Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3904 Feb 1-14

Up-To-Date and Published Locally... By Sportsmen... For Sportsmen! 38 Years Serving Sportsmen Folsom Lake Map Feature MADE IN U.S.A See Page 14 Jan 31 - Feb 14, 2020 Vol. 39 - ISS.4 Our 38th Year Since 1982 “The Magazine for West Coast Sportsmen!” Winter Bassing Adventure At Lake Berryessa W inter weather is one of the great equalizers when it comes to tournament fishing. Comfort is extremely important when you’re performing any activity for 7-8 hours, and fishing is no exception. As I zipped up my snowboarding jacket which has now become my tournament fishing jacket, I overheard my fellow Folsom Bass Team member, Joe, remark, “I definitely didn’t dress warm enough for this!” I tossed him a pair of “Hot Hands” hand warmers and laughed. “Here you go...I have four more layers of clothes on under this!” On the water, we all looked like we were getting ready to spend a day in the snow. And it felt like it. At 6:20am, it was 33 degrees and there was a noticeable wind. This was going to be interesting. Boats blasted off one by one at safe light just before 7:00, and I couldn’t quite GONE FISHING determine where my partner, Lee, had taken us since I kept my head down and out of the wind while making our initial run. I noticed some boat slips off in the distance, and later learned that we were “somewhere near Pleasure Cove”. Published Winter bass action is going strong at Lake Berryessa. Winter, spring, fishing reports summer and fall, Berryessa is one of the north state’s best bass fisheries. earlier in the Photo by STACY BARAWED, Fish Sniffer Staff. week indicated that the bite Within half an hour, I had my first large- had been tough, so I went directly mouth in the livewell. Fifteen minutes with my go-to set up, the ned rig. I later, Lee attached a culling clip to my hooked the second biggest fish of our last second fish, a smallmouth, and when he tournament with a Z-Man Big TRD in picked up his rod again, he had a spotted Green Pumpkin, so I picked up that very bass already hooked on. We had achieved set up, and fished off the back of Lee’s a trifecta within 16 minutes! brand-new Nitro Z-19 in 40-50 foot water We missed a couple of bites and lost while he targeted shallower spots between 20-30 feet. CONTINUED ON PG 12 by Stacy Barawed H Kicking Off The 2020 Season In Style! olidays, family obligations and our work load at both the Fish Sniffer and Fish-Hunt-Shoot Productions had combined to keep Wes and I off the water for a couple weeks. By the first week of January we had new fishing licenses burning holes in our pockets and we were chomping at the bit to get our 18’ Gone Fishin’ Marine Duckworth Advantage Sport over some fish. Where to go? That’s always a tough call in the middle of winter. In January, access is blocked by snow at a lot of destinations and some spots just plain don’t fish well during the winter. On my last trip, I’d gotten skunked at Collins and a trip to Folsom seemed marginal at best. After all, we needed to produce some content for the Fish Sniffer and some video for the Fish-Hunt-Shoot Productions Youtube Channel. Neither thing was going to happen if we hit Folsom and the fish were in a funk as they often are at that impoundment. We were in the planning stages for our trip, when I chatted with Fish Sniffer publisher Paul Kneeland. Typically, he spends most of his time duck hunting during the winter, but he reported that he’d taken a break from waterfowling for a trip to Lake Oroville. He’d done pretty well on kings. Some of which were as big as 18 inches. We had our destination! If we think of the three marquee cold water species for Norcal lake anglers, trout, kokanee and kings, kings are hands down the most difficult to catch for the average angler. While I don’t profess to be an expert at catching land- locked kings, I have had the opportunity to fish for kings with some of the best sticks in the state including Monte Smith, Kevin Brock and Rene Villan- ueva. I learned a lot from my experi- ences with guys like these and of course I’ve had a lot of practice myself. When it comes to fishing success, there is no substitute for good advice and time on the water! WHAT’S HOT by Cal Kellogg Cal Kellogg was pretty happy after successfully battling this jumbo 20 plus inch Oroville king. The fish was 52 feet deep when it crushed a pearl glow Minnow Tube trolled at 1.8 mph. Photo by WES WARD, Fish Sniffer Staff. F ish S niffer T IP OF THE W EEK CONTINUED ON PG 16 When trout fishing in water that is stained and cold, adding scent to your inflated worms greatly aids trout in finding them and results in more strikes. You can certainly apply gel scents like Pro-Cure Super Gel to the outside of the worm with good results, but a trick savvy like to employ is injecting worms with bait oil. Oil is lighter than water and will actually float the worm off the bottom. As it slowly leaks out of the worm a scent trail is formed that leads cruising trout back to the bait. Special Section KAYAK Fishing: pgs 20 INSIDE Area Reports FRESHWATER REPORTS Amador Lake - Clear Lake......................................4 Collins Lake - Eastern Sierra..................................8 Feather River - Los Vaqueros Lake..................... 12 Redding/Red Bluff - Rio Vista.............................. 17 Rollins/Scotts Flat Lakes - Trinity River.......... 18-19 West Delta............................................................ 23 SALTWATER REPORTS Baja Roundup........................................................... 26 Berkeley - Half Moon Bay...................................24-25 Half Moon Bay - Monterey Bay....................... 26-27 FEATURES Where...When...How... TROUT ANGLERS CHALLENGE......... 6-7,9,10 BAJA ROUNDUP........................................................26 BULLETIN BOARD.....................................................3 CATCH & RELEASE - FLY FISHING: Kiene’s Fly Shop. 11 FISH SNIFFER COUNTRY: Steve ‘Hippo’ Lau..........25 GO FOR IT: Staff.......................................................13 HOW-TO: Cal Kellogg................................................5 KAYAK FISHING SPOTLIGHT: Kevin Hofer .............20 MAP FEATURE: Dan Bacher...............................14-15 SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION: Dan Bacher......22 STAFF TACKLE What We’re Using Cal Kellogg - fished Lake Oroville with Wes Ward from the duo’s 18’ Duckworth Advantage Sport for landlocked king salmon. They caught several kings to 3 pounds while pulling Minnow Tubes, Kok-A-Nuts and Trigger Spoons teamed with 6” Fish Eye Dodgers. All the lures were coated with Smelt Scent Pro-Cure Super Gel. For pulling lures off the Cannon downriggers, Cal employed a pair of his signature series downrigger rods teamed with Abu Garcia 5500 line counter reels spooled with 10 pound Trilene Big Game Line. Paul Kneeland - fished Lake Camanche with John Brassfield of Trucksmart stores in the Fish Sniffer 21’ Rogue Jet Coastal. They caught rainbow trout to 3 pounds, using a Daiwa DXS 8’ light action IM-7 graphite trigger stick rigged with a Daiwa Lexa 100 Line counter reel loaded with 8 lb test P line. They trolled watermelon and blue/silver Speedy shiners on the surface and off the Canon Downriggers at 10 feet deep and 2.4 mph. Dan Bacher - fished for landlocked king salmon and rainbow trout on Folsom Lake with Jerry Lampkin of TNG Motor Sports Guide Service on January 15. They landed two kings while trolling with Willfish Tackle 7 foot kokanee rods teamed up with Lexa 100 line counter reels filled with 12 lb. test P-Line. They trolled an array of offerings, including Speedy Shiners, F-9 Bleeding Shad Rapalas, DVS Speedos and Wee Dragons, homemade spinner/hoochies and nightcrawlers behind Sling Blades, at depths ranging from 10 to 40 feet deep. They tipped their lures with small anchovy pieces.

Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3904 Feb 1-14 | Page 3