Fish report for Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2016

Lake Don Pedro

Mike Gomez of the Bait Barn in Waterford said, “The bass bite has been on the tough side with most of the action found at depths from 45 to 50 feet with plastics on the drop-shot on a slow presentation. The jig bite has been slow.” Planted rainbows can be taken from the shoreline with trout dough bait, Mice Tails or nightcrawlers. Don Pedro rose 8.5 feet to 781.18 feet in elevation and 72 percent. Call: Monte Smith, 209-581-4734; Danny Layne-Fish’n Dan, 209-586-2383; Gary Vella, 209-652-7550.

McClure Reservoir

Lake McClure has risen within the past week due to heavy rainfall in the Merced River watershed, but the lake’s water remains clear despite the inflow. Mike Gomez of the Bait Barn in Waterford said, “The bite is not dynamite like it was a few weeks back, as the cold weather has really slowed down the bite, but the bass are thick and stuffed with shad. The fish are oriented to the shad schools.” Gomez added there is a lot of water coming into the lake, and the top baits from their shop have been the Pro Worm 300, Berserk jigs, Berserk shakey-head plastics and the Yamamoto twin tail Hula Grub in patterns 297 or 300. McClure came up 17 feet within the past week to 42 percent and 754.97 feet in elevation. The launch ramps at McClure Point and Barrett Cove South are open, but the Horseshoe Bend launch and Barrett Cove North ramps are closed at the present time. Call: Bait Barn, 209-874-3011.

McSwain Reservoir

The last trout plant was Oct. 14, but there are still planted rainbows taken from the peninsula near the Marina, Handicapped Docks or Brush Pile with garlic trout dough bait, Power Eggs or nightcrawlers. The marina is installing bait tanks in order to sell live minnows and crawdads in the near future. Call: McSwain Marina, 209-378-2534.

New Melones Reservoir/Tulloch

The Glory Hole launch ramp is back on the concrete, allowing more boaters to access the lake over the past two weeks. Trout fishing remains good, and it should continue to improve in the coming months as temperatures decrease. The lake has not turned over yet, but with the recent cold snap, it shouldn’t be long before the majority of rainbow trout are close to the surface. John Liechty of Glory Hole Sports in Angels Camp said, “Trollers are starting to pick up rainbows from the surface to 25 feet in depth, and both toplining 150 feet behind the boat or running leadcore at 5 to 7 colors have been effective. Shad-patterned spoons such as ExCel’s, Needlefish or Speedy Shiners are working best as well as brightly colored lures. Bank fishermen are starting to score off of Glory Hole Point and near the Highway 49 Bridge with trout dough bait on a light hook using very light monofilament line. Floating the bait off the bottom with leader lengths from 2 to 4 feet is best.” The bass have moved into the winter pattern and holding at the 35- to 45-foot range and are oriented to the shad schools. Liechty said, “Main lake points and in the coves and creek channels are good locations to start while working back from deep water into shallower water until the fish are located. Slow-moving baits on the bottom are working best with the bass metabolism slowing down, and spoons, plastics on the drop-shot or jigs are the best options. The crawdads turn brown and green in the winter months, and using similar colors with a purple line is a good choice for your jigs.” During the recent Sonora Bass Club tournament, most success was reported with jigs or soft plastics along with the occasional swimbait fish, with the big fish at 6.84 pounds. Catfishing has slowed considerably with the cold water, but the occasional whiskerfish can be taken with chicken livers, frozen shad or mackerel coated with plenty of scent. Moving water into the lake from the creeks is a good place to target catfish. Crappie fishing has slowed as well with few fishermen targeting the slabs. The recent rains have brought the lake up 10 feet to 876.78 feet in elevation and 25 percent. Call: Glory Hole Sports, 209-736-4333; Monte Smith, 209-581-4734; Danny Layne-Fish’n Dan, 209-586-2383.

