pautzke salmon eggs, nightcrawlers, jigs, spoons and spinners in the South Trout Pond and off the North and South Shores. Boaters should troll with spoons, spinners and worms behind dodgers and flashers.
Dustin Peck of Manteca caught the biggest catfish of the year to date – and the largest fish of any kind this year at Camanche – when he landed a monster 26.39 lb. catfish from the trout pond.
South Lake Tahoe morning temperatures are chilly, crowds are light and the mackinaw are biting consistently. In short, this is a perfect time to visit Lake Tahoe for a limit of late fall lake trout.
For example, the team at Tahoe Sportfishing has been putting their clients on easy limits of mackinaw that mainly fall into the 3 to 6 pound class. Minnows teamed with flashers have been the top offering for the Tahoe Sportfishing fleet.
Gene St. Denis of Blue Ribbon Charters has also been trolling up limits of mackinaw. Gene’s fish also average 3 to 6 pounds, but he’s been getting a few fish in the teens too.
Gene is fishing a variety of different locations with both rigged minnows teamed with dodgers and medium size Flatfish.
Mickey Daniels of Mickey’s Big Mack Charters has been successfully trolling Carnelian Bay. Mickey starts out trolling quickly in shallow water before slowing down and working progressively deeper. His clients are hooking macks running up to 8 pounds.
Mickey has been using a variety of offerings including Kok-A-Nuts teamed with Sling Blade dodgers and Sting King lures.
When I received word from Captain Manuel Saldana Jr. of MSJ Guide Service that he was catching salmon on the Feather River, I was eager to join him and try my luck. I met up with Captain Manuel and his long time fishing partner Brian Crittendon at the Yuba City Boat Ramp.
With me was my fishing buddy Ian Rigler of Sacramento. Now that cooler weather has finally arrived in Northern California, water temps have fallen and are more in line with traditional seasonal norms, a welcome relief to salmon anglers. As previously noted, low water levels in the state's primary water supply reservoirs have limited the amount of water available for downstream release.
Saldana warned me that I would be amazed at how skinny the river would be and that it would make for one exciting boat ride. The water levels were so low that he used his kicker motor to safely maneuver through several extremely shallow sections of the river.
“This is the lowest I have ever seen the river,” explained Saldana. “In a matter of a ten day period I know of at least three boats that ran aground. Any angler trying to navigate the Feather needs to exercise good judgment and extreme caution.”
Following a short run, Saldana carefully positioned his Fish Rite jet near the Fifth Street Bridge. Just the day before, the area had played host to a nice group of fish. Saldana informed us that our plan of attack would be to up troll plugs to compensate for the lack of current.
After several drifts through the hole and no takers, it was evident that a move was in order. Captain Manuel started up the jet and made a short run upriver to a new location where he skillfully positioned the boat into...
Chester Exciting late fall trout fishing is underway at Lake Almanor. On one hand, if you visit the lake right now, you’re not going to hook a bunch of fish. However, the fish you hook will be quality rainbows and browns that start at 3 pounds and top out at over 5.
The late fall trout season is underway at Lake Almanor. The water temperature is now in the lower 50’s and we’ve had some snow,” said Bryan Roccucci of Big Daddy’s Guide Service. “The fishing hasn’t changed a whole lot in the past two weeks. I’m still trolling hardware quickly along the west shore. The trout are in the top 10 feet and that’s where I keep my lures. Spoons like Speedy Shiners and similar models are working in a range of different colors including gold, silver, red and even black.”
The trout we have been hooking are good size. The average is over 3 pounds and we are seeing high 4’s and low 5’s daily. Most of the fish are rainbows at this time,” Roccucci reported.
Shore anglers working near canyon dam and off Rocky Point are hooking rainbows in the 2 to 4 pound class on a mix of PowerBait and worms. The typical bank outing yields 1 to 3 fish.
Dobbins The first two significant storm systems have swept through California, but action at Bullards Bar remains tough for most.
"Worms continue to be the better bet for anglers working rocky structure at Bullards Bar," said Daniel at Emerald Cove Marina. "Most anglers will see decent numbers of spotted bass; while trout anglers should seek out colder water, until we get a good bit of rain to get the tributaries flowing."
"Skippers Cove Marina was pretty productive this past week," reported Trina at Skippers Cove Marina. "Limits of pan-sized trout have come in for anglers tossing PowerBait in the marina area. The largest trout was about fourteen inches."
