Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition 3814 June 21- July 5 2019 | Page 24

22
June 21 - July 5, 2019
FRESHWATER REPORTS:
CONTINUED FROM PG 20
WEST DELTA
Late Spring Prolongs Striper
& Sturgeon Action!
BRANNAN ISLAND- The spring season
seems to be running about a month
behind. We’ve had a bunch of cold outflow
this year and as a result, June anglers
plying the Delta are enjoying May like
conditions.
The striper bite is raging. The sturgeon
bite is downright amazing and since it is
June fishing pressure is getting lighter and
lighter as anglers fan out across the state
in pursuit of various hot bites.
For keeper and oversize sturgeon
you’ll want to go west into the upper
part of Suisun Bay. Look for the
diamondbacks in the usual areas and
you’ll find them. The outgoing tide
has been offering the best fishing for
sturgeon, but of course this is the
most difficult tide to anchor during
with the almost daily spring wind out
of the west. Roe and eel are the baits.
If you’ve never caught a sturgeon or
are looking to fill a tag, the fishing is
about as good as it gets in California.
Stripers are on the move and can
be found in solid numbers on both the
Sacramento and San Joaquin sides.
Pluggers, bait anglers and trollers
are scoring limits most days. Trollers
will want to work primarily with deep
running plugs such as Yo-Zuri Crystal
Minnows. Seek out areas of clean
water and stay on the move to locate
fish. Once you find a willing biter work
the area carefully and watch for signs
of other fish on your graph.
HOW TO
You attach a small plastic stop to the
cable 10 to 15 feet above the ball. Then
you lower the first line down to the level
you want to fish.
Once the first line is down you slip
your plastic Shuttle Hawk to the cable,
let out your second fishing line and
attach it to the clip on the plainer. The
fishing line attached to the plainer
causes it to tip forward and dig into the
current created by the movement of the
boat.
At that point, all you need to do is
loosen the drag on your rod all the way
and the plainer will be forced down to
the plastic stop you put on the cable.
Once it is all the way down, tighten the
reel’s drag and go about your business.
When a trout hits, the lure trailing
behind the plainer and pulls the line
out of the clip, the rolling weight in
the plainer moves to the rear, causing
its nose to tilt upward. When it does, it
catches the current and is forced back
up to the surface. Many times, I use
my Shuttle Hawk even when I’m only
using one rod per downrigger since it
saves me from constantly raising and
lowering my downrigger. If you have
crank downriggers these devices are
real labor savers.
There is another method of probing
different depths with only a single
rod. I refer to this as using a cheater, it
works like this. Let’s say you’re fishing
a dodger and spoon 60 feet deep off
a downrigger. A cheater or dropper is
a 36-inch fluorocarbon leader with a
spoon tied at one end and a snap swivel
at the other. Once your downrigger
has been lowered and the rod is in the
holder, simply reach out and snap the
spoon tipped leader to the line on the
rod and drop it into the water. The
pressure of the water pulling against the
fishing line causes it to arch out behind
the boat.
The cheater leader will slide down
the line to the center of the arch. If your
primary rig is working at 60 feet the
cheater will descend down to about the
30-foot level and stay there.
You can always count on the cheater
stopping at the halfway point between
the surface and the primary rig. Since
the cheater is essentially only working
from 6 to 10 feet behind the boat,
depending on how large the bow in the
main line is this tactic only works well
when the primary rig is being pulled
in moderately deep to deep water,
otherwise the cheater will be too close
to the boat for good results.
In general, for me to employ a cheater
FRESHWATER
VOL.38 • ISS. 14
For bait anglers
fishing with shad,
bloodworms,
sardines or live
minnows, deep water
near the channel
on the Sacramento
River is one of the
best places to look
for action.
Pluggers are doing
well with both soft
plastic swimbaits
and jigging
spoons.
