Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3901 Dec 20-Jan 3 | Page 3

Up-To-Date and Published Locally... By Sportsmen... For Sportsmen!
New Melones Map Feature
MADE IN U.S.A
See Page 12
Dec 20, 2019 - Jan 3, 2020
Vol. 39 - ISS.1
Our
38th
Year
T
Combo Action On The Happy Hooker!
GONE
FISHING
by
Mark Fong
T
Since 1982
“The Magazine for West Coast Sportsmen!”
he cold mornings, short days and
charter boats filled to capacity can
only signal one
thing. Crab, of
course. These
are sure signs
that the recre-
ational season
for Dungeness
crab has arrived.
So far this has
been a banner
season with
anglers finding
a bounty of
quality commer-
cial grade crabs
ranging between
2 and 3 pounds
each.
Charter boats on all sides of San
Francisco Bay are busy running crab
and rock fish combination trips. At the
Berkeley Marina, customers fishing
aboard the Pacific Dream and the Happy
Hooker have been treated to limit
style crab and rock fishing. That’s 10
38 Years
Serving
Sportsmen
Dungeness
crab and
10 rockfish
per angler
per day. Not
wanting to
miss out on
the action,
I recently
joined Captain
Jonathon
Smith aboard
the Happy
Hooker for
a day at the
Farallon
Big commercial size crabs have been the rule for anglers venturing beyond
Islands.
the Golden Gate aboard the Happy Hooker.
Photo by MARK FONG, Fish Sniffer Staff.
When I
arrived at K
on the return trip we would stop and
Dock, the area was awash with activity.
pull crab pots. With that said, I found a
Anglers milled around the dock and the
comfortable seat and settled in for the
boats were full of chatter and loud banter.
long ride to the Islands.
Aboard the Happy Hooker, I was greeted
I was a bit disappointed to learn that as
by Captain Jonathon and deckhands Greg
of late the lingcod have been off the bite.
and JT. Captain Jonathon informed me
Following the crew’s recommendation, I
that the strategy for the day was to start
out targeting the for rockfish and then
CONTINUED ON PG 19
Kayaking For Big Rainbows At Lake Davis!
could see some ducks swimming in the
distance I had the 12-gauge shotgun
resting across my lap. The birds were
out of range, but I was hoping to change
that.
Behind the Hobie Pro Angler I had
an orange trolling fly working at about
2 feet deep on a topline and a tui chub
pattern fly working 6 feet deep just over
the top of the weeds
on a hybrid leadcore
rig.
I was focusing
hard on the ducks
when a squeaking
sound caught my
attention. I glanced
down and my
heart shifted into
overdrive. The
leadcore rod was bent
deeply and bucking
hard as a big trout
slashed and head
shook trying to free
When Cal visited Lake Davis on November 15 he ended up with a
itself of the fly.
limit of holdover rainbows that included four fish from 20.5 inches
to 23 inches!
I leaned into the
he cold air seemed charged with
electricity. Success had come early
often. During the first 30 minutes of
daylight I’d hooked and lost a heavy
strong fighting trout and landed and
released another in the 2 plus pound class.
At the moment, I was on the West Side
of Lake Davis’s big island and since I
peddles to keep the line tight as I
scrambled to stow the shotgun, grab the
net and slide the
rod from its holder.
For the first
minute or so I
worked the reel, the
trout put up a great
fight and then the
rod loaded up and
got super heavy. I
could still feel the
trout, but the fish
felt immobilized.
I’d hung a big
clump of weeds!
Lucky for me
the trout was well
hooked in the
hard part of the
mouth. When I got the clump to the
boat I couldn’t really see how large the
trout was so drug the whole mass of
weeds and the gyrating rainbow into
the net and started sorting through the
salad, revealing an impressive 23-inch-
WHAT’S
HOT
by
Cal Kellogg
Photo by CAL KELLOGG, Fish Sniffer Staff.
F ish S niffer T IP OF THE W EEK
As most avid trollers know, rolling shad is one of the best ways to catch big trout and landlocked
kings, yet shad can be tough to obtain, store and rig and they are not legal to use at many of our
lakes. This is where Gulp! Minnows come in.
Gulp! Minnows come in a variety of different sizes, but I favor the 3 inch models. They are small
enough to interest pansize fish, but big enough to grab the attention of the big boys too.
Most anglers run my Gulp! Minnows behind dodgers. The minnows themselves have zero built in
action, so it’s wise to rely on a dodger to impart action
CONTINUED ON PG 11
Special Section
KAYAK Fishing:
pgs 6
INSIDE
Area Reports
FRESHWATER REPORTS
Almanor - Berryessa Lake......................................4
Bullards Bar/Englebright Reservoirs -
Collins Lake....................................................7
Davis Lake - Don Pedro Lake.................................8
Eagle Lake - East Delta ...................................... 10
Eastern Sierra - Pyramid Lake........................ 14-15
Quarry Lakes - Sacramento Area....................... 17
Smith/Chetco Rivers - West Delta....................... 18
SALTWATER REPORTS
Baja Roundup........................................................... 23
Berkeley - Half Moon Bay...................................20-21
Monterey Bay......................................................22
FEATURES
Where...When...How...
BAJA ROUNDUP........................................................23
BULLETIN BOARD.....................................................3
CATCH & RELEASE - FLY FISHING: Cal Kellogg............9
FISH SNIFFER COUNTRY: Steve ‘Hippo’ Lau..........20
GO FOR IT: Staff.........................................................2
HOW-TO: Cal Kellogg................................................5
KAYAK FISHING SPOTLIGHT ...................................6
MAP FEATURE: Dan Bacher...............................12-13
SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION: Dan Bacher......16
STAFF
TACKLE
What We’re Using
Cal Kellogg - fished Collins
Lake from his 14’ Hobie Pro
Angler kayak. For trolling
Trigger Spoons, Cripplures
and grubs, Cal used a pair
of his signature series leadcore trolling rods
teamed with Abu Garcia 5500 line counter
reels spooled with his Hybrid Leadcore rigs.
Cal landed a limit of rainbows to 3.5 pounds
during the trip.
Paul Kneeland - fished
Englebright Reservoir with
Richard Percy of Peardale
in the Fish Sniffer 21’ Rogue
Jet Coastal. They caught
rainbow trout to 14 inches using a Lamiglas
Fish Sniffer special 7’6” ultra light graphite
downrigger rod with a Abu Garcia Revo MGX
Extreme level wind reel loaded with 6 lb test
Yozuri TopKnot fluorocarbon line. They trolled
firetiger Uncle Larry’s Spinners and red/white
Tasmanian Devils with Rooster Tail Trout/
Kokanee spray off the Canon Downriggers
from the surface to 15 feet deep at 2.2 mph.
Dan Bacher - fished for
rainbow trout at Folsom 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,
nightcrawlers and 2/5 oz. gold/red stripe
Little Cleos.