Fishin' Talk

The striper was 21.14 pounds and was caught at Knights Landing on sardines

Lovey’s Landing, under new ownership, will hold their first Annual Memorial Striper Derby. In the past 25 years the AT&T Pioneers have held their annual derby at Lovey’s along with other organizations such as Sutter Lions, Make a Wish and others. The new owners want to carry on the tradition in memory of all past derby’s and anglers. The Derby will be held on April 25th 2015 with the derby getting underway at midnight. They have also announced free camping for all anglers on April 24th and 25th. They are looking for sponsors. For more information contact Lonnie at (530) 696-2449

More trout are being planted at Collins Lake. Management advises they will have a couple thousand fish planted by the time you read this column, ranging from 2 ½ pounds to trophy size rainbow trout. Ivy Green, who lives in Forbestown caught her limit recently while trolling with a kastmaster lure. The biggest fish on the stringer was a beautiful six pound eight ounce rainbow trout. Jerry and Katy Sannar, who reside in Yuba City, Caught four nice trout on powerbait fishing near the dam. Other trout reported recently ranged from 2 to over six pounds. Kudos to all!

The recent report of the big spotted bass, which was caught at Bullard’s bar reservoir, has raised some questions via email and by phone. We will attempt to answer all of them at this time. My experience has been mostly with large and small mouth bass, which are related to the spotted variety. We did not used to have spotted bass in our area until they were brought from the east coast and planted in various reservoirs, including Bullard’s and Oroville Lake. The spotted bass originally had its home in the Mississippi River basin and was a native of that area and also across the Gulf States, from central Texas through the Florida Panhandle and has been introduced into Western North Carolina and Virginia and finally reached California.

Largemouth black bass are usually larger than the spotted bass and can be identified by their large mouth, sometimes referred to as “bucket mouth”. So a spotted bass will look similar to the Large Mouth Bass, but will have a much smaller mouth and has a row of black spots below the lateral line on its side. A ten pound spotted bass is considered huge and thus the record, where the Largemouth variety will grow much larger.

Spotted bass prefer cool and warm mountain streams and reservoirs where the large mouth black bass likes more still water, which can be on the murky side, such as the dredger ponds, drainage ditches and the Sutter Bypass. However, they can also be found in other bodies of water. The Small Mouth Black Bass can be found in the same waters as the spotted variety as well as in rivers and streams on the valley floor.

In my own experience I have caught largemouth black bass in ponds, sloughs, bypasses and ditches. They are a fighter from the beginning until they reach the net. In regard to small mouth bass, they can be also found in the Feather and Sacramento rivers as well as its tributaries. I have also caught spotted black bass at Lake Oroville.
Stripers are showing up in the Sacramento River more each day with fish also being reported in the lower Feather River. Just ask Lonnie Long. He caught a nice 21 pound striper while fishing from his house boat at the end of Stingray Marina at Knights Landing.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife have planted catchable trout in Halsey Forebay, which is located in Placer County and Fuller Lake, which is located in Nevada County.

Congratulations go out to Yuba City anglers Tim Bradbury and Mike Sperbeck. Tim caught a 41 pound striper on an Alabama Rig while fishing the Feather River at Shanghai Bend. Mike landed an eight pound bass while fishing Clear Lake. The big bass hit a brush hog.