Well, we survived the Fourth of July week. Actually, it was more like 10 days. The annual Shaver Lake fireworks was upped to June 30, therefore that week was very busy. The rest of the world had the next week off running through the Fourth into the weekend. So, it was a very busy week at Shaver.
What was the effect on fishing? Zero! We caught multiple limits every day. Fishing is very good! if you have not tried it, you should. I had completed eight out of nine days fishing with multiple limits for each trip. Now, that’s good! The limits are a mix of kokanee and trout with about three to four trophies thrown in each week.
Speaking of trophies, my good friend and fellow guide, Todd Wittwer and his party were fishing near my boat one day. The guy fishing with him hung into a monster of a trout Todd appropriately called, “Walter.” After a 20 minute fight with us rooting for the fisherman, it broke off. Dead silence! Then Todd yelled, “did you see that?” After we were finished and having our usual post-fishing visit, he could not stop talking about it. Well, the next day I was in the same area and wham! “Walter” struck our Mountain Hoochie and the fight was on. “Walter” went everywhere! Under the boat, dove deep and then sprang back up and stretched off 50 yards of line. The monster of a trout shot straight toward the boat and took another dive under the boat and suddenly we had a limp line. Not a broken line, he was simply off the hook. Todd and I are still in the hole looking for”Walter.” He has to be a 15-pound brown, no other fish in the lake could give those fights and come back for more. We will get him!
On our trips, everyone saw a limit in the bag. The Castro family from Lindsay did well on a Sunday with Kim Castro landing a nice trophy rainbow. Mathew Tacherra, of Riverdale, taking his sons Cade and Blake, tore into mixed limits on another day. My long time fishing friend Jim Allen was good for three mixed limits, keeping five quality kokanee another day. The Tacherras caught over three limits, keeping 15. So, you get the picture. We are catching multiple amounts of mixed fish everyday. Not just our boat, most boats out there are too.
I am still using my champagne pink Mountain Hoochie, a white Mountain Hoochie and an orange and clear Apex as my main fish “getters.” We fish the triangle at Shaver Marina, The Point and the Island mostly until the sun hits the water for kokes. In the Black Rock area, it’s trout and a few kokes we look for. For the early morning kokanee bite, we use hoochies and Apex with scented corn on the hooks at about 29 to 43 feet deep. The water temperature is now at 70 degrees so we are edging a little deeper each day. Our side poles set at 15 feet deep are producing trout and some kokes with orange and green Trout Busters tipped with crawler and corn on two hooks. The Trout Busters are behind a weighted Mountain Flasher that can vary in depth from just below surface to 25 feet deep.
With the full moon, we were dropping our lines at 5:30 a.m. catching five to seven kokes before the sun hit the water about 6:15 a.m. Sometimes, when we hit the water at 5 a.m., it increases the count. The kokes have grown about an inch this month and the males are starting to gain in their jaws.
Bank fishing at Roads 1 and 2, the Sierra Marina and Dorabella Cove have been somewhat productive. Trophies and hold over Department of Fish and Wildlife (DF&W) brooder trout are occasional visitors to the bank fishing lines. Trout dough bait and crawlers are the normal choice of bait. Smallmouth bass are showing up near the rocks and hit crickets and spinners.
The forecast for fishing at Shaver is good to very good for trollers for a while. For bank fishermen, it’s fair until a new plant takes place. For smallmouth bass, get the frying pan ready!
Until our next edition of the greatest paper in Fresno County, the Clovis Roundup. Text me at 559-281-6948 or email me at dickchip@netptc.net with any questions or reports of yours you would like to see in the Roundup.
