Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3818 August 16-30 | Page 3

Up-To-Date and Published Locally... By Sportsmen... For Sportsmen!
37 Years
Serving
Sportsmen
Stampede Lake Map Feature
MADE IN U.S.A
See Page 16-17
Vol. 38 - ISS.18
Our
37th
Year
Since 1982
August 16 - 30, 2019
“The Magazine for West Coast Sportsmen!”
Red Hot Oroville King Salmon Fishing with Captain Kevin Brock!
T
he conditions had gone from great
to not so good. The sun was high,
the surface chop we’d enjoyed
all morning was gone leaving
the surface glassy, the bait
had completely disappeared
and the screen of the sonar
unit was clean without a fish
in sight.
“Well it doesn’t look too
good, but let’s make a pass
or two anyway,” asserted
Captain Kevin Brock of
FishKevinBrock.Com as
we inched across the face of
Oroville Dam.
As Kevin readied the rods,
Wes quipped, “I hope they did
a good job repairing the dam,
because if they didn’t we’ll be
down in Yuba City before we know it!”
We all laughed and then nervously
glanced at the hazard markers and
construction vehicles jamming the parking
lot at the closed Spillway Launch Ramp.
With four rods teamed with white tubes
and Sling Blade dodgers working at
various depths off the downriggers we
trolled off the face of the dam from east
to west. We’d been at it
for several minutes and
were about to
give up when a
rod on the port
side wiggled to
life. Kevin slid
the rod out of
the holder and
handed it to
Wes. We knew
right away that
it was a big fish
from the way it
bulldogged and
stayed deep. It
didn’t run, but
it didn’t give
an inch against
Captain Kevin Brock is a master salmon angler whether
the strain of
fishing in rivers or lakes. Here we see him with big bad 23
Kevin’s Daiwa trolling rod inch Oroville king!
either.
Photo by CAL KELLOGG, Fish Sniffer Staff.
Wes kept the pressure on
and presently the fish changed its strategy, the net, darting off with lightning speed.
surging to the surface and making a series On his second try Kevin scooped the big
of slashing runs punctuated with some
chromer and the biggest salmon of the
hardcore headshaking.
day was in the boat. The king measured
When the big king appeared off the port 23 inches long and weight between 3
corner it alluded Kevin’s first attempt with
CONTINUED ON PG 21
GONE
FISHING
by
Cal Kellogg
Fish On Charter Les Fernandes Targets Bullards Bar Kokanee
O
ver the past few seasons, I have
had the pleasure of climbing
aboard with Fish On Charters on a number
of amazing fishing excursions. I have
great memories of catching rockfish,
lingcod, and halibut along the Sonoma
Coast. So when owner and operator, Les
Fernandes invited me to join him aboard
the Devilfish for a different kind of fishing
adventure, I was all in. So
rather than making the drive
west to Bodega Bay, I instead
headed north to Bullards Bar
Reservoir for a day of kokanee
fishing.
Captain Les spent many
years running the Samantha
Irene on the Sonoma Coast for
rockfish, lingcod and salmon.
He has since entrusted the
skipper’s duty to Captain
Jeff Caramella and today he
spends most of his time in the
sweet water guiding for trout,
salmon and kokanee aboard
his second boat, the Devilfish.
Over the last few years, the
kokanee fishing in the North State has
been nothing short of spectacular. While
Whiskeytown and Stampede having been
grabbing the headlines, Bullards Bar is a
lake that is gaining more notoriety. With
a ten fish limit and an increasingly better
grade of fish, Bullards Bar has become
a very popular destination with kokanee
anglers. I have fished Bullards Bar many
times for spotted bass but never for
kokanee.
On a warm summer morning I met
up with Captain Les at the
Emerald Cove Marina.
Joining us was avid kokanee
angler, Dan Valdez. We
pulled away from the marina
and Captain Les piloted the
Devilfish towards the dam.
