Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3624 Nov 10-24 2017 | Page 3

Up-To-Date and Published Locally... By Sportsmen... For Sportsmen! French Meadows Map Feature MADE IN U.S.A See Page 14 Vol. 36 - ISS.24 Our 35th Year Since 1982 Nov. 10 - 24, 2017 “The Magazine for West Coast Sportsmen!” Shasta Fall Trout Derby – Tough Bite But Very Large Trout! T he 17th Annual Shasta Lake Fall Trout derby took place on the weekend of October 14 and 15. The lake was in fantastic shape, only about 45 feet down and clear and beautiful. John Brassfield and I arrived at Sugarloaf Cottages and were greeted by Bruce Wicks and Al Fiske of Foresthill. We barbequed steaks and had cocktails and cigars overlooking the beautiful Sacramento River arm of Shasta Lake. Dave Barsi of Oak Run, his daughter Alicia and Mark Kalinowski of Concord would complete our group in the morning. We launched the Rogue Jet 21 Coastal on Friday and pre-fished with very little luck and were a little worried on what to do Saturday. The lake was in the midst of the fall turnover, and the trout were spread out all over the lake and the water column. The weather on Saturday didn’t help the fishing, with 15 to 25 mph north winds blowing the lake into a froth! John and I started in Dry Fork right at 7 am and immediately had a double hookup!! This was an indication of our day ahead – 2 nice fat bass! We fished for about 2 hours in Dry Fork and caught 18 more bass before we decided to try somewhere else. It was not to be our day – we emptied our tackle boxes trying to find something that would catch a trout. For the first time ever fishing these derbies – we came back to the dock empty handed!! No trout for 9 hours of hard fishing! We must have caught 30 bass all the way down to 100 feet deep -- too bad it wasn’t a bass derby!! At the weigh in, we found that out of the L Fish Sniffer publisher Paul Kneeland holds up 4 trout that were caught on the final day of the Shasta Fall Derby on Ex-Cel and Speedy Shiner spoons. Photo by JOHN BRASSFIELD, Trucksmart. CONTINUED ON PAGE 16 On the first of three days of fishing the derby, we start- ed out soaking bait for stripers on the Sacra- mento River near the town of Collinsville. At daybreak, the incoming tide was start- ing to trickle upstream, just fast enough to keep the anchored boat straight. Jason cast his rod, and it immediately got slammed by a five pound striper. Although a five pounder is g reat eating size, we wanted a fish as close as possible to 31.5 inches, the derby target length. The angler with the striper closest to target without going over wins first prize. So back to the water it went, along with another five pounder Jason caught on his next cast. We thought we were onto the striper WHAT’S HOT by Jack Naves Jason Carlisle holds up a beautiful 21 pound striper for a quick photo before releasing it. It was a great fish, but well over the derby’s 31.5 inch target length. Photo by JACK NAVES, Fish Sniffer Staff. INSIDE Area Reports Where...When...How... Stripers and Sturgeon and Salmon, Oh My! (925) 428-1103 www.dragonsportfishing.com PAGE 26-27 FEATURES by Paul Kneeland fishing. My fishing partner Jason Carlisle and I were only able to land two of the three species. We didn’t win any prizes in the derby, but we did come away with some fish stories and photos to last a lifetime. SEE OUR NEW BAJA ROUNDUP SECTION ON FRESHWATER REPORTS Almanor Lake - American River.............................4 Lake Berryessa - Eagle Lake............................ 6-7 East Delta - Oroville Lake.................................. 8-9 Lake Pardee - San Pablo Reservoir...............10-11 Santa Clara Lakes - Trinity River/Lake.......... 12-13 West Delta - Wild Horse Reservoir .....................17 SALTWATER REPORTS Berkeley - Bodega Bay.........................................22 Half Moon Bay - Peninsula Shoreline.............. 24-25 GONE FISHING ast year, I was able to pull off the improbable trifecta of catching all three targeted species in the Rio Vista Bass Derby. Stripers, sturgeon, and salmon all in one weekend. This year’s derby featured inconsistent 35 Years Serving Sportsmen CONTINUED ON PAGE 19 Department of Interior Issues Contradictory Statements on Support for Delta Tunnels See Page 18 CRAB SEASON FEATURE...............................20-21 BAJA ROUNDUP...............................................26-27 BILL’S TIPS - Bill Adelman...................................... 13 BULLETIN BOARD................................................... 4 FISH SNIFFER HOW-TO: Cal Kellogg..................... 5 GO FOR IT: Staff....................................................... 2 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR...................................... 3 MAP FEATURE: Dan Bacher.............................14-15 SALTY TIPS Steve “Hippo” Lau.............................. 26 SONOMA COAST - Kathie Morgan......................... 22 SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION - Dan Bacher.... 18 WHAT’S HOT SALTWATER................................... 23 STAFF TACKLE What We’re Using Cal Kellogg - Fished the Middle Fork of the American River for trout on October 26. For casting spinners he used a 6’6” Cousins FSP 652 fiberglass rod. A 7’6” Cousins SSP 750 graphite rod was used for fishing worms and Atlas salmon eggs. Both rods were teamed with Abu Garcia Cardinal SX 30 spinning reels spooled with 8 lb. moss green Trilene. Using these rigs Cal landed and released several wild rain- bows and a single German brown. Paul Kneeland - fished the Fall Shasta Lake Trout & Salmon derby with John Brassfield of Trucksmart in the Fish Sniffer 21’ Rogue Jet Coastal. He caught rainbows to 2 ½ pounds, using a Daiwa DXS 8’ light ac- tion IM-7 graphite trigger stick rigged with the new Daiwa Lexa 100 Line counter reel loaded with 8 lb test Yozuri Topknot line. They trolled rainbow pattern Speedy Shiners on the surface at 2.5 mph. Dan Bacher - fished for rainbow trout at Spicer Res- ervoir. He used a Berkley Ugly Stick GX2 6’ 6” medi- um action spinning rod, teamed up with a Shake- speare GX235 spinning reel filled with 6 lb. test P-Line CX Premium Flourocarbon Coated Line. He tossed out 1/8 oz. Yaki- ma Bait Rooster Tails in Brown Trout, Fire Tiger and Rainbow color patterns and 1/8 oz. gold and black Panther Martins.