Bullards Bar is at 38% capacity, Englebright stands at 92% of capacity.
Redding The salmon bite isn’t red hot for Sacramento River anglers, but the fishing is productive for anglers that put in their time. In addition to the salmon, there are good numbers of steelhead in the system.
“We’ve been getting 1 to 3 salmon per trip,” said Robert Weese of Northern California Guide Service. “Most of those fish run 15 to 30 pounds and are a mix of chromers and dark fish. There have been some much larger fish around. For example, we brought a 42 pounder in last week.”
“My anglers have been hooking quite a few steelhead in recent days. The steelhead average 3 to 6 pounds, but fish up to and beyond 10 are showing,” added Weese.
Kirk Portocarrero of SacRiverGuide.Com also reported fair to good salmon action.
“We’ve had some decent rain and we were hoping that would pull fish upstream in a major way, but that hasn’t happened,” said Portocarrero. “We are averaging 2 to 3 salmon per trip. Some of them are chromers, but we are seeing our share of dark fish too. Whether or not we’ll see a solid push of fresh fish prior to the end of the season is anyone’s guess. I hope it happens. I’d love to end the season with a bang.”
All in all, fishing is excellent as far as East Bay saltwater anglers are concerned. Outside the Golden Gate the lingcod and rockfish action is red hot. Inside, anglers drifting with live anchovies and live mackerel are rounding up some impressive halibut.
As of press time, there was no word when the delayed crab season would get underway, but most folks expect the season to kick off in the next three weeks or so.
Out of the Berkeley Marina, relief skipper Captain Chris Smith of California Dawn Sportfishing has been making regular runs out to the Farallon Islands. Limits and near limits of lingcod and limits of rockfish have been the rule on these live bait adventures.
On one recent trip, an angler hooked a mako shark and fought the fish for an extended period of time. Ultimately the fish was lost near the boat as Chris and crew prepared to gaff it.
Out of Emeryville, the story is much the same with both the Sea Wolf and New Huck Finn making regular forays out to the island. Heavy sacks have been the result. Limits of rockfish are a daily occurrence, while lingcod scores range from a fish per rod to near limits.
For example, on a recent trip the New Huck Finn racked up 27 limits of rockfish and added 67 lings to 18 pounds.
An exciting shot of late season halibut action is taking place at Angel Island. Drifters and trollers are both hooking fish. Mackerel has been the best bait, since there is a huge abundance of mackerel both inside and outside the bay.
Most of the halibut being caught average about 10 pounds, but fish to 35 pounds have been reported.
Bodega Bay What do Sonoma County saltwater anglers really want? That’s easy they want crab combos! On the up side, the rockfish and lingcod bite along the north coast is really good. Of course the downside is that the crab season remains closed, due to domoic acid found in the crabs, until further notice, although most agree that we’ll see crabs hitting the deck off Bodega and elsewhere within a month.
Captain Tim Wong of Norcal Sportfishing Adventures has been putting his client on very good rockfish and lingcod action. For example his last trip yielded full limits of rockfish and lingcod for 6 anglers. The lings ranged up to 15 pounds.
Captain Rick Powers of the Bodega Bay Sportfishing Center and the New Sea Angler is anxiously awaiting the belated crab opener. Rick is one of the guys that pioneered the concept of crab and rockfish combo fishing and he can’t wait to get started with this fall’s crab season.
Despite rough conditions in recent days, Rick’s clients have been putting the wood to both rockfish and lingcod.
On his most recent trip, Powers headed out with 21 anglers aboard and ended up at Fort Ross. The result was full limits of rockfish and 36 lingcod to 22 pounds.
Sacramento River Salmon fishing was great this year and the season is not over yet. Salmon season closes on Dec. 16, 2015 this year. Greg and Connie Salmon fished with me last week and were able to hook and land 2 king Salmon, one was a 25 lbs. dime bright hen and the other was a 15 lbs. Male. The Salmon are hitting plugs early in the morning then switching to Roe after the sun comes up. They also landed 4 Steelhead on their trip that were about 20 inches long. There are a lot of Steelhead in the river right now. What are they biting on? Flys, plugs or bugs. We practice catch and release on the Sacramento River. A camera is a must have on every trip.
Salmon fishermen, book your trip early for the best available day.
