Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3712 May 25- June 8 | Page 10

10
May 25 - June 8, 2018
FRESHWATER
VOL.37 • ISS. 12
FRESHWATER REPORTS:
feet of water, 95 percent of capacity and 99
percent of average.

- Dan Bacher
CONTINUED FROM PG 4
AMERICAN RIVER
cont.
but the fishing hasn’t busted loose yet on the
lower river yet. However, that is all expected
to change soon.
From May 7 through May 14, the Bureau
of Reclamation raised flows on the American
River below Nimbus Dam to 3,500 cfs and
them ramped them back down to 1,750 cfs.
“This was a pulse operation, coordinated
with the fisheries agencies,” reported Peggy
Manza, Reclamation spokesman.
This pulse flow is expected to draw
some more shad into the lower American.
The shad fishing has been slow so far this
season, but you can expect the fishing to
pick up.
“The guys fishing the lower American
have reported catching 4 or 5 per evening
while throwing out a variety of shad jigs and
grubs,” said Alan Fong at the Fisherman’s
Warehouse.
Dennis Phanner, the owner of Sacramento
Pro Tackle, reported good fishing from his
boat on a recent trip to the mouth of the
American. “We caught and released a
dozen shad, a mixture of males and females
ranging from 1-1/2 to 3-1/2 pounds, while
fishing red/white and red/white/blue shad
darts,” explained Pfanner.

- Dan Bacher
CAMANCHE LAKE
13.7 Lb. Largemouth Leads
Catches
The rainbow bite is going full speed at Lake Almanor. These fish were landed during an early
May trolling adventure.
Photo courtesy of BIG DADDY’S GUIDE SERVICE, Quincy.
BULLARDS BAR/
ENGLEBRIGHT
RESERVOIRS
Smaller Bass Are Abundant
SMARTVILLE - Larry Hemphill, fishing
guide, reported a wide-open bite on smaller
spotted bass at Bullards Bar Reservoir on
his latest trip there.
“I had a nice guide trip with a very
good lady bass angler who I have guided
before,” said Hemphill. “Fishing had really
changed in the last week with a move to the
shallows. We caught them as shallow as 2
feet. Average depth was around 10 to 15
feet in the morning and down to 25 feet in
the afternoon,” said Hemphill.
“When we left the ramp at Bullards, it
was sunny and calm - until about 11 am.
The wind found us,” he noted. “This time is
was a Clear Lake pattern - wind switching
directions all the time. It didn’t seem to slow
the bite, however, except maybe for the
bigger bass.”
“We did catch lots of keepers up to near
2 lbs. but didn’t get any toad bites,” he
explained. “She came prepared with some
of her favorite baits and they worked well.
Drop-shotting MM111 Robos worked well
for me. Maybe because of the winds, big
bass seemed hard to find,” he said.
“The smaller bass bite was wide-open.
Flats with a drop-off produced well . The
bigger bass were always a little deeper,
20-25 feet. The Senko bite in the trees was
pretty good,” he added.
Boaters continue to find top-notch
action on kokanee ranging from 10 to 13
inches long while trolling pink hoochies
and other lures, tipped with white corn,
behind dodgers, at Bullards Bar, reported
Alan Fong at Fisherman’s Warehouse in
Sacramento.
Bullards Bar is holding 932,499 acre feet
of water, 97 percent
of capacity and 120
percent of average.
At Englebright
Reservoir, anglers are
targeting rainbows
while bait fishing
with PowerBait and
nightcrawlers or
trolling with spoons,
spinners and
nightcrawlers behind
dodgers.
Englebright is
holding 66,336 acre
NorCal’s Premier Trout Fishery
LAKE PARDEE
Increased Trout Plant
Program Starts Now
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Stocked With: TROUT
BURSON - The bass bite had been
tremendous with a 13.7-pound largemouth
caught and released during pre-fishing on
Friday for Saturday’s Angler’s Press event,
but the overcast conditions on Saturday
slowed down the action for the 127 boats
participating in the event.
Beau Courtoul of the Lake Camanche
Recreation Company said, “There were
some big boys found the day before, but
the bite slowed down on Saturday in the
overcast conditions. Out of the 127 boats,
there were two limits over 22 pounds, but
the pressure on Friday was heavy.”
Mike Gomez of Berserk Baits said,
“We lost a big one right off of the bat on a
Senko that we estimated at 12 pounds, and
this fish was on for a few minutes before
coming unbuttoned. The cloud cover killed
the bite as anglers were scoring limits in
the 18- to 25-pound range on Friday when
the sun was out, but the fish are far less
aggressive with the cloud cover.”
“I had been on a good Swaver bite, but
everything on Saturday came on a shakey
head. The heavy pressure on Friday and
earlier during the week was also a factor
as the majority of our fish came in shallow
water at 2 to 7 feet. When the fish are
shallow, runn