Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3826 Dec 6-20 | страница 3

Up-To-Date and Published Locally... By Sportsmen... For Sportsmen!
37 Years
Serving
Sportsmen
Rollins Lake Map Feature
MADE IN U.S.A
See Page 14
Vol. 38 - ISS.26
Our
37th
Year
I
Since 1982
“The Magazine for West Coast Sportsmen!”
Rounding Up Crabs & Rockfish Aboard The
Happy Hooker!
’d been wanting to book a trip with
Captain Jonathon Smith and his crew
for a while now, so
when an opening
became available on
Sunday’s rockfish
and crab combo on
the Happy Hooker, I
couldn’t pass it up!
I boarded, amid
the buzz of how epic
dinner was going to
be and how great the
weather had been
over the course of
the week. No one
was concerned about
missing any football
that day, but a few
were concerned
about their lack of preparedness, and I was
one of them.
“Where the hell am I going to put all my
crab?” I pondered, glancing at the single
5-gallon bucket I had toted with me. This
was going to be interesting.
My thoughts quickly turned to the water
GONE
FISHING
by
Stacy Barawed
I
December 6 - 20, 2019
conditions. It
was cold and
the boat was
rockin’, and
I regretted
not taking a
double dose
Dramamine
that
morning.
The captain
advised it
would be a
four-hour
run to the
Limits of big commercial size crabs have been the rule for Golden Gate
Farallon
anglers so far this fall.
Photo by STACY BARAWED, Fish Sniffer Staff.
Islands for
the rockfish
portion of our trip, so I settled into a
rod was hit, the deckhands were scram-
corner of the captain’s quarters, silently
bling, and you could hear squeals and
fighting off the symptoms of seasickness,
cheers from all around the deck.
and slowly nodded off after pestering
The bite was so good, I didn’t even
Captain Jonathon Smith with all of my
have to tip my hooks with any sort of
questions as a first-time crabber.
live bait and just used the bare shrimp
Once we arrived at our spot, deckhands
flies that were tied on. That didn’t seem
Greg and JT got right down to business.
to deter the fish because less than 30
As soon as we dropped our lines, rod after
CONTINUED ON PG 16
A 5 Pound Slump Buster At Collins Lake!
trout, prompted me to come back to the
lake two days later with my Hobie Pro
Angler kayak in tow.
Conditions were perfect and anglers
were catching fish, but I just couldn’t
get hit. I trolled a long list of lures and
tried soaking bait for zero results. I left
the lake that day, scratching my head
and licking my
wounds. I don’t
mind a tough bite,
but I hate getting
skunked, especially
when guys are
hooking fish all
around me!
Fast forward to
this week… The
skunking was still
gnawing at me, so
I decided to run back
up to Collins Lake in
hopes of evening up
the score.
I arrived at the
Cal Kellogg caught a pair of big rainbows when he visited Collins
lake by 6:30 am and
Lake, including this 5 plus pounder that gobbled down a ball of
had the Hobie in the
PowerBait fished toward the back of Elmer’s Cove.
Photo by CAL KELLOGG, Fish Sniffer Staff. water by 7. I started
f you are a serious angler, getting
skunked from time to time is part of
the game, but you don’t have to like it!
A few weeks back I attended the Norcal
Angler’s Challenge Trout Tournament at
Collins Lake. During the event, multiple
rainbows in the 4 to 8-pound class were
brought to the weigh in. Seeing those big
F ish S niffer T IP OF THE W EEK
out trolling down the west shoreline and
across the face of the dam. Near the dam
a power boater
fishing next to me
hooked and landed
a rainbow that
looked to be about
3 pounds and I still
hadn’t gotten a
strike. Oh no it was
happening again!
At the eastern
corner of the dam,
I made a left turn,
angled across the
main body and
trolled offshore of
the swim beach,
heading towards
Elmer’s Cove still
without a strike.
Remembering a November day about
20 years ago when my wife Gena
landed a 24-pound limit of Collins Lake
rainbows while fishing PowerBait and
salmon eggs in Elmer’s Cove, I decided
to look around for some trouty looking
WHAT’S
HOT
by
Cal Kellogg
Scented, colored marshmallows for trout? You bet! You can use marshmallows in a variety of different ways.
Team a marshmallow or two with a salmon egg or two of various colors to form a “Shasta Fly”.
You can team marshmallows with worms too, forming a “big trout” bait that has been serving bank anglers
well for decades. Despite the fact that the marshmallows add floatation, it’s still advisable to inject the worm
with a shot of air. You want your bait floating boldly off the bottom so any trout coming close can see it!
CONTINUED ON PG 20
Special Section
KAYAK Fishing:
pgs 5
INSIDE
Area Reports
FRESHWATER REPORTS
Almanor - Camanche Lake.....................................4
Clear Lake - Del Valle Lake....................................7
Don Pedro Lake - Feather River.............................9
Folsom - Oroville Lake/Thermalito Afterbay ........11
Pyramid Lake - Sacramento Area................... 12-13
Santa Clara Lakes/San Luis Reservoir
- Shasta.......................................................... 17
Tahoe - West Delta.............................................. 19
SALTWATER REPORTS
Baja Roundup........................................................... 26
Berkeley - Half Moon Bay...................................24-25
Monterey Bay......................................................27
FEATURES
Where...When...How...
BULLETIN BOARD.....................................................3
CATCH & RELEASE - FLY FISHING: Cal Kellogg............8
FISH SNIFFER COUNTRY: Steve ‘Hippo’ Lau..........26
GO FOR IT: Staff.........................................................2
HOW-TO: Cal Kellogg................................................5
KAYAK FISHING SPOTLIGHT: Kevin Hofer ...............5
MAP FEATURE: Dan Bacher...............................14-15
SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION: Dan Bacher......22
STAFF
TACKLE
What We’re Using
Cal Kellogg - fished Collins
Lake from his Hobie Pro
Angler 14 kayak. During
the trip, Cal caught a pair
of large trout. One weighed
5 pounds and the other went about 3. For
fishing PowerBait, Cal employed one of his
signature series 6’6” spinning rods teamed
with and American Premier spinning reel
spooled with 175 yards of 8 pound Trilene
Big Game line. On the business end Cal
employed an 8 pound Vanish Fluorocarbon
leader and a No. 8 Eagle Claw Lazer Sharp
octopus hook.
Paul Kneeland - fished
Pyramid Lake with Brian
Garcia of Colfax and Matt
Looney of Penn Valley in
the Fish Sniffer 21’ Rogue
Jet Coastal. They caught
Lahontan cutthroat trout to 5 pounds, using
a Okuma 9’ light action Kokanee Black
Rod with a Daiwa Lexa 100 line counter
reel loaded with 8 lb test Yozuri Topknot
Flourocarbon line. They trolled Shallow Glass
spinners and Tasmanian Devils in green and
orange off the Canon Downriggers at 10 to
20 feet deep and 2.4 mph.
Dan Bacher - ished for
rainbow trout at Lake
Camanche. 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 nightcrawlers,
rainbow and garlic Berkley PowerBait and
1/4 oz., 1/3 oz. and 2/5 oz. silver/blue Little
Cleos.