11/11/24
Well, we have been waiting for Fall and it arrived this week with cooler temps and some rain and snow. Hopefully we have an abundant Fall/Winter that replenished the snow pack and fills our reservoirs. The nice thing about Fall is that it offers a chance at Striped Bass, inland and crab, rockfish, and tuna off the coast. Can't speak of the advantages of the Fall/Winter season without a shout out to Pyramid Lake as well.
TROUT: Pyramid Lake is approaching the turn over where cool and warm water layers swap places. This typically results in slower fishing until the lake settles into its new pattern. Right now the fishing is still great but the time is short before we take a break in the action. Snow over the passes this week will make travel to Pyramid hit or miss as conditions change. Some big fish have been landed in the past few weeks with several over 20lbs. There are still some opportunities in the sierra and foothill lakes for trout fishing. Access may get challenging as snow starts to fly at higher elevation lakes.
ROCKFISH/CRAB: Dungeness crab season opened Nov. 1 for sports fishing. Unfortunately the weather was not good for small vessels and two were lost in the first few days of the season. Eight people went into the water and only one survived. Please watch the weather and ocean state before going out to take advantage of the bounty. With commercial crabbing still closed off of California, sportfishing is the only option for real fresh Dungeness. On a recent trip recent out of Bodega Bay with Capt. Brian Potter, five Roostertailers had a great time hoopnetting limits of jumbo crabs. We also caught near limits of rockfish with 5 lings in the mix. The conditions were as good as I have ever experienced with sun and calm seas.
LANDLOCK KINGS: Folsom and Oroville provided some action on LL Kings recently. Rolling bait and dodger/hoochie with anchovy is still the ticket. Folsom is now below 400' water surface elevation so the 5 MPH speed limits is in effect (unless you are in a bass boat...). With outflow doubling the pace in inflow the lake should be rapidly approaching the level needed to open the Granite Bay low water ramp.
TUNA: Albacore have made a showing off of Bodega Bay with plentiful numbers being caught on the troll. 20-25 miles out is where you will find the right water and albacore ranging from 10-20 lbs. Some bigger one in the mix. Should be some big eye and blue fin in the area too but no reports so far. If so inclined, watch for good water and weather and make the run.
KOKANEE: I made one last ditch effort to add to the Kokanee reserves for smoking this Fall. Made a last minute trip to Union Valley and found schools down by the dam. Was able to get a few of this year's fish in pretty good shape. Released some bright and shiny next year fish as well. That officially put a wrap on Kokanee for me until next spring. All and all a good year of koke trolling.
STRIPER: The Delta had been slow for a few weeks but has picked back up in recent days. Tolling has been producing up Montezuma Slough recently with a good grade of fish, some over 10 lbs. This time of year stripers will move up and down the system chasing bait and looking for feeding opportunities. If you don't run into them in the first few spots you try, it might be worth it to make a bigger move.
