Fish report through April 7, 2015

Kokanee have made their annual appearance at Don Pedro, and the lake has joined Pardee as one of two Mother Lode reservoirs where the landlocked salmon can be found. Monte Smith of Gold Country Sport Fishing went out twice last weekend, and Friday’s trip was the first kokanee venture of the season. He said, “I set out rods for kokanee and trout, and instantly, the kokanee rods were hit. We landed kokanee and rainbow trout on this trip, and the kokanee came at depths from 35-53 feet in Fleming Bay on Uncle Larry’s spinners tipped with shoepeg corn scented with Pro-Cure’s herring behind either a Vance’s or Rocky Mountain Tackle dodger. Some of the rainbows came on frozen shad as deep as 50 feet on Friday. On Saturday’s trip, I had a hard time keeping all four rods in the water while kokanee fishing in the same location, depths and gear, and after taking a brief break in mid-morning, my clients wanted to try for rainbows. We put on heavy spoons for great action with the opportunity to land as many as 25 fish, ending the day at 12:30 p.m. with 10 kokanee, five rainbows and a single fat king salmon.” The bass are on the beds, and bank fishermen are tossing medium to large minnows or nightcrawlers for largemouth and spotted bass while tournament fishermen are finding their best action on ripbaits, crankbaits and small topwater lures such as K- 3.8 to 4.8 K-Techs in rainbow trout. The lake is starting to release water, dropping 3 feet in the past week to 710.45 in elevation and 43 percent capacity. Call: Monte Smith, (209) 581-4734; Danny Layne-Fish’n Dan, (209) 586-2383; Gary Vella, (209) 652-7550; Bait Barn, (209) 874-3011.

After months of releasing water and the reservoir holding between 8 and 9 percent capacity, the North Barrett Cove Launch Ramp opened last week for a brief window from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., with all boats needing to be out of the water by 4. There is a long walk from the ramp to the parking area, but those willing to take the extra effort have been rewarded with huge numbers of fish, including quality largemouth bass. Merritt Gilbert at Valley Rod and Gun in Clovis said, “The ramp has been in the water for a few weeks, and Fresno-area anglers are heading north to experience wide-open action with basically anything they throw at the fish since they haven’t seen gear for months. Up to 60 fish per day have been reported by our local fishermen.” Mark Inman of the Six Star Tackle Shop in Madera confirmed the hot action for bass with a variety of techniques, including dragging lizards, Brush Hogs or jigs in the shallows. Tess Cameron of the Lake McSwain Marina said, “Only a few boats are heading out into the lake, but there have been some large fish taken in the deepest part of the lake near the dam.” She emphasized that the boat launch will only be operational for a limited period, and interested boats should call the marina at (855) 222-5253. The lake is at 9 percent and 610.64 feet in elevation. Call: A-1 Bait, (209) 563-6505; Bub Tosh, (209) 404-0053.

John Lietchy of Glory Hole Sporting Goods in Angels Camp said, “Bass fishing remained solid with topwater lures in the morning before moving out to secondary points or the backs of creek channels with Carolina-rigged Brush Hogs or lizards.” Chatterbaits in the main lake are also effective for spotted bass to 2.5 pounds. The lake is releasing water, but the rate of release has slowed, allowing for the bass to settle down. Trolling for trout is best at depths from 20-40 feet in the main lake channel near the dam and spillway with various colors of spoons, depending upon the water conditions. Kokanee are starting to make their way into a five-fish limit, and Gary Burns of Take It to the Limit Guide Service put in the first limit of kokanee for the season with fish to 12 inches. He said, “These were nice fat fish and hard fighters. It is not a fast bite, and we fished near the dam to Rose Island and down to the spillway. The water is dropping fast, so watch out for those trees grabbing your gear.” He was using Glitter Bug mini-hootchies in orange or Uncle Larry’s spinners in the same color with different colors of dodgers at depths from 24-35 feet. There have been some large catfish over 10 pounds taken by bass fishermen with drop-shot plastics in the shallows. New Melones dropped 2.5 feet to 866.99 feet in elevation and 22 percent capacity. Lake Tulloch is at 501.94 feet in elevation and 84 percent capacity. Call: Glory Hole Sports, (209) 736-4333; Monte Smith, (209) 581-4734; Danny Layne-Fish’n Dan, (209) 586-2383; Sierra Sport Fishing, (209) 599-2023.

