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Sportsman
California Your LOCAL Hunting & Fishing Resource
Volume 9 • Issue 11 PUBLISHER James R. Baker GENERAL MANAGER John Rusnak ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Dick Openshaw EXECUTIVE EDITOR Andy Walgamott EDITOR Chris Cocoles CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Brittany Boddington LEAD WRITER Tim E. Hovey CONTRIBUTORS Bill Adelman, Mark Fong, Scott Haugen, Tiffany Haugen, Todd Kline, Nancy Rodriguez, Bill Schaefer, Mike Stevens SALES MANAGER Katie Higgins ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Mamie Griffin, Garn Kennedy, Mike Smith, Paul Yarnold PRODUCTION MANAGER Sonjia Kells DESIGNERS Sam Rockwell, Jake Weipert PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
Kelly Baker
DIGITAL STRATEGIST Jon Hines OFFICE MANAGER/ACCOUNTING Audra Higgins ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Katie Sauro INFORMATION SERVICES MANAGER Lois Sanborn CIRCULATION MANAGER Heidi Belew ADVERTISING INQUIRIES ads@calsportsmanmag.com CORRESPONDENCE Email ccocoles@media-inc.com Twitter @CalSportsMan Facebook.com/californiasportsmanmagazine ON THE COVER Despite a smaller than usual projected run of fall-run Sacramento River kings, local guides expect some good fish to be caught later this summer and into fall. (MSJ GUIDE SERVICE)
MEDIA INC PUBLISHING GROUP CALIFORNIA OFFICE 4517 District Blvd. • Bakersfield, CA 93313 (661) 381-7533 WASHINGTON OFFICE P.O. Box 24365 • Seattle, WA 98124-0365 14240 Interurban Ave. S., Suite 190 Tukwila, WA 98168 OREGON OFFICE 8116 SW Durham Rd • Tigard, OR 97224 (206) 382-9220 • (800) 332-1736 • Fax (206) 382-9437 media@media-inc.com • www.media-inc.com
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CONTENTS FEATURES 33
TROUT WATERS BIG & SMALL Bill Adelman has plenty of outdoor passions, and some of his happiest days are spent on the moving trout waters that are close to his Bay Area home and as far away as Redding and the Sierra. Ride along as he plays tour guide for some of NorCal’s top destinations for scoring river and small-stream ’bows and browns.
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VOLUME 9 • ISSUE 11
THAT ’LOPE IS DOPE!
GET SET UP FOR SALMON Sacramento and Feather River king salmon opened on July 16, but the best fishing is usually a little later in the summer and into autumn. The projected run looks smaller than most years, but those in the know expect some big fish to be bitiung plugs and other tackle as the fall run heads upstream. Mark Fong picks the brains of two local guides for top spots and tactics.
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FINDING KELP HELPS Calico bass love to congregate around Pacific kelp beds, but even with fewer beds visible off the Southland coast, our Bill Schaefer promises there are plenty of fish out there. You just need to be stealthy when patrolling the bays and use this gear.
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THE BEST GAME MEAT With hunting seasons approaching, hot weather means time is of the essence to field-dress that deer or wild pig to ensure the meat is at its best when you cook it up. Fortunately, Tim Hovey has a checklist handy. Bring your sharpest knives, a tarp and warm up the vacuum packer for the lowdown on cooling wild game meat fast!
(NANCY RODRIGUEZ)
California has a very limited number of pronghorn tags available and our Nancy Rodriguez had tried for a decade and a half to draw into one of these Northeast California hunt opportunities. When a cancellation provided her with a coveted tag, she was not about to let it go unused.
DEPARTMENTS
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
13 17
45
17 18 21 53 71
The Editor’s Note Protecting Wild California: Fresno men illegally caught, sold stripers Outdoor Calendar Adventures of Todd Kline: Fishing the Bahamas Photo contest winners Rig of the month: Easy panfish set-up From Field to Fire: Deer scouting tips; salt block cooking
55 67 89 93
As East Sierra runoff subsides, trout anglers may see ‘best August ever’ Too hot to fish at Santa Margarita Lake El Capitan bass biting various baits Colusa hosting state, regional duck calling contest Crate training for your hunting pup
CALIFORNIA SPORTSMAN GOES DIGITAL! Read California Sportsman on your desktop or mobile device. Only $1.89 an issue. 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 © 2016 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.
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THEEDITOR’SNOTE
Tim Hovey and his daughters Alyssa (middle) and Jessica braved the oppressive heat at Santa Margarita Lake to wet their fishing lines. (TIM E. HOVEY)
O
ne of my college roommates was a massive country music fan, and he used to listen to a song with the lyric “it’s too hot to fish.” As our lead writer Tim Hovey experienced in triple-digit temperatures at San Luis Obispo County’s Santa Margarita Lake (page 55) last month, sometimes the conditions just don’t equate into a very good day on the water. I’ve been there. One time when my dad and I were at Clear Lake in the middle of summer – yeah, it never gets hot there in August – we rented a boat to search for catfish and left the marina relatively early, at least for us. We started in the main channel, mostly because there were other boats in the area. We anchored, threw out our nightcrawlers and clams and waited. And waited. And waited. And cooked. The only bites we experienced were eating whatever snacks we had toted along. It felt like 100 degrees already by 9 a.m. I would guess by 10 or so we retreated to a cove that had some overhanging trees to give us some shade – and maybe some dignity as we beached the boat and continued to cast in futility. Needless to say, catfish were just about impossible to get into the boat on this sultry summer day. We only saw one boat that even came close to avoiding a skunking. Of course, it was after we picked shade over sunburn, so those guys deserved props for stubbornly sticking to the plan. We watched from our covered luxury spot as the fish seemed destined for the guy’s net. Except a few feet from the boat the fish wriggled free, and all we heard was an angler’s gasp (and a few expletives). Can you blame him for being so angry, if not cranky from the heat and the humility? Sometimes, you just have to dismiss your day like a country crooner would. It was too (damn) hot to fish. -Chris Cocoles
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS Journalists hate making mistakes, but this editor is kicking himself even more considering the subject matter we covered in the July issue. In our story about wounded Army veteran Mike Nares, I incorrectly stated the number of deployments Nares made before he was injured. He had three deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he suffered back, not neck injuries, in the attack that wounded him. I want to personally apologize to Mike for these errors. And thank you again for your service. calsportsmanmag.com | AUGUST 2017 California Sportsman
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PROTECTING
FRESNO MEN SENTENCED FOR ILLEGALLY SELLING STRIPERS By Chris Cocoles
F
or one year, California Department of Fish and Wildlife officers kept tabs on three Fresno fishermen. They had reason to think something was amiss. Michael Vang, 31, Kue Her, 36, and Leepo Her, 33 were eventually busted for “unlawfully trafficking” sportfish and face hefty penalties and fines. “CDFW wildlife officers made contact with the three men on multiple occasions as they were fishing throughout California’s Central Valley. The men were frequently found in violation of various laws, including possession of gross overlimits and retention of undersized striped bass,” a press release stated. “The egregious nature of their poaching activities led wildlife officers to suspect they might
WILD CALIFORNIA
be selling fish on the black market.” The men were selling their striper catches, worth “thousands of dollars,” according to the CDFW, which last December secured search warrants and found everything from live crappie and bluegill in an aquarium, frozen striped bass, marijuana cultivation and methamphetamines, with possible evidence of selling the drugs. “The cases are a result of wildlife officers’ recognition of each independent poaching offense for the egregious offenses they were as a whole,” said John Baker, assistant chief of the Central Enforcement District (Fresno). “From there it was good old-fashioned investigative work.” The prosecutors, Fresno County Deputy District Attorneys Sabrina Ashjian and Adam Kook, were aggressive in prosecuting the men’s cases. Ashjian’s work on the cases helped secure
Catching overlimits and undersized striped bass with the intent to illegally sell the fish for profit resulted in stiff penalties for three Fresno men. (CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE)
her CDFW’s wildlife prosecutor of the year for 2016. Eventually, all three Fresnans plead guilty to a charge of illegal poaching of wildlife for profit. Kue Her’s sentencing included spending 52 days in county jail and four years probation. Leepo Her and Vang were ordered to serve far fewer days in jail (nine and one, respectively), but both will pay $1,050 worth of fines – plus the same four years of probation time. All three received lifetime fishing license revocation. CS
OUTDOOR CALENDAR AUGUST 5
Whiskeytown Lake Team Kokanee Derby; kokaneepower.org 11-13 Size Doesn’t Matter Fishing Derby, West Walker River; monocounty.org/event/size-doesnt-matterfishing-derby/6491 12 Stillwater Classic Derby, Crowley Lake; crowleylakefishcamp.com 12 Deer season opener for Zone A (South Unit 110 and North Unit 160) 19 Bucks Lake Team Kokanee Derby; kokaneepower.org 19 Archery deer season openers in several B and C zones 19 Bighorn sheep opener in Zone 7 (White Mountains) 19 Pronghorn antelope season opener in several zones 26 Zone B-4 deer season opens 26-27 California State Duck Calling Championships, Colusa; facebook.com/California-State-DuckCalling-Championship-175521752519354 30 Archery elk hunt season (either sex) opens in Northeast California
SEPTEMBER
1-8
Annett’s Mono Village Labor Day Fishing Derby, Upper Twin Lakes, Bridgeport; /monovillage.com
Convict Lake hosts the Ambush at the Lake trout derby next month. (MONO COUNTY TOURISM/MONOCOUNTY.ORG)
1-15 2
Early dove hunting season Free Fishing Day; wildlife.ca.gov/licensing/fishing/ free-fishing-days 2 June Lake Loop Big Trout Tournament; junelakeloop.org/contact 4 Start of “Ambush at the Lake” Fall Fishing Derby, Convict Lake; convictlake.com/activities/fishing/ derbies 6 Several elk hunting seasons open 9 Shaver Lake Team Kokanee Derby; kokaneepower.org 9 Start of Zone Q-1 mountain quail season 9-10 Big Bear Lake Troutfest; bigbear.com 16 Deer hunting opener in most Zone B and C areas and D-6 and D-7 23 Deer hunting opener in most Zone D areas 30 Start of Zone Q-3 quail hunting season
Notes: A list of upcoming bass tournaments can also be found at nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FishingContests/default.aspx. For deer hunting zone information, go to nrm. dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=122314&inline. calsportsmanmag.com | AUGUST 2017 California Sportsman
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s e r u t n e v Ad We’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 toddkline.com, and you can follow him on Instagram at @toddokrine. –The Editor
I took my son Dylan to Element Skate Camp at Lake Sequoia to skateboard and fish for three days. It’s a beautiful place. (TODD KLINE)
With the Sierra lake in the background, one of the skate ramps features a fish showing off its moves. (TODD KLINE)
Last month, I managed to get out between guide trips and traveling to catch a few fish of my own. This was a nice chunk that fell for the IMA Skimmer. (TODD KLINE)
When he wasn’t skating, my son caught a ton of smallmouth on Yamamoto Thin Senkos. It was a blast. (TODD KLINE)
No Name Cay, a 30-minute boat ride from where we were staying, is an island with wild pigs. You can swim with and feed the pigs. This one let Dylan know he better hand over that last slice of bread! (TODD KLINE) My brother and his kids enjoyed the Caribbean sunshine and a nice triggerfish. (TODD KLINE)
My family and I spent 10 days in the Abaco Islands, part of the Bahamas archipelago. I met my extended family members who live in Florida, and we had a blast. It was awesome watching the kids fish and dive. (TODD KLINE) With water like this, it’s no surprise we had a great time in the Bahamas. (TODD KLINE).
FreeImages.com/sabiec
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PHOTO CONTEST
WINNERS!
In what we believe is a first, we’re declaring two pics sent by Eric Jungblom as our monthly Fishing Photo Contest winner – Lily and Hannah Hunnicutt and their small-pond spinyrays. It wins Jungblom a pile of loot from the overstuffed office of our editor!
Eric Smith’s pic of daughter Grace Smith and her mule deer taken with the .243 given to her on her 11th birthday is this issue’s Browning Photo Contest winner. It wins him a Browning hat.
For your shot at winning Browning and fishing products, send your photos and pertinent (who, what, when, where) details to ccocoles@ media-inc.com, or to 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 | AUGUST 2017 California Sportsman
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DESTINATION ALASKA
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NORCAL
HOPING FOR A ’LOPE
A fire that charred the surrounding countryside almost spoiled the author’s first California pronghorn hunt. Bucks were in the area, but getting within shooting range made it a little more challenging. (NANCY RODRIGUEZ)
A SPOT ON THE WAITING LIST LED TO A PRONGHORN TAG AND A CHANCE TO FULFILL A DREAM – BUT A WILDFIRE DISRUPTED PLANS By Nancy Rodriguez
P
“
ronghorn Antelope Drawing Notice – Alternate.” Those were the words at the top of the letter that the California Department of Fish and Wildlife sent me. “Alternate?” I didn’t know whether I should laugh or cry. After 15 years of applying for a pronghorn tag in my home state, I still felt miles away from drawing the tag. Who in their right mind would give up a premium tag? My husband Joe reassured me that situations come up in people’s lives, and not everyone is able to go. With my fingers crossed, I hoped
luck would swing my way and my dream of hunting pronghorn in my home state would finally come true. And indeed it came to fruition a few weeks later when CDFW called and let me know someone had passed on a tag, so it was mine if I wanted it. Dreams do come true!
AS MY HUNT DREW near, instead of being filled with excitement, I was racked by concern instead. Day after day I looked out the window, and instead of seeing beautiful blue sky, I was staring at a smoky haze brought on by dozens of wildfires burning around the state. I stayed updated on one fire in
particular; it was burning in the area I had scouted a short time before. Heartache started to set in as online wildfire maps showed the blaze slowly burning up my hunt area. But as the opening date loomed, I could finally breathe a sigh of relief; I watched the fire diminish and containment grow. Just days before my hunt the fire was out, so I checked the fire perimeter one last time before we hit the road. Final result: The fire had burned within yards of my selected areas. We had scouted three shooter
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NORCAL Joe Rodriguez scopes for antelope. At one point he and his wife Nancy found a group of does and a rather lucky buck they named “Antennae” holding court over the harem. (NANCY RODRIGUEZ)
bucks in three different areas over the summer, and the fire map confirmed that the fire had burned to the edge of all three spots. What were the chances of that? All we could do was try to find animals and hope that they were not too scattered from the fire, as well as helicopters, crews and heavy equipment that had worked so hard to contain the blaze. The day before the opener, Joe and I, along with our good friend Jon and his 9-year-old daughter Ava, made the five-hour drive up to my unit. We were very excited, especially as this would be what Ava considered to be her first pronghorn hunt. Once we arrived we went to the first place on our list and found that the area hadn’t burned, but close. There was plenty of evidence that heavy machinery had been traveling the dirt roads. We had spotted a great buck in this area while scouting here, so I hoped he was still around.
Joe and I took off out across the hills to see what we could find, while Jon and Ava stayed back to glass the finger ridges below camp. Between all of us, not one pronghorn was spotted. Even so, we decided to stay there and try our luck at first light.
OPENING MORNING STARTED OFF slow. Ava’s eagle eyes eventually spotted a decent buck that I wanted to take a closer look at. We were over 500 yards away, but as we started to sneak out across the sage and juniper tree-covered ridge, he took off like a rocket and didn’t stop. He continued running for miles over two ridgelines before he put on the brakes. Joe and I tried to circle him, but he vanished. Talk about skittish! I knew with it being second pronghorn season, this guy might have been chased before. We continued to hunt the juniper-covered hills the rest of the after-
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noon and found nothing, so the four of us decided to head over to a different area that we had scouted. A large playa held a small amount of water, as the drought had turned the small lake that was once there into a pond. During our scouting trip, we had spotted an extremely tall, thin-horned buck here. His horns curved forward, reminding us of the antennas on a bug, so we nicknamed him “Antennae.” We spotted Antennae in the middle of the lakebed with about 10 does. We used the spotting scope to check him out and realized that with the rut kicking in, his horn tips and prongs had been broken off. Bummer! The rest of the day was spent glassing in search of any de-
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NORCAL cent buck. We got within shooting distance of numerous small bucks, but no shooters. That night we made plans to hike into the next spot on our list, a remote lakebed. We started our hike at first light and, with a chill in the air, the crisp morning air felt refreshing. This area was where we had spotted the largest buck on our scouting trip and he had thick, slightly heart-shaped horns and what appeared to be 6-inch-plus prongs. This lakebed is very remote and several miles away from any road, so I felt like we had a good chance the buck wouldn’t be pressured. While we were closing in on our destination we heard the unmistakable sound of a quad in the distance. The sun had just started to break the horizon as we arrived at the top of the mesa that overlooked the lakebed. We set up the spotting scope and the glassing began, and I slowly scanned across the landscape in a grid pattern, spotting a group of pronghorn with a small herd buck in the trees. A short distance away two quads sat on the lakebed. I knew if the big antelope was around, he certainly wasn’t any longer. “How did these guys get here, since there aren’t any solid roads to travel on?” we wondered. We had hiked for two hours to get there and we were too late. With the pressure of the quads, we figured the big buck would be gone, but we searched the surrounding areas anyway. The rest of the day only produced a tiny buck with a few does and I was feeling a bit disheartened. That night Jon and Ava wished me luck before they headed home. The penultimate day of the hunt was spent sitting for eight hours above a waterhole with only two wild horses and three pronghorn coming in. With one day left, I mentioned to Joe that maybe we should head back to Antennae’s lakebed. As we pulled in by the lakebed that evening to set up camp, we saw a nice buck heading out of the foothills to water. Since it was the last few min-
Wild horses couldn’t drag them away from this scene. (NANCY RODRIGUEZ) IF YOU GO California has a limited pronghorn antelope season in six different zones of the northeast corner of the state, with tags awarded via a draw. Most of the seasons occur this month, with second season hunts in some of the zones in September. For more information, go to wildlife.ca.gov/Hunting/Pronghorn. CS
utes of shooting light, I didn’t have enough time to get set up. Still, I was reinspired by seeing a “new” buck in the area. Our plan was to hike down to the lakebed the next morning in the dark and set up in the trees at its edge. Once there, we would ride out the day in hopes a decent buck would move into the area searching for does and I would get off a shot.
