Cal Sportsman Mag May 2019 by Media Index Publishing Group

FISHING • HUNTING • TRAVEL CALSPORTSMANMAG.COM

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calsportsmanmag.com | MAY 2019 California Sportsman

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calsportsmanmag.com | MAY 2019 California Sportsman

California

Sportsman Your LOCAL Hunting & Fishing Resource

Volume 11 • Issue 8 PUBLISHER James R. Baker GENERAL MANAGER John Rusnak EXECUTIVE EDITOR Andy Walgamott EDITOR Chris Cocoles CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Brittany Boddington LEAD WRITER Tim E. Hovey CONTRIBUTORS Robyn Gerstenslager, Scott Haugen, Tiffany Haugen, Todd Kline, Jeff Walters, Dave Workman SALES MANAGER Katie Higgins ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Mamie Griffin, Mike Smith, Paul Yarnold DESIGNERS Kayla Mehring, Jake Weipert PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Kelly Baker DIGITAL STRATEGIST Jon Hines ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Katie Aumann INFORMATION SERVICES MANAGER Lois Sanborn ADVERTISING INQUIRIES ads@calsportsmanmag.com CORRESPONDENCE Email ccocoles@media-inc.com Twitter @CalSportsMan Facebook.com/californiasportsmanmagazine ON THE COVER Lake Tahoe is one of the most popular summer destinations in the state for its sandy beaches, casinos and outdoor activities, and the fishing should be dynamite the next few months for both Mackinaw and kokanee. (JOBY CEFALU/MILE HIGH FISHING)

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CONTENTS

VOLUME 11 • ISSUE 8 (JOBY CEFALU/MILE HIGH FISHING)

DOWNLOW ON TAHOE MACKS

Summer in Lake Tahoe can be chaos. From the casinos to the beaches to the trails, visitors from the Bay Area, Sacramento and beyond flood this popular lake that has something for everyone. Fishing the largest alpine water in North America can be challenging due to its volume, so we hit up Joby Cefalu of Mile High Fishing to share his quarter-century of experience chasing Tahoe’s Mackinaw and kokanee to make your trip to this mountain playground more successful.

FEATURES 13

PROTECTING THE RIVER

Most Southern California rivers aren’t exactly known for their beauty or abundant and consistent flows. But there’s an exception that meanders through Ventura County and into the Pacific Ocean at McGrath State Beach. The Santa Clara River offers a beacon of hope for conservation as a wild, unchannelized stream that is thriving, with habitat supporting several protected aquatic creatures. Robyn Gerstenslager of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shares its story.

TACKLING TOUGH TROUT Sometimes, catching a trout in a mountain lake or river isn’t as easy as it sounds. But as Scott Haugen reminds, it’s never a bad idea to totally ditch what isn’t working and maybe you’ll find something that does. In his half of their Field to Fire column, Scott has a few changeups you can pitch to entice a swing from a hungry rainbow, while Tiffany Haugen has you covered with how to grill up your catch!

SCORE MORE FROM SHORE

If you don’t have the luxury of a boat to fish your local lake, or aren’t willing to venture too far out onto open water in a float tube or kayak, fear not, you can still score near shore. Our Jeff Walters talks about everything from how to read points to fishing near partially submerged trees. Whether you have to hoof it, kick or paddle from place to place, you can still have a great day and get your fish fix with Jeff’s tips!

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

DEPARTMENTS

11 21 25 27

59 67

Family summer fishing destinations for Southern Californians 5 reasons why spring’s the time to buy a new big game rifle Is treat training a good tool for your hunting dog?

The Editor’s Note Adventures of Todd Kline Photo contest winners Outdoor calendar

Read California Sportsman on your desktop or mobile device. Go to www.calsportsmanmag.com/digital California Sportsman is published monthly by Media Index Publishing Group, 14240 Interurban Avenue South, Suite 190, Tukwila, WA 98168. Send address changes to California Sportsman, PO Box 24365, Seattle, WA 98124. Annual subscriptions are $29.95 (12 issues), 2-year subscription are $39.95 (24 issues). Send check or money order to Media Index Publishing Group, or call (206) 382-9220 with VISA or M/C. Back issues are available at Media Index Publishing Group offices at the cost of $5 plus shipping. Display Advertising. Call Media Index Publishing Group for a current rate card. Discounts for frequency advertising. All submitted materials become the property of Media Index Publishing Group and will not be returned. Copyright © 2019 Media Index Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be copied by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording by any information storage or retrieval system, without the express written permission of the publisher. Printed in U.S.A. 8 California Sportsman MAY 2019 | calsportsmanmag.com

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THEEDITOR’SNOTE Com e

ce the Grea tO u

Bridgeport

rs oo td

en eri

in the Eastern Sierra Nevada of Mono County, California

BridgeportCalifornia.com (760) 932-7500 On a blustery April day at Folsom Lake, where fishing just wasn’t going to work for the editor and his niece and her husband, the happiest among the group were Ripley (pictured) and his sister Kipper. (CHRIS COCOLES)

or every good fishing trip – such as my experience in New Zealand (California Sportsman, November 2017) that turned out to be damn near perfect – there’s one that you can just file away as a lost weekend. So it went for myself in April when I was scheduled to combine a family visit with my niece Ashley and her husband, David, with a day of fishing. First, we were all supposed to meet up with guide Manny Saldana Jr., but he had a conflict that day and he apologetically had to cancel. I had totally forgotten that David and Ashley own a 17-foot bass boat, so we decided to make the best of it and get the boat on the water. Their Citrus Heights home is a short drive from Folsom Lake’s Granite Bay ramp, and the couple has spent plenty of days casting for bass on the reservoir. Crisis averted. But then we awoke that Saturday morning. While eating breakfast, David pointed to the blowing trees in the backyard. The wind was howling already. “It’s going to be terribly windy at Folsom,” he said. Ever the optimist, Ashley hoped for calmer conditions, but her new husband had endured enough windy misery on the lake to know that we were screwed. Still, we took a quick ride to Folsom – Ashley’s and David’s dogs Kipper and Ripley in the backseat – to double check that launching was indeed going to be a waste of our time. Sure enough, Folsom looked more like San Francisco Bay than a Central Valley freshwater lake. The beach the dogs play at frequently was empty, save for some intrepid kayakers who were braving the gusts and the happiest human around, a parasailer who welcomed the wind. Needless to say, fishing wasn’t going to work, so we decided enough was enough and settled for a lunch of poke and watched an NHL playoff game. Of course, the next day, when we all had Easter Sunday family commitments in the Bay Area, the Sacramento area was graced with 75-degree sunshine. You can’t always count on Mother Nature to cooperate with your fishing plans, so apologies for not recapping an expected great day of fishing. I just told you all you needed to know. But the dogs sure enjoyed themselves. -Chris Cocoles

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PROTECTING

WILD CALIFORNIA

The Santa Clara River is a rarity in Southern California: a stream largely untouched by channelization and boasting an abundance of wildlife. That it remains a wild river is due in no small part to a long-standing partnership of federal, state, local and nongovernmental agencies that work to ensure it stays that way. (SANTA CLARA RIVER CONSERVANCY; MAP BY USFWS)

