Fishing Report: Feb. 7, 2007

Roger Briggs

WINTER WONDERLAND — This is how Lassen Peak looked to Pat Patterson and Roger Briggs on their way back from a recent fishing excursion.

Not unlike many anglers fish sleep in, take more naps and move a bit slower during cold snaps. But just like nearly all couch potatoes – you know who you are – they eventually get up and head for the snack bar. Timing is everything, of course, but that’s where you must be this time of year if you want to see your bobber dip, your line move or your pole tip shudder.

The really great anglers amongst us don’t stay indoors 24/7. Watching TV or playing computer games won’t deliver a fresh fish dinner. Of course, you can get out and scout and take your chances. A pair of anglers I know did that on Thursday and came up empty handed. Their problem was they went upstream instead of down. They went into the high country in eastern Shasta County instead of toward the banana belts and open water.

Standing at the 6,200 ft. level near North Battle Creek Reservoir the view of Lassen Peak was spectacular, but their stringer was empty.

Had Pat Patterson and his friend Roger Briggs really wanted to catch fish they would have gone to Baum Lake, Shasta Lake, Lake Siskiyou, the Upper or Lower Trinity or the Upper Klamath River. They might have cut holes through the ice, too, but the PG&E signs at North Battle Creek clearly warn against that.

Anglers at Castle Lake are doing quite well fishing through the ice, according to Guy Ives of Sis-Q-Guide Service in Montague and the fishing at Lake Siskiyou continues to be very good and will remain so until “the thundering herd shows up,” Ives said.

He just did a two-page story on Lake Siskiyou for California Fishing & Hunting News, which should be on the newsstands soon. Be sure to read it if you want the full scoop on fishing this lake any time of year and watch my website for Ives’ great reports.

If nothing else, get out and take pictures when the sky is clear and the sun is shinning.

Anglers in the Sacramento Valley might have headed toward Clear Lake, although the bite there is also off and on and no where near what it was like last summer and fall. But there are some big ones biting. Ross England of Clear Lake Guide Service in Kelseyville says the “fishing is flat tough with most anglers getting skunked or settling for just a few fish a day, even on live bait.” He and a friend fished there on Tuesday working hard for eight hours to take six bass to six pounds using 6-inch plastic worms shaken on a 3/16 oz. head in 6 to 8 feet of water. “Dark colors such as grape blue neon,” seemed to be the best he said.

Bob Rider at Lake Shore Bait & Tackle at Clearlake was slightly more optimistic. “The bass bite is improving steadily on live minnows with anglers netting up to ten quality fish a day, which is better than the “lockjaw” the fish had a few weeks back,” Rider said.

The crappie bite is being affected by the presence of otters (we’ve mentioned these fish thieves before and a column on these pesky critters is scheduled to be posted at my website soon). Otters have been seen at Shag Rock and The Four Poles Areas, which no doubt shuts down the crappie bite. When they do hit, the crappies are subtle, Rider says. Some times, the bites are really “tail slaps.”

“If you find you’re foul hooking the slab sides, let your lure drop after feeling the first touch and wait for a second bite,” he said. “Crappies slap bait fish in order to stun them, then return for their meal.” Muriel Elliott at the Hidden Valley Market on the Jones Arm of Shasta Lake reports that bass from 3 to 5 pounds are being caught off points, even from the banks or from boats in the river channels as long as you go deep. Minnows dropped into 30 to 50 feet of water are producing bass and so are some rubber worms, providing the retrieve is worked slowly. Elliott reports that the trout and salmon are on the surface with limits common around the dam area.