Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3904 Feb 1-14 | Page 18

16 Jan 31 - Feb 14, 2020 Discover VOL.38 • ISS. 25 WHAT’S HOT continued from page 1 Pyramid Lake Located just 35 miles north of Reno, Pyramid Lake is home to some of the best sport fishing on earth. Discover all that Pyramid Lake has to offer. Discover Pyramid Lake Online at: www.pyramidlake.us Follow us on Twitter and “like’ us on Facebook 3822 Wes and I had heard the dam launch ramp at Oroville was in operation again. Then we heard it was only open on the weekends, so since we’d be fishing during the week we opted to launch at Bidwell. From what we saw on the water, it looks like the dam launch is now open during the week. Let’s fish… Once we cleared the cove off the Bidwell Ramp, Wes drove the boat toward the dam, past the massive triple decker houseboat that has become a landmark for Oroville trollers. Not far beyond the houseboat. We started marking lots of fish and bait from 90 to 130 feet deep. When you see marks like those you’ve got to give them a try, but I told Wes as I rigged the rods that the deep kings likely wouldn’t bite. The first fish of the 2020 fishing season for Cal and Wes was I know they bite for some guys, but most of this dandy 18-inch king that blitzed an F.H.S. Minnow Tube the time when I find kings massed and holding teamed with a chrome dodger. Photo by WES WARD, Fish Sniffer Staff. deep they seem to be inactive. I wasn’t worried, I had a Plan B. “They like to orient to structure. We’ll work off the We trolled F.H.S Minnow Tubes teamed with 6-inch faces of some points and see if we can find some Fish Eye Dodgers on the deep kings for about 45 fish. We probably won’t mark much because there minutes and just as I’d suspected we didn’t get a bump won’t be as many fish up here as there are out in while working through and just above the impressive deep water, but the fish we cross paths with off the sonar returns. points will be on the hunt looking to feed.” Changing gears, we raised our offerings in the water About 15 minutes later the portside rod working column and moved toward the shoreline with rigs at 52 feet wiggled to life. I popped it off the working at 32, 42 and 52 feet. downrigger and immediately felt a hefty weight. “Often the actively feeding kings will be in shallower The 2.5 pounder had inhaled a white glow Minnow water than the inactive fish,” I commented to Wes. Tube and put up a determined fight before sliding into the net. We were on the board with an 18 inch king. What a way to kick off the 2020 season! As the morning went on we kept following the same pattern, pulling Minnow Tubes behind Fish Eye’s 40 to 50 feet deep in 60 to 80 feet of water off the ends of points dropping into deep water. We’d occasionally mark a fish, but most of the time the sonar screen was clean. Despite that we had 3 double hookups on the morning and boated a total of 7 fish. We could have gotten limits, but we knocked off at about 11, since we had NEW 2020 BOULTON HOOK 20 all the fish, photos and video footage we Brand new model with Offshore needed. bracket, 40 gallon fuel tank, Pro Angler Our top king was well over 20 inches and 3 plus pounds. I can’t wait to be back seats, 24” bench seats, 115 hp Yamaha on Oroville again after the Sacramento 4 stroke, galvanized EZ Loader trailer ISE Show which is only days away at this and much more! point. Remember if you go out there and can’t Starting at… $34,999 get the deep fish to go, start working the IN STOCK AND TAKING ORDERS NOW! structure and fish with faith. You won’t mark many fish, but the fish that are up there will likely be on the bite! SHOW SEASON SPECIALS on All Boulton Boats! THE FISH SNIFFER Superior Design and Outstanding Workmanship in Heavy Duty Welded Aluminum Boats -- powered by Yamaha Outboards [phone] • FishSniffer.com FISH SNIFFER DIGITAL!!! [phone] 2575 South Main St., Lakeport, CA www.hillsidepowersports.com Digital subscription now available to the Fish Sniffer. Download the app from iTunes or Google Play. Check us out on magazine.fishsniffer.com or Email [email protected] 3904