THE LAST MORNING ARRIVED and I awoke feeling like my head had just hit the pillow. Sunrise wouldn’t wait for us, so we had to get moving. I shouldered my backpack, grabbed my rifle and looked up at millions of stars that were twinkling in the dark sky. I grew comfortable with the idea I might be going home empty-handed, but as the hike began, a smile swept across my face because I realized that “Today could be the day.” Joe and I hiked a mile down the lakebed by the light of a crescent moon. We set up under the canopy of a large juniper tree on the edge of the lakebed. As the night gave way
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to morning, we started to see little antelope dots in the distance. Antennae had his small harem out in front of us and a few small bucks mingled about. Momentum seemed to shift as we glassed the far right corner of the lakebed, where we spotted a mature buck with 19 does feeding. It was my last hunting day, he was a shooter, and suddenly the hunt was on. They were 520 yards out, and since I prefer my shots to be within 400 yards, we needed to close the distance. The two of us crouched over in unison and began the final stalk. We sneaked from tree to tree, closing the distance and racing the sun before it cast long morning shadows and revealed our position. We crawled the final 50 yards to my preselected location and ranged the herd at 350 yards. Suddenly, my target buck took off at high speed, throwing a dirt rooster tail along the way. He was chasing a smaller buck that was trying to move in on his harem, and I used that moment to get my gun set up for the shot. With his mission accomplished
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NORCAL Why is Rodriguez so happy? She got her buck after a hunt she never figured to receive a tag for. (NANCY AND JOE RODRIGUEZ)
it was time to fulfill mine. The herd buck slowly worked his way back to his harem, and I waited in ambush, with my crosshairs following his every step. Joe called the ranges as the buck moved closer and I adjusted my turrets accordingly. The buck meandered in and out of the herd while checking the does. I controlled my breathing and patiently waited for a clear shot. My opportunity arrived and I thought for a moment how bittersweet it was. After 15 years of waiting, hoping, and mostly dreaming I slowly squeezed the trigger. And just like that it was over. As we hiked back across the lakebed weighed down with meat, wild horses ran by to wish us farewell. I may never hunt pronghorn here again, but I won’t stop California dreaming after the experience. CS Editor’s note: Nancy Rodriguez lives in Cool (El Dorado County), with her husband Joe. She is an outdoor enthusiast who loves to fish, hunt and backpack. Nancy is on the hunt staff for Prois Hunting & Field Apparel for Women and enjoys inspiring women to get outdoors. 30 California Sportsman AUGUST 2017 | calsportsmanmag.com
California forests are threatened by nonnative insects and diseases. These invasive species can be transported on firewood to new areas where they can become established and kill large numbers of trees.
• Leave firewood at home – buy or collect firewood where you camp. • Use firewood in the same county or region where it was cut. • Locate local firewood vendors at firewoodscout.org. • Bring only what you’ll need, and burn responsibly.
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A SUMMER OF TROUT
NORCAL FROM THE MIGHTY SAC RIVER TO TINY FEEDER CREEKS, YOU CAN FIND THE PERFECT SPOT TO TRY YOUR LUCK
By Bill Adelman
T
he allure of trout fishing generally lasts for a lifetime within freshwater anglers. When most of the snow is gone, streams flow closer to normal and some of us take the opportunity to hit mountain creeks. But fishing the Sacramento River for native rainbows will never lose its appeal either. And while the Sac north of Redding is a must-do destination, you don’t have to fish big water for big fish. Some of the best trout caught aren’t monsters. Consider the option of a tiny creek, one where stealth is critical to success, and when you land that micro brown, golden or rainbow, the feeling of accomplishment burns into our memory bank, not as
The Sacramento River around Red Bluff features plenty of catchable trout, some smaller than others. But for author Bill Adelman (right), any summer day spent chasing trout is a good day. (BILL ADELMAN)
the biggest fish we’ve ever landed, but rather, “Wow, I did it.” There are hundreds of these waters, most within walking distance of where you park. Climbing 2,000 feet almost straight up to get a fishing hole is a thing of the past for me, no matter how many small to medium brookies I could hook at those spots. Other easily accessible creeks and streams offer the solitude and re-
laxation all anglers sometimes seek.
WHERE TO GO Let’s take Deer Creek in Lassen County as an example of where you can catch trout without a taxing hike. The best fishing generally isn’t across from a parking lot at a popular spot, so getting off the beaten path will offer greater success. When the evening bite is on,
calsportsmanmag.com | AUGUST 2017 California Sportsman
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NORCAL a No. 14 beadhead will provide a bunch of fish, provided you approach the water with care and caution. Consider a 3- or 4-weight fly rod, floating line and a fluorocarbon leader in the 4-pound range. If spin fishing, use a small floating casting bubble, a 5- to 6-foot leader and a nymph or dry fly. Toss your offering above the anticipated strike area and slowly drift it into that zone. Keep in mind that a maximum depth in this type of water will be up to 5 feet, but mostly in the 2- to 3-foot range. Flinging a ¼-ounce Kastmaster just won’t cut it.
BIG WATER MASTER In mid-July a couple friends and I hooked up with guide Robert Weese (norcalsalmonguide.com; 530755-7196). He’s got 30-plus years guiding on the Sac and is a master at side-casting for rainbows and steelhead. OK, this isn’t a small creek, but it is a bucket-list destination. Normally, at this time of year the bite will be off the hook, except, of course, when I choose to give it a try. We launched at the dirt ramp below the Jellys Ferry Bridge, a spot that many years ago Robert built himself to get access to the river in this area. That would
Small creeks are ubiquitous throughout Northern California, giving anglers like Ron Marciel an opportunity to fish water like this near Placerville. (BILL ADELMAN)
be the ramp, not the bridge. (As an aside, there’s an osprey nest on the bridge that is more than 30 years old, and this season’s young were almost ready to take off on their own when we fished.) The flow was running high and
Robert did his best running his jet boat up and down while seeking the right flow for side-casting live crickets. We ran up to the barge hole just to check the depth, which was in the 50-foot range. We did manage a few smaller trout, but the squawfish and flathead bite was much better. This brings up a point that needed clarity prior to the launch. Just for fun, someone said, “How about putting up a buck each for the biggest fish?” Who wouldn’t go for that? Well, by far and away I caught the biggest fish, a flathead. Then, and only then, was I told that it was implied that it had to be a trout. Pouting on my part wasn’t necessary, but I could have used the two bucks.
OTHER HOT SPOTS
Lake Berryessa spit out this nice trout, caught trolling. The Northern California reservoir’s one drawback in summer is the hordes of boaters and jet skiers who also flock there. (BILL ADELMAN) 34 California Sportsman AUGUST 2017 | calsportsmanmag.com
The Yuba River offers many take-off points. One of my favorite spots is downstream from the Highway 20 Bridge northeast of Marysville. The area is riddled with gravel bars, thus good boots are necessary.
calsportsmanmag.com | AUGUST 2017 California Sportsman
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John Higley (front), with guide Robert Weese taking in the scene on the Sac River, near Jellys Ferry Bridge around Red Bluff. (BILL ADELMAN)
As you continue along Highway 20 toward the Sierra and eventually Lake Tahoe, there are good spots to get out and fish the Yuba’s gin-clear water. And don’t overlook the Truckee River either. There’s an invitation in my back pocket to drift the Truckee in a raft, with a fly rod in one hand and a water spritzer in the other. It’s been a little while since I hit the Little Truckee River, which flows into Boca Reservoir northeast of Truckee, where small browns are the trout to target.
GOLD COUNTRY OPTIONS Many of our NorCal foothill reservoirs offer tailout water that just teem with trout. Two that are a kick are just below Camanche and New Hogan Reservoirs in the Mother Lode. These are small, short streams, yet still fun. Further north, waters near Trinity Lake are just a good solid kick in the britches. But can it get any better than getting off the beaten path on the Upper Sac in the Dun36 California Sportsman AUGUST 2017 | calsportsmanmag.com
smuir area? I think not.
IT’S ALL TROU-TACULAR So what’s the bottom line here? A DIY trout trip can be fun, exciting and rewarding. I’m thinking that checking out my trout tackle might be the order of the day, as I’m hoping that easy-to-reach trout stream is right around the next bend. CS
Winter, summer, spring, fall – whenever you go, rainbows are a year-round favorite. (BILL ADELMAN)
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38 California Sportsman AUGUST 2017 | calsportsmanmag.com
CENTRAL VALLEY Guide Manny Saldana Jr. shows off the kind of trophy salmon California king anglers crave catching in late summer and fall. Saldana and others expect some good fall-run Chinook to head upstream to spawn this season. (MSJ GUIDE SERVICE)
SHOOTING FOR SACRAMENTO’S KINGS FISHING AROUND STATE CAPITAL LOOKS STRONG; FEATHER DEPENDS ON WATER RELEASES By Mark Fong
F
or the past several months, the San Francisco Bay fleet has been experiencing great action for king salmon. Most charter boats are posting limits to near limits on a consistent basis. Large schools of salmon have been roaming Half Moon Bay to the south and the Marin County coast to the north. It has been nearly half a decade since anglers have experienced such great fishing. The big question for inland anglers: What does this mean for the salmon season on the Sacramento and Feather Rivers? Early 2017 projections for the Sacramento estimated 230,700 Sacramento fall-run Chinook adults in the ocean, a low number for sure, but that doesn’t mean anglers will be shut out. To help us answer this question, we decided to ask the experts after the Sac and Feather seasons officially began (they usually don’t start to regularly produce salmon until later) on July 16.