Central Valley and South Bay anglers continued to head to San Luis Reservoir and the O’Neill Forebay in search of striped bass; action has ranged from poor to decent with a variety of techniques. The main lake may have reached its zenith for the year at 70 percent capacity; it has progressively dropped to its current level of 66 percent. Roger George of Roger’s Guide Service said, “The full moon and prior heavy winds really shut off the overall bite on Good Friday, and we worked like crazy to get six fish, but the sizes were impressive. John Higginbotham Jr., 23, caught and released a 15-pound lineside on a Yozuri at 50 feet, following with another striper at 8 pounds. His father and Richard Ahronian of Fresno also were part of the group, and they landed/released stripers in the 21- to 24-inch range. The bite was in the middle of the day, and everyone we talked to was struggling. The fish are moving a lot.” Anthony Tran of Coyote Bait and Tackle confirmed the school-sized stripers in the main lake, and most fishermen are trolling or drifting jumbo minnows near Quiensabe Point, the trash racks or Portuguese Cove. Bank anglers are tossing live jumbo minnows, pile worms or blood worms from the shore areas around Highway 152, Dinosaur Point or Goosehead Point. The lake fell 3,751 acre-feet to 1.34 million acre-feet. In the forebay, schoolie stripers are biting pile worms, blood worms or frozen shad near Check 12 while ripbaits, lipless crankbaits and swimbaits also are working. With the water releases, heavy pumping through the reservoir continues, creating ideal conditions for the stripers to feed. Call: Coyote Bait and Tackle, (408) 463-0711; Roger George of rogergeorgeguideservice.com, (559) 905-2954.

The wind was the big story on the Delta the past week, with heavy gusts nearly every day. A few sturgeon fishermen braved the winds, and those anglers found great rewards in the Big Cut, the Little Cut and near the Mothball Fleet between buoys 2-4. Steve Talmadge of Flash Sport Fishing out of Martinez returned from vacation and said, “I have to say the sturgeon bite was better than when I left, and in fact, it has been the best so far this season. We had one gentleman battle an 83-inch sturgeon for nearly 30 minutes before its release at the boat, and we hooked another, even larger fish, which rolled on the line during a jump, breaking off and winning this battle.” Lamprey eel and salmon roe continued to be the top baits, and Talmadge has found the best action in front of Ozol Pier east toward Buoy 2. Striped bass trolling also was being affected by the wind, but the number of boats from the Rio Vista Bridge through the West Bank is heavy when conditions allow. The stripers are being pushed out of the shallows by the heavy traffic, and deep-diving lures have been more effective. Mark Wilson and Clyde Wands, striper trolling experts, put on a striped bass trolling seminar at the Fishermen’s Friend in Lodi recently and provided several tips. Wilson has been using RatLTraps in shallow water, and his top producing colors are silver, silver/black or silver/blue. He uses a light tackle spinning rod, upgrading the size of the spinning reel to accommodate 20-pound test braided line. They let out 80-90 feet to reach a depth of 6.5 feet. He also said, “You should have a rod ready with a RatLTrap so someone can cast out to the side once a fish is hooked.” In the Stockton area, Brandon Gallegos of H and R Bait said, “Keeper stripers in the 18- to 26-inch range are coming out of the San Joaquin system near Whiskey Slough and from Bacon Island Road on bluegill, sardines or fresh shad. The shad are spawning late this year, and they haven’t made their way up in numbers to the Port of Stockton. We have received a total of 120 pounds in the past week, but it is going out of the shop so fast that we can’t even freeze 10 pounds.” Call: Randy Pringle, (209) 543-6260; Captain Stan Koenigsberger – Quetzal Adventures, (925) 570-5303; Intimidator Sport Fishing, (916) 806-3030.

