California Sportsman Mag - September 2022 by Media Index Publishing Group

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6 California Sportsman SEPTEMBER 2022 | calsportsmanmag.com PUBLISHER James R. Baker GENERAL MANAGER John Rusnak EXECUTIVE EDITOR Andy Walgamott EDITOR Chris Cocoles CONTRIBUTORS Scott Haugen, Tiffany Haugen, Cal Kellogg, Brian Lynn, Bill Schaefer SALES MANAGER Paul Yarnold ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Hanna Gagley, Mamie Griffin, Riland Risden, Mike Smith DESIGNER Lesley-Anne Slisko-Cooper PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Kelly Baker DIGITAL STRATEGIST Jon Hines DIGITAL ASSISTANT Jon Ekse Sportsman California Your LOCAL Hunting & FishingResource ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Katie Aumann INFORMATION SERVICES MANAGER Lois Sanborn ADVERTISING INQUIRIES ads@calsportsmanmag.com CORRESPONDENCE Email Facebook.com/californiasportsmanmagazineTwitterccocoles@media-inc.com@CalSportsMan ON THE COVER As water temperatures start to drop in the fall, king salmon fishing should pick up in Central Valley rivers such as the Sacramento, Feather and American. This August Chinook bit a backtrolled Flatfish covered in Pautzke Fire Gel. (MIKE BOGUE GUIDE SERVICE) MEDIA INC PUBLISHING GROUP 941 Powell Ave SW, Suite 120 Renton, WA 98057 (800) 332-1736 • Fax (206) 382-9437www.mediaindexpublishing.commedia@media-inc.comVolume14•Issue11 ZER Pistol Bullets and AmmunitionPistol Bullets and Ammunition Zero Bullet Company, Inc. P.O. Box 1188 Cullman, AL 35056 Tel: 256-739-1606 Fax: 256-739-4683 Toll Free: www.zerobullets.com800-545-9376

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CONTENTS

Septembber

off water INSALMONTHECITY 11 The Editor’s Note 13 The Adventures of Todd Kline 15 Photo contest winners 17 Outdoor calendar 53 September bandtail pigeon hunt a great tuneup for bird dogs 73 Bucks Lake trout, kokanee

NOW TACKLING BIG GAME Jared Allen, who grew up on a Bay Area horse farm, was one of the most feared defensive ends in pro football during a 12-year career that concluded in 2015. Now, besides owning a restaurant, running his own charitable organization that helps veterans buy homes and spending time with his family at their Lake Tahoe retreat, Allen is a diehard sportsman. We caught up with this former All-Pro pass rusher as the NFL season opens up this month. TAKE A STAND IN THE TREES Western big game hunters often overlook using treestands when trying to fill that fall tag. Not Scott Haugen. He is clearly protreestand, utilizing the elevated perches for targeting deer and other species. He offers up a compelling argument for using these tools more common to hunters of the Midwest and South. And stick around for Tiffany Haugen’s mixed game kebab recipe! A PADDY PARTY

STARTED

ALSO

Our Southland sultan of the salt, Capt. Bill Schaefer, heads back out to the kelp paddies off San Diego, which will be full of feisty yellowtail, dorado and tuna throughout the fall. Schaefer shares a few of his favorite tips for filling your cooler with these hard-fighting and good-eating fish.

59 GET

California Sportsman is published monthly by Media Index Publishing Group, 941 Powell Ave SW, Suite 120, Renton, WA 98057. Annual subscriptions are $29.95 (12 issues). Send check or money order to Media Index Publishing Group, or call (206) 382-9220 with VISA or M/C. 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 © 2022 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.

ISSUE

VOLUME 14 • ISSUE

September’s promise of cooler weather and water temperatures means fall king salmon are headed up the Sacramento River and its tributaries. You can bet Cal Kellogg will head over to the Delta and the waters around downtown Sacramento, which can feature some outstanding Chinook ﬁshing. Veteran angler Kellogg details how he gets it done. ’s

FEATURES IN THIS

(CAL KELLOGG)

8 California Sportsman SEPTEMBER 2022 | calsportsmanmag.com 65

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As a regular Tahoe visitor, it’s easy to understand why anyone would love to return regularly. Certainly Allen, who stays busy in retirement owning a restaurant and running a charity to help military veterans buy their own homes, is at home in the high Sierra when he goes back.

Like the editor, Bay Area native and former NFL star Jared Allen has a connection to the Lake Tahoe area. Now retired, he and his family spend plenty of time there to soak in the views and the fun. (JARED ALLEN)

calsportsmanmag.com | SEPTEMBER 2022 California Sportsman 11

Allen was near the end of his great career, but he still could have helped the defending-champion Seahawks get back to the Super Bowl in 2014 (they made it anyway!), but alas, he signed for more money with the Chicago Bears. Fast forward to 2022 and I was chatting with Allen for the proﬁle running this month (page 18). You can guess what my ﬁrst comment was to the 40-year-old likely future Pro Football Hall of Famer … “I really wished you would have signed with the Seahawks.” “It was close,” Allen teased. “I tell people all the time thatprobably my biggest regret of my career was not signing with Seattle and not taking the money and going to Chicago.”Itturnsout that regret is not the only common ground we shared. Both Allen and I grew up in the Bay Area and made several trips up I-80 to Lake Tahoe. Since I’ve moved away from the Bay Area and now have experienced the international travel bug, my visits to Tahoe are sporadic these days, but Allen, his wife and two daughters own a home at South Shore, so Jared can rekindle childhood memories and make new ones with the family.

“It’s a place where you go out and spend all day on the water doing stuff. You don’t even realize what you’re doing; it’s just hop on the boat in the morning and go fishing, come back to the dock and my daughters will fish for bluegills there. Then we’ll go water skiing; it’s an absolute blast.” I concur. -Chris Cocoles

“We love it. I grew up skiing there and would go in both the summers and winters. Tahoe summers are amazing. We get the mountain bikes out. And the fishing is fun. We started setting crawdad traps in the summer. It’s been a fun deal to go out there and be on the lake,” Allen told me. I too carry plenty of nostalgia about crawdad fishing on the lake as a“We’llkid. go out by Emerald Bay and set out traps overnight or sometimes camp on the boat and drop them. But I found out the hard way – and I hate to say this – that crawdads still need air. We caught some in the morning – we probably had about 25 – and I filled up the cooler with water without thinking when I shut the top, and they all ended up dead. But we used them for bait for the next day’s crawdad pots.”

THE EDITOR’SNOTE ay back in the B.C. (Before Covid) days, when many of us still worked in the oﬃce, my then coworker Christina called to my attention a news blurb she saw online. “The (Seattle) Seahawks are expected to sign Jared Allen,” she said about the veteran All-Pro defensive end who was linked to our favorite football team and a player I admired for his tenacity.

12 California Sportsman SEPTEMBER 2022 | calsportsmanmag.com EUGENE, OR Maxxum Marine (541) 686-3572 1700 State Hwy 99 lloyd@maxxummarine.comNwww.maxxummarine.com

The frog bite was also fun in August. Here is one of the better bass of the month, which was caught on a SPRO Bronzeye Frog. (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 on 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

Earlier this summer I got the call that I would be one of the announcers for the U.S. Open of Surﬁng in Huntington Beach. It was a beautiful morning on the Orange County coast. (TODD KLINE)

The water at times can get really clear on Lower Otay Reservoir in San Diego. When this happens, sometimes you have to ﬁnesse them. (TODD KLINE)

calsportsmanmag.com | SEPTEMBER 2022 California Sportsman 13calsportsmanmag.com | SEPTEMBER 2022 California Sportsman Adventures

Russ Hickman is our monthly Coast Hunting Photo Contest winner, thanks to this pic of son Jordan and his 2021 northcentral Washington buck. It wins him a knife and light from Coast!

Jeﬀ Hernandez is the winner of our monthly Coast Fishing Photo Contest, thanks to this shot of wife Leslie and her central Oregon rainbow, caught this summer oﬀ a standup paddleboard. It wins him a knife and light from Coast!

calsportsmanmag.com | SEPTEMBER 2022 California Sportsman 15 PHOTO CONTEST WINNERS! For your shot at winning a Coast knife and light, send your photos and pertinent (who, what, when, where) details to ccocoles@media-inc.com or California Sportsman, 941 Powell Ave SW, Suite 120, Renton, WA 98057. By sending us photos, you aﬃrm you have the right to distribute them for our print or Internet publications.

16 California Sportsman SEPTEMBER 2022 | calsportsmanmag.com

17-25

3-29

1OCTOBER

CALENDAR

Trinity

1-15

Note: With Covid-19 restrictions uncertain, always conﬁrm events before Generalattending.bearseason opens concurrently with general deer season in the A, B, C, D, X8, X9A, X9B, X10 and X12 deer hunting zones and extends through December 25, 2022. For a list of upcoming bass tournaments, go to nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FishingContests/default.aspx.

1SEPTEMBERRiver fall-run king salmon fishing season opens First dove hunting season Statewide Free Fishing Day (no general fishing license required); wildlife.ca.gov/licensing/fishing/free-fishing-days East Park Reservoir antlerless and bull tule elk hunting season Marble Mountain anterless and bull Roosevelt elk hunting season Various Grizzly Island tule elk hunting seasons Zone Q1 mountain quail hunting season opens 10 Sooty (blue) and ruffed grouse hunting season opens 10 Shaver Lake Team Kokanee Derby; kokaneepower.org 10-18 White-tailed ptarmigan hunting season Northeastern California apprentice either-sex Rocky Mountain elk hunting season Stillwater Classic catch-and-release fly fishing tournament, Crowley Lake Fish Camp; (760) 935-4301, crowleylakefishcamp.com Most Zones B and C and D-6 and D-7 deer hunting seasons open 17 Zone X-9A deer hunting season opens North Zone band-tailed pigeon hunting season 24 Zones D-3, D-4, D-5, D-8, D-9 and D-10 deer hunting seasons open 24 Zone X-8 deer hunting season opens 24 Zone Q2 all-quail hunting season opens Several elk hunting opportunities open in September in different parts of California. (CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE)

7-18

8-30

calsportsmanmag.com | SEPTEMBER 2022 California Sportsman 17

14-25

OUTDOOR

Northeast Zone waterfowl season opens 1 Deer season opens in most X Zones 1 Klamath Basin geese season opens 1 Deer season opens in Zone D-19 1 Archery deer season opens in Zone D-12 1-2 Early quail season for junior hunting license holders in Mojave National Preserve 8 Bridgeport Fall Trout Tournament, Bridgeport Reservoir and West Walker River; bridgeportﬁsh.com 8 Archery-only pheasant season opens 8 Apprentice tule elk hunt seasons open for Cache Creek Period I bull and La Panza Period 1 bull and antlerless 8 NorCal Trout Challenge, Pardee Lake; anglerspress.com 15 Quail season opens in Zones 1 and 3 (all quail) 15 Statewide chukar season opens 15 Statewide snipe season opens 15 Deer season opens in Zone X-9C 22 Deer season opens in Zone D-16 22 Balance of State Zone duck and geese seasons open 22 San Joaquin Valley and Southern California Zones duck and geese seasons open 22 Most falconry waterfowl seasons open 23 Colorado River Zone duck and geese seasons open 28-30 Morrison’s Bonus Derby Weekend, Convict Lake; (800) 992-2260, convictlake.com/activities/ﬁshing-convict-lake

NOW RETIRED FROM THE NFL, BAY AREA NATIVE JARED ALLEN IS LIVING THE OUTDOORSMAN’S GOOD LIFE

JARED ALLEN’S NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE CAREER BY THE NUMBERS 187 total games played 136 career sacks FOR A GUY WHO is great at storytelling –be it a football, childhood or hunting memory – don’t get Jared Allen started when asking for his favorite ﬁshing tales. There just isn’t much to share.“Every single one of them,” he quipped when asked about the number of unpleasant memories he’s

18 California Sportsman SEPTEMBER 2022 | calsportsmanmag.com

By Chris Cocoles J ared Allen, who made quite the impression on the football field chasing down quarterbacks, just can’t seem to sit still living the good life in Bayretirement.Areanative Allen, who has a legitimate chance to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame after a long career as a dominating defensive end, is as active as ever these days. He’s dabbled in curling, forming a team with fellow ex-football players who tried to qualify for the Winter Olympics in the sport. He, his wife and their daughters own a restaurant in Tempe, Arizona (he also wrote a wild-game-themed cookbook during his playing days). He once violently sacked Johnny Knoxville during a stunt as part of Knoxville’s and buddies’ Jackass film franchise. He loves horses and riding enough that when he announced his retirement in 2016 via Instagram, shortly after he and the Carolina Panthers – he also played for Kansas City, Minnesota and Chicago – came up short in Super Bowl 50, he literally rode off into the sunset on his mount. And he’s tirelessly dedicated himself to helping wounded veterans purchase accessible homes after returning from combat.“You realize how much we take for granted and how much we don’t understand what’s going on, and just the sacrifices our men and women make while we sit back here and have our opinions,” says Allen, who turned 40 this past April. And one of Allen’s biggest postfootball passions? He’s a dedicated sportsman whose hunting skills are outstanding. (Fishing? We’ll get to those mishaps.) But from the time he grew up on a Morgan Hill horse ranch, through a stellar football career as one of his era’s most feared pass rushers and now a restaurateur, philanthropist and living the good life hunting, fishing – at least when he’s lucky enough to catch something – and being a husband and father, Allen has rarely slowed down along the“Iway.can’t complain about a thing; my career was great; life was great,” he says. “I got to do it my way.”

FROM QUARTERBACKSSACKING TO BIGSTALKINGGAME

Bay Area native Jared Allen has always had a love for the outdoors, and after a Hall of Fame-worthy career in the National Football League as a star defensive end, these days in retirement he’s a restaurateur, philanthropist and diehard hunter. (JARED ALLEN)

calsportsmanmag.com | SEPTEMBER 2022 California Sportsman 19

HUNTING

“We finally had to charter a boat last year to go out and catch fish,” says Allen, who sure enough posted an Instagram photo of himself and a buddy holding up a bunch of fish. “We went out with Tahoe Sportfishing and we nailed it and limited out on kokanee and Macks. It was a great day. We had fish for days. Phenomenal. That water is so fresh. Tahoe is just amazing.” But that was after a series of misadventures on the big Sierra lake. “I’d go out on my kayak, I’d set up everything and be fishing with people and (Amy) would say, ‘Are you ever going to catch dinner for us?’ I’d say, ‘Hey; it’s just not in my cards to be an avidHefisherman.’”alsotalked about fishing with his best buddies from college – Allen played football at Idaho State, a small Football Championship Series school (formerly known as Division I-AA). They would often go to the Salmon River during getaways from the university’s campus in southeast Idaho. You can probably guess how it went down. “I said, ‘Guys, I know how to fish but I have the worst luck fishing. Everybody will limit out but me. That’s been my life growing up.’ And we were steelhead fishing morning to night and I hooked three. And every time the line broke or something happened,” Allen says. “So I got skunked. Lee and Matt caught their limit, no hands down. And Lee’s exact words were, ‘I thought you were exaggerating. Or I just figured you did not know how to fish. But you do know how to fish. You put the time and effort into it and you truly

20 California Sportsman SEPTEMBER 2022 | calsportsmanmag.com

If you ask Allen (left), he’ll tell you he’s one of the world’s most unlucky fishermen. “It’s a running joke with my friends and my family that we can be out on the trout farm and everybody will catch fish but me,” he quips. This was a good day on Lake Tahoe, where he and his family own a property. (JARED ALLEN) endured.“Wedid a lot of fishing when I was younger, and honestly while I know how to fish, I just have the worst luck,” Allen admits. “It’s a running joke with my friends and my family that we can be out on the trout farm and everybody will catch fish but me. If I go fishing with you, you’ll probably limit out and I won’t catch anything fishing the same bait in the same hole.” Still, when questioned how one of the best defensive linemen of his era could be as good at football as he is bad at fishing, Allen managed to come up with a story of a good day on the water, in his favorite getaway at Lake Tahoe, where Jared, his wife Amy and daughters Brinley, 10, and Noel, 7, own a property (they primarily reside in Nashville, Tennessee, these days).

HUNTING

Raising a family just around the time his football career ended made it more problematic to get out in the ﬁeld consistently. But now retired from the game and with his daughters being older – “They love to ﬁsh and they’re going to start riding horses. They’re not quite old enough but my parents are going to start teaching them” – Allen’s had more time to cross off bucket list hunts. Last season, Jared’s birthday present to his father Ron was an elk and whitetail hunt in Montana. Ron’s best friend and his son joined the party. Ron scored a whitetail but missed out on multiple attempts on a bull elk – Jared was lucky enough to harvest one – but it just means they’ll go out

Allen’s best years in the NFL came in Minnesota, where from 2008 to 2013 he was one of the most dominant defensive ends in the league for the Vikings. He also played in Super Bowl 50 for the Carolina Panthers in his final season, 2015. (ICON SPORTS MEDIA) big part of my life growing up.” Going fishing was also commonplace amongst the Allen family. But it wasn’t until Jared started his pro football career that he whetted an appetite for hunting. Frankly, save for some hunting when hanging around with his grandfather, Allen didn’t have the financial means to get into the kind of big game hunts he longed for. But while playing for his first National Football League team, the Kansas City Chiefs, teammates like offensive lineman Jordan Black and others got him to come along. “And then I got into bowhunting and met Tim Wells through (his outdoor TV show) Relentless Pursuit. I absolutely fell in love with bowhunting and started predator hunting with him,” Allen says. “I really do prefer bowhunting, especially for whitetails.

22 California Sportsman SEPTEMBER 2022 | calsportsmanmag.com have the worst luck.’” The good news? He’s had much more successful times hunting compared to his ﬁshing misery. 648 total tackles 503 solo stops IF A KID WANTED to get his hands dirty and savor what the outdoor world had to offer, you could do worse than the life Allen had growing up. He lived on his dad Ron Allen’s horse farm in Morgan Hill, south of San Jose. And frequently he spent time exploring the land around his grandfather Raymond’s spacious property in Rio Dell, located near the Eel River in Humboldt County. “That’s where I grew up and got the love for the outdoors,” Allen says of the trips to play on his grandfather’s spread. “And obviously horses were a

I’ll also try to bowhunt turkeys this year. The timing didn’t work to do an elk bowhunt this past year. But that’s probably the next one I want to go to.”

HUNTING

He ended up starring for the smaller school, the Idaho State Bengals, parlaying his All-American career in Pocatello to become a fourth-round pick of the Kansas City Chiefs, which was the start of an iconic 12-year stint in the AndNFL.there have been other missteps, namely three instances of being charged with driving under the inﬂuence, once in college and

But it wasn’t an easy or traditional path from Morgan Hill cowboy to Minnesota Viking legend. Allen, now a Christian, understands he hasn’t always made it easy on himself. There was an incident when he was allegedly involved in a prank of heisting school yearbooks. He transferred from Live Oak to Los Gatos High, and the perceived red ﬂags scared off some big-name schools from recruiting him (the University of Washington pulled back a scholarship offer).

24 California Sportsman SEPTEMBER 2022 | calsportsmanmag.com

Jared (right) and his dad Ron hunted elk and whitetails in Montana for the latter’s birthday. Ron harvested a deer but Jared will take his pop back to Big Sky country to get him a bull of his own. (JARED ALLEN) again soon as another chance for Ron to fill his elk tag. “It was fan-tastic! We had a great outfitter and they were great guides. It was so much fun,” Jared says of the bonding experience. “It was an absolute blast and I love Montana – just to be out here and hunting elk, which are such cool animals and so tough. They’re hard (to hunt); they’re down in the open land and in the sagebrush. You’re trying to get close enough for a shot. You really test your shooting because you have to be able to be comfortable to shoot 400, 450, 500 yards if you need to, and obviously you’re trying to get them Montanain.”has become Allen’s go-to destination for big game hunts, but a spur-of-the-moment opportunity to hunt red stag on a trip to New Zealand was also memorable. And for his 40th birthday gift this year, Amy gave her husband an upcoming bird hunting adventure in Argentina. But to Allen, there’s something special about hunting those elk in Montana. The experience with his dad and the desire to go back and make sure he also takes a big bull is strong.“Most of our shots were right around that 300-yard range. So it’s not for the faint of heart, as far as some of these guys aren’t as comfortable shooting over 150 or 200 yards,” Allen says. “So it’s definitely a different element, right? Those things are tough as nails. You have to have a well-placed shot and often wellplaced multiple shots.” “It was an absolute blast.” 171 tackles for loss 32 forced fumbles EVEN AS HE SPENT much of his youth riding horses, fishing and savoring the outdoors, Allen’s passion for the sport he made a career out of took root when he starred on the gridiron in high school, first at Live Oak in Morgan Hill and then Los Gatos High. “This is a kid who didn’t understand why he had to go to school because all he wanted to do was play football,” Ron Allen told San Jose’s The Mercury News years ago when Jared was preparing to play in the first of his five Pro Bowl games, which bring together the best players in the NFL. “But when I told him he would have to eat, sleep and drink football from that moment until draft day, dang if he didn’t do just that.”

HUNTING

In a press release, Minnesota owner Zygi Wilf called Allen “A special player in Vikings history, and now and forever, he’ll be a Vikings legend in our Ring of Honor.” His teammates in Minnesota also praised this pending honor. Vikings star wide receiver Adam Thielen entered the NFL in 2013, Allen’s last year in Minnesota before signing with the Chicago Bears. Thielen, himself now a two-time Pro Bowl wideout, never forgot the energy Allen brought to his own game and rubbed onto others. “I’ve always tried to emulate that, whether in meetings or the locker room, on the ﬁeld. He brought it every single day,” Thielen said in a press conference when asked about Allen. “He was a fun guy to be around because of the energy, always joking around, messing around, but when it was game time, he was going. He was still messing around a little bit, but when that ball was snapped, it was a different guy.” And he’s a content guy now that he’s retired – happily retired – from football. Sure, Allen would

“Any time you can avoid hiccups along the way would be great. But it’s the same thing I tell my kids: It’s only failure if you don’t learn from it. I’d probably tell my younger self to grow up faster. It took me until I was 26 to grow up,” Allen says. “But I think life is about lessons; you become who you are based on the lessons that you learn. I think we’ve all known people in life who have had these things handed to them – those silver spoons and trustfund babies who have never had to do anything for themselves. They don’t really have any character and they’ve never learned anything. Me, I would love to take away those hiccups in my life. I would love to be able to learn lessons without having to break the law to do it.”

Royalty to the fans of Vikings Nation, in late July while visiting his former team’s training camp, Allen found out he’ll be honored at a home game on Oct. 30 as an addition to the Vikings Ring of Honor. (He was also a Pro Football Hall of Fame ﬁnalist this year and is sure to get inducted sometime in the future.)

“I’d tell myself to grow up and learn responsibility sooner than later, but would I be the same man if I didn’t take those lumps? I don’t know. Would I have the same humility if everything was easier in life? Would I be able to pass on things to my kids? Would I be able to be more empathetic towards other people and understand the true meaning of a second chance or a third chance, and the true meaning of success and significance if you don’t fail? I don’t think I would.” Failure has never coincided with his football prowess. He was productive right out of the chute after Kansas City drafted him. And after four strong seasons with the Chiefs, his best years were in Minnesota after a 2008 trade to the Vikings. He recorded at least 11 sacks in each of his six years playing in the Twin Cities (Allen finished his career with 136 sacks, unofficially ranking him tied for 16th all-time in a stat that’s only been recorded since 1960).

26 California Sportsman SEPTEMBER 2022 | calsportsmanmag.com

twice after he started his pro career in KansasEnoughCity. was enough with that reckless behavior. And now that he is a loving family man, Allen says the regrettable decisions he made as a young man were actually needed.

“They love to ﬁsh and they’re going to start riding horses. They’re not quite old enough but my parents are going to start teaching them. They also love skiing,” Allen says of his daughters. So their outdoor playground around Tahoe is a perfect ﬁt for an active family. (JARED ALLEN)

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“I think it’s important that I’m an avid kill-what-you-eat hunter. I’m not a sport hunter, though I love the sport of hunting, although I don’t really call it that,” Allen says. “I love the activity of hunting.” (JARED ALLEN) have loved to win a Super Bowl after coming up short in his only appearance in the NFL’s biggest game (and it just happened to be played near his hometown at Santa Clara’s Levi’s Stadium, where Allen and the Panthers lost 24-10 to the Denver Broncos).Hewas

28 California Sportsman SEPTEMBER 2022 | calsportsmanmag.com

4 All-Pro seasons (2011 The Sporting News defensive player of the year)

ALL THOSE DAYS ALLEN spent with his grandfather – Raymond Allen passed away in 2009 – continue to shape who the retired football star is now. Raymond spent 23 years in the Marines. Thus, during the prime years of his football career, Jared Allen started the charity organization Homes for Wounded Warriors (homesforwoundedwarriors .com) around the time of his grandpa’s death. “My grandfather and whole family has (been involved) in the military, so I just knew we had to do something to repay that. When I came back from a USO tour, that’s what I knew my mission was going to be (to remodel injury-speciﬁc, accessible, and

“absolutely” satisﬁed with how his career played out after it ended that night in the Bay Area. If not for some injuries in his golden years, he probably would have reached his goal of 150 career sacks, but this is a man at peace with the game he excelled at. “Tell you what: If you would have told me when I was 18 that I’d play for 12 years and be considered for the Hall of Fame, I’d have signed on that dotted line many times over,” Allen says. “I left on my terms and every time I went to a new team it was on my terms. I really was blessed and couldn’t have asked for anything better.”

2 receiving touchdowns scored on two catches during the 2007 season with the Chiefs. He also scored two defensive touchdowns with the Vikings, a 52-yard fumble return in 2009 and a 36-yard interception return in 2010.

5 Pro Bowl appearances

HUNTING

nwsportsmanmag.com | SEPTEMBER 2022 Northwest Sportsman 29

30 California Sportsman SEPTEMBER 2022 | calsportsmanmag.com mortgage-free homes for wounded service members),” he says. “For me, I’ve taken so much from this country and been blessed so much from the freedoms that we’ve had and what we’ve been able to do, I felt like it was my obligation as a patriot to give back and make sure that when our men and women come home, that they’re taken care of. No one deserves the American dream more than them. To be able to provide that for them has been a dream come true. And we’ve gotten so much more than we’ve given out to it.” And as hunting has become more and more of a passion for Allen postfootball, the notion of harvesting game inspired his and Amy’s restaurant venture, The Lodge Sasquatch Kitchen near the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe. Naturally, the eatery has a fishing/hunting lodge motif. (Jared has also penned a wild game recipe book, aptly named The HUNTING Quarterback Killer’s Cookbook). Jared and Amy are both passionate about cooking (he loves to grill, she’s Italian and a whiz in the kitchen). But just as important is the type of food they’re putting into their bodies. “We’re very into food – organic food. We’ve been on a pretty hardcore organic (diet) during the last five years or so. We’re conscious of putting quality food into our bodies. We’ve really gone down the rabbit hole in organic eating. I love to garden and love to grow as many vegetables as I can. So having that hunting lifestyle just adds the ability of knowing where your food’s going.” He’s even trying to convince the kids to eat more wild game. “I had to kind of trick them at first, but now they know and eat venison burgers. I haven’t gotten them into venison steaks yet. They still draw the line on that,” says Allen, who someday will teach Brinley and Noel to shoot.

And if you’re hunting with him, there’s one other variable to remember. Want to harvest a monster animal? Fine. But it should be considered table fare more than a trophy.

“I don’t necessarily have to harvest something. For me, just being in the woods and the anticipation; trying to put a plan together and executing it on an animal. (But) you show respect by eating what you harvest.” Whether it was chasing quarterbacks or now chasing elk and deer, there’s a purpose to Jared Allen’s process. CS Editor’s note: For more on Jared Allen, check out his website, jaredallen69inc .com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram (@JaredAllen69).

“I think it’s important that I’m an avid kill-what-you-eat hunter. I’m not a sport hunter, though I love the sport of hunting, although I don’t really call it that. I love the activity of hunting,” Allen says.

TREESTANDS CAN BE A GAMECHANGER FOR BAGGING DEER, WILD PIGS AND MORE CRITTERS

By Scott Haugen T emperatures would pass the century mark for the ﬁfth straight day. On the opening day of archery season, the ground was hard and noisy. There was no way a spot-and-stalk approach was going to work on this deer hunt. Given the wind direction I knew exactly which of my three treestands I needed to get to. Before daylight I was 23 feet up a tree, comfortably harnessed into the stand. Three hours later, one of the bucks I’d been catching on a trail camera all summer stepped onto a trail and headed my way. The shot was simple, and soon I was making plans for next season, happy that all my preseason efforts paidHuntingoff. from treestands continues to grow in popularity among big game hunters, but it’s still overlooked by many. Whether you’re hunting elk, blacktail, bear or even California’s wild hogs, hunting from a treestand might offer the advantage you’re looking for.

ELEVATE HUNTINGYOURSUCCESS

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WHY TREESTANDS WORK Hunting from a treestand offers three distinct advantages, the most important of which is getting your scent off the ground. Wind ﬂows like a river, in horizontal layers, and the higher you can be off the ground,

Treestands are great for getting your scent off the ground and seeing game. Hanging them near waterholes and along trails will optimize your chances of ﬁlling a tag. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

HUNTING FROM FIELD...

GRILL UP SOME KEBABS WITH YOUR GAME MEAT

f looking for an easy-to-prep meal ahead of time, look no further than simple grilled kebabs. Regardless of the meat you have available – be it fresh from the ﬁeld or taken from the freezer – kebabs can be customized to please any eater. When using multiple meats, try marinating them in their own separate brine to enhance the ﬂavor of an all-meat kebab. Many fruits and vegetables taste great when paired with wild game on a kebab and they need no extra seasonings. Get creative, throw some kebabs on the grill and have fun with this recipe.

If you didn’t get rid of all the bloodshot and silver skin prior to freezing your venison or wild turkey, do so before cooking. Any remaining blood will result in a wild ﬂavor, while any remaining sinew or silver skin will make the meat tough. Wild game, even game birds, can get a bad rap for being gamey tasting, when all it comes down to is proper ﬁeld care and making sure the meat is clean prior to freezing, and especially, cooking. CS Editor’s note: For signed copies of Tiffany Haugen's popular book, Cooking Big Game, send a check for $20 to Haugen Enterprises, P.O. Box 275, Walterville, OR 97489, or visit comscotthaugen.forthisandother titles.

By Tiffany Haugen I

MEAT CARE TIP

1 tablespoon olive oil 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce ½ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon pepper

WILD TURKEY MARINADE

Combine game meat either pulled from your freezer or harvested fresh from the ﬁeld with veggies or fruit to create a delicious grilled kebab. (TIFFANY HAUGEN)

HUNTER’S KEBABS 1 pound venison 1 pound wild turkey breast One onion One bell pepper ½ pineapple VENISON MARINADE 2 tablespoons raspberry balsamic vinegar

1/3 cup orange juice 2 tablespoons soy sauce 2 to 3 cloves minced garlic ½ teaspoon red chili ﬂakes Chop both the venison and wild turkey breast into bite-sized chunks. Place venison in a medium bowl, add venison marinade ingredients and stir well. Cover and refrigerate six to 12 hours. Place wild turkey in another medium bowl, add wild turkey marinade and stir well. Cover and refrigerate for six to 12 hours. Prepare onion, bell pepper, pineapple and any other desired kebab additions by chopping into bite-sized chunks. When ready to assemble kebabs, drain and discard meat marinades and thread meat, fruits and vegetables onto skewers. Let meat sit at room temperature over 10 to 15 minutes before grilling. Heat grill to medium-high heat. Lubricate grill grates and place kebabs a few inches apart. Close grill and cook two to three minutes. Carefully turn kebabs every few minutes for even cooking on all sides.

34 California Sportsman SEPTEMBER 2022 | calsportsmanmag.com ... TO FIRE HUNTING

Ladder stands are a great option for beginning treestand hunters because they are stable and very safe. Selfclimbing treestands are nice, as they allow desired heights to be reached. Ideally, you can hang multiple stands in your hunting area, as wind direction, time of day, sun position, and more will dictate which stand you hunt from, and when. Some stands will work best hunted from in the morning, while others will produce in the evening, depending on animal movement.

If hunting over a waterhole in hot conditions, be prepared to sit from

the less likely your scent is to linger where animals can smell you. Second, hunting from a treestand gives you an elevated vantage point, allowing you to see more than you ever would from the ground. It also allows you to hear more of what’s happening in the woods.

36 California Sportsman SEPTEMBER 2022 | calsportsmanmag.com

Don’t move when an animal looks up at you in the tree, and you’ll be amazed at what can transpire.

TREESTAND PLACEMENT

Before hanging a treestand or positioning a ladder stand, study the area for sign. If you like what you’re seeing, get to work. But if sign isn’t fresh and frequent, search for a better place. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

The minimum height I like when hanging a treestand for big game hunting is 15 feet, with 25 feet being my preferred distance from the ground. One time, on a very steep hillside I hung a stand 45 feet up a tree. I wouldn’t suggest going to that extreme unless you’ve had some treestand experience, because a tree blowing in a stiff wind can turn the stomach a bit.

HUNTING

A third beneﬁt for deer and elk hunters is that due to the structure of the eyes in these animals, they struggle to decipher details of objects high above the horizon line. This explains why you’ll often see these animals look up at you in your treestand, but if you remain steady, they won't spook.

calsportsmanmag.com | SEPTEMBER 2022 California Sportsman 37

daylight to dark, keeping in mind that the changing position of the sun can play havoc. If you need a break from holding your bow, have a bow stand or hook in place so you can keep an arrow nocked and readily accessible.

I like having stands in place well before the season, as limbing trees, clearing brush and ratcheting ladders can be invasive to resident game. If you hang a stand during the season – do enough stand hunting and you will come across this situation – do so during the most unlikely time of game movement, so as not to spook them.

38 California Sportsman SEPTEMBER 2022 | calsportsmanmag.com

The best times to relocate are usually in the middle of the day, when it’s hot and animals are sleeping.

IT’S ALL ABOUT POSITION Summer scouting will help you determine where to hang treestands. Physically scouting will help you locate game, as will hanging multiple trail cameras. Trail cameras are perfect for this; they can be positioned on the very tree you’re thinking about hunting from. Keep trail cameras running all season so you can monitor animalPatterningmovement.game movement is critical to any hunting success, but it is especially important when hunting from a treestand for the simple reason that you’re immobile and waiting for game to come to you. Treestands allow you to hunt in brushy, timbered habitat and on hillsides you otherwise may not effectively be able to from theIfground.looking to beat the heat, get your scent off the ground, and avoid the risk of spooking game when walking on a noisy forest ﬂoor, think about hunting from a treestand this season. What you’ll learn and see might be a surprise, and could change how you hunt big game from this point forward. CS Editor’s note: To order Scott Haugen’s best-selling book, Trophy Blacktails: The Science Of The Hunt, visit scotthaugen.com. Follow Scott on Instagram and Facebook.

When a deer looks at you in a treestand, even from afar like this blacktail is doing, don’t move. This buck eventually walked right under the author’s stand on opening day of archery season. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

HUNTING

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LAWMAKERS’

SPORTSMEN’S ALLIANCE: PUNITIVE MARKETING BILL MISSES EVERY RECRUITMENT

By Brian Lynn The Sportsmen’s Alliance W hen California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2571 on June 30, he didn’t just endorse an infringement on the Second Amendment; he violated the First Amendment, as well as the Fifth Amendment and 14th Amendment.Assembly Bill 2571

calsportsmanmag.com | SEPTEMBER 2022 California Sportsman 41

MARK AND IS A THREAT TO HUNTER

HUNTING

MAJORCALIFORNIA’SMISFIRE

tionhunterItnonprofittouters,ingteamprogram,ingillegal,makesintowhereganizationmakesammunitionnotberducedtisementsRegulateformerlyxhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2571),islature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.(leginfo.leg-knownas“LegislationtoManipulativeGunAdver-TargetingChildren,”intro-byCaliforniaAssemblymem-RebeccaBauer-Kahan,targetsjustthemarketingoffirearms,andpartstominors;ititillegalforanypersonoror-toevenpromoteactivitiesyouthmightusefirearms.Whilethenewlaw–whichwenteffectimmediately–clearlymarketinganyyouthfirearmitgoesevenfurther.Promot-theNational4-HShootingSportsanyhighschoolgunclub/orotherorganizedyouthshoot-eventisnowillegal.Forhunt-thelawmakesitimpossibletoayouthhuntorganizedbyanyconservationorganization.evenmakesitimpossibletoholdeducation.Why?Becauseaconservationorganiza-can’tholdasafety/educationclass

The Sportsmen’s Alliance is leading a lawsuit challenging legislation recently passed in California that bars conservation organizations and others from promoting hunting opportunities held speciﬁcally for youngsters. (CDFW)

GUN

“The law and intent of its author and Gov. Newsom is clearly discriminatory and meant to destroy our hunting heritage,” continued Safari Club’s Cassidy. "The conservation community has a long history of protecting hunting while encouraging safe and responsible ﬁrearms use. We are proud to continue this tradition by ﬁghting this irrational and unconstitutional overreach by Gov. Newsom and his supporters.” CS

HUNTING

Editor’s note: The Sportsmen’s Alliance sent out the following press release to introduce a lawsuit it and partners are pursuing against the state of California over Assembly Bill 2571: A coalition of outdoor groups sued the State of California in federal district court in Sacramento challenging a recently passed law banning the “marketing” of firearms to minors. The legal challenge by Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, So Cal Top Guns, Safari Club International and Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation seeks to protect youth hunting, shooting sports and education in the state. Although described by Gov. Newsom and supporters as a prohibition on marketing the sale of firearms to youth, the new law goes well beyond direct advertising to include any marketing activity involving firearms and firearm accessories. This includes not only the purchase of firearms, but lawful use. The law’s broad terms also prohibit marketing hunter education, school-sponsored firearms teams, youth hunts, youth camps that include firearms training and even short seminars or “how to” events. The law is so broadly written that it bans social media, leaflets or flyers, videos, magazine articles or any other communication that showcases or illustrates the use of firearms by youth. Because of its overly broad language, the new law does more than just violate constitutional freedoms – it decimates youth firearms training and education in the state. Whatever the intent of its sponsors, eliminating youth safety programs is the only foreseeable result.

SPORTSMEN’S ALLIANCE LEADS LAWSUIT OVER CALIFORNIA’S FIREARMS YOUTH MARKETING LEGISLATION

The law defines a “firearm industry member” as: (A) A person, firm, corporation, company, partnership, society, joint stock company, or any other entity or association engaged in the manufacture, distribution, importation, marketing, wholesale, or retail sale of firearm-related products.

“Whether or not intentional, this poorly written and misguided law is already directly impacting hunting access for young people,” said Ben Cassidy, Safari Club International’s executive vice president of international and public aﬀairs. “As a community, hunters have worked for decades to provide hunter safety and education for the next generation of hunters. This law directly undermines a critical community service.”

(B) A person, firm, corporation, company, partnership, society, joint stock company, or any other entity or association formed for the express purpose of promoting, encouraging, or advocating for the purchase, use, or ownership of firearm-related products that does one of the following: (i) Advertises firearm-related products. (ii) Advertises events where firearm-related products are sold or used. (iii) Endorses specific firearm-related(iv)products.Sponsors or otherwise promotes events at which firearm-related products are sold or used. The only entity immune to California’s new law and all-encompassing definition of firearm industry, however, is the state itself. Through the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the state openly markets the use of firearms by youth through the sale of youth hunting licenses, youth-only hunting seasons and the inclusion of firearm safety and handling as part of its own curriculum, as well as a focus

“Our entire youth education program is on hold because of this law,” said Paul Cain, president of So Cal Top Guns. “Thousands of kids have learned ﬁrearm safety and have competed at local, state and national events for decades – and now that’s all gone.”

FIREARMS INDUSTRY UNDER SIEGE

Signed by Gov. Newsom on June 30, the law imposes fines of $25,000 per impression, occurrence or publication of prohibited communications. Introduced by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, the law casts a wide net over any youth program that promotes the use of firearms by a member of the “firearm industry.”

“This law is a prime example of rushing action without fully understanding the consequences,” said Jeff Crane, president and CEO of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation. “By significantly impacting the sporting-conservation community’s ability to effectively recruit and train the next generation of sportsmen and women, this law will have far-reaching consequences on the very funding structure that underwrites the conservation of California’s wildlife and their habitats. All people of the state, not just hunters, should be outraged that this law is now on the books.”

42 California Sportsman SEPTEMBER 2022 | calsportsmanmag.com or youth hunt without advertising it to someone, whether its own members or the public. By advertising an activity that promotes the use of ﬁrearms, regardless of the context, an individual, company or organization is in violation of the overly broad law.

“This law is a travesty that clearly violates several constitutional protections at once, while, ironically, undermining well-established safety programs and education,” said Todd Adkins, Sportsmen’s Alliance vice president of government affairs. “In their haste to politicize firearms, Gov. Newsom and the legislature have destroyed youth education and firearm-safety programs that have long been supported by WhileCalifornians.”thenew law does not prohibit activities themselves, the result is a de facto ban because it is difficult to hold youth camps, competitions, clinics or hunter education classes without some form of promotion of these events.

The bill defines firearm industry broadly to include organizations formed for the express purpose of “… promoting, encouraging, or advocating for the purchase, use, or ownership of firearm-related products,” which could encompass any organization conducting hunter- and firearm-education classes or youth hunts and shooting matches of any kind. Many conservation organizations hold summer camps that include hunter education or firearm-safety training – all would likely run afoul of the new law.

The revised law comes at a time when the state of California is attempting to actively recruit young hunters through the California Fish and Wildlife R3 Program, and embrace the educational value of youth shooting courses for the beneﬁt of hunter recruitment, retention and reactivation.

Assembly Bill 2571, passed on June 30 of this year, was intended to prohibit the firearm industry from advertising or marketing any firearm-related product in a manner that is designed, intended, or reasonably appears to be attractive to minors. But the broad scope of the legislation left it open to interpretation, potentially prohibiting the marketing and promotion of youth-firearm safety, youth-shooting sports and youth-hunting and hunter-education programs, among others.

GOING TOO FAR?

DUCKS UNLIMITED CLARIFIES SCOPE OF NEW LAW FOR YOUTH HUNTERS, SHOOTING SPORTS

As amended, the law will have a much narrower scope, specifying exactly what types of advertisements are prohibited, while allowing well-intentioned promotion of educational, hunting and competitive shooting programs to continue. The new law will go into eﬀect immediately upon the Governor’s signature.

This subdivision does not apply to a communication offering or promoting any firearm safety program, hunting safety or promotional program, firearm instructional course, sport shooting event or competition, or any similar program, course, or event, nor does it apply to a communication offering or promoting membership in any organization, or promotion of lawful hunting activity, including, but not limited to, any fundraising event, youth hunting program, or outdoor camp. CS

HUNTING

The bill deﬁnes “minor” as under age 18, but offers no clariﬁcation of how clothing sizes for a 17-year-old would differ from an 18-year-old.

(A) Offers brand name merchandise for minors, including, but not limited to, hats, T-shirts or other clothing, or toys, games or stuffed animals, that promotes a ﬁrearm industry member or ﬁrearm-related product.

The updated language reads as follows:

Assemblymember Bauer-Kahan and Gov. Newsom didn’t stop with the vagaries there, however. They included a nonexclusive list of products that could trigger violation of the law if they appear to be attractive to minors:

(D) Uses images or depictions of minors in advertising and marketing materials to depict the use of firearm-related products. An ad containing a father and daughter duck hunting together would net you a $25,000 fine for every copy of the ad distributed in TheCalifornia.newlaw states that this is not an exhaustive list and is vague around enforcement of it – using a “totality of the circumstances” standard, which means violating one or more examples might or might not result in prosecution. It leaves the enforcement of the law and the evaluation of guilt by judge or jury with no uniform application. Putting Orwellian and Gestapo scare tactics aside once again, this vague and capricious standard of law is an unconstitutional power grab by the state, leaving our justice system ripe for abuse. The goal is clearly to chill protected speech to destroy the hunting and shooting community. Of course, this was the intent of Assemblymember Bauer-Kahan, Gov. Newsom and every legislator who voted for AB 2571. These politicians view any affiliation with firearms, regardless of context, as “indoctrination” while blaming California’s mental-health shortcomings, rising violent crime, illegal gang activity and other associated problems on lawful manufacturers, publishers, youth camps, conservation organizations and hunters. CS Editor’s note: Brian Lynn is vice president of communications and marketing for the Sportsmen’s Alliance, which since the mid-1970s “has fought to protect and advance our outdoor heritage of hunting, fishing, trapping and shooting in all 50 state legislatures, in the courts, in Congress and at the ballot box.” For more information, go to sportsmensalliance.org.

(C) Is part of a marketing or advertising campaign designed with the intent to appeal to minors. Which would include hunter education, ﬁrearms safety classes and, again, the state’s own recruitment and retention of minors for hunting.

(B) Offers firearm-related products in sizes, colors or designs that are specifically designed to be used by, or appeal to, minors. That clause would include every youth-model firearm and reduced-recoil ammunition on the market.

“We thank the Governor’s oﬃce for their attention to this matter and for working with Ducks Unlimited to clarify this law,” said Dawan Lee, California Ducks Unlimited youth and education chairman. “As an advocate for youth shooting programs, I am encouraged this will help promote a safe, educational and healthy environment for our youth to learn competitive shooting. This change will also help the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and Ducks Unlimited’s shared goals of recruiting, retaining and reactivating new hunters through existing R3 programs, and that’s great news for conservation.”

44 California Sportsman SEPTEMBER 2022 | calsportsmanmag.com of its hunter recruitment efforts. Putting overreaching big brother comparisons aside, this simple act overtly proves that viewpoint-based restrictions are the object of the new law. In short, the new law doesn’t restrict speech for all, just a particular group of citizens or individuals based on what they believe and do.

Editor’s note: At press time, a Ducks Unlimited press release clarified some of the language of Assembly Bill 2571 pertaining to marketing activities like youth hunting and shooting sports. Here is what DU wrote, including amended language in the bill from California’s Governor’s office: A new law in California that prohibits the advertising of firearms to minors had unintended consequences on the sporting community. But thanks to productive conversations between Ducks Unlimited staff and the Governor’s office, much-needed clarity has been provided on the bill’s application.

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the ground, I followed up on the second bird, folding it. The ﬁrst pigeon fell atop the ridge in some tall, dry grass, which Echo, my 7-year-old pudelpointer, got on fast. The second bandtail fell a ways down the hillside, which Kona, my 5-year-old male pudelpointer, marked and sprinted to. Just like that, the hunt was over, an opening-morning limit secured. Still, for the next hour we sat and watched birds, noting what direction they were coming from and where they were going. Some bandtails stopped at a nearby spring to drink.

calsportsmanmag.com | SEPTEMBER 2022 California Sportsman 53

One of author Scott Haugen’s most anticipated seasons of the year is bandtail pigeon, a great tuneup for wingshooters and dogs alike. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

By Scott Haugen T

PIGEONBANDTAILTUNEUP

he first flock of bandtails passed by within range, but wide, so I didn’t shoot. Then a pair of the pigeons came right down the ridgeline, straight at us. Pulling up, I killed the first bird. As it started spinning toward

HUNTING

54 California Sportsman SEPTEMBER 2022 | calsportsmanmag.com

LAST YEAR I HUNTED a place where a landslide had occurred the previous winter. At the bottom of the slide was a little rill of water the pigeons drank from all summer. At the top was a bank of exposed minerals they picked at. The hillside was steep, so in an effort to keep the birds on top where I could get ethical shots, I set out some Big Al’s pigeon silhouette decoys. I set a couple dozen of the silhouettes tight atop the hill, on some exposed dirt. The pigeons didn’t backpedal into the spread like ducks, but they deﬁnitely saw them and passed slowly overhead to see what the gathering was all about. Two mornings in a row both my dad and I shot bandtail limits over these feral pigeon, aka rock dove, decoys. Plucked and slow-cooked whole, bandtail pigeons are tasty game birds. And for your dog, they’re easy to see approaching from a long distance,

Others piled onto the hillside below to pick minerals. Still others kept ﬂying, seeking ripening cascara berries and elderberries throughout the hills.

OVER THE COURSE OF the brief nine-day bandtail season, the dogs and I had many great hunts. Along the Pacific Coast, these wild pigeons are one of the most hunted game birds in September, and with good reason. Bandtails are fast flyers and cover a lot of ground. Early in the morning they leave their roosts in the Cascades or Coast Range, destined for springs or water to drink from, minerals to pick, or berry patches to feast on. Before descending into any of these, they’ll often perch in the tallest treetops from which they’ll survey the surroundings to make sure all is safe. Intercepting pigeons as they move to food, water and staging areas is best done by setting up on ridgelines located in their flight path. Try picking an open area so you can see birds approaching and have plenty of real estate to drop them in, once shot. I recently spoke with a biologist in California whose specialty is bandtail pigeons. He informed me that one of the reasons the daily limit remains at two birds – in addition to their low nesting success –is because many pigeons are crippled by hunters and never retrieved. Most of these are birds shot from the crest of a ridge, where crippled birds often soar hundreds of yards into big, rugged canyons below, where dogs can’t retrieve them. Before firing a shot, know where you want a hit bird to drop. Ideally, you have an opening where you’re standing so you can try and drop a bird at your feet; this is a must if you don’t have a dog. If you do have a dog, know what the surrounding terrain is like and determine before even firing a shot if it’s something you’d send your dog into.

One ridge I hunt is loaded with very tall groves of poison oak, so I don’t shoot pigeons that could potentially fall there. Another has a sheer rock cliff on one side, so that’s obviously off limits. Pick your shooting zone and stick to it. If shots are close where birds might be circling, I like using No. 6 shot. For pass shooting, No. 5s work. Pigeons have a lot of feathers that easily fall out upon being shot, so watch the bird closely to see if a quick followup shot is needed. Hit pigeons can sail a long way, especially in steep, mountainous terrain. Once they tumble through trees and brush, following the feather trail of a pigeon is easy. As soon as your dog delivers a pigeon to hand, pick all the feathers from their mouth and between their lips and gums. Then give your dog a drink of fresh water. Have plenty of water for your dog on these hunts.

Though California’s seasons are brief (September 17-25 in the North Zone, December 17-25 in the South Zone) and bag limits small (two a day), bandtails are a popular bird for hunters and their dogs to pursue on the West Coast. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

HUNTING

The dogs shot me the look – more than once, too – the one that screams, “Why aren’t you shooting?”

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simple to mark once hit as long as they don’t fall into too thick of cover, and fun to retrieve. At times, the retrieve can be challenging and dogs will work hard in the steep mountains, so make sure they’re in shape and not overweight on these early-season, hot-weather hunts. For those of us who remember the days when bag limits were high, our goal as hunters is to help pigeon populations recover, and we can do our part by shooting selectively. Don’t get in a rush to ﬁll a limit, especially if there’s any doubt of a bird being recovered. The bandtail season is short, but dogs love it, so get out there and experience what so many fellow hunters around the country wish they had an opportunity to pursue.

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HUNTING

Setting up some Big Al’s pigeon silhouette decoys paid off on multiple hunts for the author and his father Jerry Haugen last season. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

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An offshore bounty of dorado, yellowtail and tuna await anglers who can ﬁnd hungry ﬁsh underneath kelp paddies off the Southern California coast. (BILL SCHAEFER)

he offshore ﬁshing this year has been out of this world for yellowtail, dorado and tuna.

Loma – don’t know what’s going on and catching has slowed a bit, but it should return to normal with all the hot summer days we’re having.

FINDING THE PADDIES

SAN DIEGO’S OFFSHORE WATERS SHOULD BE TEEMING WITH YELLOWTAIL, DORADO, TUNA

By Capt. Bill Schaefer T

The water temperature has stayed more constant offshore than inshore, with water temps off San Diego’s kelp beds dropping 5 to 8 degrees at least twice during a time when normally it is about 70 to 72 degrees. This has really affected the yellowtail off the kelpJustbeds.when it got good, the winds turned the water over. The yellows – at least off the La Jolla and Point

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If you head offshore, paddies can be found everywhere from about 9 miles

GET IN ON PADDY PARTIES

Almost every year the ﬁshing goes into November, and occasionally into December. It’s mainly the water temperature and how far you can travel in your boat before the tuna drift out of range to the south. Again, gas and size of your boat will make a difference in how far you can travel after them.

Jeff King shows off a nice yellowtail he took off a paddy. Make sure your rods, reels and line are in good shape, as you never know when a giant will gobble up your presentation. (BILL SCHAEFER) out and beyond. From San Clemente and Catalina south to the Coronado Islands and into Mexico, it’s just a matter of how much gas you can hold and how safe it is for your boat. You never know when your path might cross a paddy, or you may never see one. They can be as large as a double garage door and not hold one ﬁsh, or as small as the bottom of a rack of Coke bottles and hold a giant school of dorado or yellows. Keep your eyes peeled and you should spot several during your outing.

BEST AREAS TO FISH Last month and up until now, the hot spots have been the Desperation area off San Clemente Island, south all the way to the 302 and 425, and points south into Mexico. But you never know where you may find a streak of the right water. Many boats found fish around the 302 and the fish were in the 8-pound range, including a few 10- to 20-pound fish. They used everything from bait to trolling with cedarOnceplugs.you spot a paddy, you can troll by it or just slide up on it and throw bait in the water. I like to troll by and throw a handful of bait as we pass and watch for boils. Then, when you decide to slide up on it, don’t use the motor; pull upwind and float with the wind past it, staying a cast’s distance away. Most of the time your baitfish will swim to the cover of the paddy and if the dorado or yellowtail are there, you will know it in a second. The dorado don’t usually run to the paddy, but the yellows do; so be prepared to pull.

ELECTRONICS CAN HELP If you have down-scan or side-scan sonar – or even regular sonar, for that matter – look and watch for marks under the paddy. There could be ﬁsh down deep, and it may take some chumming to get them to come to the surface. Yo-yoing a jig might get the action started as well. You need to get one hooked to get all the other ﬁsh to take action. There could be tuna down under the dorado as well, so drop a bait down to them; you may just get them all stirred up.

If you stumble across them, some of the tuna are giants and will surprise you and your tackle if not prepared.

I do have to mention that when a bite starts, don’t just charge out onto the ocean. Make sure your boat will go the distance, your bait tank will hold up and your tackle will do the trick. SIZING UP THE SPECIES

To get ready, make sure all your rods and reels are in good working order, have good drags, and maybe reline them as well. And just how long will this paddy hopping and offshore action last?

FISHING

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Remember, if a boat is already on the paddy, radio and ask permission

The ﬁsh are there and can be found, so you need to go if you haven’t already and score some meals for the winter. Barbequed yellowtail, dorado or tuna tastes just as good in September and October as it does anytime. And freeze up some tasty ﬁllets to help you get through the winter months. CS

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Joel King’s dorado attests to just how good the ﬁshing can be, and it should continue throughout the fall around offshore kelp paddies. (BILL SCHAEFER) to join in. If there’s no answer, then just go upwind and drift on by. Never charge into a paddy or approach it if a boat is on it. There should be enough ﬁsh for all if you slide in softly and quietly. Once you hook up, you will drift away from the paddy to start your own battle.

I have been using a set of Daiwa Proteus spinning rods with BG 4000 and 6500 reels. I’m loaded up with Daiwa 65-pound J8 braid and run a 20- to 60-pound leader of Maxima fluorocarbon. Mustad supplies the hooks with No. 10827 bait hooks. Some anglers, though, prefer a circle hook for that perfect corner-of-themouth hookup. Poppers and jerkbaits have been red hot as well. Of course, regular tackle from light bass gear to heavy conventional gear works as well, but as I’ve preached before and will do again, be ready and prepared. You can’t grab that old rod you haven’t used in years and run out after these fish. You must check your drags, reline and tie on a new hook. The points on hooks do deteriorate, even when just sitting in a package if they have been near the salt air. They are so sharp that the point can rust away easily. Better to invest in a new pack of Mustad hooks than keep wondering why you get bit and don’t hook that fish of a lifetime.

The tuna have been hanging under some paddies, so be prepared. You could think you are on some nice dorado and boom; you start hooking nice blueﬁn or yellowﬁn tuna.

TACKLE CHECKLIST Gear for fishing the paddies can range from light to heavy. Many anglers are now fishing with spinning gear. It makes for fun fishing for dorado, since they can be line-shy at times.

There will be surprises, and you need to be ready when that happens. What if the bite goes from small yellowtail to giant tuna or small dorado to 20-plus-pound yellowtail? Always start a little heavier, and go to lighter tackle if not getting bit, unless you are well-versed in playing out a big ﬁsh and just love light-tackle action. The ﬁsh will always eat the light line; at least most of the time.

Last week I made my stop on a paddy producing dorado, but I was also surprised with a 40-minute battle from a good-sized tuna, only to have the hook pull at the boat. You just never know what will happen in the heat of the bite.

YOU JUST NEVER KNOW

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SOLID OCEAN NUMBERS

FISHING

SEPTEMBER FALL-RUN CHINOOK FISHING COULD BE STRONG IN DELTA, SAC METRO WATERS

t’s well known that during the fall months, the upper reaches of the lower Sacramento River from Woodson Bridge northward plays host to epic salmon fishing. But one thing a lot of us tend to forget is that before the fish reach these much-heralded upriver haunts, they must pass through the Delta and Sacramento Metro area. For knowledgeable anglers, the section of the Sacramento River extending from just above Rio Vista upriver to the mouth of the American River offers a great opportunity for trollers to hook big, hard-fighting kingOfsalmon.course, to hook salmon there must be salmon present, and in some years low salmon numbers can be the biggest obstacle for anglers to overcome, but this season things are looking exceptionally good.

WHERE THE KINGS HOLD COURT

The ocean fishing beyond the Golden Gate has been very good, with big numbers of kings showing. When the fall run starts many of those fish are going to surge up the Sacramento, past the state capital to Red Bluff and beyond.The season opened on July 16 and some early fish to 37 pounds

By Cal Kellogg

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This handsome king crushed a Yakima SpinFish stuffed with tuna. Rotating plugs like this one featuring an internal scent-holding cavity have proven to be very effective in the Sacramento Metro area. There should be good September ﬁshing both in Delta waters and the Sacramento and American Rivers around the state capital. (CAL KELLOGG)

WRAPPING TIME Using elastic thread, you’ll want to wrap the belly of the plug with a strip of sardine, the meat stripped from a crawﬁsh tail, or a combo of both. If you’ve never wrapped a plug, it takes a bit of practice, but when the lure works properly beside the boat, you’ll know you’ve done the job correctly.

The best overall lure and the simplest to use is a large spinner. Silvertrons or Mepps Flying Cs are local favorites, but other brands work well too. It seems everyone has their favorite color when it comes to spinners. Proven producers include hot pink with a silver or glow blade, chartreuse with a silver blade or orange with a silver or orange glow blade. Another lure that can pay dividends is a FlatFish or Kwikﬁsh. You can use a monster-sized plug like a T-55 FlatFish, but many anglers like to downsize to something that is in the 3- to 4-inch range. The best color is chrome with chartreuse trim, but hot pink and orange models work at times too.

LURE AND COLOR CHOICES

HOW TO HOOK UP Occasionally, a guy tossing lures for black bass or stripers will hook a king in the Delta or Sacramento area, but you can’t hang your hat on such an accident happening to you. The most consistent approach for enticing kings in these waters is trolling. I’m going to describe three basic rigs; however, before I get into the rigs let’s think aboutSalmontackle.are big, hard-fighting fish with a relatively soft mouth. For this reason, a fairly long 7- to 8-foot rod with a soft tip is a good choice. Graphite rods will work, but fiberglass sticks are even better because they are more forgiving. The soft tip plays a dual role. On one hand it cushions the fight of the salmon, keeping them from ripping out hooks, but it also allows you to monitor the function of the lure to ensure that it is working properly and hasn’t picked up debris.

Big spinners are a great option when you’re hunting Sacramento River salmon. They are simple to ﬁsh and offer consistent results. (CAL KELLOGG) were caught between Rio Vista and Sacramento, but the bulk of the kings won’t start showing until September, with hopefully good action continuing right up to closing day on December 16.

The rod should be topped with a quality levelwind baitcaster spooled with 50- to 65-pound braided line. While not 100-percent necessary, a linecounter reel is a good choice. On the business end of your rig, everything runs off a three-way swivel system. To start rigging, take your main line and attach it to your swivel. On the lower eye of that swivel attach a 12- to 18-inch dropper made of 12-pound mono and tip it with a snap. That’s where your sinker will attach, and since the dropper is lighter than the rest of the setup, it will break off should the rig snag while fighting a fish. Attach a 4- to 5-foot 25-poundtest mono leader to the remaining eye of the three-way that will ultimately be tipped with your lure. You don’t need fluorocarbon. Salmon aren’t line-shy and standard mono offers extra stretch, which is nice to have when a big king power dives or gives you a series of violent headshakes.

The final setup that can work well, especially upriver in the Sacramento Metro area, is a rolling plug like a Brad’s Cut Plug, a Yakima SpinFish or an old-school plug-cut herring. These baits are typically teamed with a large inlineWhenflasher.using this setup, the same three-way swivel and dropper is deployed, but the leader is a little different. First attach 36 inches of 25-pound leader to the three-way and attach your flasher to that. Then off the back of the flasher, knot on another 36 to 40 inches of leader and tip it with your bait. If you opt for the rolling plug, you’ll want to keep the internal scent chamber stuffed with canned tuna, so the plug has that real meat smell. If you’re running a herring, you don’t need to worry about scent since you’re running real bait. Given a choice between a rolling plug or the rolling herring, I go with the herring since I believe the kings hold onto a real herring longer and take it deeper. The deeper you can get the bait back in a king’s mouth, the better your chance of landing the fish.

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You should be able to see the rhythmic action of your lure on the rod tip. As you troll, keep an eye on both the rod tip and the depth ﬁnder. If the water gets deeper, let out more line; if it gets shallower, retrieve line. If the rod tip stops working, pull in the lure and make sure it hasn’t fouled debris. Your line should enter the water at a steep angle. If too much line is scoping out behind the boat, that means you need a heavier sinker.

AVOIDING LOSSES

FISHING

I don’t think any gamefish likes a lure coming up from behind them. Salmon face into the current, so I prefer to troll downstream while zigzagging. This will put the lure someplace in front of the fish as it approaches. In my opinion, this presentation is much less likely to spook the fish and much more likely to draw a strike. Some salmon strikes are savage, while others are more subtle, with the rod just gradually loading up as if you’ve hooked a large piece of debris. The most important thing is to stay cool and not jerk the rod out of the holder until the rod is really doubled over, or if the fish begins head shaking, which is signaled by a series of sharp jabs that typically yank the tip down a foot or more several times in quick succession. At this point the salmon is hooked. Slip the rod out of the holder and fight your fish.

WORTH THE WEIGHT

In closing, let’s talk about how salmon are lost. Pulling the rod out of the holder before the ