Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 2723 Oct 26-Nov 9

Up-To-Date and Published Locally... By Sportsmen... For Sportsmen! Shadow Cliffs Lake Map Feature MADE IN U.S.A See Page 16 Vol. 37 - ISS.23 Our 36th Year Since 1982 Oct 26 - Nov 9, 2018 “The Magazine for West Coast Sportsmen!” Dropshot Dominance: Your Guide To Dropping Plastics! R oughly twelve years prior to his top 5 finish at the recent Bassmaster Elite Series event at the St. Lawrence River, professional angler David Walker cast his first ElaZtech® bait. At the time, Walker and a number of his colleagues viewed the new material mostly as a fad, a bait trend that wouldn’t last. Turns out, with an increasing number of victories to its credit, the “alter- native” softbaits might be more analogous to high-performance super- lines and the way anglers once viewed them relative to monofilament. “When I first fished some of the early ElaZtech baits, I remember having a hard time believing how soft and yet how durable they were,” recalls Walker. “It took a bit of exper- imenting with rigging, and trying the different shapes and bait styles. But pretty much right away I realized Gone Fishing just how deadly these baits could be—particularly as a jig or swimbait trailer.” For Walker and other anglers, however, the big revela- tion occurred following early trials with a Bassmaster Elite Series angler David Walker says ElaZtech has dropshot rig. transformed his dropshot fishing. Photo courtesy of Z-MAN. “The more you fish ElaZtech on a dropshot, the more you appreciate tive design by company confidants, just how much the baits elevate your biologists and industry insiders, game. I mean, you’re not supposed to the Trick ShotZ™ exhibits several do things like catch over a hundred radical qualities. bass on a single softbait.” “We knew ElaZtech’s unique Bassmaster Elite Series angler characteristics would translate into David Walker says ElaZtech has a truly special dropshot bait,” said transformed his dropshot fishing. Lonnie King, fishing writer and Interestingly, it wasn’t until 2017 co-designer of the Trick ShotZ. that Z-Man— the principal ElaZtech “With ElaZtech, it was possible innovators— released their first CONTINUED ON PG 21 dropshot-specific bait. A collabora- Courtesy of Professional Angler, David Walker Big Run on the Klamath have been there, “yesterday.” That was the case for me and some buds on a recent trip to the Lower Klamath River below Highway 96. My BFF, JW, texted to tell me that the fishing was red hot. “We caught 15 fish in Blake’s Riffle this morning to 15 pounds.” Mike McNeilly holds up a huge 22.5 pound king that he caught while fishing A short while the Klamath River. later another text Photo by MIKE MCNEILLY, Fish Sniffer Staff. jingled on my phone, “We’re done. We caught and released some ou should have been here more fish. Probably landed over 20. Lost yesterday.” Every fisherman has count.” Fishing with JW was our mutual heard that tired out old trope. Every friend, Vance, from Western Nebraska. once in a while, we are lucky enough to Vance had made the pilgrimage out to Y “ 36 Years Serving Sportsmen the Klamath, and his timing was impec- cable. As is typical for Vance, he had caught the big fish of the day. There’s something about his mixing a cocktail at 9:00 a.m. and ensuing lackluster hooksets that adds up to lucking into the big fish of the day. As good as the fishing report was, I wasn’t too excited. I’ve been lured to the siren’s song of the Klamath many times and found that the fishing had gone skunky. “Oh, the mouth sanded in yesterday,” or “the gillnetters have really been hitting it hard.” Those are the all too familiar clichés. This time would be different. My timing was perfect. What’s Hot by Mike McNeilly CONTINUED ON PG 22 Restore the Delta, Dr. Jeffrey Michael Respond to Controversial California WaterFix Benefit-Cost Analysis See Page 20 Special Section Baja Roundup PG 30-31 INSIDE Area Reports Freshwater reports Almanor - Lake Berryessa......................................4 Bullards Bar/Englebright Resv - Lake Davis.. 12-13 East Delta - Don Pedro Lake .............................. 14 Eagle Lake - Los Vaqueros Reservoir............ 18-19 New Melones Lake - Sacramento Area.......... 22-23 San Pablo Reservoir - West Delta.................. 24-25 Saltwater Reports Berkeley - Bodega Bay.........................................26 Half Moon Bay - Peninsula Shoreline............ 28 - 29 Peninsula Shoreline.............................................29 FEATURES Where...When...How... NorCal Trout Anglers Challenge....... 8-11 baja roundup...............................................30-31 baSS Fishing Spotlight: Scott Suggs............. 25 Bulletin board................................................... 3 FISH SNIFFER HOW-TO: Cal Kellogg................... 15 GO FOR IT: Staff....................................................... 6 Kayak Fishing Spotlight: Tim Allard................. 5 MAP Feature: Dan Bacher.............................16-17 Lobster Season: ..........................................30 SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION: Dan Bacher..... 20 What’s hot saltwater: .................................. 27 STAFF TACKLE What We’re Using Cal Kellogg - fished the Middle Fork of the American River for trout. For working spinners he used a 6’6” Cousins FSP 652 fiberglass rod. A 7’6” Cousins SSP 750 graphite rod was employed for fishing worms and curred roe. Both rods were teamed with Abu Garcia Cardinal SX 30 spinning reels spooled with 8 pound moss green Trilene. Cal landed several trout on the trip. All of them were safely released. Paul Kneeland - fished Pyramid Lake with Brian Garcia of Colfax in the Fish Sniffer 21’ Rogue Jet Coastal. They caught Lahontan cutthroat trout to 11 pounds 4 oz., using a Daiwa DXS 8’ light action IM-7 graphite trigger stick rigged with a Daiwa Lexa 100 line counter reel loaded with 8 lb test P Line Tactical Flourocarbon line.. They trolled watermelon Lyman lures and Bottom Line Tackle B-21 spoons in bloody frog off the Canon Downriggers at 50 to 70 feet deep and 2.5 mph. Dan Bacher - fished for rainbow and brown trout at Alpine 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.

Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 2723 Oct 26-Nov 9 | Page 3