Trout In General

Ok, we have been hitting the pond at Camanche on a regular basis. Also tried Amador a couple of times. Let me tell ya. For 25 bucks they cahrge for two to fish at Amador. I vote for the pond. Even the pond has gone to shame. From slamming fish every minute or so, you better know the pond or you're going home skunked. They have not stocked the pond in almost 3 weeks now.

As Amador goes, they stock every Tuesday and you will see all kinds of cruising trout in front of ya. But the worst case of lockjaw ever. What works, old rainbow powerbait from a bobber and bottom. Powerworms and egg combos off the bottom. Still suggest using at least a 3' leader. Mine is like 4-6', makes a difference in your bite ratio. Keep that line light and go no heavier than 6 pound test. I always use 4, but some prefer 6 for them hawgs out there. Lures, Kastmasters by far is still your best bet going. Have fun out there in this chilly weather. Brrrrr. Be safe.

The Pond

Been slamming the pond every chance we get, but with the extra crowds, the fish are not so willing to bite anymore. If you can, don't go on a Saturday. What a zoo it can be and not worth the aggravation. For the few lucky ones, you'll get a limit. Fish are getting smaller and it's tough fishing right now at best. Hopefully the next plant will come next week and it'll be on like donkey kong again.

Tomorrow fishing action might involve Lower Bear to see how that's going before it shuts down for the winter. Will try to get pics and hopefully some trout. Be safe and warm out there. Winter is showing her freezing ways. Brrrrrrrr.

Trout Pond

How can you not go to this place when it kicks out quality trout and hardy limits of the knowing who regularly fishes here. They are stocking the pond as usual early in the season with 1 pounders on average all the way above 10 pounds. A chance for a quality 5 plus pounder at the pond is a good bet. Not as usual though, this year plant are producing nice colored bows and fesity fighters.

Showing our good friend Mark about, how, and where to fish the pond produced an easy 10 caught fish for him. Not bad for a beginner at the establishment. I was once again lucky enough to hook into another 5 plus pounder. Released several in the 2-3 pound class. Today was one of them days where almost everything worked. But bait was the better of the deal. Kastmasters and a Rapala did produce fish, but the bait dunking was the way to go for quantity. Power worms and eggs, and of course the old trusted rainbow power bait did major damage today. Enjoy your fall fishing while it lasts. Cooler weather and pleasant. Not long it will be that bone chilling wind and rain. Be safe out there.

Camanche

What a great day to get off of work early yesterday. Without a free fishing opportunity going to waste. Waited for my son to get out of his college class. Finally we headed out the door and was fishing Camanche at 14:45. First 5 minutes had a tug on my power worm, eggs combo. Didn't get 'em. Tied on my Kastmaster to the second rod and third cast. Bam! Knew it was bigger than usual right away. What a way to start, 5 plus pound bow. It was almost non-stop action from there if you kept working at them. We kept 5 and released several other guys between 14 inches to 4 pounds.

Stuff that worked, power worm/ eggs, Kastmasters, wooly buggers, and the good 'ol rainbow powerbait. Trout were jumping and surfacing all over the place. Weather was awesome and catching was fantastic. Can you ask for much more in life.

Caples 11/01/2009

Went out to Caples off HWY 88 to see what all the hoopla was over. Well, met our good friend Mark there at 0815 and it was fish on city to down right boredom when we didn't get bit in 5 minutes. Yes, it was one of those days of just catching and releasing. Caught browns, bows, and brookies. It was such an awesome day for only being able to fish 4 hours due to real life commitements. Between the three of us, we managed over seventy fish easily and it looked like one of them days where they would never stop biting. Nothing of major size, most ran from 12 inches to the largest brown around 16 inches. Bruisers were cruising by, but only two showed interest and both escaped to grow even bigger. Talking about 5 plus pounders.

What worked, rainbow power bait and power worm and power egg combos. Flies were slow for my son Mark, but he tore them up using a power worm on the fly rod. Best lure was the usual 1/4 oz Kastmaster, and no it wasn't the gold one. Let's just say it was froggy like. Best overall aresenal was no doubt the rainbow power bait. Get up there while you can. The winter storms should be closing it down in 45 days (guessing). Good luck out there and be safe.

Lower Bear

After our Saturday trip to Red and Caples. My son Mark and I decided to try Lower Bear. Another hot day for Sept. standards, but comfortable. Arriving at 2 PM we set up camp and it was instant hookup on the good 'ol rainbow powerbait. Caught some on a gold 1/4 oz. Kastmaster. But bait was far better for action. Even the old power worm and eggs trick worked. Fish ranged from 8-12 inches. Pretty much your basic planters. All bows and the action perrty much stayed consistent with a few dry spells.

Well all of this complaining about the heat. Looks like fall is finally arriving here. Temps are downright cold now, and day temps only in the 70's to 80's. Just love the fall. Great fishing and great weather. Get out there and tear 'em up before the snow comes.

