22 June 23 - July 7 , 2017 VOL . 36 • ISS . 14
FRESHWATER REPORTS :
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19
SOUTHERN OREGON ROUNDUP cont .
on June 24 through July 31 or until the 18,000 marked coho quota has been met .
Bottom fishing has been good when the ocean conditions allow . Fishing for bottom fish is now restricted to inside the 30-fathom curve . A few black rockfish have been seen feeding on / near the surface recently .
Recreational harvest of bay clams remains open along the entire Oregon coast . Clamming is excellent during low tides near Charleston , off Cape Arago Highway , and Clam Island . There are also good places to dig clams even on positive low tides in Coos Bay .
STAMPEDE / BOCA RESERVOIRS
Kokanee Action Sizzles At Stampede !
TRUCKEE - Kokanee salmon fishing is sizzling at Stampede , while the fishing has slowed down at Boca Reservoir .
“ 30-40 kokanee up to 16 inches are being caught by 10 am ,” said James Netzel of Tight Lines Guide Service . “ It has been non stop action from sunrise till we throw in the towel .”
“ I start fishing from the launch ramp and catch fish everywhere I have gone . The kokanee are not schooled up yet and are being caught from the islands to the river arms ,” he noted .
“ We started off last month catching them from the top down to 20 ’. Currently 20 ’ -30 ’ down has been the best . Anything pink and small has been the best color and for scents , garlic and tuna oil has been the go to ,” he explained .
Rocky Mountain Tackle double glow pink plankton and powerful pink Radical Glow Tubes are Netzel ’ s favorite 2 lures now , but a tiny pink n purple Dick Nite is working also . Currently the kokanee average 13 ” -14 ” with a few topping 15 ” -16 , but they are fat for this time of year .
“ Boca got off to a great start , but recently the bite has slowed ,” said Netzel . “ We started off last month catching them from the top down to about 18 ’ on a variety of different lures .”
“ Powerful pink Radical Glow Tubes were top baits , followed by Radical Red Radical Glow Tubes . We fished near the shoal on the east side . Launching is a little tough to find the accesses in the dark , but once you are at
Casey Seeds hit Lake Tahoe on May 23 and caught this impressive 15 lb . mackinaw while toplining a big plug over 60 feet of water .
Photo courtesy of FISHSNIFFER . COM . a good launching site , as long as you have 4 wheel drive , it ’ s not a problem ,” he said . “
“ The size of the lokanee is great for this time of year . We were averaging 14-15 ” fish with our largest 16.5 ”,” he tipped .
LAKE TAHOE
Joel Anderson Lands And Releases 22 Pound Mack !
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE - Mackinaw fishing is steady at Lake Tahoe . Lots of fish in the 4 to 6 pound class are available and on the top end , fish to 22 pounds have shown up . In addition to the macks some browns and rainbows are being caught too .
Toward the end of May , Captain Gene St . Denis of Blue Ribbon Charters headed out on an instructional trolling trip with an angler named Joel Anderson . While trolling a minnow teamed with a dodger Joel hooked up with the mack of a lifetime when a 22 pounder decided to feed . The bait was 155 feet from the surface off Tahoe City when the strike came . The fish was revived and released after the fight .
“ Currently mackinaw in the 2 to 6 pound range are common fare ,” said St . Denis . “ But we are seeing some much bigger fish too . In addition to the 22 pounder we got , there have been a handful of fish landed that ranged from 8 to 16 pounds . Deadman Point , Eagle Point and Skunk Harbor have been producing browns and rainbows , but the action if variable . It will be good one day and poor the next ,” related St . Denis .
Mickey Daniels of Mickey ’ s Big Mack Charters has been enjoying solid action at the north end of the lake . Mickey ’ s clients have been hooking mackinaw up to 7 pounds . Some fish are being kept for the table while the others are tagged and released .
Mickey hooks his fish on a variety of offerings including Shasta Tackle Kok-A- Nuts teamed with Sling Blade Dodgers .
