Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition 3805 Feb 15- Mar 1 | Page 3

Up-To-Date and Published Locally... By Sportsmen... For Sportsmen!
San Pablo Lake Map Feature
MADE IN U.S.A
See Page 14
Vol. 38 - ISS.05
Our
37th
Year
Since 1982
Feb 15 - Mar 1, 2019
“The Magazine for West Coast Sportsmen!”
Big Numbers of American
River Steelhead Excite Anglers
L
arge numbers of adult steelhead
are showing on the American River,
the crown jewel
of the Sacramento
metropolitan area,
attracting plenty of
anglers in the quest
to hook these hard-
fighting sea run fish.
The Nimbus Fish
Hatchery has trapped
a total of 1843
steelhead to date, the
best showing of fish
since 2013. These
fish include 933 adult
males, 826 adult
females, 43 juvenile
males, 26 juvenile
females, 4 wild
males and 11 wild females, reported Greg
Ferguson at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery.
“We’ve taken a total of 870,814 eggs to
date,” he said. “During our latest spawn
on Tuesday, January 29, we spawned 24
females and 47 males.”
With fish and eggs abundant this year,
GONE
FISHING
by
Dan Bacher
O
“
the hatchery
staff foresees no
problem meeting
its production
goal of 430,000
steelhead smolts
for release in
2020.
Jim Palmus and Jerry Lampkin show off a hard-fighting steelhead
caught on the American River at Sailor Bar on January 28.
The smolts
Photo courtesy of TNG MOTOR SPORTS GUIDE SERVICE.
(juveniles) that
were released
Tackle in Auburn hooked an 8 pounder,
during the high water year of 2017 are
while Jim Palmus landed a 29 incher.”
the steelhead that are coming back to the
On our trip, Lampkin launched his
river to spawn now. Most of the steelhead
Fishrite
boat at Sailor Bar and said we
are in the 7 to 11 lb. range, with a few
would start off pulling Hot Shots, tipped
larger ones weighing 12 to 14 pounds.
with half-nightcrawlers, in the run above
The big numbers of steelhead are also
the riffle.
drawing crowds of anglers some days
“Let out a total of 30 pulls of line.
to fish the river. That was the case on
First put out 20 pulls and then let out
January 29, when Doug MacPherson
the remaining 10 pulls slowly, pausing
of Sacramento and I fished with Jerry
after each pull. Sometimes the fish hit
Lampkin of TNG Motor Sports Guide
when you are letting it out or pausing,”
Service.
he tipped.
“We caught and released two adult
Doug, Jerry and I let out the Hot Shots
steelhead while pulling Hot Shots
into the clear and cold water. Doug had
yesterday,” reported Lampkin before the
CONTINUED ON PG 20
trip. “Craig Newton, the owner of Willfish
One Bite Away!
lifetime. This gift of hopefulness keeps
us coming back again and again, while
non-anglers abandon fishing as being “too
boring”.
A trophy
brown trout
was the
furthest thing
from my
mind when
I journeyed
to Lake
Camanche on
the afternoon
of January 19.
The purpose
of the trip was
to test some
equipment
maintenance
I had recently
made to the
boat and
trailer. For a typical fishing
trip, I launch the boat
Fish Sniffer field editor Jack Naves shows off a colorful 4.5
before dawn. Instead, my
pound brown trout taken and released at Lake Camanche
on January 19. Rare catches like these make for memorable
son Adam and I meandered
moments. The fish slammed a Rapala F9 Floating Minnow
through the gold country
in the ‘Hot Steel’ pattern 150 feet behind the boat on a side
foothills in the lazy haze of
planer trolled at 2.6 mph.
ne of the appeals of fishing
is the virtue of optimism it
breeds. We are always just one bite away
from turning a slow day into the trip of a
the afternoon sunshine.
The available sunlight afforded us the
opportunity to take in the sights, such
as scattered herds of cattle
grazing upon the lush green
countryside. Lake Camanche is
nestled in the rolling foothills
between the towns of Ione and
Valley Springs in Northern
California.