LONE SURVIVOR IN THE CONCRETE JUNGLE OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, VENTURA’S SANTA CLARA RIVER FLOWS FREELY, PROVIDING CRITICAL CRITTER HABITAT By Robyn Gerstenslager

outhern California rivers are not known for their abundance of water. Yet, when the rains do come, the rivers can swell in dramatic fashion. Attempts to tame inconstant rivers have resulted in channelized, dammed or leveed waterways that resemble concrete canals more than Instagramworthy landscapes. But one wild river remains: the Santa Clara. With headwaters in both the Los Padres and Angeles National Forests, the river meanders for more than 100 miles through Los Angeles and Ventura Counties before flowing into the estuary on McGrath State Beach. In dry months, many areas of the Santa Clara River flow completely underground. Despite this lack of water, much of the Santa Clara is alive with riparian trees and shrubs like willows, fragrant mule fat and native pollinators like buckwheat. These provide habitat for local birds that

feed on the bugs zipping through the air or crawling along the sandy river bottom. Eleven federally listed species and several others with dwindling numbers rely on the river as a food and habitat source. “This includes other sensitive or listed species like the southwestern pond turtle, the unarmored threespine stickleback, and southern steelhead,” says Chris Dellith, senior fish and wildlife biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Ventura. “The loss of this habitat could compromise the stability of existing populations and the ability to recover already tenuous populations of these species.” That the Santa Clara remains relatively untouched by modern humans is due in no small part to a long-standing partnership of federal, state, local and non-governmental organizations that work to ensure it stays that way. Spurred to action in the early 1990s by two oil spills in the upper river, the Santa Clara River Trustee Council formed to manage $9.8 million in settlement dollars.

The council funds restoration projects within the watershed to offset the damaging effects of the spills to the river and the wildlife dependent upon it. The council, made up of representatives from the USFWS and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, funded the acquisition of six parcels of land along the river in Ventura and Los Angeles Counties. The Nature Conservancy manages the majority of those parcels and has also acquired additional land along the river for a total of more than 4,100 protected acres.

MUCH OF THE CONSERVANCY’S work along the river focuses on habitat restoration through invasive species removal. Preserving farmland within the floodplain is also key to maintaining the river’s wild state. “The river’s floodplains support a great amount of agriculture. The entire Oxnard Plain was developed from deposits of sediments from the Santa Clara River over a long period of time,” says Jenny Marek, the USFWS deputy field supervisor in Ventura.

calsportsmanmag.com | MAY 2019 California Sportsman

PROTECTING

WILD CALIFORNIA

An aerial view of the Santa Clara during a 2005 flood. (VERTICAL PERSPECTIVES)

The river near Oxnard in Ventura County after a storm in January. “When the river is unrestricted by channelization and urban development, it can expand and shrink within its floodplain as needed,” writes the author. (SANTA CLARA RIVER CONSERVANCY)

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E.J. Remson, senior project director for The Nature Conservancy in Ventura, remembers the day he realized that protecting local agriculture could help protect this one last wild river. “I was actually standing on a levee and kind of marveling that we’re on the edge of one of the largest and most affluent metropolitan areas in the world, and all of the rivers in Los Angeles, Orange County and the Bay Area are all channelized concrete. So how did this river survive? I realized it survived because agriculture was still flourishing in Ventura County,” Remson says. According to the Farm Bureau of Ventura County, the county ranked 11th in the U.S. for agriculture production. Remson and his colleagues feared that if agriculture left Ventura County, the Santa Clara River would suffer the same fate as other Southern California rivers. “Back in the mid-1950s, Los Angeles County was the most agriculturally productive county in the country, and Orange County was number two,” Remson says. “And I said, ‘So we all know what’s

going to happen if ag goes away; Ventura County is going to turn to suburban sprawl. So we thought, how do we help keep ag viable?” That’s when the idea to protect the floodplain through easements on agricultural land was born. Together with the Ventura County Watershed Protection District and the Farm Bureau of Ventura County, The Nature Conservancy developed a concept that addressed the needs of farmers, the needs of wildlife and habitat in the river, and the need to control flooding. With partial funding from the trustee council, The Nature Conservancy manages the Natural Floodplain Protection Program along the Santa Clara. The program offers floodplain protection easements to farmers or other landowners along the river and provides payment to the landowner in exchange for leaving their property undeveloped. The organization commissioned the University of California Santa Barbara’s Bren School of Environmental Science and Management to identify which land along the river was most crucial for floodplain protection. Armed with that data, Remson began to approach landowners. “As a landowner, you’re always reluctant to put easements on your property. So I had to give some thought E.J. Remson, a senior project director for The Nature Conservancy, says agriculture played a role in the Santa Clara maintaining its natural state. “So how did this river survive? I realized it survived because agriculture was still flourishing in Ventura County.” (LIZ MOSKOWITZ)

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as to whether I’d be willing to do that,” says Craig Underwood, owner of Underwood Ranches and Underwood Family Farms. He has participated in the floodplain easement program for about two years. “The program itself makes a lot of sense, because if you’re going to have a river running through a valley like that and not spend a lot of money doing flood protection, you’re going to have to have some kind of a floodplain.”

THE NATURE CONSERVANCY MANAGES 551 protected acres within the river’s floodplain. And Remson says they’ve worked with a variety of agriculture landowners, from the family farm to the publicly traded agricultural company. “Each one is different,” Remson says. “That’s the kind of cool thing about easements – they’re custom made. But, in general, they preserve the property and you’re encouraged to keep it in ag.” While the land may flood during major storm events, the easement money can offset or lessen the burden of the agriculture loss. Landowners can reclaim the eroded land either by pulling it back out of the river, bringing in new topsoil, or a combination of both. When the river is unrestricted by channelization and urban development, it can expand and shrink within its floodplain

PROTECTING

WILD CALIFORNIA

Not quite on the level of this spring’s super bloom, but California poppies and a toyon plant (below) show off their colors near the Santa Clara. (SANTA CLARA RIVER CONSERVANCY)

as needed. This natural movement of the Santa Clara provides life for the ecosystems it supports. Preserving the floodplain also provides an economic benefit to unincorporated Ventura County and Oxnard residents through FEMA’s Community Rating System Program. Unincorporated Ventura County currently gets a 25 percent discount and City of Oxnard residents get a 15 percent discount. “The largest chunk of points that we get from (Ventura County’s) application has to do with open space lands preserved within the floodway, and the 1 percent annual chance (previously known as the 100-year) floodplain,” says Angela Bonfiglio Allen, an environmental planner with the Ventura County Watershed Protection District. Underwood recognizes the value of allowing the river to flow naturally, uninhibited by human interference. Just for slightly different reasons. “E.J. [Remson] and I don’t always see eye-to-eye on The Nature Conservancy goals, but in this case I think (The Nature Conservancy’s) program is a good one, because if you were to channelize the river and not have floodplains, based on their projections it would then cause a lot more damage when you get into the urbanized areas,” Underwood says. CS

Editor’s note: Robyn Gerstenslager is a public affairs specialist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Ventura. For more info, go to fws.gov/cno.