The wind was a problem in Saturday’s salmon opener, and only the largest party boats made it out. Captain Bob Ingles of the Queen of Hearts out of Half Moon Bay Sport Fishing found 10 salmon over the first two days for 44 anglers while Captain Jimmy Robertson of the Outer Limits out of Sausalito made the long run to the Deep Reef on Easter Sunday and put his 12 customers on to 10 salmon to 12 pounds trolling in the rough ocean. Three private boats made it to the Deep Reef on Easter Sunday, and there were up to three hookups with the occasional fish landed using various lures at depths to 60 feet on downriggers. Captain Roger Thomas of the Salty Lady is running whale-watching trips until mid-May, but he will operate salmon trolling trips throughout the week if there is enough interest. Call: Happy Hooker, (510) 223-5388; Roger Thomas, Salty Lady, (415) 760-9362; Bait and Switch Sport Fishing Center, (650) 726-7133; Emeryville Sport Fishing, (510) 654-6040; Don Franklin, Soleman, (510) 703-4148.

Chris Arcoleo of Chris’ Landing in Monterey reported the Star of Monterey came through with five salmon in the opener along with two more on the Checkmate. He said, “Both captains reported marking lots of fish near the Soldier’s Club, but they were unwilling to bite, perhaps due to the low-pressure system that moved in. Trollers are picking up a few, and the fish are not in deep water and are found from the surface to 100 feet in depth. We ran over the fish on the opener, running to the Soquel Hole before returning to find some bait around the Soldier’s Club for up to seven salmon. With this recent northwest and more wind coming this week, we should be able to scrape up some salmon.” The bait is scattered, but there are anchovies at Soquel Hole and around the Soldier’s Club. The water temperature rose a few degrees back to 55, but overall Arcoleo rated the opening weekend as “encouraging.” They have openings for salmon beginning Wednesday with rockfish open loads Tuesday. Mike Aughney of USA Fishing.com said, “Tom on the Fish On out of Santa Cruz said they lost their only salmon, but late in the day, they did land a 70-plus pound, 9-foot thresher shark. He was mainly working the Soquel Hole area and said the high boat on that side of the bay had six fish, but the majority of boats returned with what they left the harbor with. Through 2:30, when Tom came in, the F&G counter had only checked in 10 fish.” Most interest has been for salmon, but the rockfish opener April 1 was excellent with a solid ling cod count and limits to near-limits of rockfish. The boats had to remain close to the harbor because of high wind throughout the past week. Call: Chris’ Landing, (831) 375-5951; Bayside Marine, (831) 475-2173; usafishing.com.

High wind and difficult ocean conditions kept the party boats inside the bay chasing striped bass and halibut during the opening weekend of ocean salmon season. Live anchovies are available at the San Francisco Bait Receiver for the first time this season. The anchovies are small, but they are working for striped bass in San Pablo and San Francisco Bay. Captain Jim Smith of the Happy Hooker found great action for striped bass and the occasional large halibut Friday and Saturday. They found limits of striped bass to 15 pounds for 18 anglers Friday along with five halibut to 16 pounds. Saturday’s score was 27 stripers to 17 pounds along with three halibut to 22 pounds. Jeremiah Patterson of Placerville landed the 22-pounder. Smith said, “The anchovies are working for the bass, but the Loch Lomond shiners have been really effective for both bass and halibut.” James Smith on the California Dawn commissioned his brother, Chris, to run the boat on Easter Sunday during the rain, and Chris had a great day in the central bay with 17 striped bass and four halibut to 15 pounds for 15 anglers drifting live bait. James was at the helm Saturday, and they put in nearly a fish per rod with 20 stripers and three halibut for 29 passengers. Keith Fraser of Loch Lomond Bait and Tackle reported windy conditions plagued boaters Sunday and Monday in advance of this week’s storm, but shore fishing remained excellent from along the access areas in Marin County. He said, “The striped bass fishing has slowed a bit, but it is still outstanding.” They have plenty of Loch Lomond shiners for those wanting to drift the larger live baits, and they will bring in live mud shrimp for the next series of minus tides on the horizon starting April 16.

This story was originally published April 7, 2015 at 11:35 PM with the headline "Fish report through April 7, 2015."