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Posted by: thepinetree on 04/26/2013 03:11 AM
Updated by: thepinetree on 04/26/2013 03:11 AM
Expires: 01/01/2018 12:00 AM
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New Melones Report
Angels Camp, CA... Water Conditions: New Melones Lake is currently holding
1,520,621 acre-feet of water. The lake level dropped three feet this week, and is currently at 1005 ft. above sea level and 82 ft. from full. Water temperature is warming daily with the average being 58-62 degrees and some parts of the lake 66-68 degrees in the afternoon. The lake is clear, to slightly stained with some debris floating on the surface...
Trout: Slow.The trout are at many different depths, and scattered through the lake. This makes it hard to form any type of pattern.
There are some large balls of shad starting to form in the shallow water. Photo sent in by guide John Chiarpotti of Bassin 1A Guide Service . The trout, bass, and crappie will feed heavily on these bait balls during the late spring and summer months. Watch for surface activity, once you locate feeding fish try casting a shad patterned lure toward them. Trolling anglers try using your electronics to find these large balls of shad. The trout will be near them waiting for a few to stray away from the school. Use shad patterned Needlefish, Excel spoons, and Rapalas, to target these fish. Also, try rolling shad for a chance a large rainbow, or brown trout. We encourage catch and release of brown trout, as they are no longer going to plant them in the lake. Bank anglers have been catching a few trout using a Power Egg/crawler combo. Try using a few different color eggs and a chunk of crawler on a light wire Kahle hook. Also, to locate feeding fish, try fan casting a shad patterned Kastmaster.
Winner of the Glory Hole Sports Big Fish of the Week Contest goes to Kevin Nielsen. Kevin caught a fat 3-pound, 3-ounce rainbow trout in shallow water while fishing for bass.
Kokanee: Good. There have been a lot of limits showing up. The fish are schooled up in 30-50 feet. Most of the fish are a good size this year, 12-14" and very chunky. The dam, spillway, and Rose Island have been the hot spots so far this year. Try using a small tear drop dodger, or a sidekick dodger with a small hootchie, bug, or spinner tied 10-18" behind. A couple of hoochies that consistently land fish are Mag Tackle Mini Mags and Glitterbugs Micro hoochies. The Lolipop colored bug made by Father Murphy's has been working well, and Uncle Larry's Spinners Pinky or Copper Pop are good choices. Be sure to tip your lures with corn that has been soaked in scent. A few Pro Cure scents that work well early season are nightcrawler and krill.
Kiera and Ryan Eastwood caught two limits of rainbows and kokanee. They fished the main lake with pink hoochies tipped with garlic corn to catch their fish.
Bass: Good. The fish are in three different modes, pre-spawn, spawn, and post spawn. There are a lot of fish being caught shallow. The larger fish will be in deeper water either preparing to spawn or recovering from the spawn. To catch some nice fish try dragging a Brush Hog or a lizard on a Carolina rig. Try targeting areas that are protected from the main lake disturbance (wind and boating traffic). These are places where the bass like to spawn. With the weather getting warmer everyday, the top water bite should be picking up. Try throwing Spooks, Rovers, and Sammys in the morning hours for some exciting blow-ups. We have been seeing a lot of big spotted bass being caught and we possibly have a world record swimming around out there. The current state record and world record was caught May 3, 2001 out of Pine Flat Lake. It weighed 10-pounds, 4-ounces. If you catch a fish that is larger, and want it to be recognized as a state record, it must be weighed on a certified scale. The post office or the grocery store meat department has a certified scale. It is very important to practice catch and release during the spring months! If you do keep a bass, please keep the spotted bass and release the big female (largemouth) black bass. Glory Hole Sports can teach you the difference, so you can practice good conservation of the species.
Catfish: Good. The larger catfish are moving to shallow water to spawn a feed. Melones catfish tend to be fish-eaters rather than bottom foragers, so use live minnows, frozen shad, mackerel, or anchovies for best success. Another rig that produces fish every year is a ball of crawlers. Try using multiple large nightcrawlers on one hook to attract the big ones. Also while bait fishing, it is a good idea to drag your bait across the bottom every few minutes to attract nearby fish. Use a sliding sinker with a bead to create a ticking noise as your bait is moving.
Crappie: Good. Spring is here, and the crappie bite is on. There are fish in 15-40 foot of water, in the backs of creek channels near submerged timber. Live minnows or worms fished under a slip-float, with a bobber stop is a good way to target these fish. Also, try using Beetle Spins and mini jigs on light spinning tackle. Another great trick is to put a small live minnow on a mini jig. The color of the jig and the action of live bait is a hard combination for the fish to refuse.
Guide Reports
Team Mc Fishing Report for the week of April 15th-21st
We have spent several days on New Melones during this week as well as one day on Lake Camanche. Saturday the 20th for the Spring fishing day for disabled veterans through the Purple Heart Anglers. Team Mc Fishing Guide Service as well as the Pro Staff members of the team are avid fisherman as well as Veteran Volunteers and we support our military personnel, past, present and future. We thank them for their service and thank their families also for the sacrifices they make to protect our freedoms here at home and around the world 365 days a year.