The Santa Clara meets the sea at McGrath State Beach in Ventura. Its estuary provides habitat for the federally endangered tidewater goby (inset), and when flows are strong enough to punch through the sand to the Pacific, listed southern steelhead can migrate between the waters. (ROBYN GERSTENSLAGER/USFWS) 18 California Sportsman MAY 2019 | calsportsmanmag.com

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KERN RIVER VALLEY Local angler Bryan Jordan beams as he shows off a recent catch-and-release 8-plus-pound bass caught April 13 at Lake Isabella. Fishing is hot at Lake Isabella, as the recent storms have revitalized water levels and turned the lake into fertile, food-rich habitat. Crappie are spawning and coves like Browns and Joughin are choked with fish to 3-plus pounds. Many 25-fish crappie limits have been taken. Dam reconstruction has not affected fishing or campsites, which is important to note as we begin the vacation season. For more info, contact the Kern River Valley Chamber of Commerce at kernrivervalley. com or (760 ) 379-5236. www.kernrivervalley.com â&#x20AC;˘ 760-379-5236

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s e r u t n e v d A

I took a trip last month to Lake Mohave with my son Dylan. We stayed at Katherine’s Landing, which was awesome. We loved everything about it and the fish proved to be the icing on the cake. (TODD KLINE)

Here’s a future captain manning the pilot’s seat. (TODD KLINE) A nice lower Colorado River impoundment smallmouth for Dylan … (TODD KLINE)

e’re not ashamed to admit it: Todd Kline has the kind of life we wish we could experience. Kline’s a former professional surfer, a successful co-angler on the FLW Tour and a Southern California bass guide, plus he gets to travel the world as a commentator for the World Surf League’s telecasts. Todd has agreed to give us a peek at what he’s up to each month. For more on Todd or to book a guided fishing trip with him, check out toddklinefishing.com, and you can follow him on Instagram at @toddokrine. –The Editor

... And a giant for me. (TODD KLINE)

The desert shoreline surrounding Mohave makes for a great view. (TODD KLINE)

calsportsmanmag.com | MAY 2019 California Sportsman

This guy seems pretty content in the desert as well. (TODD KLINE)

I got in some largies too. (TODD KLINE)

I thought this was a beautiful shot of Dylan, the boat and the lake. (TODD KLINE) We had such a great trip together! (TODD KLINE)

And hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s another largemouth, this one caught from the shore at a secret spot. Shhh! (TODD KLINE) 22 California Sportsman MAY 2019 | calsportsmanmag.com

calsportsmanmag.com | MAY 2019 California Sportsman

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PHOTO

CONTEST

WINNERS!

Amanda Wiles is the winner of our monthly Yo-Zuri Photo Contest, thanks to this great shot of son Kayden and his western Washington rainbow trout. It wins her gear from the company that makes some of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best fishing lures and lines!

Grizzled bowhunter Carl Lewallen wins our monthly Ontario Knife Co. Photo Contest, thanks to this pic of he and his last-gasp western Oregon blacktail from last season. It wins him a knife from Ontario Knife Company!

For your shot at winning hunting and fishing products, send your photos and pertinent (who, what, when, where) details to ccocoles@media-inc.com or California Sportsman, PO Box 24365, Seattle, WA 98124-0365. By sending us photos, you affirm you have the right to distribute them for our print or Internet publications. calsportsmanmag.com | MAY 2019 California Sportsman

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OUTDOOR CALENDAR

Built for Adventure! Parker, Thunder Jet, Boulton, Fish-Rite

We now have Parker pilothouse models in stock.

Folsom Lake hosts the Big Bass Classic and Northern California Open bass tournament this month. (KELLY M. GROW/CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES)

MAY 4-5 Shasta Lake Team Kokanee Derby; kokaneepower.org 4-5 Bass Lake Trout Derby; basslakechamber.com/ fishing-derby 4-5 Big Bass Classic, Folsom Lake; anglerspress.com/ events/yamamoto-big-bass-challenge 6-19 Archery-only spring wild turkey season 6-19 Additional junior wild turkey season 11-12 Northern California Open bass tournament, Folsom Lake; anglerspress.com 18 Lake Gregory Veterans Day Trout Derby, Lake Gregory; lakegregoryrecreation.com 18-19 Lynn Crawford Memorial Ultimate Big Trout Derby, Big Bear Lake; bigbearfishingassociation.org 24 Start of Crowley Lake Perch Derby; (760) 935-4301 25 Arrowhead Lake Association Fishing Derby; ala-ca.org

JUNE 4 Ocean salmon fishing opens from Point Arena south to the Mexico border 8-9 Whiskeytown Lake Team Kokanee Derby; kokaneepower.org/derbies.php 15-16 Fred Hall Father’s Day Derby, Mammoth Lakes; visitmammoth.com/events/fred-hall-fathers day-fishing-derby 22 Rush Creek Clean-up and BBQ, Silver Lake Resort; (760) 648-7525 22 Bridgeport Trout Tournament; bridgeportfish.com/tournament 22 Ocean salmon fishing opens from California-Oregon border south to Horse Mountain 29 CDFW Trout Fest, Hot Creek Hatchery; wildlife.ca.gov/fishing/hatcheries/hot-creek 29 Start of Mono Village Fourth of July Derby, Upper Twin Lakes; monovillage.com Note: For a complete list of bass fishing tournaments, go to dfg.ca.gov/ FishingContests/default.aspx. For more details on hunting zones and regulations, check out wildlife.ca.gov/Hunting.

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FISHING

BEAT BIG BLUE’S MACKS

Lake Tahoe’s sheer size and depth makes figuring out how to fish it a bit of a challenge, but when you get it right it can mean a lot of action for Mackinaw and other cold-water species. (JOBY CEFALU/MILE HIGH FISHING)

FISHING MASSIVE LAKE TAHOE CAN BE A CHALLENGE, BUT LOCALS KNOW HOW TO SCORE SUMMER FISH By Chris Cocoles

or even experienced anglers, a first-time trip to fish Lake Tahoe can be overwhelming. At best, it’s a difficult assignment to know how to approach the massive lake straddling the California-Nevada border. So it makes sense that listening to or even fishing with a local such as Tahoe guide Joby Cefalu is a wise investment to help overcome the challenges Tahoe presents.

“You could spend a lot of hours and fish a lot of miles on Lake Tahoe with little or no luck,” says Cefalu, who operates Mile High Fishing (530-541-5312; fishtahoe.com) out of South Shore. “(Tahoe) is not a simple fishery and you really have to know the shorelines in order to be able to fish that lake, and to know where they’re at the rest of the year.” That said, this popular destination is expected to be productive this summer, particularly for Mackinaw and kokanee. And in Cefalu you

have a native son who has put in a lot of hours to figure out how to fish this big body of water.

FOR YOUNGSTERS, GROWING UP in an outdoor playground such as Lake Tahoe is a pretty good life, especially if you love fishing like young Joby Cefalu did. “My entire childhood was spent on a skiff in Tahoe. And I’d spend my summers commercial fishing with my uncle in Fort Bragg. So that fishing bug was in me,” Cefalu

calsportsmanmag.com | MAY 2019 California Sportsman

FISHING Guide Joby Cefalu grew up in the Tahoe area and fished the lake for years. He’s been guiding here for about 25 years now. (JOBY CEFALU/MILE HIGH FISHING)

says. “There was nothing better. The only thing that kept me out of trouble was that skiff, my rod and reel and shotgun.” “I graduated from college, had a real job for a while and decided that I wanted to be in the fishing industry. I bought a boat and got into guiding, and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since. Twenty-five years of enjoying what I do.” Cefalu learned how to fish Lake Tahoe from his best friend’s grandfather, a local icon named Les Nagy. “Les didn’t fish with GPS and waypoints. Les fished by triangulation. And I was taught how to fish the lake,” Cefalu says. “I still go back to those different triangulation points. There’s Twin Peaks to the west over by Emerald Bay, and there’s a big radio tower on the top of Kingsbury Grade, and then a bunch of landmarks across to South Shore that pretty much told you where to fish. Now people just cherry-pick your fishing holes by driving by you and pushing a waypoint, but still I don’t think it’s as precise as what I learned from Les Nagy. And that’s just triangulation from all the different waypoints or landmarks.” When he was younger, Cefalu admits his Tahoe fishing upbringing focused more on fishing near the shorelines for rainbow and brown trout in the spring and fall, kokanee in the summer and the occasional