Delta/Stockton

With the intense rainstorm Dec. 15 and huge water releases out of Nimbus Dam, the Sacramento River-Delta has been high and muddy in the northern stretches. The sturgeon bite has been outstanding, but plummeting water temperatures and weak tides slowed the bite over the weekend. The action should be outstanding in the near future as a result of the heavy freshwater inflow. Johnny Tran of New Romeo’s Bait and Tackle in Freeport said, “The river is running high and muddy, and there is a lot of debris. The larger trees and stumps have moved out, and the sturgeon have been hugging the shorelines near the tree line to get out of the heavy current. I lost a big one this week on an eel/pile worm combination loaded with Sturgeon Cocktail, and there have been several sturgeon landed in the Sacramento Deep Water Channel, Prospect Slough and Cache Slough. Striped bass have mainly been in the clearer waters of the Port of Sacramento or in the Deep Water Channel.” Captain Steve Mitchell of Hook’d Up Sport Fishing put in two legal sturgeon and a 6-pound striped bass at the Horseshoe the previous weekend, but the sturgeon went off the bite last Sunday as the water temperature dropped from 53 to 50 degrees within a day. Steffen Masters of Lost Anchor Bait and Tackle in Antioch and McAvoy’s Boat Harbor said, “We have had several sturgeon brought to the shop as of Saturday, and now that the winds have subsided, the sturgeon bite is extremely strong. Our grass shrimp boat hasn’t been running due to the debris on the river, but we are planning on going out for grass shrimp at the start of this week.” There have been some large striped bass taken off Sherman Island within the past week, and anglers have been reported to be illegally transporting kingfish or jack smelt from San Francisco Bay into the Delta for striped bass in the 20- to 30-pound range from the shoreline off Sherman Island Road. With the debris floating down the river and high water, boaters need to be particularly cautious while fishing at night and be in possession of a method of cutting the anchor line quickly since a trapped log can swamp a boat within minutes. The waters of the San Joaquin-Delta remain relatively clear despite the recent rains. Slowing your presentation is a must in the colder water. The water is clearest in the South Delta from Mildred Island south to Discovery Bay. Randy Pringle, the Fishing Instructor, found a really good ripbait bite for largemouth bass early this week with the ima Flit 120 in American shad or Olive Herring. He said, “There is a lot of shad in the area, and the largemouth bass are keying on the same food as the striped bass. Typically, largemouth would be feeding on crayfish and other sources, but with all of the shad in the water and the upcoming cold water on the horizon, they are loading up on the bait fish. The key is keeping the lure in the strike zone longer and just twitching it from 6 to 8 inches. The best action is at depths from 4 to 8 feet, and you have to keep it there as long as possible. Twelve-pound 100 percent fluorocarbon is the choice with the ripbaits, and keeping the rod tip low on the release is important in clear water while raising it up in the weed beds. You can also catch them on the 6-inch Bottom Hopper on a Zappu Head, but everything has to be slow, and the key is to move the bait as little as possible. There are tons of baby stripers on the San Joaquin, and it’s difficult to find larger fish. The San Joaquin River is clear below Mildred Island toward Discovery Bay, while the main Sacramento River is muddy. Brandon Gallegos of H and R Bait in Stockton said, “There hasn’t been much for striped bass in the Stockton area since most of the linesides are in the 15- to 17-inch range, but there is the occasional keeper to 19 inches landed on frozen shad or anchovies. Call: Randy Pringle, 209-543-6260; Intimidator Sport Fishing, 916-806-3030; Captain Steve Mitchell – Hook’d Up Sport Fishing, 707-655-6736.

San Luis Reservoir and O’Neill Forebay

San Luis Reservoir is benefiting from high flows in the Delta, and it has increased to 56 percent of capacity with increased pumping out of the south Delta. With colder weather and the holiday season, fishing action has slowed, but there are still striped bass to be had in the main lake and O’Neill Forebay. Roger George of Roger George Guide Service scouted the lake Sunday and said the bite was slow for everyone he talked to. “I was able to finally scratch out five fish to 25 inches, but I worked hard all day to find a few active fish,” he said. “Most of the fish were suspending and just wouldn’t bite. A couple of good anglers I talked to were perplexed and only had one fish per boat. The lake has come up 115 feet since the low back in August, giving us a whole new bigger lake. It’s also throwing a lot of anglers off who haven’t fished these levels and don’t know where to look. It’s tough. Anglers also need to remember that there are Quagga inspections on watercraft and a ban on non-compliant engines at the park. Some anglers, who don’t know the rules, are getting turned away after long drives. You can have a dry boat, but remember that ice buildup that melts later can be a killer during the zero-tolerance moisture inspection – if you’re not already Quagga tagged.” Paul Jolley of Coyote Bait and Tackle in Morgan Hill said, “We have had fewer reports with the weather, and our minnow sales are down. Most fishermen are either trolling or vertically jigging spoons such as Duh! Spoons in 1.75 ounces.” In the Forebay, Jolley reported that kayakers are taking out jumbo minnows for limits of school-sized striped bass while working along the main rockwall. The topwater bite and surface boils are absent, and most fishermen are either drifting minnows or vertically jigging spoons. He said, “Small-profile swimbaits such as K-Tech’s, BassTrix or underspins are working as well on a slow presentation.” Call: Coyote Bait and Tackle, 408-463-0711; Roger George of rogergeorgeguideservice.com, 559-905-2954; San Luis Reservoir and O’Neill Forebay wind conditions, 800-805-4805.