METRO SACRAMENTO Capt. James Netzel of Tight Lines Guide Service (888-975-0990; fishtightlines.com) is an expert on Sacramento metro-area salmon fish-
ing. He has an intimate knowledge of the Sacramento River from Verona downstream to Rio Vista. Netzel, like the majority of area guides, is optimistic and excited about this
Trolling should produce some nice kings in the lower Sacramento around the state capital. “I think we will see bigger fish this year,” guide James Netzel says. (MARK FONG) calsportsmanmag.com | AUGUST 2017 California Sportsman
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CENTRAL VALLEY year’s season. He predicts the run will build gradually and really pick up steam later in the season. “Guys get really excited about opening day, but there typically aren’t a lot of fish in the system yet relative to what we will see later on,” Netzel says. “I will do some scouting, and if the fish are there, I will book clients; if not, I will continue to fish kokanee in the Sierra until September.” Not only does Netzel have high hopes about the season in general, he is anticipating the run will feature a better overall grade of salmon. “I think we will see bigger fish this year,” he says. “Last year we saw a lot more smaller fish caught. I expect to see the really big fish at the end of the season.” “With all the rain and snow we had last winter, we shouldn’t have an issue with the flows in the Sacramento like we did with the last few years of the drought,” he adds. “The number of salmon in the system is not so much related to what is happening today but a function of the spawns we had three years ago during the drought,” Netzel notes. “I can say with more water comes cooler temperatures, meaning that the fish will hold in holes longer, rather than shooting up to the cooler waters at the headwaters. This will give anglers more opportunities to catch fish.” Netzel has developed a reputation for his ability to utilize a dodger and a Brad’s Super Bait Cut Plug to catch salmon, a technique he learned from Columbia River anglers and adapted to his use on the Sacramento. Today he is recognized as the leading expert in this technique. “I have some special Silvertron spinners that I had made especially for trolling with a dodger. I think they will be a big hit this season,” Netzel adds.
FEATHER RIVER Further up in the system, Capt.
Using Super Bait Cut Plugs with a dodger is a technique James Netzel learned from Pacific Northwest salmon anglers and which he’s implemented on the Sac River. (MARK FONG/TIGHT LINES GUIDE SERVICE)
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CENTRAL VALLEY Mike Barton with a dime-bright king. The expectations are for some solid fishing in August, September and October. (MARK FONG)
Manuel Saldana Jr. of MSJ Fishing Guide Service in Marysville (530301-7455; msjguideservice.com) calls the Feather River his home waters. Like Netzel, Saldana is expecting a strong season. “Looking at the amount of salmon they are catching on the ocean, it is looking good for us on the river,” he says. “My prediction is that mid-August, September and October are gonna be the same, just like last year. But this year we have more water in the rivers, so it could come a little earlier.” For anglers on the Feather River, a huge wild card is how the water releases will be managed as a result of the Oroville Dam repair construction. “It really is an unknown; we are kinda in the dark on this,” Saldana says. “As long as the water releases are above 1,500 cubic feet per second, I think we are gonna be OK. I like the river at Boyds Pump, Yuba City, Gridley, Live Oak and the Outlet Hole.” Even if release levels are lowered in the Feather to an unfishable level, locals who fish these waters regularly have a backup option. “If water on the Feather is limited, I’ll simply head over to the Sacramento,” Saldana says. “I will fish the river from Chico to Los Molinos if I am on the Sacramento.” Depending on location and river conditions, Saldana will switch between a number of proven techniques. Two of the primary tactics he utilizes are back-trolling sardine-wrapped Brad’s Killer Fish Plugs and dead-sticking roe. To a lesser extent, he will troll or cast spinners, depending on the situation. Based on the information gathered from Netzel and Saldana, all indications point to an excellent salmon season for anglers on the Sacramento and Feather Rivers. CS Editor’s note: Please consult the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Regulations (wildlife.ca.gov/Fishing/Inland) for information and regulations.
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SIERRA
WORTH THE WAIT?
With the main channels of Eastern Sierra creeks blown out, trout can be found in slower, more sheltered side waters – many of which are dry land in a normal year. (MIKE STEVENS)
AFTER A SLOW START DUE TO CRAZY-HIGH RUNOFF, EASTERN SIERRA TROUT ANGLERS COULD BE IN FOR THE ‘BEST AUGUST EVER’ By Mike Stevens
W
hen I was up covering the Eastern Sierra general trout opener in late April, I saw all the snow and even wrote about the across-the-board record-breaking nature of California’s snowpack and rainfall. Through spring and into summer, I was expecting “more than usual” runoff, but in 25-plus years of fishing the Sierra, I’ve never seen anything like what I saw first hand last month. The magnitude of “Runoff Watch 2017” first hit me when I crossed over Mammoth Creek as it flows under Highway 395 just before the Mammoth Lakes exit. I use that spot as a day-one gauge of how lake levels and creek flows are going to look in the area. If it’s fishy looking, it means the Twin Lakes waterfall is dumping at a decent clip and most of the creeks will be fishable. If it’s low, everything else is low, and so on. Normally when it’s “low” you can jump across it, and “high” when it gets close to the top of the banks. What I saw on the right (north) side of the road was half of the football field-sized meadow the creek flows through completely underwater. On the upstream side of 395, several rogue creeks emerged from the main channel, and the total volume of water was too much to handle for the pipe that takes it from one side of the road to the other. It created a pondtype situation on that side of the road too. Same scene for Lee Vining Creek in the meadow section at the bottom of Tioga Pass, and the Upper Owens River was at least up even with the calsportsmanmag.com | AUGUST 2017 California Sportsman
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SIERRA banks, taking overland shortcuts at the sharpest bends. If you are familiar with the area, the Fishing Monument a couple miles upstream of Crowley was in standing water. Driving around, we’d see water spewing out of random cracks at the base of mountains, and throughout the city of Mammoth there was just a constant flow of water at your feet – everywhere. In the Mammoth Lakes Basin, the waterfall was indeed cranking at Twin Lakes, where being as full as possible is a great thing for fishing. The limited window of open water between the surface and the hellish weeds below is widened, so you can actually fish from shore sans headaches. Other than the water being a little off-color due to all the runoff, Lakes Mary, Mamie and George looked normal; there was simply way more water coming in and going out. The most dramatic change in
The author found success in the whitewater sections of Convict Creek. But the conditions made tackle susceptible to going to the fishing graveyard via snaggy rocks, sticks and trees. (MIKE STEVENS)
scenery was Horseshoe Lake, at the end of the Mammoth Basin, where water was all the way up to the parking lot, and the lake has taken on an entirely different shape. Fullsize pine trees are standing in water, some coves are gone and others created, and when my brother returned from the back of the lake – where a 15-foot-high boulder previously marked the inlet – he said, “I couldn’t
see the big rock, and I’m not even sure if I was looking exactly where it was anyway.” Needless to say, fishing was also affected. It didn’t take long to realize my whole playbook could be thrown out the window in 2017. Early July was like May of any other season. My favorite backcountry lakes were still (I assumed) covered in snow – as if I could get to them up snow-buried
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SIERRA Brown trout were active and hungry during this July trip, and though the calendar would disagree, it felt more like late spring than summer because of water levels. (MIKE STEVENS)
trails anyway. Owens River fish hunkered down below undercut banks and weren’t coming out for anything, Tioga Pass opened up, but Tioga (still three-quarters’ covered with ice) and Ellery Lakes (ice free and near the top of the dam) only kicked out a few holdovers. Saddlebag Lake, our top drive-to destination, was nowhere close to opening, and if I had to guess, it won’t be until this month sometime. That’s saying something for a lake that usually shuts down for the season in September.
ALTERNATE OPTIONS What we ended up doing is fishing the same 50-yard stretch of Convict Creek for several days. It became a matter of – to take a line from saltwater fishing – not leaving fish to find fish. Once we found fish and figured out to catch them, it was kind of hard to spend too much time anywhere else. And it wasn’t like we got into easy pickings on cookie-cutter stockers. It got better each day and there were a lot of brown trout in the mix (a positive for the area fishing like late spring rather than early summer). However, we donated a ton of tackle to rocks, sticks and trees, and we were fishing in spots where a misstep could seriously ruin our day. Only the perfect presentation would get them to go. The most damage was done with Sierra Slammers jigs in king crimson, perch fry, carrot cake and big stick. My brother got some on a Thomas Buoyant, and I also got some Rooster Tail fish. The main channel of the creek, being full-blown whitewater, actually gave us an advantage. Anyone casually scouting the creek would take one look at that and move on thinking it was completely unfishable. What we found were side areas normally on dry land but now flooded with all the “extra water.” The spots sheltered from the torrents – deeper pools and labyrinths 48 California Sportsman AUGUST 2017 | calsportsmanmag.com
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of snarled roots, fallen timber and flooded bushes – provided plenty of spots for trout to hide in, behind and underneath.