DON’T FORGET THE KOKANEE

hile rainbows and particularly a lot of trophy brown trout are popular with Lake Tahoe anglers in fall, summer fishing not only includes Mackinaw but also a healthy population of kokanee. “You’ll start finding them pretty well spread out in late May to end of June. And then they’ll start grouping up around the Sugar Pine Point area south to Emerald Bay,” guide Joby Cefalu says. “And then they’ll slowly start moving down. As they start moving down, they usually end up from the Tahoe Keys all

the way over to the Camp Richardson shelf,” he says. Kokanee fishing in Tahoe means ultralight tackle, with Cefalu going with the old standard setup of small flashers or dodgers with a Kokanee Bug tipped with corn. If you don’t have downriggers, 10 to 12 colors of leadcore line work fine. Or if your boat has downriggers set them anywhere from 55 to 110 feet “and you’ll find really good success,” Cefalu says. If you’re on a good school of fish, you

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could get as many as 50 strikes while reaching a five-fish limit of kokanee. “You can always fish for both kokanee and Mackinaw at the same time because those Mackinaw lay underneath the schools and feed on (kokanee),” he adds. “So I’ll usually stack a few lines and run some big bugs for Mackinaw beneath the schools. And then run a couple lines stacked on the downrigger for the kokanee. Usually I run a flasher on the deeper rod with about an 18-inch leader and a Kokanee Bug tipped with corn.” CC

calsportsmanmag.com | MAY 2019 California Sportsman

FISHING Mackinaw, or lake trout as they’re also known. But as he got into a guiding about a quarter of a century ago, he began to understand that the best approach to take on his favorite lake was to target its healthy population of Macks. “As far as the lake trout go, there are more and more people fishing for them with less and less secrets out there,” he says. “That’s a really healthy fishery on Lake Tahoe, so it actually has become a destination for people who want to bring their boat and fish, which I think is fantastic because there is an abundance of fish in Tahoe.”

SO WHAT WORKS BEST for targeting lake trout in Tahoe? Cefalu runs seminars at sports shows discussing the hows and whys of fishing the lake. Understanding that Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America and one of its deepest, Cefalu does his best to explain how to tackle so much water.

“When I describe the fishery to people and I talk about their future experience of coming up and enjoying Lake Tahoe, I try to break up the lake into multiple fisheries. Instead of looking at the lake as one big fishery – and this was taught to me – that you take that one fishery early on as a guide,” he says. “It’s a vast body of water and it’s all mountain range. Above the water you can see the mountain range around you in the big bowl. And then underwater it’s a big mountain range that goes out to a 1,200- to 1,600-foot drop. So if you take on that lake as a whole, it’s going to eat you up.” Still, you can find plenty of fish this summer, even amid all the increased lake traffic of summer pleasure boaters and water skiers. And Cefalu wants those anglers he hosts to have an interactive experience while they seek a fat lake trout. “Not to put down those who troll, because trolling is an active style of

Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America and also one of its deepest. “You could spend a lot of hours and fish a lot of miles on Lake Tahoe with little or no luck,” Cefalu says. (CHRIS COCOLES)

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fishing as well, it’s just that I’ve found over the years that my clients really enjoy jigging because they’re actively fishing for the entire trip,” he says. For Cefalu, that means using 2½to 3-ounce herring jigs tipped with minnows. From about mid-May to the middle or end of July, lake trout are normally found between 60 to 90 feet of water. Light tackle – about 10- to 12-pound test – is his norm to target the Macks. The fish are often feeding on schools of kokanee, meaning summer should be a peak time to catch plenty of fish, including some trophy-sized Mackinaw. “It’s vertical jigging, so basically I’m keeping us straight up and down and (staying) vertical. I’m trying to drift, so it’s a lot of in and out of gear. And with that style of fishing, you’ll move around quite a bit and fish it inside-out or outside-in.” So as visitors from the Bay Area, Sacramento and beyond pour into

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FISHING

“That’s a really healthy fishery on Lake Tahoe, so it actually has become a destination for people who want to bring their boat and fish, which I think is fantastic because there is an abundance of fish in Tahoe,” Cefalu says of its lake trout. (JOBY CEFALU/MILE HIGH FISHING)

Mackinaw are plentiful throughout the lake and can be caught trolling or, as guide Cefalu prefers for his clients, jigging depths anywhere from 60 to 90 feet of water in the late spring and summer. (JOBY CEFALU/MILE HIGH FISHING)

Tahoe this summer – some hoping to strike it rich at the casinos, others to hike and camp, and some to just lounge around the pool or at Tahoe’s beaches – fishing should be on your checklist as well.

“It can be daunting and a lot of people don’t have the patience,” Cefalu says of conquering the big lake. “And that’s where I think hiring a guide is the best thing you can do in Tahoe.” CS

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36 California Sportsman MAY 2019 | calsportsmanmag.com

FISHING

FROM FIELD ...

CATCH TROUT IN TOUGH TIMES Running bait behind a diver – in this case a plug with the hooks removed – is a great way to back-troll rivers in search of finicky rainbow trout. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

FISH NOT BITING? CHANGE IT UP AND GET THE ACTION STARTED By Scott Haugen

n a recent river trip, anglers in three drift boats made their way downstream ahead of me. They were all fly fishing but weren’t catching any trout. I figured the kids I had in the boat with me would pull some trout from behind the fly folks, but halfway through the 300-yard-long stretch of water we’d failed to get a single bite. Usually we’d have a half-dozen trout in the cooler by now. I dropped anchor and we watched the boaters ahead of us work their way through some excellent water. They didn’t catch a fish, which was unusual. Rather than do what I usually do and continue down the south shoreline, we pulled up anchor, rowed across the shallow midsection of river and fished tight to the north shore, a place that usually only holds fish in high water.

No sooner had one of the kids got a spinner in the water than a trout hammered it. A small back-trolled frog-patterned FlatFish drew the next strike. By the time we got through the 75-yard stretch of water, we were back on track, with just over half a limit in the box. The water we fished near shore averaged about 5 feet deep. It was deeper than the river on the south side, where we usually caught trout. Whether it was boat pressure, sunlight, ospreys, other predators, current flow or a combination of these factors, something caused the trout to move, but luckily we found them.

RECENTLY A BUDDY AND I were having great success fishing a local lake for rainbows. The fish were in the same place for three days in a row. On our fourth outing, however, the trout were gone. After firing up the motor, we moved

to the opposite shore and out of the wind. When we started trolling that day, the lake was calm, but an early wind kicked up. That, combined with a low pressure system that was to arrive midday, forced the trout to move. We got into them just over a quarter of a mile away in protected, deeper water. Trolling in the sheltered cove, we eventually caught our limits of rainbows, though we had to work at it. We were catching trout very near the surface by flatline-trolling a 3.0 Mag Lip tipped with half of a nightcrawler. On another excursion, we targeted trout in a lake while the morning bite was good. Then the sun hit the water and things quickly turned off. We were marking a lot of trout in the narrow channel we trolled through, but they dropped to deeper depths and quit biting. Between the penetrating sunlight and the number of cormorants, the trout sunk into the weeds. There

calsportsmanmag.com | MAY 2019 California Sportsman

FISHING

... TO FIRE

CELEBRATE PLANKSGIVING WITH TROUT

Salmon is the fish most associated with plank cooking, but author Tiffany Haugen says trout make for just as much of a culinary match. (TIFFANY HAUGEN)

By Tiffany Haugen

henever plank cooking comes up, people usually think of cedar-planked salmon. Although it is one of the easiest, moistest, tastiest, cleanest methods of cooking salmon, don’t limit plank cooking to only salmon. Most fish and many other foods benefit from this style of preparation. Plank cooking can be done on a grill, an open fire or even indoors in the oven (planks will not flame or smoke if kept under 400 degrees). Trout in particular take on an amazing smoke flavor when grilled on a plank over direct heat. Placing the trout whole and slightly butterflied, skin side up, cooks them in a way that makes bone removal simple and effective. Whole trout can be marinated or seasoned with a dry rub prior to planking. When seasoning fish, simply sprinkle with

salt and pepper and use what ingredients you have on hand. A sprinkle of smoked paprika or herbs de Provence is a nice addition. Raid the herb garden and put trout atop fresh lemon balm, chives, parsley, oregano, rosemary, etc. Or simply rub with your favorite barbecue seasoning.