Stockton Striped bass remain king in the San Joaquin side of the Delta with the water temperatures reaching optimum temperatures. Bait fishermen are finding the best action in the cold water, although there has been a window for swimbaits on specific tides.
Captain Stan Koenigsberger of Quetzal Adventures out of Bethel Island put Alex Harris on a 15-pound striper on frozen shad on the outgoing tide in False River, and young Harris released the fish after a measurement and photograph. Koenigsberger said, "We had a 21 fish day with 10 of the stripers of legal size."
Dan Mathisen of Dan’s Delta Outdoors in Oakley said, "The striper bite is not slowing down, but those tossing swimbaits or plugs will need to adjust their depths as the fish are holding from 6 to 12 feet instead of 4 to 6 feet."
The action with the Optimum 5-inch Bad Bubba Shad swimbait is leading Mathisen to state, "We are still cracking them as my wife and I routinely catch and release between 25 and 30 fish to 12 pounds with most of the stripers in the 4 to 6-pound range."
The action has been best in the north/south sloughs to avoid the massive islands of hyacinth, and Broad Slough and Three Mile meet this description.
The water hyacinth in the Stockton area is starting to curl up and show some shades of brown from the recent cold spell, but it hasn’t been cold enough despite Sunday’s record 25-degree low temperature to kill off the heavy hyacinth growth.
Brandon Gallegos of H and R Bait in Stockton said, "It’s still more green than brown out there on the San Joaquin; but there have been some clearer areas in the east and south Delta. Stripers in the 5 to 6-pound range have been taken...
South Lake Tahoe “Every fall when the big lake trout finish spawning in deep water they move shallow to feed. We've been waiting for this annual migration and my buddy Robert Varik has found a wave of pig mackinaw moving in. He's been out every day this week with fish over ten pounds every trip,” exclaimed Mark Wiza.
“I was lucky enough to join him recently for a couple sessions in the 12 foot boat he keeps in the Tahoe Keys, and in two trips I've caught and released a thirteen pounder as well as netting two fish over ten pounds for Rob. This morning we caught eight lakers total, had double hookups three times, and we each got one over ten pounds,” disclosed Wiza.
“Average fish size has been great as well, with lots of five to eight pounders in the mix! We've been using shallow water lead core trolling techniques; Lyman Lures have been the top producers and all of my fish were caught on this great trolling plug,” Wiza added.
The team at Tahoe Sportfishing is finding success while working at the lake’s south end. Limits and near limits have been the rule. The top tempter has been minnows teamed with flashers.
Mickey Daniels of Mickey’s Big Mack Charters has been successfully trolling Carnelian Bay. Mickey starts out trolling quickly in shallow water before slowing down and working progressively deeper. His clients are hooking macks running up to 8 pounds.
(Sacramento) In spite of cold storms that haven’t translated into much runoff into the Sacramento River to date, sturgeon fishing is surprisingly good from Prospect Slough to the Sacramento River below Freeport.
“We sold out of ghost shrimp in 6 hours after our shipment arrived,” said Tim Boggs of Elkhorn Outdoors. “Jesse, a local fisherman, said the anglers in the 30 boats that he saw fishing in Prospect Slough on Saturday all reported hooking fish, releasing shakers or oversized fish or catching keepers.”
“Terry McClure also reported catching a 52 inch sturgeon while fishing shad for stripers in Sherman Lake,” said Boggs.
James Netzel of Tight Lines Guide Service reported great salmon action in the Sacramento River out of the Sacramento Yacht Harbor while using a method new to the Sacramento – trolling with Brad’s Cut Plugs filled with tuna behind Pro-Troll dodgers.
“We have caught over 20 salmon over the past week,” he noted. “We landed 3 chrome-bright salmon to 12 pounds in just one hour this morning. The two people fishing with me yesterday landed their limits of kings to 12 pounds. Earlier in the week, anglers bagged kings in the 15 to 22 lb. range.”
“Anglers have reported limits of salmon up to 35 pounds while fishing below Sherwood Harbor over the past couple of days,” confirmed Will Pfingst of Broadway Bait Rod & Gun. “On my last trip on a kayak in the Liberty Island area, I caught and released stripers measuring 29, 30 and 25 inches while fishing crankbaits and top water lures.”
People have been telling me to write an article about fishing knots for years, but until now I’ve resisted. Why now?