Half Moon Bay

Captain Michael Cabanas of the Huli Cat reported, “We went out on a rock cod/crab combo off of Pillar Point, and Vijen Kumar from Modesto landed a 5-pound ling cod on shrimp flies.” On the partyboat front, the Huli Cat is the only large boat running crab/rockfish combinations, and he has found decent action for Dungeness off Montara at depths to 180 feet. Captain Tom Mattusch of the Huli Cat will continue to run the combination trips until the rockfish closure Dec. 31, when they will switch to sand dab/crab, crab-only, whale watching and bird watching trips until the ocean salmon season opens in the spring. Out of Pacifica, Rob Chaney of the Rusty Hook reported continued good crab action from the pier with snares, as the swell has backed off the past few days. They have sold more than 700 custom snares in six weeks, and most anglers are concentrating on crab. Striper fishing has been slow from the beaches, but surf perch are taken from the pier with neon colors of Sabiki rigs. Call: Happy Hooker, 510-223-5388; Captain Roger Thomas, Salty Lady, 415-760-9362; Emeryville Sport Fishing, 510-654-6040.

Monterey/Santa Cruz

Chris Arcoleo of Chris’ Fishing Trips in Monterey reported vastly improved ling cod action with live sand dabs or mackerel since they made a decision to focus on lings within the past 10 days. He said, “The Check Mate put in 40 ling cod on Sunday along with one-fourth limits of rockfish and 28 crab for 20 anglers ... while the Caroline scratched up only 13 Dungeness crab, nine rockfish and one ling cod. Saturday’s scores were far improved with 59 Dungeness crab for 11 anglers along with limits of ling cod and quarter limits of rockfish on the Check Mate with seven lings, one-fourth limits of rockfish and 41 crab for 18 anglers on the Caroline. Tinker on the Check Mate found a school of mackerel, and the live bait really put in the ling cod to 15 pounds.” Allen Bushnell of Santa Cruz Kayak Fishing and Surfcasting Guide Service reported, “Ocean fishing always gets a little slower this time of year. But, we still have two weeks of rockfish and lingcod season open and the fish are still biting, even from some of the shallow spots in Monterey Bay.” Ed Burrell of Capitola Boat and Bait found success Tuesday near the Sponge Bob Buoy just east of the wharf. Using swim baits, Burrell caught a number of bolina rockfish. He also noted an abundance of bait still in that area, including sardines, mackerel and jack smelt. Chris Victorino, skipper of Stagnaro’s Legacy, says they will be running full-day and half-day trips right up to the season’s end Dec. 31. Victorino recommends the full-day trips, as they can travel up the north coast as far as Franklin Point looking for concentrations of rockfish and, of course, the big ling cod. Tom Dolan of Santa Cruz Charters took full advantage of calm conditions. Dolan had this to say about Friday’s trip on the Mega-Bite, “Snapper trip again today and again the water was flat calm. Fish were hungry, too. Got into the BIG red, olive, blue, black, copper pacific snapper to 4 pounds plus ling cod. The other five reds all went over 3 pounds. Nice haul today. Beaches ringing the Monterey Bay are shaping up to an early start this year. A succession of very large swells has started the yearly migration of sand, sculpting holes and trenches that hold feeding perch and striped bass. Recent rains have caused most local streams and creeks to break through the sand berms and connect to the ocean. This creates even more water movement and creates more structure. Flowing creeks also stir up more food, which attracts more and bigger fish.” Call: Chris’ Landing, 831-375-5951; Bayside Marine, 831-475-2173.

San Francisco Bay

Captain Jim Smith of the Happy Hooker out of Berkeley took a combination trip in flat, calm ocean conditions Sunday, and they came back with limits of big beautiful rockfish at the Farallons along with five crab per angler. The crab counts are diminishing, but his biggest pot only had 11 crab, and several had zero. Captain Chris Smith on the California Dawn also found similarly slower crabbing with a high pot of 25 crab along with several ranging from zero to two crab. Crab pots on a long soak without holes lead one to believe that others are pulling their gear illegally. Keith Fraser of Loch Lomond Bait and Tackle said, “Crab sales have been outstanding, and I have been hopping all day long on Sunday. There haven’t been many fishermen out during this week before Christmas with the small tides. We are expecting live mud shrimp in the near future, as our shrimper was able to locate a few quality mud shrimp despite very tough weather conditions in the Pacific Northwest.” Captain Trent Slate of Shelter Cove Sport Fishing out of Loch Lomond Marina is taking the rare sturgeon/crab combination trips, focusing on the best tides in San Pablo Bay either before or after making the one-hour run to pull the crab pots. He pulled the pots for limits of crab Monday for his clients.

This story was originally published December 20, 2016 at 4:43 PM with the headline "Fish report for Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2016."