Bacher: Folsom Kings, Camanche Rainbows and Delta Sturgeon Lead Angling Parade

FOLSOM – Fishing for king salmon is shifting into high gear for experienced anglers at Folsom Lake, Sacramento’s backyard fishing hole on the American River.

“I smacked them out of the kayak today,” reported Cal Kellogg of fishhuntshoot.com on Jan. 30. “I hooked and released a dozen kings from 12 to 17 inches long while trolling in water as shallow as 17 feet. My deepest fish was caught at only 34 feet deep. I concentrated on the end of the Peninsula.

“I trolled a White Shad Tube behind a chrome/blue 6 inch Fish Eye Dodger with 1.8 mph tipped with anchovy skin. I didn’t hook any trout while fishing with pink Trout Trix Worm and Trigger Spoons nor on my salmon gear. I think we’ll have a good year for salmon at Folsom and the fish should be 16 to 22 inches by June. These fish were 8 to 10 inches last July and August. There are a lot of salmon out there.”

Jerry Lampkin of TNG Motor Sports Guide Service also reported solid king salmon fishing at Folsom.

“We landed 10 out of 14 fish on today on Folsom,” reported Jerry Lampkin of TNG Motor Sports on his last trip to the reservoir on Jan. 25. “All fish in the boat were the cookie cutter 16 inch kings like last week. We started up the North Fork with Speedy Shiners, Rapalas and Speedos, but got no love, so we slowed down to 1.5 mph and put out the watermelon sidekicks/crawlers.

"We used GVF pina coladas and the glow/purple hoochies, behind the nickel glow crush and Bahama mama dodger. The crawler on the top line drew the first strike but ended up in a long-distance release,” he added. “GVF's fire dragon lure scored 3 more times, but we couldn't get anything to the net. The rest of the day the bite was best on pina coladas and hoochies from 20 down to 50 ft. The water has a slight brown tint to it and a little debris, but nothing like I expected following the last storms."

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On his previous trip, Lampkin reported scoring three kings and seven rainbows up the lake’s North Fork.

“I started fast by trolling with Speedy Shiners,” Lampkin stated. “Two of the rainbows liked the 49er (maroon/gold) and Coast Guard (orange/gold) lures at 15 and 10 feet respectively. Two of the kings liked the white/red dot at about 25 feet down. Everything was running 120-150 feet. back at 3+ mph.

“I slowed it down later and landed the two bigger kings on a GVF pina colada spin bug behind the Bahama Mama dodger and one on a white glow/purple hoochie. I put the lures back 100+ ft and down 20-25 ft. at 1.5 mph.”

The slow offerings were tipped with anchovy chunks in Alaska Nitro Bait cure, Lampkin advised.

Folsom Lake is holding 534,406 acre feet of water, 55% of capacity and 119% of average.

Camanche Trout: Shore anglers and boaters are also hooking lots of trout at Lake Camanche on the Mokelumne River as weekly trout plants continue.

“Today we had returning clients Josh, Les and Ernest out on Lake Camanche for some more great Lassen rainbow trout action,” stated Nate Kelsch of Big Nate’s Guide Service after his latest trip to Lake Camanche. “For the fourth day in a row we managed to catch some donkey (big) holdovers, and personal bests for our crew, definitely feeling blessed to able to make it happen.

“The conditions were tough, to say the least with the kiss of death Camanche glass water, with not a breath of wind for most of the day. So staying true to what I know works was the key to getting it done."

As an added bonus, his client Les landed a giant crappie.

Kelsch kept the presentations in the top 20 ft of water and played with the speeds to entice the fish to bite.

On his trip the previous day, Kelsch reported, “This morning we had Sean and Ana out on Camanche for some more epic Lassen rainbow trout action and they crushed them. We had a bit of a slow start, and multiple fish cane unbuttoned, but we still managed limits in just under 4 hours, beating our time by 6 min from yesterday.

“All of our fish were gorgeous, healthy brutes, but Sean scored his personal best donkey that gave us some fits, with aerial displays and all. It was a lot of fun. Once again we fished the surface down to 20 ft. with a smattering of presentations including stick baits, soft plastics and spoons.”

During their last plant on Jan. 25, the Mount Lassen Fish Farm stocked 500 pounds of lightning trout at the South Shore Pond, 500 pounds of rainbow trout at the South Shore Pond, 1,000 pounds of rainbow trout at the North Shore Ramp and 1,000 pounds of rainbows at the South Shore Ramp, a total of 3,000 pounds. The lake management is planting another big load of trout this week.

Big fish honors go to Bob Whitmore, who landed a 10.10 lb. rainbow while using a Mice Tail in the pond on Jan. 28.

Camanche is holding 323,644 acre feet of water, 78% of capacity and 128% of average.

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West Delta Sturgeon: The Flash Sportfishing Diamond Classic Catch and Release Derby, held on Jan. 27 out of the Pittsburg Marina, featured a field of 205 entries.

The anglers caught 19 legal fish, five oversized and four under, a total of 29 white sturgeon. A total of 46 kids 16 years and under also entered the event. An angler catching and releasing a white sturgeon from 40" to 60" received a ticket for the drawing that determined the winners.

Dorsey Barnard Deboe placed first with $1,793.75, followed by Brent Manley in second place with $1,281.25. Greg McRay placed third with $1,025.00, while John Castro placed fourth with $512.50 and David Baker placed fifth with $512.50.

“I had fun with my guys at the 17th Diamond Classic Catch & Release Derby,” reported Zack Medinas of Gatecrasher Fishing Adventures. “We started fishing this derby 16 years ago and have fished it every year since. The founders of this event created the first catch-and-release derby to bring awareness and encourage the preservation of this amazing prehistoric native fish.

“The guys in my boat fished hard, and we did get in the hat, but did not get the lucky pull this year.”

This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Folsom Kings, Camanche Rainbows and Delta Sturgeon Lead Angling Parade