PLANK-COOKED TROUT One cleaned trout Herbs and/or spices of choice One alder or cedar plank soaked two hours in water or other liquid If using herbs, place them in a bunch down the center of the plank. Salt, pepper and season fish as desired. Open fish, placing skin side up on the plank. Push fish down so it balances “open” on the plank. Slice down one side of the backbone (from the inside) if needed to lay it open; try not to pierce skin. Place plank in a preheated 400-degree

38 California Sportsman MAY 2019 | calsportsmanmag.com

grill. Close lid and wait for the plank to begin to smoke or ignite on the edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Extinguish any flames on the board with a spray bottle of water. Reduce grill heat to medium-high and cook until fish reaches desired doneness (135 to 140 degrees). Continue to control smoke/flames with spray bottle as needed. Serve hot, right from the plank. Editor’s note: For signed copies of Tiffany’s best-selling book, Cooking Seafood, send a check for $20 to Haugen Enterprises, P.O. Box 275, Walterville, OR 97489 or visit tiffanyhaugen .com. Follow Tiffany on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, and watch for her on the online series Cook With Cabela’s and The Sporting Chef TV show.

calsportsmanmag.com | MAY 2019 California Sportsman

FISHING was no way to troll through the tall weeds, so my buddy and I got the floating bait rods, tossed out the anchor and caught our limit of rainbows from one spot.

Floating bait rigged on a sliding sinker setup is ideal for fishing amongst weeds and grass, where spooked trout often reside. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

SOMETIMES, GETTING TROUT TO bite is as simple as changing bait offerings or techniques. If a lure isn’t producing, drift worms through the same water. If worms aren’t yielding bites, try single eggs or a small piece of shrimp, or even a shrimp-egg combination. If you’ve covered a section of water – whether it be a lake, pond or river, and either from a boat or shore – and you’re not getting any bites, change locations. Having a depth finder on your boat with a fish-finding feature will reveal exactly what’s happening below the surface. Once trout are located, note their depth and figure out the most effective way to get an offering in front of them. Many factors can cause trout to move within a system. One day on the river I had three teens in my drift boat and we were nearing the end of the best water, with the boat ramp

looming in the distance. Never in my more than 40 years of floating this section had I not caught fish by this time – usually we’d limited. But we hadn’t had so much as a single bite. At the bottom end of the hole I dropped anchor and rerigged the rods to run a diver and bait. The kids were new anglers and struggled casting in fast water. By back-trolling the diver and bait, in less than 20 minutes we had 15 trout in the boat, a three-person liwmit. I was surprised to see so many trout this low in the river, likely forced there due to low, clear conditions and heavy river activity. Catching trout isn’t rocket science, so if you’re not hooking fish, make a change. When it comes to trout, changing presentations and locations can be the ticket to success. CS Editor’s note: For signed copies of Scott Haugen’s popular Bank Fishing For Steelhead & Salmon book, send a check for $15 (free S&H) to Haugen Enterprises, P.O. Box 275, Walterville, OR 97489, or visit scotthaugen.com. Follow Scott on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Plugs like this 3.0 Mag Lip are active presentations that create an action wary trout often can’t resist. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

40 California Sportsman MAY 2019 | calsportsmanmag.com

calsportsmanmag.com | MAY 2019 California Sportsman

42 California Sportsman MAY 2019 | calsportsmanmag.com

FISHING

SCORE MORE JUST OFF SHORE

NO BOAT OR JUST A TUBE OR ’YAK? TRY THESE TIPS FOR BANK-EDGE FISH

By Jeff Walters

or the many anglers fishing without the use of a boat or even a kayak or float tube, walking the shoreline looking for that better spot to fish is a fact of life. These diehard anglers most likely don’t have the use of electronics that most of the boat-bound set do either, including the professionals. So how do these beachgoers increase their odds of success from the shore? Ask a lot of questions first and foremost, but there are many variables to keep in mind.

TAKE A LONG LOOK Looking at the hills around a lake or river will give you clues as to the structure on the bottom. If it’s a manmade lake, like most in California are, you can expect large amounts of rocks, especially around the dams, dikes and marina areas. These lakes have some steep sides with massive amounts of rocks all along the natural points that extend out into the lake. Those and the sloping boat launch areas always offer the deeper water. Some points are natural and still man-made, because of the placement of rocks and removal of soil to form steep sides for more water storage. These points are full of massive rocks and are a great place to find fish of all types. They offer shelter for all the smaller fish, crayfish and aquatic insects, which in turn offer food for the larger fish we want to target. Some lakes and reservoirs are down in water levels because of storage issues, so look for these areas as well so that when the water levels do rise, you know the structure in that area.

Whether you’re boatless or at least have a float tube or kayak, you need to be able to read the shoreline to be a successful bank-edge angler. When you see standing timber or dead trees, you know that that area offers cover for all species of fish, but it would help to know if it’s shallow like this. (JEFF WALTERS)

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER So how does all this sightseeing help the angler fish better without the use of electronics? What does that part of the shoreline look like? Is it flat and sandy, rocky or full of standing timber? If sandy and flat and you are at least 50 yards away in your float tube and you are still kicking through some weedlines, you know that this part of the lake offers a slow, steady and shallow area that drops off deeper the further you get out on the water. It’s a perfect spawning place for many different types of fish throughout the spring and summer because of the weed growth and shallow water. Looking at your line as you drag in countless pounds of “seaweed” – as most people call it – is not only a pain in the rear, it makes you wonder how you can get around and away from it. Well, don’t, because that seaweed is where the fish hide, live and eat. All along those plants, from the roots to

the tops, are areas where tiny creatures live, and it’s where the smaller fish and larger insects feed on them. The little fish eat the macroscopic animals and other aquatic insects that live in this weed zone. That brings in the larger fish to feed on the smaller fish.

FISHING IN THE STICKS Just looking around will give you the advantage you may need. When you see standing timber or dead trees, you know that those offer cover for all species of fish, but how deep is it? One sure way to tell is to look at the shoreline. Is it steep where it meets the water? Lots of rocks next to the shore and close to the submerged trees? This means deeper water in most areas. If you look at the shoreline near some of those trees you will see some areas that are sandy and flat looking with no rocks or other items, just those trees sitting a little bit away from the shore. This tells you this

calsportsmanmag.com | MAY 2019 California Sportsman

FISHING

Diamond Valley Lake in Riverside County’s Hemet backs up against a huge quarry used to mine rocks for its dams. Just looking around will give the angler the advantage they may need. (JEFF WALTERS)

area is shallow and a shallow-running crankbait or jig would work well. Other places will have rocks and steep drop-offs from the dirt hillsides. This tells you that the water is deep and that you may need to fish differently than in the shallow area. Use something like a small Rapala Minnow jerkbait. The best way to use one of these

small lures is to twitch the rod tip as you retrieve the line. This imparts a darting movement to the lure, causing it to act like an injured baitfish. Another good jerkbait to use is made by Ima and is called the Flit. Available in many different colors, these 4-inch floating baits work well up close to the weedlines and dropoff points that you can see from the

