4/27/13 Lake Berryessa

 

We fished Berryessa today for the first time in several months. Launched a Markley Cove at 6:00 AM. I was a little early, so I made a few cast with a P-Line Laser Minnow and hooked a few small Bass on every cast. Once we took off we started trolling just outside the CIFFI Pen’s. Based on some reports the Kings had been in that area last week. We worked our way out to the Dam and continued on for about ¼ mile. We rolled Pautzke Fire Brined Shad and Anchovies, used Sep’s Dodgers and Hoochies without a touch. As we were going past the houseboats earlier we noticed bait boiling around the docks. We decided to go back and see if we could find some Kings in all that bait. We mooched right up next to the houseboats again without a bite. I broke out the P-Line Laser Minnows that were on light spinning rod and the fun began. We lost count of the number of bass we landed. It was crazy. I’m not a bass guy but have to admit it was a blast. We picked up and headed back out to the area of the Dam. Along the way we stopped and checked in with another guide buddy. He had a couple Kings that he caught on a 2/0 Sep’s Silver Starlight and a white Hoochie. We called it a day around noon with one hit on the last troll and a good time with a bunch of bass. All the fish today were safely released after a couple photos.

Pictured is Steve Mothersell

4/26/13 Lake Tahoe Mack’s

We launched at Cave Rock State Park to accommodate our group of six that were staying at Zephyr Cove. We were launched, paperwork done and ready to fish just after 6:00 AM. We discussed starting on the East shore for rainbows and browns or head straight to the deep water and try to load up on Mack’s. Everyone was in agreement to go for the Mack’s. After little boat ride we dropped our spoons down to a bunch of schooled fish that were 260 to 300 feet deep.  We started off with a double. These first two fish came on White Glow Spoon’s 5’ off the bottom. From that point on we continued to land fish using the white spoons and Sep’s Glow Pro Secrets. We also lost couple along the way. These guys didn’t want to keep any fish so everything was released today.  After everyone had their share of reeling these fish in from 300’ we decided to hit the shallow water and troll our way back to Cave Rock. I would guess the average fish today was around 3 pounds with a couple that went 5 to 6 pounds. During the time we were on the lake today it was like glass and the water temperature was running 42 to 43 degrees.

Pictured is George Branco from Lodi

Lake Tahoe Report for the Week of 4/15/13

We are done with Sport Shows and now its time to fish! We were on Lake Tahoe a couple days this week. We experienced the normal steady Mackinaw bite off Cal Neva Point. We caught Mackinaw each day in 250 to 300 feet of water on Spoons. The average size was 2 to 5 pounds.  #3 Green Needlefish and Sep’s Glow Green Secrets seemed to be the best lure for us this week, covered with Pautzke Krill.
We also spent some time on the Nevada side of Cal Neva point, Dollar Point and a little time down south. We caught Mackinaw in all three of these locations pulling Rapala’s. We landed a couple nice rainbows off Dollar Point as well. Not big but very nice bright fish.

 

Photos is from Saturday 4/20/13

Left to right Esperanza Ross and Brian Flaherty of Sacramento

 

 

3/29/13 Stampede Reservoir

We met our Michael and Chase Barnes of Reno at the Stampede Ramp at 6:30. We decided to make a couple runs up the Little Truckee arm see if we could find a Brown. The fog was like pea soup, I was thankful I had the Lowrance 4G Radar on the boat. Within 10 minutes we landed a nice rainbow, I haven’t seen many rainbows like this come out of Stampede in a few years. That was the good news. After a couple hours of top lining Rapala’s with only one other hit we decided to switch over to slow trolling for Mack’s. We fished hard with everything I had in the boat. I talked with a couple other guys on the water and they hadn’t had a touch. We let out a top line with a Sep’s Watermelon Dodger and an Uncle Larry’s Bloody Tiger tipped with Pink Pautzke Fire Corn after seeing some Kokanee on the surface. It wasn’t long before we landed and released a couple 10” Kokanee. Finally, we hooked a Mack on the Pro Troll Sting Fish. At the same time, Paul Kneeland called on the radio and said he was hooked up as well. Chase landed a 13 ½ pound Mack. We went a about an hour before Michael landed a 4 ½ pound Mack. Stampede wasn’t a wide-open bite today but we did manage a couple nice fish.

