VOL.39 • ISS. 20
FRESHWATER
Sept 25, 2020
11
CLEAR LAKE cont.
“The fishing is not off the hook like it
was, but some guys are smacking them
good,” noted McDaniel. “One guy reported
catching and releasing 5 fish weighing a
total of 18 pounds on his last trip. I haven’t
been out myself for a couple of weeks.”
Catfish offer anglers the hottest action
now available on Clear Lake. “The catfish
are hunting and eating” said McDaniel.
“Shore anglers and boaters are fishing
all over the lake and catching quite a
few fish weighing 15 pounds and up,
Nightcrawlers and cut baits such as
mackerel, anchovies, chicken liver and hot
dogs are all working.”
The crappie are on a tough bite during
the day. Anglers are picking up some
crappie while fishing mini jigs and
minnows off the deeper docks, where
crappie come in to feed at night.
- Dan Bacher
COLLINS LAKE
Trout Plants Will Return in
Mid-October
OREGON HOUSE – 2020 weekly trout
plants will return to Collins Lake from mid-
October to Thanksgiving, including the
larger trophy sized trout.
Collins Lake was evacuated at 1:30am
on September 9 due to a new fire North
of Collins Lake (Willow Fire). The fire has
been contained to 1,311 acres and did not
burn any land or facilities at Collins Lake.
The lake was closed on September 9 and
reopened on September 11. Please check
is finding the fish, lure selection and presentation are
actually pretty simple.
In this piece I’m going to stick with plugging with
conventional gear for two reasons. First I have limited
space and second while I’ve done a good deal of fly
fishing, I’ve not yet had the pleasure of targeting
stripers with flies.
Don Paganelli of Paganelli’s Bass Fishing Experience
offers some good advice pertaining to finding stripers
when out for a day of plugging.
“You can find stripers everywhere and anywhere in
the Delta, but when I want to plug for them, I know
that the Delta’s numerous flooded islands can be
real hotspots,” relates Paganelli. “These islands are
generally uniform in depth ranging from 5 to 6 feet
deep. Structure in the form of roads, ditches, tree lines
and troughs really stand out on these islands, which
tend to be relatively featureless. Any place the provides
structure or a change is an area where you want to
work.”
Stripers are often thought of as open water fish and
while that is true to some extent, they are ambush
predators. The structural features that Don mentions
attract baitfish looking for safety and the baitfish ultimately
pull in the bass. Yet once the bass show up, the
structure that the baitfish sought out for protection can
become their worst enemy since stripers love nothing
better than to crowd forage up against something solid
to eliminate potential escape routes. That’s why stripers
will often grab a lure right next to the boat.
GONE FISHING continued from page 1
Stripers will smack a variety of lures. For day in day out
consistency Fish Trap style swimbaits like this are tough to beat.
Photo by CAL KELLOGG, Fish Sniffer Staff.
https://collinslake.com for status updates.
Trout, catfish and some crappie are
providing the top action at this time.
Fishermen are experiencing the best
rainbow trout fishing while tossing out
PowerBait and spinners from shore in the
deep water off the dam.
Hillario Sandoval of Vacaville topped
recent catches with a 9-1/4 lb. channel
that fell for chicken live. Big trout honors
go to Rich Perry of Live Oak, who landed
a 5-1/2 lb. while soaking PowerBait by the
dam., according to Abigail at the Collins
Lake Resort.
Christian Peck caught a quality trout
while with a spinner from shore by the
dam on Labor Day weekend. Nora Egan
from Sacramento landed a 1-1/2 lb. trout
while using PowerBait. Mike caught
five trout using garlic, green and yellow
PowerBait by the dam.
Starting Tuesday 9/8/20, a limited
number of Open Camping Area permits
will be issued again for those wanting to
camp along the shoreline at the South end
of the park the Fall.
The lake is 37 feet from full and the
surface water temperature is 80 degrees.
- Dan Bacher
DAVIS LAKE
Bank Anglers Battle Trout,
Bass and Catfish Before
Forest Service Closure
PORTOLA – Anglers were catching an
array of rainbow trout and an occasional
brown trout, black bass, brown bullhead
Continued on Pg 12
Other key areas on islands are the levee breaks
that connect the water of the islands with the rivers
and sloughs that surround them. Any time you have
two large tidal bodies of water separated by small
openings you are going to get heavy current at certain
times. Baitfish get caught up in the current and as
a result stripers gravitate to areas featuring abrupt
current changes in hopes of nailing disoriented
baitfish.
