5/3/14 Stampede Reservoir

We fished Stampede Reservoir. today for the first time in over a month. We started at 6:00 AM and decided to make a pass or two for Mackinaw before targeting Kokanee. It wasn’t long before the wind started and the forecast called for some pretty strong wind later in the day.  We figured we better go load up on some Kokanee before the wind got too bad.  As soon as we dropped our gear in we started hooking up.  We spent most of our time right in front of the island in about 60’ of water.  We ran two lines on downriggers behind Shark Cannonballs and one top line straight off the back of the boat. We hooked fish from the surface to 45’ deep. We ran three different set ups and they all did well.  Our set ups were a Sep’s Strike Master (watermelon color) with a Uncle Larry’s Pink Tiger, a Sep’s 4/0 Watermelon Dodger with a Uncle Larry’s Pink Tiger and the third was a Dick Night Pink Dodger and a RMT Assassin spinner on the top line. We used Abu Garcia 4600 reels loaded with 6# Trilene. Everything was tipped with Shoepeg Corn that I cured with pink Pautzke Fire Cure.  The bite was as good as it gets. We landed 18 Kokanee between 6:30 AM and 8:37 AM and lost more than we landed. It was a fast and crazy bite. I even caught 3 for myself to take home for dinner. These Kokanee went big; the average fish size today was 12” but fat and clean fish.

Launching is not a problem, however, I recommend four wheel drive if your boat is very heavy. The water is down far enough that all four of your tires will likely be in the mud. I had no issues launching today.

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Left to right, Biff Brethour, Anthony Dukes and Garry Dukes all of Cool.

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5/1/14 Lake Tahoe Lake Trout

We fished out of Cave Rock and focused on that side of the lake. We spent a little time fishing the shallows for rainbows before moving to deeper water to target the famous Lake Tahoe Lake Trout. We found piles of fish where we started hooking fish at 190 to 260 feet deep. All our fish were caught on glow in the dark spoons trolling 1.6 mph right on the bottom. As a side note, as you can see from this picture the lake was absolutely like glass. As I came by the Truckee Airport at 4:30 AM the thermometer on my truck said 21 degrees. The same spot on my way home at 3:30 PM it was 69 degrees a 48 degree swing.
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Dan Baxter and James Abram hold the four Lake Trout they took home for dinner.
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Delta Striped Bass Fishing

Considering the wind, moon and tides we had a pretty good week in the Delta Striped Bass Fishing. We continued to get some nice quality fish, however, the numbers per day were down from the week before. We started on the Sacramento River side but moved to the San Joaquin River before to long looking to get out of the wind. All our fish this week were caught trolling shallow water (less than 10’) using Rapala’s and Yo-Zuri’s. Chartreuse seemed to be color of choice. The one exception was a couple fish we caught on a J-13 Rapala in Brook Trout pattern, based on a report from a friend, we gave this lure a shot. www.FishTightLines.com

Left to Right, Keith Zenkler of Truckee, Ernie Collins of Grass Valley and John Murray or Grass Valley

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4/11/14 Delta Stripers

Another great day fishing Delta Stripers. We kept these six and I even caught a couple for myself. Released another half dozen that were right around the 18″ mark. Sad to say we also lost a big one today before we had a chance to see it. www.FishTightLines.com

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4/11/14 Striped Bass fishing in the Delta

Tight Lines Guide Service was Striped Bass fishing in the Delta today! We got a few on the Sacramento and a few on the San Joaquin. We released some smaller fish. These are four we kept for dinner. www.FishTightLines.com10172786_10152447067242228_2461614414449896441_n

4/5/14 Striped Bass Fishing in the Delta

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We spent yesterday Striped Bass Fishing in the Delta with friends. We fished some areas that I haven’t fishing in years. After we caught a couple shakers on swim baits and top water plugs, I pulled into a spot and commented that I’ve caught some nice fish in this little run. Within 100 yards we hooked and landed a Striper just under 10 pounds trolling deep diving plugs. We moved over to another area that a friend had told me about the day before. We got there just as the tide was about to bottom out. We found a school of fish right where we had been told they were. On our first pass we had two grabs and landed one fish around 6 or 7 pounds. We continued to hook fish on every pass for the next hour of so. Most of these fish were small right around the 18″ mark.