Last week we had the pleasure of taking out James Stone and his father Jack Stone. James was the winner of the Glory Hole Sports seminar raffle to win a seat on my boat for a day. He invited his father as a fishing partner and we had a great time together.Jack Stone is also a Veteran and it was a great pleasure spending the day with these two gentleman, showing them how to catch fish on New Melones. Thank you again for your service Mr. Stone from my family and I.
Vina Moore and her Husband Dennis we my guests last Sunday as well and they learned just how fun it can be to catch several fish in a day as the lake has taken off for Kokanee season and is just getting better each week. Dennis is a retired Navy Veteran as well as Vina has a Brother serving in the Middle East currently. We thank Dennis as well as the Brother away from home for their service also.
Tony Tamagni was on board Sunday the 21st to find out why we talk so much about these tasty little kokanee. From what I hear, he is very happy with the recipes I shared with him for grilling these fish up.
Now on to the business you all want to hear about, how am I finding fish this week. Well it has been getting warmer and with that the early morning and late afternoon into evening bites are better.
But that doesn't mean you can't put fish in the boat throughout the day as well. This week early in the day we are catching rainbows on a small little crank bait from Shasta Tackle called a Matrix Flee Bitty in silver pattern which has a little black dot like a Threadfin Shad. We run these right on the surface about 150-200 feet behind the boat, 2.5 MPH and the trout are beating them up until about 10 am when it gets warm and fish head down deeper. From that point on we are running them on the down rigger as deep as about 21 feet because they will dive.
Kokanee for us have been doing good on the flame orange Wiggle Hoochie behind UV sling blade dodgers in blue or green patterns. Remember to tip the forward hook with a couple of pieces of corn and leave that back hook empty to allow it to work as a stinger hook. Also when running faster speeds right at or just above 2mph using the UV Hum Dingers behind a UV sling blade we have caught some nice Rainbows down around 15 feet. Bend the hook on these a little to one side for a better hold on the fish also. Just offset the point a little to one side and don't use swivels with this lure, tie direct with a loop knot for a more natural presentation.
Big tip of the week here is to make sure you sharpen hooks! We have been getting allot of short strikes and even downrigger releases tripped this week and fighting the fish we are losing several of them when the hooks start to dull. Switch out hooks or carry a small hook sharpener that you can get from the store there at Glory Hole Sports. Garlic Plus Pro-Cure and Kokanee Special have been working well to supplement the Garlic corn that you can get at the store also. Just squirt a little on the corn to give the extra scent as Kokanee use their sense of smell to guide them around. When you irritate them with that strong smell of Garlic it triggers them into attacking your presentation in an attempt to beat it up, but hopefully instead finding those sharp hooks. Hot locations have been along the wall North of the Spillway and right off the North point of the cove going into the Dam area where it looks like an old road entering the water. Watch your directions of the winds we have been having and follow the wind as the fish follow the movement of baits as well.
Look for a bait ball on your fish finder and if you see streaks of black shooting through it, most likely you have found feeding trout or even bass chasing the shad. Active feeding fish means potentially a bite window if you drop your gear right below the bait ball you see on your screen. We found a large bait ball just past the 49 bridge this past week and when we saw the streaks, we dropped below the bait depths and we hooked up 3 trout in no time at all.
This coming week I will be back out on the water again to continue tracking all the types of fishing available at New Melones. We will be starting to offer the evening trips again with Twilight Trolling followed by teaching you how to use the Hydro-Glow lights you can get from Glory Hole Sports to fish at night when it's too hot for comfort during the day on the water. To book a trip with me or ask for more info, you can go to my web site or call me direct at 209-993-3789
Discounts offered for Veterans all year long, and I look forward to meeting many more to thank them in person for their service.
Doug McArthur
Team Mc Fishing Guide Service
209-993-3789
www.team-mc-fishing.com
Michi's Photo's
Bald Eagle - I don't know how many of you have tried to photograph a bald eagle in flight, but it is not easy. To get a good image you must photograph up close which doesn't happen too often. To have all of their body parts inside a camera frame is not that easy either due to their size especially when their wings are spread wide as seen here. And to catch that right moment when they're flying is not easy no matter how many times I practice. But looks like I succeeded here. Of course the direction of the sun could have been better, or I should say my position from the eagle could have been better but you take what you get in a wildlife photography.
Goslings - These are the chicks of the Canada Geese. Warms up anyone's heart.
Common Merganser, female - Looks like she's walking on the water when taking off. She didn't have a male to protect her so she was frazzled when we got too close, although it was still far away.
Lake - Purple Lupines and poppies are in bloom along with the oak trees all over the hillside of the New Melones Lake. We trolled for kokanee and caught our limit so it was an excellent outing in this beautiful sight. If we had a stable boat like Capt. Joe, my pics would have been better but our boat is constantly vibrating from the motor and the water movement. In quest for a good picture, sometimes it's exasperating and want to throw out my camera in the water! In fact when I'm ready to shoot something I really want to photograph well, I ask my companions to stop moving, which include eating, drinking and breathing! Yes I hold my breath when I shoot. Also I work around the vertical obstacles like the fishing poles, the net and the support columns for the canopy that gets in the way.
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