These anglers rounded up three limits of kokanee to 15 inches while trolling a variety of different lures at Boca Reservoir on May 22 .
Photo courtesy of TIGHT LINES GUIDE SERVICE , Loomis .
FRESHWATER
TRINITY RIVER / LAKE
Boaters Battle Smallmouths And Largemouths
WEAVERVILLE – Black bass fishing is in full swing at Trinity Lake , while rainbows are hitting best in the mouths of the tributaries .
“ Boaters are hooking smallmouth and largemouth bass up to 5 pounds while using just about any bait you want ,” advised Tim Brady of Trinity Outdoors . “ Fishermen are hooking fish on swimbaits , surface baits , Senkos , spinnerbaits and spoons throughout the lake .”
The north end is the most popular area to fish , but Brady but the bass can be found holding around submerged weeds , brush , timber and structure around the lake .
Kokanee salmon and king salmon fishing is still very slow . “ Locals are at a loss to where these fish are ,” he noted . “ The deep trollers aren ’ t finding them .”
However , shore anglers and boaters fishing in the mouths of the tributaries , including the East Fork , Stewarts Fork , Swift Creek and Upper Trinity , are picking up rainbows , a mixture of holdovers and planters . They ’ re fishing marshmallows , nightcrawlers , PowerBait , Kastmasters , spinners and other offerings for the trout .
The reservoir is holding 2,267,634 feet of water , 93 percent of capacity and 108 percent of average at press time .
Reclamation water releases from Lewiston Dam began ramping down from 5,400 cfs starting on June 4 . The Bureau will ramp the releases down from 2,700 cfs on June 16 to 1,100 cfs on July 15 .
The releases for this “ extremely wet ” 2017 water year will result in an annual total volume of 815,000 acre-feet . More information www . trrp . net / background / rod /
WEST DELTA
Stripers And Sturgeon Still Biting As Crowds Thin
BRANNAN ISLAND - It ’ s a classic late spring , early summer scenario in the West Delta . The winds are up and fishing is good in S . F . Bay and the ocean . As a result , serious anglers are dwindling in the Delta , despite the fact that the fishing for both striped bass and sturgeon is good to very good . For 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 .
If you were only going to take one bait , you ’ d be wise to run with eel . Two ? Eel and salmon roe !
Stripers can be found scattered or in groups , but they all seem to be on the move . Some are spawned out and swimming down the system or simply cruising and feeding . The other fish have yet to spawn and are pushing up river into the big cold flows that are still pouring out of nearly full reservoirs in the foothills .
Both bait anglers and trollers can score limits of fish with a good effort 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 .
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 . Trust your sonar . Don ’ t drop the anchor and start fishing until you ’ ve found a good number of marks on and near the bottom .
WILD HORSE LAKE
Trout Lead Summer Angling Parade
ELKO - Very little change here as Wildhorse continues to receive a lot of snow melt keeping the water level very high and there is a lot of water going over the spillway as well as lots of water still in the form of snow in the basin . You can launch a boat and the boat dock is in the water .
Fishing for trout was good last week as the surface water temperatures were pushing into the 60 ’ s . Anglers report some good fishing in the Hendricks Arm , near the warm springs on the west side and in the last cove before the canyon by the highway .
The occasional wiper and smallmouth have been caught . Though expect bass fishing to be slow this year as the bass fishery recovers from the drought . If you do catch some smallmouth , they must be returned immediately to the water until July 1 .
Bait fishermen should use the usual worms or PowerBait here . Garlic PowerEggs of just about any color seem to work very well . Spin fishermen should be using spinners and minnow imitators like Rapalas . This time of year gold , black and gold , or green and gold spinners work well . For the minnow imitating lures , black over white or silver , dark blue over white or silver and dark green over white or silver work well .
Fly rodders should be using chironomids , hares ears , PT ’ s and wooly buggers . Wildhorse received another 7000 trout last week for a total of just under 12,000 fish this month .
The campground is open and is on a first come first served basis .
-by Joe Doucette
Natural Bug Spray
No More Bug Bites !
www . NoSeeUmNoMore . com