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Once we found areas like that on the creek, we knew where the fish were and how to get them. A jig tossed upstream into the seam where whitewater met the calm side area was how we did it. Land in the right channel, and the fast water literally delivered our lures right where we wanted them. If I were going back up now, I would not spend more than a day on my old Sierra playbook and instead look for areas like the aforementioned spots. The combination of figuring out where fish relocate in situations like that, paired with rushing waters that scare weekend warriors away, could make for a pretty enjoyable fishing experience. Currently, all drive-up lakes are accessible per the norm and are not only getting regular stocking, but many – especially those in the Mammoth Lakes Basin – are getting extra fish than the poundage scheduled. The reason? The first few plants of the season couldn’t be delivered when the lakes weren’t accessible. But those fish are bought and paid for, so they just get added to the rest of the stocking schedule. As someone who prefers to avoid August for fishing reasons alone, I’m predicting this month to be the best August ever in the Eastern Sierra. The snowmelt feeding the lakes is just going to continue long enough to keep late-summer air temps from bringing the water temperatures up high enough to send trout down to leadcore depth. By the time the snow is finally gone, fall will have fallen. As much as it looks like all creek fish could be washed all the way down to Lone Pine, they’re not. They’re just doing what many Eastern Sierra anglers are doing, hunkering down and waiting for a return to normalcy. CS
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EASY-SNEEZY PANFISH SET-UP FOR KIDS NOTES Bluegill and other panfish are always fun to catch, especially when taking kids fishing. Panfish make excellent table fare as well, and you can catch a lot of them. A bobber rig is very user-friendly. Simply watch for the float to go under and set the hook. To construct the rig, start by tying a No. 10 Gamakatsu Baitholder Hook to 6-pound monofilament mainline. A palomar knot works well and is an easy knot to remember. Clip on a bobber 2 feet or so above the hook and add a small lead split-shot weight to the line approximately 6 inches above the hook. Don’t be afraid to adjust the bobber position until you find the depth the fish are biting at. A wax worm, cricket or small earthworm can be irresistible to panfish. –Mark Fong
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SOCAL
FISHING’S COLD, WEATHER’S HOT NOTHING’S BITING DURING A SUMMER CAMPING TRIP TO SANTA MARGARITA LAKE
By Tim E. Hovey
T
The rods were ready to go and expectations were high as author Tim Hovey, his daughters and two friends camped at San Luis Obispo’s Santa Margarita Lake. But the heat had other ideas and very little went right during the outing. (TIM E. HOVEY)
he plan seemed simple enough: head out on a weekend camping trip to a lake where we’ve previously experienced some amazing fishing success. We had visited Santa Margarita Lake in San Luis Obispo County in 2013 and my daughters had done very well catching catfish. Alyssa had caught an 8-pounder and Jessica had topped us all with a 15-pound monster. My wife and I also added to the tally with respectable fish to 13 pounds. Ever since that day trip, they’ve been suggesting we head back to try our luck again. In April I secured two camping spots in the Coyote Campground section of the lake. We had never camped at the lake before, and going off reviews of the camping area and photos of the sites, I reserved the two I thought looked best. With a few clicks of the mouse, we were all set for the weekend of July 7. While I do see the convenience of reserving a camping spot months in advance, I’ve always worried about things that are out of my control when it comes to securing a plot of dirt so far in the future. Unknown weather systems, fires, floods and lake closures are all part of camping reservation risks. However, once I received an email confirmation of our reservation, I put it completely out of my mind. A few weeks prior to the trip, I started checking out the fishing reports on the lake. The bite looked good for all the regular species, and catfish looked to be biting well in two areas of the lake. Thanks to
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SOCAL a wet winter, Santa Margarita was at full capacity, and from the photos, looked far different than our previous visit, when the lake level was at 20 percent. This seemed like a no-brainer recipe for a successful fishing/camping adventure.
WE LOADED THE TRUCK that Friday and started the three-hour drive north. The girls were excited to fish the lake again and enjoy a camping weekend at a new site. I was just thankful that the kids at their ages – Alyssa near 17 and Jessica 15½ – still wanted to hang out with me. My friend Jose and his son Adrian would be an hour behind us. Once we headed inland from Gaviota in Santa Barbara County, we noticed an extremely large smoke in the direction we were headed. Alyssa jumped on her phone and found that the Alamo Fire had started that day and had already grown to
10,000 acres. We referenced a digital map and determined that the fire was distant enough that it wouldn’t be an issue for us. But while Alyssa had her phone out, I asked her to check the weather at the lake. The news was bleak. A heat wave had gripped the area and temperatures would be over 100 degrees. It was supposed to cool off slightly by the time we left, but it looked like an uncomfortably warm weekend. We drove through the tiny town of Santa Margarita and headed into the recreation area. At the entrance kiosk, I gave the attendant my confirmation number and he politely asked me which of the two sites I’d like. I responded simply: “The one with the most shade.” He handed me a map with site 12 circled and we drove out. It was 105 degrees at 4:30 in the afternoon. Of the eight sites in the Coyote Campground, site 12 was the only one with shade. The rest were little more than dirt lots pos-
sessing a picnic table and a fire ring. Despite the heat, we decided to set up our huge rectangular tent. It can easily hold four queen-size air mattresses and still have room for a walking area. Powered by four D-size batteries, the tent also came with a light and fan combo that pulled cool air, and it definitely would’ve been a much-used item had I not left it on the workbench at home. We tossed the rest of our gear in the shade of the center oak and headed down to the lake to explore and fish. Touring the lake, we noticed the smoke from the Alamo Fire settling over the valley. Just outside town, we’d passed another smaller fire in the hills above the lake. The sun created an orange canvas as it beamed through the smoke, with firefighting planes with orange bellies flying over us constantly. Even though the lake was beautiful, the dull sunlight and smoke gave the area an eerie glow. We fished for a few hours without a
Smoke from the nearby Alamo Fire turned sunset over the lake colorful yet hazy shade of orange. (TIM E. HOVEY)
56 California Sportsman AUGUST 2017 | calsportsmanmag.com
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SOCAL bite. As darkness fell, we headed back and saw Jose checking in at the kiosk. Traffic issues meant it had taken them seven hours to make the drive. Back at camp, we squeezed his tent in under the giant oak and essentially used his camping spot as a parking area. A family of eight occupied the last spot, the one next to mine. By the dinner hour it had cooled down and we grilled up some camping burgers. We sat around the lantern in shorts and T-shirts, told stories and laughed. After months of planning, it was great to have the group together again to fish the lake. We cleaned up and decided to get up early the next day and fish as much as we could. Right before I entered the tent, a bright light peering over the low mountain horizon caught my eye. The full moon was a brilliant orange as it filtered through the smoke. For most of my life, the presence of a full moon has never been good for
Get a good look at this bluegill; it was the only notable fish caught on the trip. (TIM E. HOVEY)
many outdoor activities. The premise is that fish and game can do most of their feeding at night and sit tight during the day. Perfect, I thought. Always the last to fall asleep, I listened to the camp raccoons tear into the neighbor’s trash only 8 feet from my head.
THE NEXT DAY WE woke early and headed out. We tried several spots
and managed to catch a few small bass. As the heat started to rise, we found a nice spot at the other end of the lake that offered up some shade. On the short hike to the shore, Adrian slipped and landed hard on his tailbone, an injury that would bother him for the rest of the trip. Again, after an hour with no bites, we headed back to explore fishing areas closer to camp. We discovered
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SOCAL
Scenes from the trip: fishing in cooler hours, a doe and fawn in the broiling sun and a closed watering hole the group had hoped to find ice cream at. (TIM E. HOVEY)
a small boat dock in a shaded cove and started fishing there. The dock had a wooden ramp that led from the shore to the floating dock 10 feet out. I managed a decent-sized bluegill fishing red worms under a bobber, then put him on a stringer. After an hour, he was still the only fish on it, so he was let go. The misadventures continued. As we filed off the dock, the wooden ramp collapsed, leaving two of our party stranded on the platform. The land-bound group was eventually able to pull the still-floating portion
to shore so we could escape. At 10:30 a.m. it was already 100 degrees. Back at camp, we circled the chairs under the life-giving shade, drank lots of water and barely talked. Eventually, one by one, we all fell asleep and enjoyed sweaty slumber in the shade of the oak. By around 1:30 I had had enough. I loaded the gang into the truck, cranked the AC and promised them all the best-tasting ice cream down at the general store a few miles from the lake. Driving past the kiosk, a large fire bomber flew over the road
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headed to the still-growing Alamo fire. The truck thermometer was pegged at 110 degrees. Ten minutes after leaving the lake we pulled into the general store parking lot only to find a “Closed” sign stuck in the window. An alternate destination 25 minutes further down the road, the Pozo Saloon, was also closed. We eventually drove all the way into the town of Santa Margarita and got ice creams to cool us down. Back at the lake, we grabbed our gear and decided to spend the
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rest of the day down at the shore fishing in the shade. At one of our regular spots, I walked down to the shore and noticed I was standing in a small patch of four-leaf clovers. Taking this as an obvious sign, I started fishing there. But after over two hours and with darkness closing in, I’d had no luck. That evening we cooked up whatever food we didn’t want to take home with us the next day and feasted. Worn out from the day, we all turned in at around 11 p.m. Our camping neighbors, who had been gone all day, rolled in at about 11:02 p.m. Instead of listening to ravenous raccoons chewing on pizza boxes, I got to hear all about baseball until 1 a.m.
