Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3719 Aug 31- Sept 14 | Page 3

Up-To-Date and Published Locally... By Sportsmen... For Sportsmen!
Loon Lake Map Feature
MADE IN U.S.A
See Page 16
Vol. 37 - ISS.19
Our
36th
Year
T
Since 1982
Aug 31 - Sept 7, 2018
“The Magazine for West Coast Sportsmen!”
2018 High Roller Lingcod Derby:
Big Seas, Determined Anglers & Monster Lings!
he bite had gone from nerve
rackingly slow to red hot in the span
of minutes. It was go time and I needed a
giant.
Digging through my cooler
of frozen bait, while struggling
to keep my feet on the wildly
pitching bow of the California
Dawn, I found the bait I was
looking for.
It was an 18-inch mackerel
that weighed nearly 2 pounds.
When I caught the mackerel
a month before, I’d carefully
brined it, wrapped it in plastic
wrap and tucked it away in the
freezer thinking it might come
in handy during the annual
High Roller Lingcod Derby.
Pinning a massive 10/0
Gamakatsu octopus hook
through the mackerel’s head, I then posi-
tioned a scary sharp 8/0 Owner treble hook
in the mackerel’s back about 3 inches from
the tail.
Easing the rigged mackerel into the
water accompanied by a 32 ounce sinker,
I slowly thumbed the rig to the bottom.
Controlling the speed of the rig
was crucial since the last thing
I wanted was for that big bait
to start spinning
and foul the leader
at such a pivotal
moment.
Presently I felt
the sinker hit the
bottom. I engaged
the big Penn Senator
and cranked the reel
handle twice. A one
pound sinker wasn’t
enough weight to
hold the bottom, but
the two pounder was
just about perfect and
as a result my line
stayed nearly vertical.
I expected action
right away but that didn’t happen.
Five minutes passed and then
ten…Periodically I’d drop the
bait, find the bottom and then
reposition the rig just off the
rocks.
Will Cook captured the top spot in the 2018 High
Rollers Lingcod event with these two Point Reyes
monsters!
Photo courtesy of CALIFORNIA DAWN SPORTFISHING,
Berkeley.
the water. “Kirby…right there” I uttered
while pointing to his rod. I dropped my
rod to grab the net, only to see a rod tip
shaking on the opposite side
of the boat. “Gary, your
outside rod!” I exclaimed.
The next few minutes were
a blur of pumping rods and
nets flying in every direction.
When the dust had settled, all
six rods laid in tangled heap
across the back of the boat.
Although the boat trolled
onward, no fishing lines were
in the water. We couldn’t
get corn on our hooks fast
enough. The sun still hadn’t
crested the eastern peak,
but a glowing smoky haze
laid silently over the water.
Kokanee pandemonium had
broken out on Stampede Reservoir.
Each year, it seems like one body of
water rises to the top as the best kokanee
fishery in Northern California. Lake
Berryessa held the title for a number
of years, only to be knocked off by the
drought and the sudden resurgence of
Whiskeytown Lake. Last summer at the
Whiskeytown Kokanee Power derby,
I proclaimed it was the best
kokanee fishing I had ever
seen.
Whiskeytown fished great
this year and has the current
edge on other lakes as far as
average size. However, I have
NEVER seen anything like
the kokanee fishing this year
at Stampede Reservoir.
Let me provide some
examples. During my first
trip this year on August 4
with Kirby Desha and Gary
Ledbetter, we limited out for
the three of us in 45 minutes
flat. Our limits included three
fish over sixteen inches.
Next up was on August 7, when we
fished the three of us plus Kirby’s
father-in-law Willie Brusin. We were off
the water with 20 fish in the cooler by
7:20 am. There were a few smaller fish
mixed in, but for the most part we were
WHAT’S
HOT
by
Jack Naves
The kokanee have been running large at
Stampede Reservoir this season, with fish
over 16 inches being common.
Photo by JACK NAVES, Fish Sniffer Staff.
Area Reports
FRESHWATER REPORTS
Almanor/Bucks Lake - Bullards Bar/Englebright
Reservoirs.......................................................4
Camanche Lake - Colusa/Knights Landing......... 10
Lake Del Valle - East Delta ................................. 13
Eastern Sierra - Klamath River............................ 14
Los Vaqueros Reservoir - Oroville Lake.............. 19
Lake Pardee - Rollins/Scotts Flat ....................... 20
Sacramento Area - Shasta Lake.................... 22-23
Stampede Reservoir - Western Nevada......... 24-25
SALTWATER REPORTS
Berkeley - Monterey Bay................................ 28-29
Peninsula Shoreline.............................................30
TROUT & KOKANEE JOURNAL................ 6-9,11,12
BAJA ROUNDUP...............................................30-31
BASS FISHING SPOTLIGHT: Mark Fong............... 24
BULLETIN BOARD................................................... 3
FISH SNIFFER HOW-TO: Cal Kellogg................... 15
GO FOR IT: Staff....................................................... 5
KAYAK FISHING SPOTLIGHT: Savanna Maddox... 18
MAP FEATURE: Dan Bacher.............................16-17
SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION: Dan Bacher..... 26
WHAT’S HOT SALTWATER: Mark Fong ................ 23
Kokanee Pandemonium Breaks Out at Stampede Reservoir
had just landed a nice kokanee and
was trying to get my line back in
INSIDE
Where...When...How...
by
Cal Kellogg
I
Special Section
Baja Roundup
PG 30-31
FEATURES
GONE
FISHING
CONTINUED ON PG 21
36 Years
Serving
Sportsmen
CONTINUED ON PG 22
Legislative Budget Committee
Postpones Hearing on Extend-
ing SWP Contracts to Fund
Delta Tunnels See Page 26
STAFF
TACKLE
What We’re Using
Cal Kellogg - trolled for trout
at French Meadows Reservoir
from his Hobie Pro Angler 14
kayak. Cal chose a Vance’s
Tackle trout rod teamed with
an Abu Garcia 5500 line counter reel spooled
with 10 pound moss green Trilene Big Game
line. On the business end Cal ran an 8 pound
test Vanish Fluorocarbon leader tipped with an
orange Ex-Cel Spoon. To get the spoon down
to the fish, Cal employed a small portable
Scotty downrigger. Using this gear Cal caught
trout to 17 inches.
Paul Kneeland - fished
Flaming Gorge Reservoir,
Wyoming with Mark Kalinowski
of Concord in Marks 22’ Rogue
Jet. They caught kokanee to 21
inches and 3 ½ pounds using a Cousins 7’6”
ultra light graphite downrigger rod with a Daiwa
Lexa 100 level wind reel loaded with 8 lb. test
Yozuri TopKnot fluorocarbon line. They trolled
Vance’s watermelon dodgers followed by a hot
pink Yakima Bait Tight Lines kokanee spinner
hootchie at 55 feet deep and 1.4 mph off the
Scotty Downriggers.
Dan Bacher - fished for
rainbow trout at Spicer
Reservoir.. He used a Berkley
Ugly Stick GX2 6’ 6” medium
action spinning rod, teamed
up with a Shakespeare GX235 spinning
reel filled with 6 lb. test P-Line CX Premium
Flourocarbon Coated Line. He fished with
chartreuse Berkley PowerBait, 1/8 oz. gold
and black Panther Martins and 2/5 oz. gold/red
stripe Little Cleos.