Working with the Department of Fish and Wildlife

Today Ed Fisk and Myself took Kasie Barnes out on Bullard’s Bar. Kasie is the Coldwater Specialist for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Kasie e-mailed me a couple days ago asking if I knew where we could get a few Kokanee this time of the year for a project she was getting ready to start. My boat was sealed for Lake Tahoe so I called fellow Guide and friend Ed Fisk of Fish Tales Guide Service. I knew Ed had just caught a few Kokanee at Bullard’s Bar. Knowing the size of Kokanee at Bullard’s were going to be small I check with Kasie regarding the size. All she needed was Kokanee regardless of size. We Launched at Dark Day a little after 7:00 AM and spent our time on the water in the same area. We caught fish from the surface down to 40+ feet. It seemed like the best producer was a Sep’s Goldstar Dodger with a Pink Uncle Larry’s spinner. We put 9 in the box and lost at least 15 more. Keeping these little guys on the hook was a challenge. My thanks to Ed for helping us out with this project today. Attached is a little video explaining what this was all about. Click on this link to view the video Bullard’s Bar Kokanee

3/18/13 Stampede Reservoir

IMG_31191Today, we made our first trip to Stampede, the news traveled fast that it was open. The road was clear with only a couple patches of snow. The ramp was in good shape other than a little ice but nothing a 4×4 couldn’t handle. We launched about 6:30 AM and headed straight across from the ramp and started fishing the same are we hooked all the nice Mack’s last year.  We made a couple quick passes before quickly switching over to Rapala’s and targeting browns. We gave this a couple hours without and hits. The lake was like glass. We switched back to Pro Troll Sting Fish and worked our way back into 60’ of water. At 10:00 with still no fish in the box I was getting concerned that it was going to be one of those days. About then, we got a little breeze and a ripple on the water and that’s all it took. Before we knew it we had 5 Mack’s in the box. The biggest was 10lb.The other weighed in at 9.5 lb, 9 lb, 5 lb and one that went about 2 to 3 pounds. All these fish were caught on a size 15 Pro Troll Sting Fish fishing the bottom in 60’ of water. Three of these fish were stuffed with 6” Kokanee. The water temp started out around 37 however we found 42-degree water in the shallows behind the island.

3/15/2013 Lake Tahoe

 We launched at Lake Forest a little after 6:00 AM and headed straight over to Sand Harbor. Our plan was to fish for brown’s for a couple hours before moving out to deeper water for Mack’s. We pulled a variety of Rapala’s along with some Indilure Spoons. We were also trying out some new Abu Garcia 5500 LC reels with 30-pound Spiderwire Stealth Braid with 12-pound Trilene 100{7a4ac4d41b4460d34b281f63b723a7d44734ea67a7ce96d64bb383ade0b55738} Fluorocarbon. We worked the east shore hard until about 11:00 AM with only one fish, a Mack going about 3 lbs. We decided to switch gears and move out to deeper water off Cal Neva Point where we picked up our limits of Mack’s. The size was nothing special today with our biggest fish going about 4 pounds. We got our Mack’s down 200 to 280 feet on spoons.

Left to right
Lou Norton, Dan Wolfe, Walt Hodnett Jr. and Bill McInerney

2/16/13 Lake Tahoe

Fred Solari and Ed Noceti, both from Stockton, booked two days on Lake Tahoe, since we had such a phenomenal day catching Mackinaw on Friday, 2/15  we decided to start out fishing for Browns and Rainbows on Saturday, 2/16. We headed straight over to the East side of the lake around Sand Harbor. We were pulling F-18 Rapala’s and one Indilure spoon. Within 10 minutes we landed and released a rainbow that went about 4 pounds, he hit the F-18 Rapala. Before long we hooked another fish on the Indilure. This felt like a very nice fish, however, it got off before we could get a look at it. The next fish also took the Indilure. It was a Mack that weighed about 3 pounds. After a couple hours we headed back over towards Carnelian Bay and started fishing deeper for Mack’s. The bite was nothing like the day before. We ended up landing and releasing 11 Mackinaw. Two of the fish went just under six pounds and the rest were in the 3 to 4 pound range. The fish were taken on Glow Sep’s Secret’s and Needlefish at 260’ deep in 300’ of water.

 

2/15/13 Lake Tahoe

We had two clients that wanted to catch and release Mackinaw today. We did that for sure we hooked 33 fish and landed 20 of those. All on Glow in the Dark spoons around 260’ deep in 300’ of water. We have the same guys with us tomorrow and plan to fish the East Shore for Browns and Rainbows before going back for the deep Mackinaw. The other news of the day is the loss of a wheel bearing this morning. Thankfully we have an extra trailer at home and our son-in-law Steve willing to drop everything and bring it to me.

2/13/13 Lake Tahoe

Click here to view the video Lake Tahoe 2/13/13

Pre-fishing Lake Tahoe for some upcoming trips, I asked Cal and Gene from the Fish Sniffer to join me. We launched at Lake Forest and fished around Cal Neva and then moved over to the East Shoreline. We had a great day with Mackinaw but everything else was slow. We had a great time catching fish and playing with the video cameras. Hope you enjoy this short video of Lake Tahoe Mackinaw fishing.