
| 7/26/10 Back to Oroville to see if the luck had changed. Not much, but we did finally score 3 fatties on a Copper pink vances dodger trailing a pink Gamagatsu flat blade spinner. All of these fish were chock full of pond smelt to the point that their bellies were bulging. Why would they hit again if they were full? I guess the full moon had something to do with it!!! 7/20/10 Oroville was definitely NOT the place to go today. I thought the day was gonna be good as fish were breaking all around us and we had 2 hook ups before we got to the spillway. Unfortunately that 1 fish we landed, would be the ONLY fish for the day. 7/9/10 Just when you think ya have a place figured out, the fish go and change what they want. Stampede Kokanee wanted orange UV rocky mountain hoochies behind chartruese/red Seps sidkick dodger. The fish have dropped down between 50 and 60 feet, and wouldn't touch anything from last weeks trip. We did manage to bag 6 nice kokes to 16 inches, releasing 3 macks and a rainbow, all while suffering at least 5 long distance releases, ARGH!!! 7/1/10 Back to Stampede today, but struggled a little at the get go. All the stuff that worked last week couldn't even get a drive by! We did manage to find 5 nice fat Kokes, a couple of rainbows and a mack before the wind blew up 2 foot rollers and ran us off. The hot ticket for us was a pink dick night behind a shasta tackle pink skeleton sling blade dodger at 1.3 mph, 37 feet down. 6/24/10 Stampede was awesome today, nephews and great nephews bagged 10 nice kokanee, 2 Macks, and released one Mack,while losing at least 6 others to over enthusiastic fighting techniques. Boy kids are fun!!! 6/22/10 Berryessa with the Rooster Tails was rough on everybody today. We still managed 3 kings without ever leaving Markley cove. Crazy kings where hitting bass crank baits, go figure? 6/15/10 Holy cow check out Oroville if you can. We scored 3 limits of Coho Salmon in about 6 hours. The big fish was 5.4 pounds and 27 inches long. The remainder of the fish were about 17 inches and full of fight. What a hoot. 6/13/10 The Feather river went up 3 feet a couple of days ago and the Shad all jumped the falls at Shanghai, and are now hanging around the Yuba river. We tried all of the favorite shad flavors just below the falls but the best we could manage was a nice 8 pound striper and a couple of his buddies. 6/8/10 The red hot Kokanee bite at Stampede has fizzeled a bit according to the fish and game counter, but we still managed to bag a couple of nice kokes. The fish were all on top and hit copper and pink dodgers with pink hoochies or kokanee bugs. No limits today but still alot of fun. 6/1//10 The Feather river at Shanghai falls was the spot for todays trip. We chased the shad down to Star Bend and managed to boat 3 shad and 3 stripers. Tough day. Fishing Report for the week of 5/17-5/21. Striper fishing on the Sacramento river around Tisdale has been tough some days and red hot on others. We did manage to score a couple of keepers but most of the action has been undersize schoolies. Thursday did produce a 30 pound spawned out female for the owner of Johnsons bait. Fishing Report for 5/1510, If it's Kokanee your after, head for Stampede. We took the kids from Big Brothers and Big Sisters to Stampede and had a blast. The Kokes were hitting just about anything you threw at them, even the rainbow type stuff like nightcrawlers, who'd a thunk? The fish where in the top 10 feet, hitting mostly pinks. We scored 8 kokes and 1 Rainbow. Some of the other boats in our group scored well over 15 or so. Great day was had by all. Fishing report week of 5/13/10 Well were back to the grind after the first races of the season are over. We hit the Feather at Shanghai Falls and had a blast catching some big Shad just below the falls. Unfortunately the striper bite was a real bummer with only a couple of stripers the size of the minnows we were using as bait. Fishing report 3/26/10 Folsom Lake was beautiful today and the fish were willing. We scored 10 Rainbows and 4 Kings to 19 inches. The rainbows seemed to prefer the Hot Steel and Fire Tiger rapalas and the rainbow speedy shiners trolled near the top at 3 mph. 3 of the kings hit the glow sling blade/ glow spinner hoochie combo down