Honestly I’ve wanted to present my notes on knots to the readers of the Fish Sniffer for a long time, but I haven’t pulled the trigger because doing the illustrations for knots is tough to pull off.
Well, I’ve come up with a solution. I’ll talk about the merits of several knots, but I won’t use knot-tying illustrations. I figure that most of the folks reading this have Internet access. If so, you can find video illustrations of all the knots I’m going to discuss. If not you can still pick up an old fashion printed knot guide and follow the step-by-step photos.
So let’s talk knots. I’ve spent a lot of time on the water by myself and I’ve fished with some very talented anglers over the years. I’ve tried a bunch of different knots and I’ve seen lots of different knots in action. Some knots are super simple and some are super complicated. Some knots aren’t very reliable and some are highly reliable.
When I talk about knot reliability I’m referring to the knot’s breaking strength in relation to the breaking strength of the line. If you are spooled up with 20 pound line, but using a knot that breaks at 50% of the line strength you are essentially using 10 pound line. That’s bad!
Ideally you want to be using a knot that breaks as close as possible to the strength of the line itself. Of course there is some variability in play based on the type of fishing and technique you’re using.
While knot strength is important it’s only part of the knot equation for me. Simplicity is important too. A super complex knot might...
Troy Fletcher, a visionary leader of the Yurok Tribe, passed away of a heart attack on Friday night, November 20.
I first met Troy nearly 20 years ago at a Fish and Game Commission hearing when he was the director of the Yurok Fisheries Program. From that first time I talked to Troy, I watched him play the key leadership role in building bridges between the Tribe and commercial fishermen, recreational anglers, environmentalists, farmers, other tribes and federal and state government officials who were often in conflict with one another.
Troy, who became the Executive Director of the Tribe, was one of the rare people who could truly see the big picture of fishery and environmental restoration - and what was necessary to restore the Klamath Basin and Pacific fisheries.
He told me several times at protests and meetings, "Fishermen will always fight over the fish. Our goal is to see that there are more fish that we can fight over."
He also talked to me a number of times about his vision of the way to accomplish restoration of the Klamath and other fisheries - by forming blue collar task forces rather than the Blue Ribbon Task Forces dominated by corporate interests and political appointees that oversaw the MLPA Initiative, BDCP and other environmental processes. Troy said these blue collar panels would be comprised only of those whose hands touch the water - farmers, recreational anglers, commercial fishermen and tribal gatherers and fishermen.
Troy, along with Ron Reed of the Karuk Tribe, spoke at rallies and meetings in solidarity with recreational anglers and commercial fishermen fighting to bring back salmon on the Klamath, Sacramento and other watersheds - and fighting to defend their fishing rights.
While Troy was a bridge builder, he also stood firm when the Tribe's sovereign...
Rainbow trout and striped bass offer the most consistent fishing at Los Vaqueros Reservoir, but it was a big catfish that took big fish honors over the past couple of weeks.
Sok Chea from San Ramon landed a trophy 15.45 lb. channel cat while soaking an anchovy in Cowboy Cove. “For those wishing to target catfish, an anchovy is usually the best choice of bait with chicken liver being your second best bet,” said Brian Demmunik of the Los Vaqueros Marina.
Big rainbow honors go to David Maruyama from Los Altos, who landed a 7 lb. beauty. Kris Newell topped the bass catches by catching and releasing a 4.70 lb. largemouth on a semi rainy day, November 24.
“Fishing for trout continues to be good with all the trout plants and cooler water temperatures,” said Demunnik. “They are being caught in South Cove and Oak Point as well as all around the lake. The baits of choice are garlic scented PowerBaits, nightcrawlers or Kastmasters.”
“Mt. Lassen planted 2000 pounds on Thursday, November 19 and another 1000s pound on Monday, November 23,” he noted. “We will be planting again next week. With the plants, trout fishing has gotten better with more limits being caught from all around the reservoir.”
Trollers are doing best using Rapalas in fire tiger and rainbow trout patterns in the coves.
Shakers – undersized fish – continue to dominate the striped bass scene with anglers having to work for every keeper over 18 inches that they land. Shore and pier fishing is best with cut anchovies or shad.
“How fast things can change in only two weeks!” exclaimed Kathy Hess of the Collins Lake Resort. “Trout ‘catching’ is definitely speeding up to an all time high this week.”