44 California Sportsman MAY 2019 | calsportsmanmag.com

shoreline. Use the same twitching as you would with a regular jerkbait. However, it is the overall swimming action that separates these lures from the others. Looking at the shoreline while bank fishing you can come up with many of the answers that will help you find fish. Look for rock piles – either natural or man-made – because they still have a top and a bottom, which is where baitfish will be found. Looking under rocks along the shoreline will sometimes prove useful. This can show you the types of insects or amphibians that may be in the area, not to mention that live bait works well most of the time. Losing tackle is not anybody’s idea of a good time spent on the water. The old saying of getting to where the fish are stands true. However, by knowing what to look for and how to use that to your advantage will be the difference between keeping fish and tackle and just spending money on lures. Most anglers like to fish deep cover when at all possible, knowing that the structure holds fish. That is why you should always study the shoreline, weed growth, submerged structure (if you can see it) trees and rock piles. This gives you the information needed to find the right setup, tackle or lure to use and how to fish this area. For getting in close to bass, some anglers like to use long jig rods that are made for flipping jigs and small lures. A Shimano Sedona spinning rod-and-reel combo costs around $99 at most retailers. This is a very effective rod for getting in close and tight. Most like it because it doesn’t cost a lot of money and it is a good combo. You still should use a good quality line that will help you get those stuck lures out. Using a small jig head topped with a Berkley Power Nymph in a cream/white color threaded on with the brighter color facing down works well. Moving these jigs up and down in a vertical motion will bring the fish

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FISHING out of the sticks and onto your hook. Casting out in front of other structure like weedlines also produces fish.

FISHING ROCK PILES Finding submerged rock piles in murky water can be tough. If you look for certain things, you will be able to cast to the leading edges of these piles and catch fish.

These jigs represent two very popular ways to rig a plastic swimbait to bounce along the rocky bottom of a lake. (JEFF WALTERS)

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Look for slight signs of disturbed water on the surface. This will tell you that something below the water line is causing the water not to break on the shore. Look at the shoreline leading down to that point and see if the side of the bank is steep or sandy. Does it have deep gullies or a ridgetop running into the lake? This all means fish-holding structure that you can cast to. Using crayfish imitations to fish around rocks, ledges and structure is a good bet most of the time. A good strong rod and reel that will handle 12-pound line is a good start as well. One of the more widely used methods is fishing with jigs that have a rubber skirt around them. Skinny Bear jigs are just the item to use and are available most everywhere. Use either jigs in Â˝ or 3/8 ounce topped with a small swimtail like an Optimum Baits 3-inch live shad. Bounce these jigs off the bottom of the rock piles and work either up or across.

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THEY WRITE THEY COU W ABOUT For anglers who do their homework, theABOUT reward is largemouth bass MORNING

FISHING

like this one Manny Credo caught while drop-shotting the trees. (JEFF WALTERS)

Points offer great fi sh habitat, providing shelter for smaller fish, crayfish and aquatic insects, which in turn offer food for larger fish. (JEFF WALTERS)

Just use care to not get snagged.

CREEKS AND INLETS Creek inlets offer some advantages as well. However, most will be shallow and may be hard to reach from shore, let alone out of a float tube or kayak. Always look around to find the best

casting spot to fish from. One thing to keep in mind is you have to be able to unhook your fish once you get one on. You don’t want to find yourself hanging off a ledge or boulder – you’re just tempting fate in that situation. Think safety when fishing, for there have been many

times when anglers fishing along the shore have been close to rattlesnakes and not even known it. You may also find comfort in knowing that your float tube will not get a hole poked in it as you kick around some of the structure like trees and shrubs.

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NEVADA

PLASTIC WORMS AND CREATURE BAITS While there are many different types of plastics to use, the all-time favorite of many anglers is made by Roboworm. It’s the 4-inch dropshot-style in Aar-

on’s magic. Other popular colors are bluegill or soft-shell craw. This dropshot system works very well for fishing off rock piles and ledges, either from shore or on the water. CS

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You don’t need to spend a lot of money on a fish finder for your angling trips to the local lake or pond to be more successful. One electric fish-finding item found at most retailers and used with success is made by Humminbird Electronics. Known as the company’s Smartcast Series, it’s a small, castable finder. You tie it on your fishing line and cast it out in the water! Hummingbird offers a few different versions, including one that mounts onto your rod and reel or transmits to a view screen that you wear as a wristwatch. Both are pretty cool little gadgets. The casting unit has a built-in battery source that activates once the device hits water. The view screen runs on the small batteries that are most commonly found in car alarm remotes. Cost ranges from $85

50 California Sportsman MAY 2019 | calsportsmanmag.com

up to $125. Another item made by Humminbird is called a Fishin’ Buddy. It is very portable and mounts to a float tube, kayak, canoe and other small watercraft. There are three different versions for you to check out, and they all run on AA batteries. There’s even a carrying case available for them and which fits like a small backpack. This gadget is very portable and very effective if used properly. Most of these items range from $125 up to $175, so not only are they portable units that run on batteries, but they are cost effective as well. You will have to purchase some mounting hardware to mount the units on float tubes and kick boats. You can find these items and more at hummingbird.com. JW

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FISHING

PLAN FOR SUMMER ANGLING GETAWAYS EVEN IN TRAFFIC-CHOKED SOCAL, YOU DON’T HAVE GO FAR TO FIND FISHING, CAMPING AND WILDERNESS By Jeff Walters

he start of the annual Southern California family fishing vacation season has arrived. Many throughout the Southland have planned and waited for this yearly tradition. Families are either headed off to their favorite places or trying new areas. We will help guide you to the region’s best spots.

MOUNTAIN GETAWAYS One of the more popular fishing destinations is by far the Eastern Sierra. With so many locations to choose from, many families have either relied upon their past experiences or on information from friends and family. A quick web search results in some limited information. But without some type of confirmation many don’t take the time to check those locations out, and sometimes they miss out on their new best spot to go. The Sierra are a vast and complex set of mountains, valleys, rivers, creeks and lakes, and its cold mountain waters are full of trout. Catching a daily limit is hardly ever an issue, making this area so popular. Campgrounds, hotels and resorts abound throughout the area, offering the best of the best and some primitive areas as well. RV-style camping is the normal way that most modern families spend their vacations, while there is also a hardier bunch who prefer to rough it just a bit. For families with older kids, a long backpacking trip might be the cure they seek. Other adventures await families looking for something different, such

Author Jeff Walters’ son Jason wets a line in Reyes Creek in the Los Padres National Forest. From the Eastern Sierra to the coast to San Diego County, you can find your own summer jaunt to fish, camp and just unwind. (JEFF WALTERS)

What better way to spend part of a summer day in the Sequoia National Forest than to ride a water slide that feeds the Kern River? (JEFF WALTERS) calsportsmanmag.com | MAY 2019 California Sportsman

FISHING ery. They always offer the fishing family a chance to catch some dinner. With campgrounds throughout the area, you will not have to look far to find a spot. And what makes this area even more favorable is that it is never crowded. So even a short, three- or four-day stay should not be out of the question.

INLAND EMPIRE AND SAN DIEGO

The Kern River isn’t just a hot fishing destination. Rafting is also popular. (JEFF WALTERS)

as car camping, day hikes and even a pack train adventure that takes you miles into the wilderness. The choices are seemingly endless and there are many businesses that cater to your every need. This year when you head out to the Sierra, think outside the norm and dare to try something different.