around 30 ft at 1.5 mph. The remaining King hit a Cop Car Needlefish also on the downrigger. Most of the fish today hit between dyke 8 and Browns ravine. Our fishing buddies Raz Ortiz and Byron McCoin were also out today, with Raz scoring the big fish of the day, a nice 5 pound, 25 inch king, while Byron scored a nice 2 pound, 19 in. rainbow. Raz’s fish hit a starlight slingblade trailing a radical glow tube at 30 feet on the downrigger out in front of the dam. Good fun had by all. Fishing Report 3/19/10 Bill Colditz and Bob Suddjiam fished Folsom this Friday and were rewarded with a total of 16 Rainbows and Landlocked King Salmon. Rainbow Speedy Shiners were the hot ticket, scoring 8 of the 16 fish. The Hot Steel and Fire Tiger Rapalas and worked as well as the standard sling blade and sidkicks to round out the day. Bill and Bob released all the Kings to spawn and kept the planter rainbows. Fishing report 3/15/10 Folsom Lake is still the hot spot for landlocked King Salmon and Rainbows. I took a ride in Steve Burgess’s big red boat today and nearly lost my Egg McMuffin, braving the two foot wind swells in the morning. Once the wind died down about 10:30, the fish came out for breakfast and made the rough ride in the morning worth the wait. The first fish hit a white speedy shiner at 20 feet on the downrigger. The big fish, a nice 2.8 pound native rainbow, hit a longlined F7 Fire Tiger Rapala. The second largest fish hit a Hot Steel rapala, with the remainder of this stringer hitting the white speedy shiner and the white Yo-Zuri pins minnow. Trolling speed was 3 mph and all of these fish hit between the dam and the granite bay boat ramp. I jumped ship at noon with 6 on the stringer, so Steve’s son Patrick jumped in the boat and promptly scored a 19 inch 2 pounder to round out the day. Not a bad day after all. Remember Striper season on the upper river is just around the corner. Fishing Report 3/710 to 3/12/10 Folsom is still kickin out limits of rainbows and land locked kings this week using the same tactics as last week. Check out the Castorina clan's stringer. Fishing report 2/28/10 Folsom is still the hot spot, with kings and rainbows to 20 inches hitting top water and down to 30 ft. Troll at 3.0 mph, 150 ft behind the boat with a F7 Rapala in Hot Steel on top and Speedy shiners in rainbow or Yo-zuri Pins minnows in white/clear on the down rigger at 30 ft. If you want to go slow then try the chartruse/red dot or watermellon Seps sidekick dodger with a crawler or a sling blade dodger in glow/white with a glow hoochie tipped with anchovie. Crystal Basin's wild thing dodger with a crawler has been producing fish as well. Fish a line between the Granite Bay boat ramp and the dam for the best action. Fishing Report 2/25/10 Folsom Lake is rising fast and the fish are hungry. Jim Taylor and I took a ride in Bill Webber's new Jetcraft for a couple of hours this morning and scored 7 rainbows to 2 pounds, keeping the three bigger holdovers. The fish hit the deadly Rapala F7 and F8 X Rap in Hot Steel, longlined at 3 mph as usuall. Fishing Report 2/22/10 Folsom continued to kick out kings and rainbows today with fish hitting Speedy shiners in Rainbow, and Pins Minnows in white at 20 to 30 feet down. The top water bite was still the best with the Rapala F7 in Hot Steel. The trolling speed was 3 mph. The action was steady until about 11:00 then all but stopped until the big fish of the day, a 2 pound holdover rainbow, smacked the top lined Hot steel Rapala. We ended the day keeping 7 and releasing 6. Fishing Report 2/20/10 The bite on Folsom lake changed it’s tune today with the weather change, as the bite was primarily in the top 20 ft and looking for a different flavor. The speedy shiner in rainbow was still doing it’s duty down at 20 ft, but the Rapala F9 and F7 in Hot Steel was the king for the day, while the F9 in Brown trout missed the entire party. The big fish of the day was a nice 3.2 pound, 21.5 inch King that slammed the long lined F7 Hot Steel Rapala trolled on top, at 3+ mph up in the south fork arm of the lake. The Hot steel rapala scored the majority of the 16 kings and rainbows that we landed today. What a Hoot!!! Fishing report 2/17/10 The Folsom lake kings and rainbows are still hungry. This