EARLY THE NEXT MORNING we fished for a few hours without any luck. We headed back to break down camp and go home before the heat set in. We gassed up in town, said our goodbyes and started the afternoon drive south. I thought about the trip and how, despite the poor fishing, we did have a good time. We all decided we could’ve done without the heat, but some things like fire, weather and fishing are all beyond your control at times. I was trying to tease out the happy moments of the trip when Alyssa held out her forearm. “Hey, Daddy, is this poison oak?” Perfect! CS 62 California Sportsman AUGUST 2017 | calsportsmanmag.com
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BEST OF LAKE ISABELLA CROSSROADS MINI MART AT LAKE ISABELLA The Kern River Valley offers a tremendous variety of recreation for the whole family. On the Kern River itself, the tremendous runoff for the spring has finally subsided to the relief of most everyone, but not too much to affect the best whitewater rafting season anyone can remember. There is still lots of space for trips ranging from half-hour teasers to weeklong trips of a lifetime. Check the chamber website for links to rafters. One big advantage of lower water levels of course is The Kern River is now fishable. Stocking has resumed and this summer’s water levels and fishing opportunities are perfect. From fly fishing in the catchand-release section to leisurely drowning a worm in the Riverside Park section, there's fishing for everyone. Lake Isabella fishing is just now set to take off, with bass, catfish or an occasional trout all providing anglers with good production. This is a great kid- and family-friendly fishing, boating and camping destination.
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66 California Sportsman AUGUST 2017 | calsportsmanmag.com
SOCAL
CAPPING OFF A GOOD DAY FLUCTUATING WATER LEVELS SHOULDN’T SCARE OFF EL CAPITAN BASS ANGLERS By Bill Schaefer
E
l Capitan Reservoir has been fluctuating in depth over the last several months, and while the water level came way up with winter rains, El Cap is on the way back down. Some anglers have crossed it off their list, but this lake is fishing well, and with less angling pressure you can go out and score some bass. El Capitan, located 30 miles northeast of San Diego, can have a great topwater bite in the morning this time of year. Rogue schools of bass will chase bait as the day progresses, and spinnerbaits, topwater baits, buzzbaits, frogs, cranks and jerkbaits will all score well now. Work the shoreline early and throw your favorite topwater, whether it is a walking or popping bait. It seems like the bass here are more easily called out of the weeds along the bank with a popper like the Classic Pop-R. Buzzbaits have also done well for me here. As the day progresses, especially if the water is glassy, the breaking fish will show. Watch for the largest concentration and hang in that area. I tend to not waste time chasing them, as they always seem to pop up right where you just left from. Throw a small 3½- or 4-inch swimbait blindly while waiting for the schools to show themselves. I have sometimes done better blind fishing the schools in the middle of the lake. When chasing breaking fish, you want a rod that can throw a small bait a long way and a reel that is
Kelly Salmons used a popping frog topwater bait to catch this nice El Capitan bass. The lake might be overlooked by anglers with the water level dropping, but this fishery northeast of San Diego remains productive. (BILL SCHAEFER)
filled out with plenty of line. Line drag on the edge of the spool is what will slow down the travel of the bait through the air, and I use the new Daiwa Ballistic spinning reel on a Tatula 7-foot, 2-inch spinning rod. I load the reel right out to the edge of the spool with Maxima 8-pound Ultragreen. This light line is OK even if you hook a big fish, since you are out in the middle of the lake and the bass has nowhere to go but up to the boat.
Whether it’s the morning topwater bite on a frog or popper or chasing the breaking fish in the middle of the lake, El Capitan can be a lot of fun right now. And if the bass go down, you can usually find them on outside points, so just switch to drop shot or split-shot-rigged plastics to get going again. Put shad-type baits on these rigs, since that is what they were keying on earlier. With the pressure off, El Cap is a good lake to have on your list. CS
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68 California Sportsman AUGUST 2017 | calsportsmanmag.com
SOCAL
CALICOS
IN THE KELP
BASS ARE CHASING BAITFISH OFF THE SOCAL COAST By Capt. Bill Schaefer
S
outhern California’s kelp beds have taken a hit and the kelp is not as visible as it usually is. When you travel out to a spot such as the La Jolla kelp beds, almost nothing is visible. Well, don’t get too discouraged; it’s still there, but you have to look for it a little. The kelp is there; it just doesn’t quite reach the surface. A good fish-finding unit will help. My HDS 12 from Lowrance has the capability to see even the smallest stringers. That is where you want to fish. The kelp this time of year is loaded with bass, and the bonus is you won’t end up hooking the kelp as much. There is a column of water above the kelp that you can swim your swimbait through without incident, for the most part. The bass will charge out of the kelp below to attack any bait or lure that passes by. You will also still see a lot of breaking bass coming up all the way to the surface to attack some larger balls of bait. Right now, there are schools of mackerel and large schools of anchovy and sardine along most of the coast getting the bass moving. For the most part, swimbaits are the way to go. There are jigheads with an open hook, jigheads with a weed guard or weedless baits, and all will do the trick. Swimbaits come in a variety of brands and colors. Big Hammer, Reebs Lures, Western Plastics, Big Pancho, MC Swimbaits and LK Lures are some of the top brands. You will need a variety of bait
brands in your tackle box. All these companies feel their lures’ tails put out the best vibrations and attract the fish best. This is true and at times you will need different vibrations to attract the bite. Fishing with medium saltwater or heavy freshwater tackle is the
way to go out here, and your tackle will matter as you may get incidental catches of yellowtail and white sea bass. I like a Daiwa Proteus rod with a Coastal 200 TWS reel loaded with 50-pound Maxima braided line. This set-up allows me to pull the fish right out of the kelp when they dive into it, as they always do. The braid will saw right through it as well. Tidal movement and current play a part in all this as well. Check your tide calendar, as current stirs up the entire food chain and starts the calicos feeding. If you can see any stringers of kelp in the water, the optimum situation is for them to be laying down and in, but any current should stir up some good fishing. CS
Author Bill Schaefer caught a nice La Jolla kelp bed calico on a swimbait. Fish are on the prowl for schools of baitfish near the surface. (BILL SCHAEFER)
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70 California Sportsman AUGUST 2017 | calsportsmanmag.com
NORCAL
FROM FIELD ...
LEAVE NO DOUBT: SCOUT NOW AS DEER SEASON LOOMS, GET OUT AND FIND BUCKS
By Scott Haugen
A
ugust is one of my favorite times to scout for deer. Whether I’ll be hunting them in the archery season or later in the rifle season, now is a great time to be afield. In August, deer antlers are still in velvet, and velvet-covered antlers are one of the fastest-growing tissues on the planet. At this stage in development, antlers are blood-engorged and very sensitive to the touch, so bucks are protective of them. Antlers are a status symbol for deer and are used for fighting and to ward off predators, so they take care not to damage them. As a result of being in velvet, bucks can often be spotted in the open since they don’t want to damage their antlers in the brush. Scouting during the hot months isn’t easy, but whether you’ll be hunting mule deer or blacktails, the time and effort will pay off.
STAY OUT ALL DAY The first few hours of daylight and the last hours of evening are what most consider prime times to head into the field and scout for bucks. This is when bucks are feeding or moving to and from feeding and bedding areas. Look for bucks targeting food sources, which are most abundant this time of year in your respective hunting area. In arid habitats, watch for bucks going to water. This may be in the
Once a mature blacktail sheds its velvet, there’s a very small window before its movements become largely nocturnal. This is why scouting in early August is essential in order to locate bucks in the open. (SCOTT HAUGEN)
form of water holes or creeks, even rivers, depending on the terrain. Columbia blacktails in the Coast Range and valleys get much of their water from the leafy plants they eat, but deer in dryer regions of the state will regularly seek watering holes. Don’t limit your summer scouting
missions to early and late in the day. One of my favorite times to scout in summer is in the middle of the hottest days. Look for bucks bedding in the middle of logged units, meadows, on the edges of timber lines and burns, amid short brush in agricultural lands and undercut banks, rock
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NORCAL
... TO FIRE
GET A SALTY ATTITUDE WITH VENISON By Tiffany Haugen
M
ove over wood planks: There’s a new tool for your grill. Mined high up in Asia’s Himalayas, salt blocks – or plates – can be heated to high temperatures and cooked upon. Meat, fish and vegetables are seasoned to perfection when seared on a salt block. There are a variety of heat sources a salt block can be used on, but they are most commonly placed over a gas stove or grill. Salt blocks should be kept dry and heated slowly to avoid cracking. Once the salt block has reached 500 degrees, the cooking begins. A salt block not only sears the food but also keeps it moist during the cooking process. Like plank cooking, a salt block also keeps the mess off of the grill and keeps food warm until serving time. Always use heat-resistant gloves to move a hot salt block and put something between the salt block and the table when serving. Cleaning the salt block is easy: Simply
cool the block, get it damp with water and gently scrub with a metal scraper edge to remove food particles. For a deeper clean, the block can be rinsed off with warm water, but never immerse in water as the block will begin to dissolve. Air dry block before storing. Here’s a simple recipe for salt blockcooked venison backstrap. 1 pound venison backstrap or tenderloin ¼ teaspoon black pepper ¼ teaspoon granulated onion and/or garlic Cut venison into ½-inch slices and spread in a single layer on a plate. Sprinkle with seasonings on both sides (don’t salt the meat). Let sit at room temperature while the salt block is slowly warming. Place salt block on a grill or gas stove. Gradually heat the salt block, increasing the temperature from low to medium-low to medium to medium-high in 10- to 15-minute intervals until the block reaches 500 degrees. If you don’t have an
72 California Sportsman AUGUST 2017 | calsportsmanmag.com
An alternative to wood planks, salt blocks sear food but keep meat and vegetables moist while cooking on grills and gas stoves. (TIFFANY HAUGEN) infrared thermometer, heat the block until a sprinkle of water sizzles on the surface. Place steaks on salt block and cook one to two minutes per side. Serve from the block or place on a platter and let steaks rest a few minutes before serving. Editor’s note: For signed copies of Tiffany’s popular book, Cooking Big Game, send a check for $20 (free S&H), to Haugen Enterprises, P.O. Box 275, Walterville, OR 97489. This and other cookbooks can also be ordered at tiffanyhaugen.com. To watch a video on cooking venison on a salt block, visit outdoorsnow.com/viewepisode.html?videoid=video100243
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outcroppings, coulees, even grassy fields. The edges of brush-lined creeks and rivers are also excellent spots for bucks in velvet to bed. When a buck curls up and lays down, his body is not very big, meaning it doesn’t take much shade to cover him. As the sun shifts during the heat of the day, however, these bucks will often get up, move a couple feet and bed back down in a shady spot. They’ll do this multiple times during the day to keep their bodies cool. Oftentimes, for deer bedded in tall grass that obscures their antlers, midday is a good time to catch them. But be wary that a big buck may only show himself for a few seconds before lying back down. With the use of quality binoculars and a spotting scope, you can learn a lot about the number and quality of bucks in your hunting area by getting out and scouting this time of year.