Cory, Paul and Vasile all limited out on trout while fishing from the shoreline near the ramp at the dam using PowerBait and lures, according to Hess. Their big fish weighed 6 pounds, 2 ounces. Tony Troncale of Lodi also hooked a 6 lb. rainbow and a 4 lb. trout by the dam on PowerBait.
Sandy Settles from Rio Linda also landed a limit of rainbows by trolling worms in the channel. Ryan Barella from Windsor trolled near the dam and hooked two nice trout, topped by a 3 lb. 8 oz. beauty.
Little Chevy Luna reported catching a limit of rainbows, topped by a 3 lb. 12 oz. fish while fishing with worms.
Members from the Slow Trollers Fishing Club of Yuba City have caught some great fish these past couple of weeks. Jim Chausee topped his stringer with a 4 lb. 1 oz. trout, Manny Castro with a 4 lb. 6 oz. rainbow, and Tom Pickett with a 3 lb. 11 oz. trout. All were caught on Rapala-type lures.
Vietnam Vet, Ken Smith, caught a glorious 4 lb. rainbow measuring 22″ long. He used PowerBait from shore below the store.
“Hansen and his son Robert worked tirelessly on their new boat project for three months that they brought up to Collins Lake to test. That boat was very good to them; besides keeping them afloat, it also helped them catch a half-dozen dozen bass weighing up to 4 pounds, 10 ounces,” she added.
Anglers are still catching and releasing good numbers of black bass at Lake Berryessa, although the bite has tapered off with the chilly weather. Don Paganelli of Paganelli’s Bass Fishing Experience reported the top action on spoons and drop shot rigs.
“We caught three fish on spoons and the other dozen fish on drop shot rigs in 25 to 30 feet of water on my last trip to Berryessa,” said Paganelli. “We drop shotted with Robo Worms in Aaron’s Magic with a chartreuse tail and Morning Dawn with a chartreuse tail off points. We spooned with 1-3/4oz Blade Runner spoons in Morning Dawn.”
“This cold snap will have most lakes turned over and the shad will start to ball up and move deeper. I have been working the main body looking for fish along sharp drops next to points,” he tipped.
Their two biggest fish were smallmouths to 2-1/2 pounds. In addition, they also bagged largemouth and spotted bass.
“We didn’t see any surface activity to indicate the trout and salmon are feeding on shad,” he added.
For rainbow trout and king salmon, shore anglers should fish minnows and nightcrawlers under bobbers in the lake’s coves.
Lake Chabot, a pretty reservoir nestled in the tree-studded foothills east of San Leandro in the unincorporated area of Castro Valley, is now a popular location for anglers to pursue largemouth bass, rainbow trout and channel catfish, but it wasn’t always that way.
Built in 1874-75 as a primary drinking water supply for the East Bay, the 315-acre lake was closed to fishing and other recreation for most of its history, 91 years. The lake finally opened for controlled recreational uses in 1965 after legislation was passed in the 1960s. The lake now serves as a standby emergency water supply.
This past year has been an interesting one due to the prolonged drought that has brought the lake level down to very low levels, according to Joe Sullivan, Acting Fisheries Program Manager for the East Bay Regional Park District.
The low water levels and the toxic blue-green algae blooms that occurred at Lake Chabot this summer definitely had an impact on park attendance. Because of this, the park district reduced their fish plants during the very warm summer months.
The good news is that the largemouth bass and other naturally reproducing fisheries appear not to be affected by the toxic algae and low water level.
I haven't had a chance to analyze our annual monitoring data that we collected this past spring and summer, but a first glance shows that fish numbers are staying pretty steady compared to previous years, said Joe Sullivan of the East Bay Regional Park District.
We even had a largemouth bass caught a couple of months ago that was just shy of a lake record, and there's a lot of other monster bass out there, he said. Now that the weather has cooled and we've received some rain, we are back in full swing with...
The fresh-run salmon ripped the line off the reel as I grabbed the long rod and struggled to keep up with the fish on the icy late November morning.
James Netzel of Tight Lines Guide Service reeled in the line on the other rod so it wouldn’t tangle with the hooked fish. The fish kept running and running and I did my best to keep the line tight so the fish wouldn’t get off.
Finally, I started to gain line on the salmon as I worked it closer to the boat.
“Don’t tighten the drag,” Netzel cautioned. “I’ve set the drag light because a light drag works best with the Cut Plug set-up we’re using.”