By Cal Kellogg
These anglers hit New Melones Reservoir on May 31 and rounded up
limits of kokanee while trolling with Capt. Monte Smith.
Photo courtesy of GOLD COUNTRY SPORTFISHING, Oakdale.
continued from page 10
my primary rig has to be working in 40
two-hooked trout fight against both your employ both a lure and dodger on a
feet of water or deeper. It is important to rod and each other.
cheater. I’ve seen it done and I’ve seen it
keep a close eye on your rod when using
Most of the time small low drag
catch fish, but all in all it seems like a lot
a cheater, since when a fish is hooked,
spoons like Needlefish and Dick Nites
of work. In reality if it takes a full blown
it will almost never cause the line to
are used on cheater leaders, but there
dodger and lure combination to draw
pop off the downrigger. Instead you’ll
are other options. Apex style lures work strikes you’ll be best served shelving the
see the fight of the trout telegraphed to
well as do Wiggle Hoochies.
cheater concept and just working your
the rod. At this point you need to grab
If you are really daring you can
main line at the depth indicated.
the rod, pop it out
of the downrigger
and quickly reel
until you feel the
For both Bank Anglers and Boat Anglers!
weight of the trout.
Sponsored by
If you don’t move
2019 TOURNAMENT DATES
fast the trout will
• FEB. 2nd .................. San Pablo Dam Res.
often shake the
• March 2nd .............. Lake Pardee
hook because it is
• March 23rd ............. Lake Amador
essentially fighting
• APRIL 13th .............. Collins Lake
on a slack line.
• OCT. 12th ................ Lake Pardee
While the cheater
• NOV. 2-3rd...Tournament of Champions...
will often pick up
Brought to
Collins Lake
you by
trout as you troll it
will also pick up the
TONS OF FUN FOR YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY!
Top 50 adult finishers from all
occasional bonus
2019 tournaments are eligible
for a chance to win the
fish. Undoubt-
Grand Raffle Prize
edly, you’ve
been reeling in a
trout only to look
down in the water
Top 25 youth finishers from all
and see another
2019 tournaments are eligible
fish swimming
along with it. In
for a chance to win a
that situation,
Grand Raffle Prize
the second trout
hears the struggle
Thousands Of Catchable Trout
of the hooked
Planted In Each Lake!
fish, assumes it is
Derby hours 7am to 2 pm
feeding and moves
TOC Entry Fee: $25 per Qualifying Adult
in hoping for an
Qualifying Kids 15 and under FREE
easy meal.
$10 High Roller Side Pot Option (3-Qualifiers Awarded)
At times when a
FREE Raffle after Weigh-in for Eligible Tournament Participants
Entry Fee ONLY $20
fish is hooked on
State Fishing Licenses are required and Calif. DFW rules apply
the primary rig and
and KIDS ARE FREE!
ONLINE REGISTRATION AVAILABLE AT WWW.ANGLERSPRESS.COM
the line pulls out of
the clip the cheater
will slide down
the line until it
reaches the primary
rig’s dodger. If
there is a second
trout following
the hooked fish it
Phone Entry Reservations: [phone] • Enter Online At www.anglerspress.com
will often grab the
CASH
Mail Entry To: Anglers Press P.O. Box 601956, Sacramento, CA 95680
GREAT PRIZES
and PRIZES
cheater and you’ll
EXHIBITOR BOOTHS • HUGE RAFFLE AFTER THE WEIGH-IN • PRIZES • FAMILY FUN & EXCITEMENT!
FOR THE KIDS
for the Adults
*Prizes and payout are subjected to change without notice
have a double
DIVISION!
Division!
*Boats shown with options.
A Sheldon Bright Production.
header on your
hands.
SPONSORED BY:
Typically, you’ll
be fighting your fish
Fisherman’s
Warehouse
and suddenly the
fight will become
sluggish and be
replaced by heavy
3806
weight as the
NorCal Trout Anglers Challenge!
WIN A NEW BOAT!