SET TRAIL CAMERAS If a busy summer schedule keeps you from doing the scouting you want, consider trail cameras. Summer is the best time to pattern mule deer and blacktails, for once they shed their velvet, most go nocturnal and hide in thick brush within a few days, meaning it’s tougher to physically get out and locate bucks. Because deer can be patterned moving along trails and coming to water, these sites are excellent places to situate trail cameras. Food sources and natural mineral licks are also great places in which to hang trail cameras. The more cameras you can put out the better, and your pocketbook and timeline will determine how active you can become in this form of scouting. Be sure to hide the cameras out of sight from people and lock them to the tree. Unfortunately, many hunters have cameras stolen each year, so be cautious.
INVESTMENT PAYS OFF When embarking upon your summer scouting mission, take into consideration exactly when you’ll be
On summer scouting missions, fitting a camera (top) or cell phone to your spotting scope allows you to get up close and study images of animals. The author first laid eyes on this buck (bottom) in the summer when it was in velvet, then saw him again in October and November, when the season was open. Repeated scouting paid off with a unique, double-drop tine buck. (SCOTT HAUGEN)
hunting the deer you’re looking for. Keep in mind that though there may be a bachelor herd of bucks now, chances are that if you’re looking for the biggest buck in the group come October, he’ll likely be alone in a secluded spot. At the same time, if scouting the high country for trophy bucks,
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know that the conditions can push them from the mountains before the hunt begins. For instance, bench-leg blacktails high in the Cascades might start moving to lower elevations by early October as their food sources dry up. Then again, with this excessive rainfall we had in winter and spring, food sources may retain more
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nutrients for longer. Chances are many of the bucks you find now will be in the same general area through September and into mid-October. At lower elevations within their respective areas, all blacktails and mule deer are largely homebodies. During one summer scouting mission for mule deer, I found a good buck in velvet, and I later tried for him during the early archery season but couldn’t close the deal. My wife then had a November rifle tag for the same area, and we went in and scored on that same muley that wasn’t 200 yards from where I initially spotted him in August. I’ve had the same success throughout many parts of the West; had it not been for summer scouting efforts in this region, I’d have had no idea the big bucks I ended up taking were in the area. One dandy muley, a double drop-tine buck, was first spotted in the summer while in velvet. I saw him again during an October antelope hunt and then nailed the buck in mid-November. Each sighting and where I ended up taking him were all within a 500yard radius. Some of my better Columbia blacktails came as a result of catching the bucks on trail cameras or actually seeing them on summer scouting sessions. My best California blacktail was first seen in early August, and he ended up scoring 152 inches. Though it’s intensely hot, August is a great time to get out and see what bucks are in the area you’ll be hunting. Study the deer, their behavior and where they live, and come hunting season, your odds of success will greatly increase. CS Editor’s note: Signed copies of Scott Haugen’s popular book, Trophy Blacktails: The Science of The Hunt, can be ordered at scotthaugen.com, or send a check for $20 (Free S&H) to Haugen Enterprises, P.O. Box 275, Walterville, OR 97489. This book captures year-round blacktail behavior like no other. 76 California Sportsman AUGUST 2017 | calsportsmanmag.com
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BEAT HEAT FOR GREAT MEAT
HUNTING THE CLOCK’S TICKING ON GETTING DOWNED GAME COOL – ARE YOU PREPARED? By Tim E. Hovey
I
n my opinion, the ability to properly care for wild game in the field is one of the most important tools a successful hunter needs in his toolbox. If you’re serious about hunting and putting quality meat in the freezer, you need to know how to care for the animal once you have it on the ground. While there are several different ways to field-dress wild game, the suggested steps to preserve and care for the meat are essentially the same. Regardless of your hunting skill level, any hunter should expect to be successful in the field when they head out and should plan accordingly. There’s really nothing specialized about the gear required to break down an animal into manageable parts. In fact, most of the battle is making sure you have it when you need it.
BE PREPARED
Author Tim Hovey takes great care dressing his wild game, ensuring that his field-to-table fare is of the highest quality. (TIM E. HOVEY)
It doesn’t matter if I’m headed out for big game, small game or upland birds, I make sure that all my meat-processing gear is packed in the same tote and loaded in the truck before any trip. I carry plastic bags in several sizes, disposable gloves, paper towels, paracord, rope, a tarp, meat bags, an axe, garbage bags, Havalon knives, spare blades, a cutting board, several headlamps, several pens, a roll of tape, zip ties, large and small meat carrying packs, and several bottles of water. At the hunting grounds, I can determine what I will need for the day and pack it into one of the carrying packs and then head out to start hunting. I would rather be overly prepared in the field, especially when time is a factor. As soon as the animal hits the ground, the clock starts. Cooling the meat quickly to avoid spoilage is your primary concern. With big game, calsportsmanmag.com | AUGUST 2017 California Sportsman
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Hovey and his daughter Alyssa get to work on field-dressing a wild pig. (TIM E. HOVEY)
I’ll look to drag the animal into any nearby shade if possible to keep from having to work in direct sunlight and to keep the meat a few degrees cooler. If that’s not an option, be prepared to start cutting sooner than later. Once the animal is where I’ll be processing it, I lay out a clean tarp in the shade as well. I have two goals when the knives come out: remove the meat quickly to cool it down; and keep the meat clean. Having a place to lay the meat out without worrying about dirt and leaves sticking to it will make the final processing a lot easier.
Having a quality cooler that will, of course, keep your meat cool is a critical component of a successful harvest. (TIM E. HOVEY)
GETTING STARTED Over the last decade or so, I have been processing all my big game using what is known as the gutless method. Rather than opening up the gut cavity and removing all the insides, we 80 California Sportsman AUGUST 2017 | calsportsmanmag.com
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HUNTING start by skinning all four legs and removing them at the hip and shoulder joint. The skin is used as a working surface as we fold it down around the animal. We then remove the backstraps and neck meat without ever exposing the meat to the entrails. We find this method cleaner and faster. Before I start cutting, I make sure the animal is cleaned of any debris. I remove leaves and dirt and wipe away excessive blood with paper towels. Taking this extra step will keep the meat cleaner. I also make sure that I make my cuts with the growth of the hair. This minimizes hair cutting and will keep it from sticking to the meat. The backstraps are two long cuts of meat that sit on each side of the spine. They are considered the choice cuts, and once the hide is off they can be removed by cutting along the backbone from the neck to the rump. When removing the front and back legs, remove the skin and spread the legs open as far as they’ll go. Make a cut in the armpit (for the front legs) and the groin (for the back legs) until they are free of the animal.
PARTING SHOTS If you’re familiar with animal anatomy, parting out an animal can be accomplished with little more than a sharp knife. I really don’t like bone fragments in with the meat, so I’ll avoid hacking or sawing through bone if I can. The super-sharp processing knives from Havalon are all I ever use. They come with replaceable surgical blades and can be used for skinning, parting out and deboning meat. If you’re unfamiliar with exactly how to part out an animal, go with someone who has done it before and can show you the specifics. When training my daughters, I had them watch me do half of the animal and then I had them do the other half as I watched and gave instructions. As the legs or hams are removed, I place them on the tarp to cool. Since most tarps are not breathable, it’s im82 California Sportsman AUGUST 2017 | calsportsmanmag.com
At least when shade’s available, it’s better to let meat hang than to immediately put it in a game bag and stuff it in a backpack. (TIM E. HOVEY)
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Being prepared, having the right equipment and knowing how to use it, and working quickly and efficiently on wild game killed in hot conditions to keep it as clean as possible and get it into a dependable cooling system asap will lead to better steaks, burgers and sausages on the grill. (TIM E. HOVEY)
portant to turn the meat during the field-dressing process. I’ll usually turn over each piece and cool both sides when I add another piece to the tarp. It takes me about 30 to 45 minutes to part out an animal. This means that some pieces will have been cooling longer than others. It doesn’t matter if we’re close to the truck or we have a long hike ahead of us, I will continue to let the meat cool. At times, weather permitting I’ll even hang the meat in meat bags to assist in the cooling process. A mistake I see a lot of hunters make is putting meat in meat bags as soon as they cut it off the animal and then loading them right into their packs. The meat should be cool or cold to the touch before you load up
for the hike out. During the entire field-dressing process, you should do your best to keep the meat clean and free of dirt and debris. Clean tarps, meat bags and taking your time will all serve you well when processing the meat later on.
