Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3718 Aug 17-31

Up-To-Date and Published Locally... By Sportsmen... For Sportsmen! Sacramento Area Map Feature MADE IN U.S.A See Page 164 Vol. 37 - ISS.18 Our 36th Year Since 1982 August 17 - 31, 2018 “The Magazine for West Coast Sportsmen!” Captain James Netzel Talks Kokanee Tactics S ummer is kokanee time in Northern California and some of the best fishing is happening right now at Stampede Reservoir near the town of Truckee. You would be hard pressed to find anyone more in tune with this fishery than Captain James Netzel of Tightlines Guide Service. The Fish Sniffer caught up with Captain James for a quick kokanee Q&A on a number of varied topics. Fish Sniffer: What has the kokanee fishing been like so far this season in the Sierras? Captain James: It’s been better than expected. We’re getting bigger fish earlier in the year than we’ve had in the past few years and they are only going to get bigger. We’re seeing fish over 17” right now. Depending on the number of clients, we’re getting limits by 10am on a regular basis. Stampede has a lot more boat traffic than in past years, it’s the number one lake in California for both size and quantity so a lot of people are coming up here. An added benefit is that when it’s 100 degrees in the valley, its 80 up here. FS: How do you see the fishing developing as the summer progresses? CJ: The fish will definitely continue to get bigger and they’re easier to get in the boat because their jaws start to toughen up. As time goes on they’ll start to really school up so you can’t go anywhere to catch fish. It helps to be on the water every day to know where the schools of fish are at. I’ll guide for kokanee until mid- September then I’ll make the switch to Sacramento River salmon but you can still catch kokanee all the way into October. FS: What can clients expect to learn if they book a trip with you? CJ: They can do as little as they want or they can do as much as they want. Generally, I have the clients put the corn on the bait and set the rods out. Most of the time I like to operate the down riggers. They’ll learn how to fish k okanee at different times of the year and if they own a boat they hopefully will become Area Reports Where...When...How... Anglers fishing with Captain James Netzel have been enjoying limit style kokanee action all summer long. Photo courtesy of TIGHT LINES GUIDE SERVICE, Loomis. CONTINUED ON PAGE 16 Team Fish Sniffer Enjoys Red Hot Late Season Cutthroat Fishing At Pyramid! 72 degrees. We put on Tasmanian Devils in orange/red and Silver Horde 4-inch spoons behind Vance’s cannonball flashers. We trolled halfway up the Kitchen and landed 3 cutthroats of about 3 to 4 pounds. Not great action. As we headed into the shallow water at the north end of the Kitchen, we started to see fish all over the graph, and we started hooking fish right and left! One of the first trout John hooked in this section of the lake was obviously a big one. It tore the rod off the downrigger and the rod tip almost touched the water as the fish stayed deep. I cleared the other lines and slowed the boat to a crawl. After a few minutes, the trout came to the surface, and was immediately “attacked” by one of the many white pelicans that had been following us around. I had lost a nice 4 lb. trout and my lure when a pelican had swallowed my fish earlier! This time, we were amazed to see the trout get free and immediately dive again. WHAT’S HOT by Paul Kneeland John Brassfield of Trucksmart stores in Auburn and Rocklin with his first 10 lb cutthroat trout from Pyramid Lake. Photo by PAUL KNEELAND, Fish Sniffer Staff. INSIDE FEATURES by Mark Fong yramid Lake, Nevada is one of the premier trout fisheries on the planet! John Brassfield, Mark Kalinowski, Gary Caruso and I experienced some unbelievable trout fishing on the last 2 days of the season in late June! We camped near the Pelican Point boat ramp on Thursday evening and had dinner at the always entertaining Crosby Lodge. Friday morning, we launched the Rogue Jet Coastal 21, thinking of going across the lake to Hell’s Kitchen, but the strong north wind and large whitecaps changed our mind. We started trolling north from Windlass bay, into the wind, and marked a few trout and only caught 3 in two hours of fishing. As we approached Warrior point, the wind died down and the lake smoothed out. We immediately picked up and headed across the lake. We started trolling at the south end of Hell’s Kitchen and started marking fish at 60 to 80 feet deep. The water temperature was Special Section Baja Roundup PG 29 FRESHWATER REPORTS Almanor - American Basin......................................4 American River - Camanche Lake..........................8 Collins Lake - Eagle Lake ....................................11 East Delta - Klamath River.................................. 12 Los Vaqueros Reservoir - New Melones Lake.... 17 Oroville Lake - Rollins/Scotts Flat ....................... 18 Sacramento Area - West Delta....................... 20-21 SALTWATER REPORTS Berkeley - Monterey Bay................................ 24-25 Monterey - Peninsula Shoreline...........................26 GONE FISHING P 36 Years Serving Sportsmen CONTINUED ON PAGE 19 Coalition Tells Jeff Denham, Ryan Zinke: Hands Off State Water Rights and Delta Flows! See Page 22 BASS ANGLER NEWS................................. 6,7,9,10 BAJA ROUNDUP.................................................... 27 BASS FISHING SPOTLIGHT.................................... 7 BULLETIN BOARD................................................... 3 FISH SNIFFER HOW-TO: Cal Kellogg..................... 5 GO FOR IT: Staff....................................................... 8 KAYAK FISHING SPOTLIGHT: Wes Ward.............. 13 MAP FEATURE: Dan Bacher.............................14-15 SALTY TIPS: Steve “Hippo” Lau............................. 26 SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION: Dan Bacher..... 22 WHAT’S HOT SALTWATER: Dave Hurley .............. 23 STAFF TACKLE What We’re Using Paul Kneeland - fished the Sea of Cortez from Hotel Buena Vista with Bridget Looney, Merv and Patty Arnold of Citrus Hights, and his brother Ken Kneeland and Dena Salazar from Merino, Colorado. They caught yellowfin tuna and Dorado using a 7’ Cousins CJB-70ML Graphite Composite rod with a Accurate Boss Magnum twin drag reel with 40 pound test Yozuri Hybrid line, trolling with Yozuri High Speed Vibe plugs off the 28’ cruiser Dusty B. Cal Kellogg - fished aboard the Happy Hooker and landed several lingcod to 15 pounds using a new rod and reel set up from Daiwa. The rod was an 8 foot medium heavy fast action Proteus WN rated for 15 to 30 pound mono. When Cal got the rod, he intended to use it primarily for halibut fishing, but was pleased to find that it had plenty of power for coastal lingcod fishing. The rod was topped with a 6.4 to 1 gear ratio Saltist 15 Star Drag. The reel was spooled with 65 pound P-Line braid. Dan Bacher - fished for rainbow trout and brown bullhead catfish at Union 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 for the trout with chartreuse Berkley PowerBait and a 1/8 oz. gold and black Panther Martin. He targeted the catfish with nightcrawlers on a sliding sinker rig.

Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3718 Aug 17-31 | Page 3