“The hot bite has been in
the area near the dam and the
stretch just past the house
boats,” explained Captain
Les. “We’ll start there, I have
been catching some nice
fish.”
Captain Les rigged our rods
with a variety of different
Mack’s Lures including Pee
Wee Hoochies, Kok a Nuts
and Wiggle Hoochies all trailing Sling
Blade Dodgers and tipped with white
shoepeg corn marinated in tuna oil and
Pro Cure scent. Dan set up his rod with
one of his own creations, a beautifully
hand tied kokanee fly that he tipped with
a piece of corn.
Captain Les is a highly skilled kokanee
WHAT’S
HOT
by
Mark Fong
Dan Valdez caught a bunch of kokanee when
he visited Bullards Bar including this feisty
silver bullet.
Photo by MARK FONG, Fish Sniffer Staff.
F ish S niffer T IP OF THE W EEK
When trolling for trout and salmon with lures such as flies and hoochies with no
built in action, you want your lures riding within 12 to 16 inches of the dodger such
that they derive action from it. Lures like spinners and spoons that have their own
action can either be rigged close to the dodger or as far away as 48 inches. Experi-
mentation is the key to figuring out what the fish want on any given day. - Cal Kellogg
CONTINUED ON PG 15
Special Section
Catch & Release
Fishing - pgs 6-7
INSIDE
Area Reports
FRESHWATER REPORTS
Almanor/Bucks Lakes - Berryessa Lake................4
Camanche Lake......................................................7
Carson Pass Area - East Delta....................... 12-13
Eastern Sierra - Klamath/Trinity Rivers............... 14
Knights Landing/Colusa Area - Pardee Lake ..... 19
Quarry Lakes/Shadow Cliffs Reservoir -
Rollins/Scotts Flat Lakes.............................20
Sacramento Area - West Delta....................... 22-23
Western Nevada.................................................. 24
SALTWATER REPORTS
Berkeley - Fisherman’s Wharf................................. 27
Half Moon Bay.....................................................29
Monterey Bay............................................... 30-31
FEATURES
Where...When...How...
SALMON JOURNAL.............................................8-10
BAJA ROUNDUP......................................................31
BULLETIN BOARD.....................................................3
CATCH & RELEASE - FLY FISHING: Cal Kellogg......7
FISH SNIFFER COUNTRY: Steve ‘Hippo’ Lau..........28
GO FOR IT: Staff.........................................................5
HOW-TO: Cal Kellogg................................................6
KAYAK FISHING SPOTLIGHT: Cal Kellogg ............. 11
MAP FEATURE: Dan Bacher...............................16-17
MIXED BAG FISHING: Ernie Marlan........................18
SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION: Dan Bacher......26
STAFF
TACKLE
What We’re Using
Cal Kellogg - hosted a Cal
Kellogg School of Fishing
adventure aboard the
Pacific Dawn for S.F. Bay
halibut and stripers. For light
tackle live bait drifting, Cal used a Cousins
baitcaster rated for 8 to 17 pound line
paired with an Abu Garcia Orra Inshore
baitcaster with a 7.1:1 gear ratio. The reel
was spooled with 30 lb Yo-Zuri braid. The
trip produced 40 halibut to 32 lbs and a
handful of stripers.
Paul Kneeland - fly fished
Mill Creek near Mount
Lassen with Bridget Looney
and Rackerby. He caught
lots of colorful native
rainbow trout to 11 inches using a 9’, 3
weight Fenwick Techna AV graphite fly rod
with a Teton machined aluminum reel with
a Scientific Anglers double taper floating fly
line, attached to a 9’ P Line flourocarbon
tapered leader with a #14 Prince Nymph.
Dan Bacher -fished for
rainbow trout at Pinecrest
Lake. 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 Fluorocarbon Coated Line.
He fished with rainbow Berkley PowerBait,
1/8 oz. gold and black Panther Martins
and 2/5 oz. gold/red stripe Little Cleos.
Dan coated his baits and lures with Bloody
Tuna scent Pro-Cure Super Gel.