COOLERS Care should also be taken when you transport the meat from the field to your home or processor. A high-quality cooler that’s designed to keep ice for several days is a must-have item. The market is flooded with high-end coolers that are heavily insulated and designed to stay colder longer. They’re pricey but built far better than your weekend Igloo and, in my
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opinion, well worth it. A cooler is an insulated box. This means even the expensive coolers will heat up if you just leave them empty in the back of your truck while you’re out hunting. Placing cooled meat in a heated cooler and then adding ice will accelerate meat spoilage. Take the time to place ice in your cooler before you head out. I have several gallon jugs I keep in the freezer specifically for cold-charging my hunting coolers. The night before a hunt I’ll place the ice blocks in the cooler and shut the airtight lid. This keeps the inside cold and ready for anything I’ll add from the field the next day.
PROCESSING I process all my field meat myself.
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WATERFOWL Over the years I have acquired all the necessary meat-processing equipment; I seriously enjoy this part of the process. I’ll move the meat-filled cooler into the kitchen and keep everything cold as I work. The kitchen is where I carefully clean the meat and prepare it for vacuum-sealing. Careful field-dressing and proper handling in the field will benefit you in the kitchen. If I encounter dirt or debris on the meat, I’ll use a damp paper towel to remove it. I don’t rinse big game meat with water, as I prefer to keep the meat as dry as possible prior to packing. Understanding how my family utilizes our protein, I’ll usually cut the backstraps into single steaks and vacuum-pack these two at a time. I’ll cut out two slow-cooker roasts and package those separately. The rest of the meat will be ground up and packaged in 2-pound portions. We use the ground meat for tacos, chili, spaghetti and meatballs, sausage and hamburger patties. I’ve processed antelope, wild pig and deer in this manner, and for us it’s the best way to package our wild game meat. Nothing goes to waste and we use every piece of meat between the hooves and the antlers. It doesn’t matter what type of wild game I’m processing, I vacuum-pack all of it. It preserves the meat longer, and if you’re processing and packaging your own wild game, it really is the only way to go. They’re easy to use and inexpensive.
MORE THAN THE HUNT For me, the activity of hunting doesn’t end in the field. My enjoyment extends into the kitchen, and the day isn’t over until the last piece of meat is cut up, packaged and placed in the freezer. What may seem like a lot of work for some is a true labor of love for me. I like knowing where our meat comes from and when dinner is served, I’m very proud to know that I’ve been involved in every step of the process from the field to the plate. CS
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HUNTING
ROLE CALL FOR ’FOWL PLAY EVENT
STATE DUCK CALLING CONTEST RETURNS TO COLUSA
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t’s become an annual late-summer event and a warm-up to the fall waterfowl season in the duck-crazy Sacramento Valley. The callers are coming back to Colusa. The California Regional and State Duck Calling Contest is set for the weekend of Aug. 26 and 27 at Veteran’s Memorial Park. Winners of both regional and state competitions will advance to November’s Duck Calling World Championships in Stuttgart, Arkansas. “We are excited to show our best in hosting both the regional and state contests this year,” says Pat Kittle, general manager of Colusa’s Kittle’s Outdoor Sports, which has been given the approval to serve as the official hosts for both events. “The regional is a special contest in that it allows callers from anywhere to compete for a qualifying win to go to Stuttgart. The California State is open only to California residents.” Tim Hudson is the defending champion in the latter contest. “Intertwined in the middle of the
Tim Hudson (left) shows off his championship swag for winning the 2016 California State Duck Calling contest, which also hands out awards in two-man and junior events. (SUE GRAUE PHOTOGRAPHY)
two big contests that qualify for the Worlds are several other calling contests that open up the stage for some friendly competition for titles such as ‘Live Duck,’ two-man teams, specklebelly goose, and youth contests,” a press release states. Sponsors for this year include JJ Lares Calls, Fish Dog Outdoors, Avery Outdoors, Banded Nation, Jack Daniels, Colusa Casino, River Valley
Lodge, Hevi-Shot, Sitka Gear, Avian X decoys, and the Colusa Landing. “Kittle’s has really stepped up the last few years to provide every duck hunter with the best opportunity to purchase shotgun shells, decoys and waterfowl gear at the absolutely lowest pricing you will find anywhere,” says Steve Sherbondy, who is coordinating this year’s festivities. CS
CALENDAR OF EVENTS Saturday, Aug. 26 9 a.m.: Opening 10 a.m.: Butte Sink regional duck calling contest/world championship qualifier. Entry fee: $50 Noon: Seminar (TBD) 1 p.m.: Junior and intermediate duck calling contest. Entry fee: Free 2 p.m.: Junior and intermediate speck calling contest. Entry fee: Free 3 p.m.: California State Live Duck Calling Contest (single-person entry). Entry fee: $30 Sunday, Aug. 27 10 a.m.: California State duck calling championship/world championship qualifier. Entry fee: $50 Noon: Seminar (TBD) 1 p.m.: California state speck calling contest. Entry fee: $30 2:30 p.m.: California state two-man meat calling contest (two-team limit). Entry fee: $40 per team. calsportsmanmag.com | AUGUST 2017 California Sportsman
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HUNTING
Great Crate Training By Scott Haugen
C
rate training is one of the first steps in teaching a pup about discipline. It starts as soon as you bring the pup home, at seven or eight weeks of age. The key to successfully crate training a pup is consistency, patience and a positive attitude. Since the pup is away from its littermates for the first time, it’s going to take some adjustment. A crate is a new environment for your pup, and you want to make it a place of comfort for them. If picking up your pup from the breeder, take a towel or soft blanket to rub on its littermates. This will allow your pup to transition into its new home while having the familiarity of its littermates’ smells for comfort.
BEFORE BRINGING PUP home, decide if it’s going to sleep inside the house or outside. If sleeping inside the house, consider having three crates in place. Have a crate for outside the house, inside the house nearest the door at which you’ll be potty training it, and in the bedroom, if the pup is going to sleep there. If the pup will sleep inside with you, put a crate in the bedroom at eye level, where the pup can see you throughout the night. This will allow you to comfort it by poking your fingers through the wire door; this will also help in potty training communication. Having a crate by the door you’ll be potty training at is ideal, for the pup can take a nap there and the second it awakes, be let out to potty. It’s a win-win situation. When outside with the pup, you don’t want it wandering out of sight, and having
A crate should be a place of comfort that your pup wants to go to. This 3-month-old enters, sleeps and leaves his crates independently. (SCOTT HAUGEN)
a crate to quickly place the pup in helps in maintaining control. If the pup will eventually sleep outside as it grows, be sure to have a kennel or run with a proper doghouse in place. Having a crate to put it in now, as a pup, helps in this transition.
NOW’S ALSO TIME to start crate train-
car and road noise, have someone ride with it in the back seat, where they can hold and comfort it. These are all new experiences for the pup, so be patient and use common sense; this is a time to teach them, not scold them. Never leave a pup in an enclosed car in warm or extremely cold weather.
ing your pup in a car. When driving anywhere, even if it’s a quick run to the post office or corner market, put the pup in a crate and take it with you. Eventually, you’ll be taking the dog hunting on extended road trips, so now is the time to introduce it to the crate and the noises that come with road travel. If the pup is scared, put the crate in the passenger seat with the door facing you, so it can see you. Here, it’s easier to comfort the dog. If the dog is really scared of the
CRATES SHOULD ALWAYS be associated as a happy place by your pup. Never reprimand them and toss them in a crate. If they are yapping uncontrollably in a crate, avoid hollering at them and hitting the crate. Instead, try to calm them with your voice, reassuring them all is OK. For the first week or so, they may only be in the crate for a few minutes, several times a day. Most pups will calm down and get used to this new place within a few days. Find a rugged, safe chew toy the pup can keep busy with, as
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HUNTING this will help in making crating a positive experience. The goal is to get the pup entering and exiting the crate while under control. You want the pup walking into the crate, on command, and this can take up to a few months or more. Then again, some pups pick it up in a matter of days. When letting the pup out of the crate, avoid talking to it in a high voice and getting it all excited. You want the pup to calmly exit the crate, slowly and under control. When opening the crate door, talk calmly to the pup, put a hand in front of its nose and as it emerges, rub its ears, neck, back and rump. This will keep the dog calm and wanting to be touched, rather than letting it shoot out of the crate to run off and play. Again, it’s all about restraint and discipline. When putting the crate in elevated places, like a car or back of a
truck, make sure the pup is under control when you open the door. If the pup bolts out of the crate, uncontrollably, serious injury can occur. It can happen quickly, so always practice caution. Crates should be a place of sanctuary and security for your pup. We use crates during family meal times and when we have a house full of guests.
As a pup gets older, it will enter and exit the crate on its own. The pup will learn a crate is the best place for it to escape and rest, and this is a learned behavior that should be taught at a young age. CS Editor’s note: To watch some dog training tips, check out Scott Haugen’s series of short videos on his website at scotthaugen.com.
Being separated from their litter mates can be stressful on a pup, which is why socializing and crate training them should start the day they are brought home. (SCOTT HAUGEN)
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