When I got the silvery fish next to the boat, it went berserk, making several fast, short runs before I was able to lift the fish’s head up and Netzel was able to net it.
It was a very chunky and ocean-bright late fall-run Chinook weighing 17 pounds, our first of the day. “The meat inside this buck will be a bright orange,” Netzel noted.
We were trolling on the Sacramento River in the Garcia Bend area of Sacramento, only several miles from the political bedlam of the State Capitol. In spite of all the problems that our salmon fisheries encounter because of the mismanagement by the state and federal governments, I was reminded that we are truly lucky to still be fishing for salmon in the heart of a major metropolitan area.
If it weren’t for tireless folks like the late Zeke Grader, Executive Director of the Pacific Coast of Fisherman’s Associations (PCFFA) and the late Troy Fletcher, Executive Director of the Yurok Tribe, there wouldn’t probably be any salmon left to catch in California’s river and ocean waters.
If you want to catch a limit of both lingcod and rockfish, you don’t have much time left this year, since the season closes on December 31. The Kahuna continues to see great action on both species as the season enters its final stretch.
The 22 anglers aboard the Kahuna on Sunday, November 29, landed 66 lingcod, 12 copper rockfish, 175 assorted rockfish, and 33 vermilion rockfish, according to Carol Jones of Kahuna Sportfishing.
The two previous adventures produced top-notch fishing also. A trip by 24 anglers on November 22 returned with 72 lingcod, 28 bocaccio, 35 vermilion rockfish, 146 rockfish, 72 lingcod and 31 copper rockfish. A trip by 22 people on November 21 produced 66 lingcod, 41 vermilion rockfish, 154 rockfish, and 25 copper rockfish.
Chris Arcoleo of Chris’s Fishing Trips in Monterey confirmed the superb lingcod action off the Monterey County coast, with all three boats reporting limits of lingcod on Sunday, November 29. The lingcod are hitting small mackerel running about the size of large anchovies.
The Check Mate checked in with 21 limits of lings and half limits of rockfish, the Caroline boated limits of lings and half limits of rockfish and the Star of Monterey returned with 16 limits of lings and limits of rockfish.
Great weather continued today near Franklin Point and Davenport for rockfish, said Todd Fraser of Bayside Marine in Santa Cruz. The surf fishing has improved with the last few storms making nice sandbars. The perch are biting ghost shrimp and Camo Gulp Worms.
The water temperature has cooled down and most of the pelagic species, including bonito and bluefin tuna, have moved further offshore, Fraser added.
Oroville - The Feather River Fish Hatchery staff has finished spawning fall-run Chinook salmon for this season. The facility has trapped approximately 18,000 salmon, including both adults and jacks and jills, compared to 23,000 fish last season.
"We were really worried at first because the salmon were just trickling in, not showing in the big numbers we normally see. However, we have taken enough eyed eggs, 11 -1/2 million, to produce our goal of 8 million smolts," said Anna Kastener, hatchery manager.
"The fish were really healthy, although they appeared to be smaller than normal," she noted. "We saw a lot of jacks and jills this season."
She hasn’t seen many steelhead show at the facility to date, but it’s still early for the steelies.
Steelhead fishing is improving for anglers on the Feather River from Gridley on up to the Highway 162 Bridge. "Bank anglers and boaters are hooking steelies in the 3 to 5 pound range while using Glo Bugs, roe and nightcrawlers," reported Bob Boucke of Johnson’s Bait and Tackle in Yuba City.
The river above the Live Oak Boat ramp closed to salmon fishing on October 15, though it remains open for fishing for striped bass, steelhead and other species, Boucke advised.
Colfax With continuing cool weather the trout action at both Rollins Lake and Scotts Flat Reservoir is picking up. Most of the trout being caught are browns and there has been zero planting on behalf of the DFW.
“Usually at this time of the year, both Rollins and Scotts Flat are kicking out good numbers of planted rainbows, but that isn’t the case this year,” reported Jason Pleece of Meadow Vista. “There is a hatchery trout shortage in Northern California and we just aren’t seeing the rainbow plants we’ve had in previous years. As a result the only available trout are holdover and wild fish.”
“I fished both Rollins and Scotts last week and caught fish on both trips while working from my kayak. At Scotts, I caught a 13 inch brown trout and 3 smallmouth bass to 2.5 pounds while trolling a broken back perch pattern Rapala,” said Pleece.