morning’s short trip, put 8(we put one back) fish in the boat in about an hour and a half, using the deadly Yo-Zuri pins minnow in white and The Speedy Shiner in 1/6 ounce rainbow pattern. The kings are hitting about 30 ft deep, the rainbows are hitting Rapala F9’s in brown trout, and Rapala X rap F8’s in white, long lined on the surface at about 3 mph. The fish are gorging on white Pond smelt so try anything in white!! Fishing Report 2-16-10 Kings and Rainbows continue to bite on Folsom Lake. Saturday’s trip kept a mix of 8 kings and rainbows out of 14 hook ups, using top lined Rapala F9’s in Brown Trout pattern and Yo-Zuri Pins Minnows in white/clear. The big fish of the day was a 2.5 pound holdover rainbow that hit the Yo-Zuri. King salmon to 14 inches are hitting white/glow hoochies behind glow slingblades, Pink/purple spinner hoochies behind rainbow/glow slingblades, and Rainbow speedyshiners (1/6th ounce). Most of the action on Kings is down around 30 ft deep with some hitting around the 40 to 50 ft depth as well. Last week, watermelon sidekicks and wild thing dodgers trailing a nightcrawler were the hot ticket, but the bite seems to have turned to the pond smelt imitation lures(white minnow). Most of the action has been near the lower boat ramp, around the face of the dam, over the river channels, and over towards the dyke 8 area, near the red buoy line. Run the top lined Rapala, Pins minnows and speedy shiners at about 3mph. Run the sling blades/hoochies and sidekicks/crawler/grubs at about 1.5 mph for best results. Rooster Steve Burgess scored two nice rainbows in the 2-3 pound class using a chartreuse side kick with an orange grub, top lined near the lower boat ramp. Special thanks go out to Byron and Raz for sharing their secrets with me, Thanks guys! By the way the second level boat ramp is open now, so you don’t have to drive over the surface of the moon to get to the boat ramp, Halleluiah. Fishing Report 2/11/10 Folsom Lake continues to kick out some nice rainbows and kings on mostly top lined F9 rapalas in the brown trout pattern and Yo-zuri pin minnows in white/clear. Sidekicks in chartruese with an orange grub scored as well as night crawlers behind watermelon Wild thing dodgers Fishing report 1/29 to 2/6 Kings and Rainbows are on the feed at Folsom Lake. The Rainbows were hitting watermelon side kicks and wild thing dodgers with a night crawler trailer on top at about 1.5 mph. The kings were hitting white glow/UV sling blades with a white glow hoochie or glow tube at about 30 feet at the same speed. Rainbow and Brown trout pattern F9 Rapalas long lined on top and Speedy Shiners down at 20-30 ft are scoring kings and rainbows at faster speeds around 3.0 mph. Yo-Zuri pin minnows in Pond Smelt also scored a king. One keeper king coughed up a bunch of pond smelt, so anything matching that pattern would probably work as well. The American river is still in perfect shape for Steelies but the fish must not have received the memo about joining the fun. Thursday’s drift only scored two hookups, one on a copper cleo and one on a night crawler under a bobber, all above the sunrise access. One of the fly guys at the lower Sailor Bar did land and release a nice fish while we were plugging above the Sailor Bar, but for the most part we didn’t see a lot of fish for the fly guys either. Fishing Report 1/29/10 Rooster Tail Master fisherman Byron McCoin and I fished Folsom lake with some measure of success, scoring a mix bag of planter rainbows and Landlocked Kings. We fished topline and downriggers, using Watermellon Sidekick dodgers with a Crawler trailer on top, and white/UV slingblade dodgers with white squid hoochies on the downriggers at 1.4 mph on the gps. Later in the day we switched to fast trolling with Rapala F7 in Rainbow on top and speedy shiners on the downrigger at 3 mph. Both scored fish. Bankies fishing at the boat ramp were also scoring from shore. Fishing Report 1/10/10 Well The Steelhead must not have got the invitation to the party. They seem to be far and few between on the American at the moment. Drifted from Sailor bar to Sunrise, with just a little wiggle on a copper Cleo to show for our fun day on the river. Fishing Report for 12/31/09 Salmon season went out with a bang