Our trolling set ups were Berkley IM8 Rods with Abu Garcia 5500LC reels which make it nice knowing exactly where all our lures are. The lures we used were large Rapala’s and Yo Zuri’s.

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3/21/14 Stampede Reservoir Kokanee

We launched at 7:00 AM (a little later than planned) and headed straight across from the ramp and started targeting Mackinaw. We fished for Mack’s for a couple hours without a touch. We noticed Kokanee breaking on the surface all morning, I threw out a top line with a dodger and spinner. It wasn’t long before we hooked two Kokanee landing one.  As we got close to the island I marked some nice schools of Kokanee at 30 to 50 feet deep. We rigged up two Kokanee rods and dropped one to 25’ and the other to 50’. Both rods hooked up. We ended up fishing this school for a half hour or so and putting a nice bunch of Kokanee in the box.  We found another nice school off the point by the dam. We caught our Kokanee on Sep’s Watermelon Strike Master Dodgers and a pink Uncle Larry’s spinner. As far as corn, we didn’t have any! I had stripped my boat so they could use it in a show last week and forgot to put any back in. I did have some Berkley Power Grubs so I cut them in chunks and used that as corn. The Kokanee we caught on the surface were only about 10” and the deeper ones were up to 12”. That’s small but it’s early. The surface temp on Stampede today was 43 degrees.  Launching is no problem; unfortunately there is no snow anywhere around the lake.

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Sacramento International Sportsmen’s Expo

Tight Lines Guide Service will be at the Sacramento International Sportsmen’s Expo on January 9 – 12, 2014. We will be in the Fishing Hall in booth #3209.

Rick will be conducting Seminars Thursday, January 9th at 2 PM on Kokanee Tactics and Techniques and on Saturday, January 11th at 12 PM on Kokanee Tactics and Techniques. Both seminars will be held in the California Sportsman Theater in the Fishing Hall.

Our New Rogue Jet Boat will be on display in the Rogue Jet Booth. Stop by and check it out!

Thanks and hope to see you there!

Happy New Years!

Rick and Tresa Kennedy

10/20/13 Sacramento River Salmon Fishing (Metro Area)

It was a slow start to the morning, then I figured out why? Bananas on the boat???

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Sacramento River Salmon Fishing…some of my best days on the water, when I was cleaning fish I turn around to see everyone eating a banana. I know some take this serious but I have fun with it. We ended the day with one fish per rod (3) which was a good average from what I saw and what I was told by others. The best part of the whole day was the joking about the bananas and the fact that all three of these guys caught their first King Salmon. These guys took the ribbing well and did a great job today. We trolled Flat Fish down river in the Sacramento Metro area.

Pictured below are Tom Heffernan of Shingle Springs, Bill Davis and Robin Sutton from Grass Valley
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10/18/13 Sacramento River Salmon Fishing (Metro Area)

Today we had the honor of taking out Mr Dick Patton of Hillsborough and his son Bruce of Folsom. Dick spent several years fishing out of Santa Cruz but said catching a Salmon on the Sacramento River was on his bucket list. At 88 years old he finally was able to spend some time on the Sacramento River Salmon Fishing. It took 45 minutes to get our first fish on and it was on Dicks rod. We landed that one and soon after that Bruce landed one. The bite slowed a little after that so we started working down river to try to get away from the boat traffic. It wasn’t long before Bruce landed a small King then Dick landed the biggest of the day a 24 pound king. I had a great time listening to Dicks stories and as it turns out we know a lot of the same people in the fishing world. Our fish were all caught trolling Flat Fish down river in the Sacramento Metro area.

Note Dick was not able to hold the 24 lb King Salmon for the photo so Bruce has the big one.

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