Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3703 Jan 18-Feb 2 2018 | Page 3

Up-To-Date and Published Locally... By Sportsmen... For Sportsmen!
Lower American River Map Feature
MADE IN U.S.A
See Page 16
Vol. 37 - ISS.03
Our
36th
Year
Since 1982
Jan 18 - Feb 2, 2018
“The Magazine for West Coast Sportsmen!”
Great Fishing – And Catching – At Hotel Palmas De Cortez
L
ooking out over the balcony of
our second story room, the Baja
sunrise gleamed gold and orange over
the calm Sea of Cortez. It was our first
morning, and I was excited
and anticipating a wonderful
day of fishing out of Hotel
Palmas de Cortez on Baja’s
East Cape
Our group consisted
of myself and Bridget
Looney of Colfax, Dave
and Wanda Barsi of Oak
Run, and my brother Ken
Kneeland and Dena Salazar
from Merino, Colorado.
We met in the large dining
room overlooking the bay
for breakfast just as the sun
was rising gloriously in the
east. “What a morning!”
exclaimed my brother, “It’s
great to be alive in Baja!”
We had a hearty, buffet
style breakfast and then back to our rooms
to pick up our gear and head to the dock
where we would board our 28’ diesel
cruisers. Dave, Wanda, Ken and Dena
were on one boat, and Bridget and I had
one to ourselves. Our Captain welcomed
us aboard and asked what we
wanted to fish for? Our answer
“whatever is biting!” So we
headed south to find the schools
of tuna that had been
marauding the bait!
We stopped and got
bait from fishermen
in a panga, and I
was glad to see they
had sardinas, which
are small 3 to 4 inch
baitfish that everything
in the Sea of Cortez
loves to eat! We
bought several scoops
of live sardinas, and
the mate also threw in
a 5-gallon bucket of
dead ones as well. I
didn’t quite understand
why we would want
dead bait, but I was
soon to find out.
It was a gorgeous day on the
deep crystal blue water. There
was a slight breeze from the
northeast that kept us cool as the
day warmed. We ran south until
Ken and Paul Kneeland and Bridget Looney with the 280
pound blue marlin that died at the side of the boat.
Photo by Dave Barsi, Oak Run
January Is Steelhead Time
the Eureka to Crescent City area are full of
steelhead in the first month of the new year.
The Mad and the Smith in particular are real-
ly good in January. Some years January will
offer the first big shot of water on the north
coast, and when that happens,
the rivers will be jammed full of
fish over- night.
The Smith is the first river to
clear after a major deluge in all
of California, and some years,
it may be the only river that is
fishable at all for
long stretches
of time. The
Smith drainage
is mostly rock.
Just drive down
Highway 199,
[phone] www.dragonsportfishing.com
and you can
see for yourself
all of the giant
boulders and
shale slopes.
On the contrary, the rivers
that drain out of the Six Riv-
er’s National Forest like the
Fish Sniffer field editor Mike McNeilly is an avid steelhead angler that has
Mad, Van Duzen, South Fork
sampled the action on most north coast rivers at one time or another.
’ve caught winter steelhead from
mid-December all the way until the
last weekend of the season in late March.
However, there’s no time like January for the
biggest and brightest fish of the year.
Of course, every river has its own unique
run timing, but it’s safe to say that every riv-
er that hosts a steelhead run from the Carmel
River in the south to the Smith River in the
north has a chrome steelhead finning in it
during January.
In particular, the rivers and streams in
Trinity and portions of the Eel take at least
a week to clear after a major rainstorm.
This region is characterized by loose soils
that find their way into the river once the
rain starts coming down hard.
In drier years, these rivers
offer significantly better fishing
as they maintain their “steel-
head green” color for much
longer. Most savvy anglers will
start up high in a drainage, and
day after day, follow the perfect
water conditions down the river.
On a big river system, like
the Eel, most people will start
way up the South Fork a few
days after the rain stops falling.
A fortnight later, they may be
down near the mouth of the Van
Duzen if no more rain falls.
So why is January the time
to burn vacation time and head
to the coast? Well, there won’t
be as many fish in the river as there will be
in February, but the ones that are there will
be in excellent condition.
Over the years, the novelty of catching
steelhead has diminished for me to some
WHAT’S
HOT
by
Mike McNeilly
Photo by MIKE MCNEILLY, Fish Sniffer Staff.
ISE PG 16-18
INSIDE
Area Reports
FRESHWATER REPORTS
Almanor Lake - American River.............................4
Berryessa - Davis/Frenchman Lakes................ 6-7
Del Valle Reservoir - Folsom Lake......................10
Klamath River - Rancho Seco Lake....................13
Redding - Sacramento Area................................14
Santa Clara Valley - Shasta Lake .......................18
Smith/Chetco Rivers -
Southern Oregon Roundup.......................20
Lake Tahoe - Trinity River/Lakes........................25
West Delta - Wildhorsel/South Fork Lakes .........26
SALTWATER REPORTS
Berkeley - Half Moon Bay.....................................29
Monterey Bay - Peninsula Shoreline.....................31
Where...When...How...
by
Paul Kneeland
I
SEE OUR NEW BAJA
ROUNDUP SECTION ON
FEATURES
GONE
FISHING
CONTINUED ON PAGE 24
36 Years
Serving
Sportsmen
CONTINUED ON PAGE 27
Delta Smelt Numbers Reach
New Low as Reclamation
Aims to Increase Pumping
See Page 23
INTL SPORTSMAN’S EXPO
SPECIAL PULL OUT SECTION................ ISE 1-28
BAJA ROUNDUP....................................... ISE 16-18
BULLETIN BOARD................................................... 4
COOKIN’ YER CATCH - Paulette Kenyon............... 26
FISH SNIFFER HOW-TO: Cal Kellogg..................... 5
GO FOR IT: Staff....................................................... 5
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR...................................... 3
MAP FEATURE: Dan Bacher.............................16-17
SALTY TIPS Steve “Hippo” Lau.............................. 29
SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION - Dan Bacher.... 23
WHAT’S HOT SALTWATER by Sarah Louise......... 28
STAFF
TACKLE
What We’re Using
Cal Kellogg - fished Folsom
Lake with Captain James
Netzel of Tight Lines Guide
Service from his big Rogue
Jet Chinook. For pulling
Brad’s Kokanee Cut Plugs, Cal used a
Cousins Tackle downrigger rod, matched
with an Abu Garcia 5600 line counter reel
spooled with 8 pound moss green Trilene
Big Game Line.
Paul Kneeland - fished
New Melones reservoir
with John Brassfield of
Trucksmart in the Fish Sniff-
er 21’ Rogue Jet Coastal.
They caught rainbow trout to 16 inches, us-
ing a Daiwa DXS 8’ light action IM-7 graph-
ite trigger stick rigged with the new Daiwa
Lexa 100 Line counter reel loaded with 8 lb
test Yozuri Topknot line. They trolled small
silver and shad pattern Tasmanian Devils
off the Canon Downriggers at 10 feet deep
and 2.4 mph.
Dan Bacher - fished for
steelhead on the American
River below Nimbus Fish
Hatchery on January 1 with
Rodney Fagundes of Sacra-
mento in his drift boat. Dan
used a Lamiglas 7’6” Rogue River Special
spinning rod, teamed up with a Huracan
HC reel filled with 8 lb. test P-Line Floro-
Clear line. He tossed out 2/5 oz. silver/blue
and silver/orange Little Cleos outfitted with
barbless treble hooks.