Last Of The Heat In The Sierra's?

Ok, met our good friend Mark up at Red Lake for some brook action. Well, we caught some, but it wasn't the fast pace action I was expecting. The weather was unsually warm for 7800 feet in late Sept. Had me looking for a shady spot to sit. Back to fishing. What worked was an array of lures from Kastmasters in 1/4- 1/8 oz. Colors were silver or gold. Spoons such as Cleos produced and of course the old trusty roostertail. Keeping 4 brookies we headed back up to Caples. Hunkered down in our spot and proceeded to catch lots of bows. Best thing here was rainbow powerbait. Lures did produce, but you had to work hard at it. The bait was getting slammed as fast as you could cast out at times. Catching and releasing about 20 bows, and having to keep 6 bleeders we called it a day. It sure was great fishing and company with Mark.

Stripers and Fishing In General

Ok, for the last week or so I have been sticking close to the house. Been fishing the Sacramento River Well, it is summer and catching isn't red hot. But the weather has been and the fihsing has been great with friends. Starting off with Isleton. I have managed a couple of nice fish out of there. First with a nice 7-8 pound striper caught with a bloodworm on an incoming tide around 23:00. Of course we caught plenty of shakers and small cats also.

Talk about cats. Made another brief night trip out and managed to hook into a nice 7 pound channel with bloodworms. Actually I was trying for stripers again, but not complaining at all about the nice cat. If you want the cats, we use chicken liver. And buy the fresh stuff. Don't let that old tale of old and stinky performs better. At least not for them feisty channel cats. Of course the other baits works for cats, especially clams. You can catch all the smaller cats with clams in the delta all day and night long.

Let's take a brief note on Hood. Been fishing here and yet to see any large stripers hooked. But you sure can see and them jumping from time to time. Especially at sundown, but them stubborn boogers aren't biting. We have tried bloodworms, pileworms, and an assortment of lures. Still yet to hook into a legal one. But the shaker action is almost non-stop. Oh! You may use anchovies also if you just want to bit for the cheapest bait.

Talk about bait. It is hard for me to believe that a dozen bloodworms cost $12. Yes! It really does. Pretty soon you'll need a good paying job to fish effectively with bait. LOL Until next time, get bit soon.

American River Stripers

Oh boy, I have been busy. Forgot I had this blog. Been slamming the American River hard for the stripers. Not fast and furious action, but pulling out keepers here and there. Largest so far landed was 24 inches. Bigger ones lost and bigger ones seen. Big I mean like 10 plus pounders. As of late, the flows are above 5000 CFS for the most part. Fluctuating between 4100-5500 CFS. This has definitely but a strain on the bite. I don't care what people say, yes you can still catch them. But not as good as when the flows are lower and more stable. These stripers have so much more water to hide in and pockets are everywhere they might hide. Best section of the river right now is definitely the section below Ancil Hoffman. Goodluck and enjoy. I sure do.

American River Shad Update

Well, the flows on the American has been high and fast at 5,000 CFS. The weather was warm to hot, now we're having a slight cooling trend to the mid 80's. It looks like the shad fishing is starting to die off. There is no use going before 19:30. Yeah, you might catch some, but the bite has been consistent between 20:00- right til dusk. You'll most likely end up with 10 hard fighters on your line. You'll miss and lose about just as many. It's still fun fishing for them, but don't expect no hardcore non-stop action. I think it's about over, but who really knows. It's all up to the shad. Enjoy them while you can. Oh! Almost all females looked like they have spawned out. The stripers aren't even slamming them at dusk like they used to. Time to gear up for some topwater striper action and maybe a few steelies here and there.

Hopefully, I'll be slamming some high sierra trout soon. Good fishing and be safe.

American River

Shad and more shad. Ever since they have raised the flows and with the heat, shad fishing has been awesome to good. Have gone out 3 times in the week and hooked at least over 10. With the best evening being over 20. Heck! Just catching over 5 is awesome to me. These little boogers can fight! Heard a rumor that someone hooked into a 7 pounder that almost spooled him. That's big compared to the usual 2-3 pounds on average. If you have never done shad fishing, try it at least once or until you hook one. You just might become a shad addict.

First off, start small with trout gear. 4 pound test is plenty big and use a medium light to light rod. Get some 1/16 ounce jigheads. Buy some 1 inch pink or champagne grubs. Cast out and let her drift in the current. The bites are usually very subtle. Watch your line, if it stops, twitches, set the hook! Fish on! Now just enjoy the ride.