The lake sustains a solid
holdover population of rainbow
trout, in addition to the 60,000
pounds of trout they plant
annually between October
and May. For our trip, I was
looking forward to picking up
a few planted rainbows. The
rainbows planted by the Mt.
Lassen Trout Farm provide
deep orange fillets, which
make for great table fare.
As Adam and I pulled away from the
ramp, an eager flock of white pelicans
paddled over for a closer look. We
quickly left them behind as I cut a wake
away from the ramp at full throttle.
We started fishing by trolling two rods
on downriggers and two rods on side
WHAT’S
HOT
by
Jack Naves
Photo by JACK NAVES, Fish Sniffer Staff.
37 Years
Serving
Sportsmen
CONTINUED ON PG 11
Senator Dianne Feinstein
Drops Support for WIIN
Act Amendment (for Now)
See Page 21
Special Section
Baja Roundup
PG 26-27
INSIDE
Area Reports
FRESHWATER REPORTS
Almanor - Bullards Bar/Englebright Reservoir........4
Lake Camanche - Clear Lake...................................7
Colllins Lake - Del Valle Lake.................................8
Eastern Sierra - Klamath River.............................11
Knight’s Landing/Colusa - Pyramid Lake........ 12-13
Quarry Lakes........................................................ 17
Rancho Seco Lake - Sacramento Area............... 18
Santa Clara Valley/San Luis Lakes -
West Delta............................................... 22-23
SALTWATER REPORTS
Berkeley - Martinez........................................ 24-25
Monterey Bay......................................................26
FEATURES
Where...When...How...
FISHING BOAT KICKOFF........................... 6,9,10,13
BAJA ROUNDUP...............................................25-26
BASS FISHING SPOTLIGHT: Cal Kellogg............. 19
BULLETIN BOARD................................................... 3
FISH SNIFFER COUNTRY: Hippo Lau................... 24
GO FOR IT: Staff....................................................... 2
HOW-TO: Cal Kellogg............................................ 16
KAYAK FISHING SPOTLIGHT: Kevin Hofer ............. 5
MAP FEATURE: Dan Bacher.............................14-15
SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION: Dan Bacher..... 21
STAFF
TACKLE
What We’re Using
Cal Kellogg - fished for
sturgeon out of the Martinez
Marina aboard the Happy
Hooker. For soaking
lamprey eel soaked in Pro-
Cure Sturgeon Cocktail Heavy Liquid, Cal
used a 7’ Ugly Stik Tiger rod rated for line
from 30 to 60 pound test. The rod was
matched with a 25 size Penn Fathom lever
drag reel spooled with Yo-Zuri 65 pound
Superbraid line in the blue color.
Dan Bacher - fished for
steelhead with Jerry Lampkin
of TNG Motor Sports Guide
Service in his drift boat on
the American River from
Sailor Bar to Sunrise. He fished Hot Shots
on a Rogue 7’ 6’’ Hot Shot rod, teamed up
with a Shimano Calcutta 250 reel filled with
12 lb. test P-Line CXX line. He also tossed
out a silver ¼ oz. Little Cleo while using a
Rogue 226 spinning rod/Shimano Sedona
reel combo.
Paul Kneeland - fished
Pyramid Lake with Bridget
Looney in the Fish Sniffer
21’ Rogue Jet Coastal. They
caught Lahontan cutthroat to
7 ½ pounds, using a Seeker 8’ light action
Composite trigger stick rigged with a Daiwa
Accudepth ICV level wind reel loaded with
8 lb test Yozuri Hybrid line. They trolled 4
inch Apex spoons in Tui chub color and
“Canberra Killer” Tasmanian Devils behind
Vance’s cannonball flashers off the Canon
Downriggers at 10 to 50 feet deep at 2.5
mph. Paul and Bridget coated their lures
with Pro-Cure Trophy Trout Super Gel.