In summing up about locating fish, think submerged
islands, think shallow water structure and think abrupt
current changes and you’ll be well on you way to
bumping into a wolf pack of bad tempered stripers.
Water temperature also plays a big role in plugging
success. While you might be able to nail a few
stripers while plugging when the water temperature
is up, you’ll have the best results when the water
temperature hovers around the 50 degree mark.
“When the temperature get cold, it really seems
to make the bass get more active and ultimately the
more active the fish are the better you’ll do while
plugging,” asserts Paganelli.
Okay, now that you’ve got an idea of where to find
stripers, let’s take a look at the tackle and techniques
used for catching them. We’ll start with rods, reels
and lines.
Medium to medium heavy weight spinning tackle
can be used for striper plugging, but bait casting
gear does a much better job. You could get by with
one rod, but two are a much better choice, since you
can rig one for subsurface fishing and one for
topwater action.
Your light rod can be spooled with 15 to 20
pound mono or 30 pound braid. This is the rod
you’ll use for throwing crankbaits, small plastic
swimbait and bucktail jigs. Your heavy rod
should be spooled with 50 to 65 pound braid.
This is the rod that you’ll primarily use for
tossing topwaters, but it will also be useful for
large swimbaits and wakebaits.
My light rod is a Lamiglas Certified Pro
flipping stick, while my heavy rod is a
Lamiglas Certified Pro Big Bait Special
swimbait rod. Both of these rods are topped
with Abu Garcia Revo baitcasters.
Lure selection for Delta striper plugging is
actually pretty simple. There are a lot of baits
that stripers will hit, but you only need a few
to cover all the bases. First you’ll want some
5 inch hollow body swimbaits. I like both the
baits from Hippo Tackle and Berkley. Pearl
Robbie Dunham and his fishing partner Kim visited Collins Lake recently and limited out on
husky rainbow trout.
Photo courtesy of the COLLINS LAKE RECREATION AREA, Oregon House.
catfish and sunfish
before the lake and
surrounding forest
was closed by the
U.S. Forest Service.
The surface water
temperature was 68
degrees at press
time.
On September 9,
3816
Bait & Tackle
Visit The Mother Lode Region’s Official Fishing Tackle
Headquarters Today For All Of your Inland Fishing Needs!
WIDE SELECTION • GREAT PRICES • YOU SAVE!
HOOKD4LIFE.COM
RODS • REELS • LINE • FROGS • SWIMBAITS • JIGS BAIT • HOOKS • SPINNERS • TERMINAL
TACKLE • HARDBAITS • SOFT PLASTICS • SPECIALS • CLOSEOUTS & MUCH MORE!
Visit us on your way to: Camanche, Pardee, Amador, Rancho Seco, New Melones And More!
(209) 790-5100 106 East Main Street, Ione, CA 95640
Now Booking Sacramento River SALMON
All Bait & Tackle
and Fish Cleaning Furnished
Call for Information –
(916)284-9236
Capt. Chris Ditter 3919
colors that imitate shad are the way to go and you’ll want to rig
these baits on ½ ounce jig heads. I really like the Blade Runner
Tackle Spintrix heads. They feature a small willow leaf blade
that adds vibration. For variety you can also grab a couple
white ½ ounce bucktail jigs such as P-Line Pulse Raisers.
For hard baits you’ll want a few shad or chrome colored
half ounce Rat-L-Traps for subsurface work. When it’s time
to throw topwaters you’ll want a couple Pencil Poppers in
chrome or white colors and a few large walking baits in
chrome, clear and baby bass.
When working these baits, whether we are talking subsurface
baits to topwaters, the key is to keep them moving. Stripers
have notoriously bad aim and they often miss on their first
strike. If you keep the bait moving they will usually keep on
striking until they get hooked.
With the soft swimbaits, jigs and Rat-L-Traps simply cast
them out and slow roll them back to the boat. Be sure to
retrieve all the way back to the boat as the strikes often come
right at your feet. If a bass misses your bait beside the boat,
don’t raise it out of the water, instead start pulling the bait in
a figure eight pattern just below the surface with the rod tip.
Many times this will provoke a second strike that results in a
hookup.
To effectively work either Pencil Poppers or walking baits,
you’ve got to learn how to “walk the dog”. This is accomplished
by rhythmically twitching the bait on a slack line while
slowly retrieving line. With a bit of practice you’ll get the hang
of moving the bait across the surface with a hypnotic side to
side walk.
When a bass rushes a surface bait you’ll want to haul back
and set the hook. Don’t do it! Keep the bait moving until you
FEEL the strike and then drive the hooks home. Many times
a bass will miss a surface lure two or three times before being
hooked.