Showdown@Red

Mark and Mark (shoreman) from the Sniffer Board had the doughbait showdown. Finally made it up to Red at a decent hour 0645. Whole point of this trip was to prove to shoreman that Gulp does not always out perform regular rainbow powerbait. Actually it's not worth the extra money. But if you believe in the stuff, fish with the stuff that makes you confident.Markdashark landed 2 on his rainbow pb. Shoreman took the skunking at Red with his gulp. Either way, hottest lure again was the yellow roostertail. We racked up over 25 trout easily in the 4 hours at Red. All were brookies except for shoreman's first ever cutt. This turned out to be the big fish of the day. We even left the lake while it was still hot on the bite. Weather was great and the fish were no more than 10 yards off the bank. Trollers, and bankies were getting their share. Hottest thing before the sun really got up high was a worm under a bobber that these two retired gents were using. Then it was all roostertail action. We did catch them on other assorted lures, even down to me jigging a trout trap jig. Same as trout magnets. For a weekday, this lake got packed after 0930. If you want some easy brooks for dinner, time to go.Went to Caples and fished the far side of the spillway along the mormon trail. Fishing was slow and we ended up catching around 4 here I think. It was all Markdashark. His rainbow PB took honors again. Then it was all lure fishing with that silly roostertail winning once again. All were small bows with the exception of Markdashark 12" brown on his roostertail. After 1 hour it was time to try Silver again. We fished at the dam and saw trout rising inside the buoy line. They would not bite for anything. Mark did get some to nibble his white powerworm under a casting bobber, but no go. Then we took off down the road to find the inlet to Silver pass the girlscout campground. That was a bust, a log now blocks the road all the way in.Off to Lower Bear Reservoir we go. What a beautiful place right now. Was told by shoreman that the water was way up for the norm of the reservoir. Actually all lakes seem to be pretty much full to almost full. Parked at the first dam and fished right off the dam. The shark scores first on a gold kastmaster. Then his rainbow powerbait once again outfishing the green gulp. Then it was the usual roostertail and some other assorted lures. I took a skunking here and at Silver. Shoreman ended with 1 and I think Mark caught 4. Fishing was slow during the heat of the afternoon sun. But heard that the early morning bite rocked or wait it out for the evening bite. Another great day of fishing on the 88 corridor. Shoreman was a great guy to fish with. He even gave me some pointers for taking the back roads out of the area. Talking about windy and desolate roads. And what do residents in Plymouth really do for work? Set of pictures from Red on down. The crowds of Red, Caples water level, and looks like dynamite activity at Lower Bear.

Father's Day Adventure

Rpwlaw
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Join Date: 05-19-2009
Location: Galt
Posts: 92
Red, Caples, El Dorado Forebay, El Manto
What a great long day of fishing for Father's Day. Started off at Red Lake 07:45. The howling winds of the Sierra's were there to greet us. It was a bone chilling gust. At least the fishing was decent. Mark hooks up first on his rainbow powerbait. I came in second on my frog kastmaster. It sure was a pain to cast against the wind. We were fishing off the dam facing straight into the strong gusts. But the fish never really stopped biting. We ended up with 11 for Mark and 4 for me. Yeah I lost again. All caught were brookies from 8"-12". Nothing really big this time. All that worked, Rainbow powerbait, we stopped using this after keeping 3 fish. Yellow magic bullet, kastmasters in gold, frog pattern. The hottest lure was Mark's yellow rooster tail. He rocked the brookies on this one.10:00 we headed for Caples to see if the trophy plant arrived. Well, the plant wasn't there with the trophy trout. But we did manage around 9 fish from Caples. All a whopping 6"-8", which two of them were browns. The weather at Caples was much more appealing. Some gusts of wind, but mostly warm. What worked here was the yellow roostertail, frog kastmaster, and a super duper red/silver. Of course the roostertail was supreme again, and my super duper came in a close second. Mark once again out scored me, and he was the one who caught the browns. Lot's of fingerlings, mostly brookies and bows swimming around. Can't wait for them bad boys to grow up. Did speak with DFG survey guy at Caples. He said the trophy plant ran into some snags. First, they were out of state, DFG didn't like that idea. Second, the fish had some kind of disease. I think whirling disease. Either way, he said they were still working it out, and not sure if that trophy plant would go in or not. So it's up in the air for now on the trophy trout at Caples.13:30 we left Caples for Silver. Worthless venture on this one. The dam area was packed with fishermen. Other lots to walk in to the lake to fish were also packed. Silver was a wash. So we headed back down the hill to Pollock Pines to see the in-laws. Took pops to the forebay to do a little fishing. Saw numerous rising trout, no takers for us. But did see one caught around 12" on green powerbait. After an hour, it was time for some Chinese dinner with the family.Ended the day at El Manto on the American River for some shad. Arrived here at 1830. Which was way too early. The bite didn't start until 1945 off the clay banks. We ended up with 20 fish or so for three of us fishing. It was the usual 1/16 1" pink jigs. I did land a nice shad with a very large Cleo spoon tossing for stripers though and had two other strong bumps from shad on the Cleo. It was nice feeling some strong runs after our trout adventure up high. But the scenery of the Sierra's couldn't be topped.Here's some pics of Red, brookie at Red and an eagle. Caples, and the forebay with pops. Hope everybody had a great Father's Day.