Some 150,000 juvenile coho salmon were planted in Lake Oroville over the past week, mostly in the Bidwell and Lime Saddle areas. The tiny silvers weigh three to the pound, and are mostly in the seven to nine-inch range. Once in the lake, coho salmon customarily grow an inch or more per month.
Next years' stocking schedule will have a slight modification, according the Department of Water Resources biologist Eric See. "We plan to stock cohos again next year, and have already ordered the eggs", reported See. "We will be planting them in June 2008 as opposed to our normal practice of stocking during the fall.
"This is because the Feather River Hatchery will be temporarily shut down next summer for scheduled maintenance. As the cohos will be smaller in June [probably about 15 per pound], we will be planting more of them. Our goal is to plant approximately 350,000 cohos next year."
See continued, "We will not be planting steelhead in the Thermalito Afterbay next year due to a lack of surplus steelhead at the Feather River Hatchery this year. The Afterbay steelhead stocking program is dependent upon having a surplus of steelhead at the FRH, which means numbers of steelhead above what is required for stocking in the Feather River itself [450,000 yearlings].
"However, we do intend to stock them in 2009, assuming that we have surplus fish in 2009. The FRH will make attempts to acquire enough eggs in 2009 for Thermalito Afterbay stocking purposes."
Sacramento River
Salmon anglers are finding slow going on the Sacramento River, reported guide Kevin Brock. "Salmon fishing has been very slow in the Red Bluff area", said Brock. "We have been doing pretty well on the trout and steelhead. The steelhead have been fin-clipped fish up to 8.5 pounds, with lots of three and four pounders biting on roe and nightcrawlers.
"The lack of salmon means that the trout have been getting hit much harder lately, so they have not been quite as good as usual. It has still been decent, with flyfishing being the best."
Eagle Lake
Unsettled weather conditions brought mixed results at Eagle Lake, reported guide Bryan Roccucci of Quincy. Trolling was the overall best choice, and the quality of the fish was great. A good number of fish over the four pounds, and several five pounders were landed.
Best lure choices included three inch brown grubs, two inch orange grubs and brown or black Uncle Larry's spinners. The lures are trolled at least 150 feet behind the boat on downriggers, and close to the bottom regardless of depth.
Top locations were the Castle, Troxel Point, Youth Camp, Pelican Point, as well as open water in the middle of the bay. Early mornings are best, with the fish moving deeper as the sun rises.
Chico Bass Club
The Chico Bass Club's November meeting included a successful Christmas toy drive. Numerous toys were collected for donation to the Jesus Center in Chico for inclusion in the Orchard Church Christmas program scheduled for Dec. 22.
The club's October tournament was held at Clear Lake, and the weekend affair was broken into two separate tournaments. Fishing was good for the quality-size Florida-strain largemouth bass that are typical of Clear Lake. Most of the competitors found the best action on crankbaits or dropshot-rigged plastics.
Day One results: Don Cummings- 18.30 pounds [for five bass]; Cheryl Cavanagh- 16.13;
Rick Fileman- 14.76; Lee Willis- 12.97; Gary Widman- 11.80; Big Fish- Don Cummings- 7.06.
Day Two results: Rick Fileman- 16.63; Cheryl Cavanagh- 16.22; Jeff Buckley- 13.21; Jim Carr- 12.81; Wayne Chaney- 11.56; Big Fish- Cheryl Cavanagh- 6.68.
Chico Area Flyfishers
The Chico Area Flyfishers will conduct their monthly meeting on November 14 at the Chico Seventh Day Adventist Church, 1877 Hooker Oak. Fly tying will start at 6:30 PM, and the general meeting will commence at 7:30 PM. This month's presentation will be the members excursion to Kamchatka, Russia. Guests are welcome, call 354-4181 for more information.
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"It's [trout fishing] been as wide open as you can get for the last 8 days", commented Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop. "The fish are pretty much biting on everything; Power Bait, Power Worms, Gulp! Trout Dough and Eggs, plain nightcrawlers, either with or without the Gulp! Garlic Spray. We are seeing lots of limits, and the trout are averaging close to 2 pounds." Irvine Lake Pro-team member Steve Hercht reported, "We've been absolutely knocking the heck out of the......
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Lake Oroville Bass anglers are still finding success on Lake Oroville, reported Fil Torres at Oroville Outdoors. "Bass fishing is not bad", noted Torres. "It took about 10 pounds [for 5 bass] to win the tournament over the weekend, and there were some spots over three pounds included. "The fish are hitting on a variety of things at 12 to 30 feet along main lake breaks. Fish are being caught on dropshot rigs, tubes and jigs. The main forage is definitely crawdads,......