Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3818 August 16-30 | Page 3

Up-To-Date and Published Locally... By Sportsmen... For Sportsmen! 37 Years Serving Sportsmen Stampede Lake Map Feature MADE IN U.S.A See Page 16-17 Vol. 38 - ISS.18 Our 37th Year Since 1982 August 16 - 30, 2019 “The Magazine for West Coast Sportsmen!” Red Hot Oroville King Salmon Fishing with Captain Kevin Brock! T he conditions had gone from great to not so good. The sun was high, the surface chop we’d enjoyed all morning was gone leaving the surface glassy, the bait had completely disappeared and the screen of the sonar unit was clean without a fish in sight. “Well it doesn’t look too good, but let’s make a pass or two anyway,” asserted Captain Kevin Brock of FishKevinBrock.Com as we inched across the face of Oroville Dam. As Kevin readied the rods, Wes quipped, “I hope they did a good job repairing the dam, because if they didn’t we’ll be down in Yuba City before we know it!” We all laughed and then nervously glanced at the hazard markers and construction vehicles jamming the parking lot at the closed Spillway Launch Ramp. With four rods teamed with white tubes and Sling Blade dodgers working at various depths off the downriggers we trolled off the face of the dam from east to west. We’d been at it for several minutes and were about to give up when a rod on the port side wiggled to life. Kevin slid the rod out of the holder and handed it to Wes. We knew right away that it was a big fish from the way it bulldogged and stayed deep. It didn’t run, but it didn’t give an inch against Captain Kevin Brock is a master salmon angler whether the strain of fishing in rivers or lakes. Here we see him with big bad 23 Kevin’s Daiwa trolling rod inch Oroville king! either. Photo by CAL KELLOGG, Fish Sniffer Staff. Wes kept the pressure on and presently the fish changed its strategy, the net, darting off with lightning speed. surging to the surface and making a series On his second try Kevin scooped the big of slashing runs punctuated with some chromer and the biggest salmon of the hardcore headshaking. day was in the boat. The king measured When the big king appeared off the port 23 inches long and weight between 3 corner it alluded Kevin’s first attempt with CONTINUED ON PG 21 GONE FISHING by Cal Kellogg Fish On Charter Les Fernandes Targets Bullards Bar Kokanee O ver the past few seasons, I have had the pleasure of climbing aboard with Fish On Charters on a number of amazing fishing excursions. I have great memories of catching rockfish, lingcod, and halibut along the Sonoma Coast. So when owner and operator, Les Fernandes invited me to join him aboard the Devilfish for a different kind of fishing adventure, I was all in. So rather than making the drive west to Bodega Bay, I instead headed north to Bullards Bar Reservoir for a day of kokanee fishing. Captain Les spent many years running the Samantha Irene on the Sonoma Coast for rockfish, lingcod and salmon. He has since entrusted the skipper’s duty to Captain Jeff Caramella and today he spends most of his time in the sweet water guiding for trout, salmon and kokanee aboard his second boat, the Devilfish. Over the last few years, the kokanee fishing in the North State has been nothing short of spectacular. While Whiskeytown and Stampede having been grabbing the headlines, Bullards Bar is a lake that is gaining more notoriety. With a ten fish limit and an increasingly better grade of fish, Bullards Bar has become a very popular destination with kokanee anglers. I have fished Bullards Bar many times for spotted bass but never for kokanee. On a warm summer morning I met up with Captain Les at the Emerald Cove Marina. Joining us was avid kokanee angler, Dan Valdez. We pulled away from the marina and Captain Les piloted the Devilfish towards the dam. “The hot bite has been in the area near the dam and the stretch just past the house boats,” explained Captain Les. “We’ll start there, I have been catching some nice fish.” Captain Les rigged our rods with a variety of different Mack’s Lures including Pee Wee Hoochies, Kok a Nuts and Wiggle Hoochies all trailing Sling Blade Dodgers and tipped with white shoepeg corn marinated in tuna oil and Pro Cure scent. Dan set up his rod with one of his own creations, a beautifully hand tied kokanee fly that he tipped with a piece of corn. Captain Les is a highly skilled kokanee WHAT’S HOT by Mark Fong Dan Valdez caught a bunch of kokanee when he visited Bullards Bar including this feisty silver bullet. Photo by MARK FONG, Fish Sniffer Staff. F ish S niffer T IP OF THE W EEK When trolling for trout and salmon with lures such as flies and hoochies with no built in action, you want your lures riding within 12 to 16 inches of the dodger such that they derive action from it. Lures like spinners and spoons that have their own action can either be rigged close to the dodger or as far away as 48 inches. Experi- mentation is the key to figuring out what the fish want on any given day. - Cal Kellogg CONTINUED ON PG 15 Special Section Catch & Release Fishing - pgs 6-7 INSIDE Area Reports FRESHWATER REPORTS Almanor/Bucks Lakes - Berryessa Lake................4 Camanche Lake......................................................7 Carson Pass Area - East Delta....................... 12-13 Eastern Sierra - Klamath/Trinity Rivers............... 14 Knights Landing/Colusa Area - Pardee Lake ..... 19 Quarry Lakes/Shadow Cliffs Reservoir - Rollins/Scotts Flat Lakes.............................20 Sacramento Area - West Delta....................... 22-23 Western Nevada.................................................. 24 SALTWATER REPORTS Berkeley - Fisherman’s Wharf................................. 27 Half Moon Bay.....................................................29 Monterey Bay............................................... 30-31 FEATURES Where...When...How... SALMON JOURNAL.............................................8-10 BAJA ROUNDUP......................................................31 BULLETIN BOARD.....................................................3 CATCH & RELEASE - FLY FISHING: Cal Kellogg......7 FISH SNIFFER COUNTRY: Steve ‘Hippo’ Lau..........28 GO FOR IT: Staff.........................................................5 HOW-TO: Cal Kellogg................................................6 KAYAK FISHING SPOTLIGHT: Cal Kellogg ............. 11 MAP FEATURE: Dan Bacher...............................16-17 MIXED BAG FISHING: Ernie Marlan........................18 SPOTLIGHT ON CONSERVATION: Dan Bacher......26 STAFF TACKLE What We’re Using Cal Kellogg - hosted a Cal Kellogg School of Fishing adventure aboard the Pacific Dawn for S.F. Bay halibut and stripers. For light tackle live bait drifting, Cal used a Cousins baitcaster rated for 8 to 17 pound line paired with an Abu Garcia Orra Inshore baitcaster with a 7.1:1 gear ratio. The reel was spooled with 30 lb Yo-Zuri braid. The trip produced 40 halibut to 32 lbs and a handful of stripers. Paul Kneeland - fly fished Mill Creek near Mount Lassen with Bridget Looney and Rackerby. He caught lots of colorful native rainbow trout to 11 inches using a 9’, 3 weight Fenwick Techna AV graphite fly rod with a Teton machined aluminum reel with a Scientific Anglers double taper floating fly line, attached to a 9’ P Line flourocarbon tapered leader with a #14 Prince Nymph. Dan Bacher -fished for rainbow trout at Pinecrest Lake. He used a Berkley Ugly Stick GX2 6’ 6” medium action spinning rod, teamed up with a Shakespeare GX235 spinning reel filled with 6 lb. test P-Line CX Premium Fluorocarbon Coated Line. He fished with rainbow Berkley PowerBait, 1/8 oz. gold and black Panther Martins and 2/5 oz. gold/red stripe Little Cleos. Dan coated his baits and lures with Bloody Tuna scent Pro-Cure Super Gel.