as all four boats and families of the Squirrel Haven Lane fishing team decided to hit the Tisdale area for one last chance at a King. All four boats were rewarded with at least one fish, with honorary member Ryan Castorina(they don’t actually live ON Squirrel Haven Lane) taking the big fish perpetual trophy and pot, with a 35 pounder. Ryan’s wife Alicia scored her first ever salmon with a nice 21 pounder. Team T.N.G. was the first to score when Elliott Lampkin landed a 24 pound buck. Mom Sherry Lampkin aced Elliott out for the big fish honors with a 28 pound stud that Maureen Burgess had to help her land. Laura White in Team Shea/Burgess’s Big Red Boat scored her first ever salmon when her 20 pound hen came to the net. Laurie Sweeney of Team MJP (aka The Naked Fisherman) scored an un- weighed king, prompting hubby Mike J Peckham to jump in the river in celebration. All in all a great time was had by all(but the fish of course). What a way to end the year! Special thanks goes out to Bob Sparre of Rocky River guide service, as EVERY one of these fish hit one of his custom made spinners. Fishing Report for the week of 12/05/09 Thursday, 12/03/09, Fishin buds Willie and Frosty decided to check out the action on the sacramento river. Willie scored a nice 12 pounder on a copper #5 Blue Fox spinner, while Frosty scored a nice 10 pound cat fish on the same spinner. I didn’t know cat fish hit spinners, but a picture’s worth a thousand words. Saturday 12/5/09, Don and D.J. White and buddy Nick joined me for a run down the Sacramento. Big Daddy Don scored his first King salmon and was a little surprised at how powerfull even a little 14 pounder was compaired to the Bass he’s used to. Wonder what he would have thought of a 35 or 40 pounder!! Sunday 12/6/09 Mac McKendree and Don Robinson toughed out the coldest fishing day I can remember, only to score a lonely Jack. The fish counters said it was one of only two caught that day. Tough day! Fishing report for the week of 11/20/09 Tuesday, launched out of Knights Landing on the Sacrmento and ran up to the race track bends, trolling on the electric motor, downstream at just above current speed. No action for us but others reported catching fish at the lower limit line near the Hyw 113 bridge. Wednesday, we launched at Tisdale and ran down stream with the same speed and setup. The bite was non existent for most working that area, so we ran up above the ramp and manage to score one little Jack on a purple #5 blue Fox spinner. Thursday-Launched at Tisdale and tried the same routine, this time scoring a beautiful 14lb. silver bullet on a chartreuse body #5 blue fox on the first pass. This fish still had scales and sea lice. We worked the rest of the day trying to score again to no avail. Our unofficial boat ramp survey indicated that most boats had one a piece. So we didn’t feel too bad with our lone fish. We took Friday off but fishin buddy Ryan C battled the wind and rain only to lose a nice fish when it snagged somebody’s broken off fishing line in the river. He said the bite was off, probably due to the overnight rain and that the boat ramp scuttlebutt was that the pod of fish from Thursday had moved up to around Wards landing. 11-11-09 Mike and Pat Mahoney joined me on the Feather for a little Striper fishing. The bite was a little slow today, but we still managed to bag a couple of keepers and a schoolie that were all released. On the Sac, Squirrel Haven Fishing team members Steve and Patrick Bergess were trolling for stripers when a nice king hit thier Yo-Zuri minnow. Naturally the boys released the fish without landing it. Good to see there's fish in the river for next weeks opening day of salmon season. Fishing Report For the week of 10-28-09; Well we're back from the Klamath with some beautiful fillets and some more pictures. The fishing was fair to good depending on where and how you fished. It seemed that most of the bigger fish were hitting Kwick fish in the chrome/charturese bill flavor, while the more numerous smaller fish were hitting roe. We managed a few of both, with big fish honors going to oldest son Elliott and his 24 pounder. Neighbor Steve Burgess and wife Sherry wound up with 16 pounds a piece, while the best the guide could manage was a 14. |