FURTHER SOUTH The Southern Sierra in Kern County offers a different type of environment than the Eastern Sierra. The Kern River flows from the southern slopes of Mount Whitney for 167 miles to Bakersfield. All along the Kern River Canyon, Lake Isabella and up into the Sequoia National Forest are thousands of campsites, miles upon miles of hiking, as well as fishing, rafting, tubing, swimming and hot springs. Less than 1½ hours from Lake Isabella are the majestic sequoia trees themselves, which are a must see that everyone will want to explore again and again. The Coastal Range mountains are another escape route this vacation season. For SoCal residents, these mountains are closer than the Sierra but still far enough away to offer the chance to be with nature. Fishing destinations abound,

with most lakes and reservoirs having campgrounds available. National forest yellow post sites and improved fee collection areas are so numerous it would be a task to list even just a few. Checking with the local ranger station is your best bet. The Los Padres National Forest, located just east of downtown Santa Barbara, is a camper’s dream to explore. Lake Cachuma, Santa Ynez River and Rose Valley Lakes are all stocked with trout by Fillmore Hatch-

Head to Riverside and Temecula for numerous lakes and reservoirs with campgrounds. Lake Skinner, Lake Perris State Park, Vail Lake Resort, Diamond Valley Lake (fishing only) and Lake Elsinore all offer the fishing family a place to angle. During the summer this area gets very warm, so finding a lake that offers swimming is a good idea to help cool off on those hot days. Call ahead to find out if swimming is allowed at your destination. While the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument in San Bernardino County offers very little camping, it is a backpacker’s delight. You can traverse the San Gabriel River and head back into the wilderness. Overnight backpacking trips are the norm here (a permit is required). Trout catch rates are good for an area that is no longer stocked, but there

Camping areas like this one in the Los Padres National Forest offer convenient locations to pitch a tent. (JEFF WALTERS)

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FISHING are numerous streams that fill the valleys and offer the chance to catch wild fish. This is a great place for a simple one-day hike or even a weekend adventure. Always check in with the ranger’s office for further details on permits. The San Bernardino and San Jacinto Mountain Ranges are just the opposite of the San Gabriel Mountains. There are so many camping destinations that offer fishing and hiking, you just can’t go wrong, and they are close to the major cities. Lake Hemet, Big Bear Lake, Jenks Lake and the Santa Ana River are just a few places that offer a great camping or hiking experience. Close enough for just a quick getaway or for the long haul, you will never run out of things to do here. Make it even more exciting by planning a visit to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, which takes you from the desert floor near Palm Springs all the way to San Jacinto State Park atop San Jacinto Mountain Range. It’s an experience worth the drive. San Diego’s Mount Palomar, with its famed Mount Palomar Observatory, is open to the public at certain times of the year. Mount Palomar

Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino National Forest offers stressed Los Angelinos a chance to head to the mountains and get away from the gridlock and heat. (JEFF WALTERS)

State Park offers limited camping but there are hiking trails all over the place. Doane’s Pond offers a stocked fishing destination as well. To the southeast of San Diego County are popular fisheries such as Lake Jennings, Santee Lakes, San Diego City Lakes, Lake Morena and Lake Cuyamaca State Park. You can find camping and fantastic fishing all year long. The small town of Julian is a must stop if headed out to Lake Cuyamaca because of the famous Julian Pie Company and rich history in the area.

You’ll have to share the green grass at Lake Piru, north of Los Angeles, with resident deer. (JEFF WALTERS) 56 California Sportsman MAY 2019 | calsportsmanmag.com

BEACH LIFE Everybody loves the beach in the summer and there are so many campgrounds up and down the coast you really can’t go wrong picking out just one to visit. Fishing the surf for those big surfperch or staying up late for the grunion run is so much fun for the kids. If you don’t know about the grunion run, just check out Google or YouTube and you will see how much fun it really is to find these fish along the beach. Along the coast there are many state parks with camping, as well as many dayuse areas. You will have to do some research on which ones offer overnight camping and for fire restrictions as well. These parks are close enough for a quick getaway. A very popular way to fill up on summer fun is to spend a few days at a different place we’ve talked about throughout the getaway season. Hit the state parks along the coast for a day or two, then the next week head out to the mountains. Just try out different locations each time you go. With so many options you really can’t go wrong. So this summer, plan for something more creative, something more daring, something you haven’t done before, and explore, have fun and bring back some memories. CS

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HUNTING

WHY TO BUY A NEW RIFLE FOR FALL NOW

Author Dave Workman says spring is the best time to make a new rifle purchase because it gives you plenty of time over the coming months to take it afield and get familiar with it. (DAVE WORKMAN)

WITH A NEW OFFERING FROM STURM, RUGER AND AUTUMN’S HUNTS NOT ALL THAT FAR OFF, HERE ARE FIVE GOOD REASONS TO GET INTO THE MARKET FOR A NEW BIG GAME GUN NOW. By Dave Workman

ot long ago, Sturm, Ruger reintroduced one of the company’s most popular rifles in recent memory, the Hawkeye Alaskan, chambered in three slamming calibers that are known for their stopping power. It’s a superb rifle, especially for conditions one is likely to encounter in the fall, when if it’s not raining,

sleeting or snowing, it’s probably getting ready to – am I right? Hitting the scale at 8 pounds (unloaded, without scope), the Hawkeye Alaskan is chambered for the .375 Ruger, the .338 Winchester Magnum or the .300 Winchester Magnum. Either/or, you’ve got a potent load for anything on four legs. This rifle features a Hogue OverMolded synthetic stock with a nonslip, cobblestone-type texture that

allows a firm grip even in a downpour. The Hogue stock is impervious to changing weather conditions, which is common during any autumn hunting season. It is fitted with sling swivel studs and a good recoil pad. With an overall length of 42 inches, the Hawkeye Alaskan features an LC6 trigger three-position safety (which I prefer on any centerfire bolt-action rifle) and integral

calsportsmanmag.com | MAY 2019 California Sportsman 59

HUNTING

The new Ruger Hawkeye Alaskan is chambered in .375 Ruger, .338 Winchester Magnum or .300 Winchester Magnum. (STURM, RUGER)

Ruger’ 10-22 Competition Rifle from the Custom Shop is a “keeper,” says Workman. (STURM, RUGER)

scope mounts. It’s based on the Ruger Guide Gun platform, and has a solid-steel hinged floorplate and a nonrotating Mauser-type controlled round feed extractor.

IF YOU THINK THIS is just a sales pitch for a good Ruger, think again. Ruger’s timing on the reintroduction of

this rifle may have been no accident. Springtime is the best time to be purchasing a new rifle for fall’s hunting seasons and there are five good reasons why. First and foremost, this is kind of the “off season” for gun shops and sporting goods stores, so it is likely that you can find the rifle model

60 California Sportsman MAY 2019 | calsportsmanmag.com

you’re looking for in stock. If not, it shouldn’t take too long to order one up before the long Memorial Day Weekend. Wait until late summer or early autumn and you just might be out of luck to get what you want because chances are, 50 other people are looking for the same rifle. Secondly, buying a rifle now gives you a little more time to pair it up with a good scope, yet another item that procrastinators often find themselves rushing around to find at the last minute. Properly mounting a scope is no simple undertaking, and it’s a bad idea to be hasty about this process. I once helped a young lady zero a new rifle that came with a factory-mounted scope and much to my surprise, the scope had not been installed so the crosshairs were lined up vertically and horizontally, but tilted to one side. No wonder she couldn’t produce

calsportsmanmag.com | MAY 2019 California Sportsman

HUNTING a good group! A quick loosening of the rings to rotate the scope, retightening and voilà, within five rounds that .270 Winchester-caliber rifle was dead-on at 100 yards, shooting off a backpack as a rest. A third good reason is that buying a rifle now affords one a very long, warm summer for not just sighting in a rifle, but for packing it around on weekend jaunts, including scouting trips. Those lazy summer evenings also provide lots of lingering light at the range to sample different loads in your new rifle, whether factory ammunition or something from your own loading bench. If you are a handloader, you will have the summer to work up loads that perform best for your intended purpose. This will allow time to experiment with different bullet weights, perhaps different pro-

pellants and get that rifle down to shooting minute-of-angle groups from a cold barrel. Lastly, a spring purchase puts you ahead of the pack in terms of familiarizing yourself with the rifle. Get used to working the safety so it becomes a reflex. Learn the bolt throw and get used to the trigger letoff. The more familiar you are with your rifle, the more likely you and the gun will become a team in the fall woods.

NOT ONLY HAS RUGER revived a popular rifle model in plenty of time for hunters to grab one up for this coming fall’s activities, SIG Sauer reported – just in time for inclusion here – two new additions to its popular premium-grade Elite Hunting ammunition family. SIG is now offering a load in .243 Winchester and another in .30-06 Springfield.

The .243 Winchester is topped with an 80-grain Copper Game projectile, which seems a bit light for what I would recommend for deersized game. But this pill goes out of the muzzle at a reported 3,425 feet per second with 2,084 foot-pounds of energy, and that’s guaranteed to ruin some game animal’s day. That’s a round that seems perfect for coyotes, antelope, mountain goats and similar-sized game, and I’ve heard of smaller deer being taken with similar loads. The ’06 is certainly more potent, pushing a 150-grain projectile out of the muzzle at a reported 2,920 fps, with 2,841 foot-pounds of energy. Goodbye, bucks and even bull caribou or elk, with the right bullet placement. Sheep, you’re history. Goats, say a prayer. SIG Sauer’s ammo is already on sale as of this writing.

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WE MENTIONED STURM, RUGER earlier. Well, the company has also introduced another variation of its popular 10/22 from the Custom Shop. It’s the Competition Rifle, and from what we’ve seen, it’s a keeper. It naturally comes with Ruger’s superb 10-round rotary magazine, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. It has a CNC-machined heat-treated and stress-relieved 6061T6511 aluminum receiver with a 30 MOA Picatinny rail on top. Inside is a CNC-machined match bolt that has been heat-treated and nitrided, and the rifle features a dual bedding system to guarantee that the action is securely bedded to the stock. The bolt handle is oversized for easy charging. And about that stock; it’s brown laminate with sling swivel studs, a fully adjustable synthetic cheek rest that may be moved vertically and horizontally. The 16 1/8-inch stainless steel bull barrel is free floating and features black Cerakote accents. It is threaded with a ½-inch-by-28-thread pattern to allow muzzle brakes or other popular accessories. Finally, it’s got Ruger’s popular BX Trigger that is smooth with a crisp letoff. Ruger ships this rifle with a hard case, cleaning cloth, challenge coin and decal. CS

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HUNTING

IS TREAT TRAINING FOR YOUR PUP? By Scott Haugen

sing treats to train a puppy is a debate that’s been going on for years, and really has no right or wrong answer. Ask some of the best dog and animal trainers, and they will tell you treats are the reason for their quick, consistent success. But as a dog owner, is quick and easy what you’re after? You have to weigh the final results and see what works best for you. My experience with treat training is that, yes, it produces solid results which are great for prompting and reinforcing proper behaviors, but is that your ultimate goal? The other day I was out with a buddy who trained his dog with treats. The dog would not even respond to a simple “come” command until the man started reaching into his pocket for a treat. As soon as the dog saw that, it couldn’t get to him fast enough. But then the dog continually jumped on the man, paying no attention whatsoever to the “sit” command, until the man reached into his pocket once again for another treat, which he didn’t give to the dog until it sat. Yes, the dog did what the man wanted, but the dog had no respect for the man; it was driven by food instead. It was evident the dog didn’t want to please his master, just do what was necessary to get food.

WHEN BRINGING A puppy home, the best training you can do is play with it every single day, for as many hours as possible. This is when the bonds form between you and your pup. This is how you get to know one another. It’s how a pup learns your voice

Developing a solid, trusting relationship with your dog begins the minute they come home, and will last a lifetime. (SCOTT HAUGEN) calsportsmanmag.com | MAY 2019 California Sportsman

HUNTING Doing many different activities with your pup will result in strong bonds being formed through consistent communication and trust. It will also lead the way to a pure and effective training process. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

inflections and begins to read your eyes and facial expressions. It’s also how you learn the pup’s demeanor and begin establishing a plan of how

you’ll teach it to do what you want. Some puppies are bull-headed from the moment you bring them home; others are submissive. These are traits

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they were born with and that were further developed while spending the first eight weeks of their life with their littermates, when the pecking order is instinctually established. When a puppy comes home, in addition to exploring and learning about its new surroundings, it’s developing a relationship with you. This takes time and communication. Once you gain a pup’s trust through predictable and consistent communication and eye contact, the amount of learning that takes place can be surprising. What’s more, this learning doesn’t have to be prompted by treats. Through playing with your puppy, learning its demeanor and clearly communicating with it in a positive manner, the pup will want to please you, and no reward other than a hug or rubbing of the ears will be necessary. If a pup respects you, it will obey and want to please you. Gun dogs are bred to hunt, so that drive is already instilled. What’s not innate is their desire to obey and please their master. Of the many dogs I’ve hunted with around the world, and worked with over the years, the ones that were trained by developing a solid relationship were much more relaxed and eager to please their masters compared to the ones that were trained using treats.

BEFORE INVESTING IN a puppy, make sure you have the proper time in the coming weeks, months and years to properly develop a pure and honest relationship. What you’ll find is that there’s no substitute for gaining the loyal trust and friendship of a dog through forming natural bonds, versus motivating it to perform certain tasks for treats. The result will be a deep, honest friendship and having a dog that will do anything in the world to make you happy. CS Editor’s note: To see some of Scott Haugen’s puppy training video tips, check out scotthaugen.com. Follow Scott on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN TANNERS In business for nearly 25 years, we at Rocky Mountain Tanners believe that using the whole animal that you harvested is not only wise and practical, but it is the most ethical thing to do as well. In addition to a nice rack on the wall, you can use your tanned deer, elk, bison or other big game hides as a handsome wall hanging, a blanket, a rug, or even a work of natural art. If you are looking for custom hide tanning services, hair on or hair off big game hides, or taxidermy, then you’ve come to the right place. We offer all of these services. We are a small group of hardworking individuals who take great pride in providing what is becoming a dying service. We are motivated by the success of our clientele and being able to provide them with a keepsake of a memory they will cherish in their lives forever. There are very few places left in the U.S. where you can actually still send your big game hide, have the hide tanned into leather, and be guaranteed to get your hide back. We can provide you with that type of service.

Why choose Rocky Mountain Tanners? • We offer hair off leather tanning, hair on hide tanning, as well as taxidermy tanning, which includes free fleshing and salting. • Our tanning quality for both hair on and hair off is excellent. • In-house taxidermy studio. • We are one of the few places in the U.S. where you can have your game hide tanned and made into a wide variety of items by one of our local artisans.

• Saving your game hide is a responsible and ethical practice. • We offer competitive pricing. You owe it to yourself and the animal you harvested to bring it to Rocky Mountain Tanners and keep the great memories and the tanned products around for years and years to come. www.rockymountaintanners.com 303-293-2882

calsportsmanmag.com | MAY 2019 California Sportsman

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