Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3624 Nov 10-24 2017 | Page 3

Up-To-Date and Published Locally... By Sportsmen... For Sportsmen!
French Meadows Map Feature
MADE IN U.S.A
See Page 14
Vol. 36 - ISS.24
Our
35th
Year
Since 1982
Nov. 10 - 24, 2017
“The Magazine for West Coast Sportsmen!”
Shasta Fall Trout Derby – Tough
Bite But Very Large Trout!
T
he 17th Annual Shasta Lake Fall
Trout derby took place on the
weekend of October 14 and 15. The lake
was in fantastic shape, only
about 45 feet down and clear
and beautiful.
John Brassfield and I
arrived at Sugarloaf Cottages
and were greeted by Bruce
Wicks and Al Fiske of
Foresthill. We barbequed
steaks and had cocktails
and cigars overlooking
the beautiful Sacramento
River arm of Shasta Lake.
Dave Barsi of Oak Run, his
daughter Alicia and Mark
Kalinowski of Concord
would complete our group in
the morning.
We launched the Rogue
Jet 21 Coastal on Friday and
pre-fished with very little luck and were a
little worried on what to do Saturday. The
lake was in the midst of the fall turnover,
and the trout were spread out all over the
lake and the water column.
The weather on Saturday didn’t help
the fishing, with 15 to 25 mph north winds
blowing the lake into a froth!
John and I started in
Dry Fork right at 7 am
and immediately had a
double hookup!! This
was an indication of
our day ahead – 2 nice
fat bass! We fished
for about 2 hours in
Dry Fork and caught 18 more
bass before we decided to try
somewhere else.
It was not to be our day – we
emptied our tackle boxes trying
to find something that would
catch a trout. For the first time
ever fishing these derbies – we
came back to the dock empty
handed!! No trout for 9 hours
of hard fishing! We must have
caught 30 bass all the way down to 100
feet deep -- too bad it wasn’t a bass derby!!
At the weigh in, we found that out of the
L
Fish Sniffer publisher Paul Kneeland holds up 4 trout
that were caught on the final day of the Shasta Fall
Derby on Ex-Cel and Speedy Shiner spoons.
Photo by JOHN BRASSFIELD, Trucksmart.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 16
On the first
of three days
of fishing the
derby, we start-
ed out soaking
bait for stripers
on the Sacra-
mento River
near the town
of Collinsville.
At daybreak,
the incoming
tide was start-
ing to trickle
upstream, just
fast enough
to keep the
anchored boat straight. Jason cast his rod,
and it immediately got slammed by a five
pound striper.
Although a five pounder is g reat
eating size, we wanted a fish as close as
possible to 31.5 inches, the derby target
length. The angler with the striper closest
to target without going over wins first
prize. So back to the water it went, along
with another five pounder Jason caught
on his next cast.
We thought we were onto the striper
WHAT’S
HOT
by
Jack Naves
Jason Carlisle holds up a beautiful 21 pound striper for a quick photo before releasing it. It was a great fish, but
well over the derby’s 31.5 inch target length.
Photo by JACK NAVES, Fish Sniffer Staff.
INSIDE
Area Reports
Where...When...How...
Stripers and Sturgeon and Salmon, Oh My!
[phone] www.dragonsportfishing.com
PAGE 26-27
FEATURES
by
Paul Kneeland
fishing. My fishing partner Jason Carlisle
and I were only able to land two of the
three species. We didn’t win any prizes
in the derby, but we did come away with
some fish stories and photos to last a
lifetime.
SEE OUR NEW BAJA
ROUNDUP SECTION ON
FRESHWATER REPORTS
Almanor Lake - American River.............................4
Lake Berryessa - Eagle Lake............................ 6-7
East Delta - Oroville Lake.................................. 8-9
Lake Pardee - San Pablo Reservoir...............10-11
Santa Clara Lakes - Trinity River/Lake.......... 12-13
West Delta - Wild Horse Reservoir .....................17
SALTWATER REPORTS
Berkeley - Bodega Bay.........................................22
Half Moon Bay - Peninsula Shoreline.............. 24-25
GONE
FISHING
ast year, I was able to pull off the
improbable trifecta of catching all
three targeted species in the Rio Vista Bass
Derby. Stripers, sturgeon, and salmon all
in one weekend.
This year’s derby featured inconsistent
35 Years
Serving
Sportsmen
CONTINUED ON PAGE 19
Department of Interior Issues
Contradictory Statements on
Support for Delta Tunnels
See Page 18
CRAB SEASON FEATURE...............................20-21
BAJA ROUNDUP...............................................26-27
BILL’S TIPS - Bill Adelman...................................... 13
BULLETIN BOARD................................................... 4
FISH SNIFFER HOW-TO: Cal Kellogg..................... 5
GO FOR IT: Staff....................................................... 2
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR...................................... 3
MAP FEATURE: Dan Bacher.............................14-15
SALTY TIPS Steve “Hippo” Lau.............................. 26
SONOMA COAST - Kathie Morgan......................... 22
SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION - Dan Bacher.... 18
WHAT’S HOT SALTWATER................................... 23
STAFF
TACKLE
What We’re Using
Cal Kellogg - Fished the
Middle Fork of the American
River for trout on October
26. For casting spinners he
used a 6’6” Cousins FSP
652 fiberglass rod. A 7’6” Cousins SSP
750 graphite rod was used for fishing
worms and Atlas salmon eggs. Both rods
were teamed with Abu Garcia Cardinal
SX 30 spinning reels spooled with 8 lb.
moss green Trilene. Using these rigs Cal
landed and released several wild rain-
bows and a single German brown.
Paul Kneeland - fished
the Fall Shasta Lake Trout
& Salmon derby with John
Brassfield of Trucksmart in
the Fish Sniffer 21’ Rogue
Jet Coastal. He caught rainbows to 2 ½
pounds, using a Daiwa DXS 8’ light ac-
tion IM-7 graphite trigger stick rigged with
the new Daiwa Lexa 100 Line counter
reel loaded with 8 lb test Yozuri Topknot
line. They trolled rainbow pattern Speedy
Shiners on the surface at 2.5 mph.
Dan Bacher - fished for
rainbow trout at Spicer Res-
ervoir. He used a Berkley
Ugly Stick GX2 6’ 6” medi-
um action spinning rod,
teamed up with a Shake-
speare GX235 spinning reel filled with 6
lb. test P-Line CX Premium Flourocarbon
Coated Line. He tossed out 1/8 oz. Yaki-
ma Bait Rooster Tails in Brown Trout, Fire
Tiger and Rainbow color patterns and 1/8
oz. gold and black Panther Martins.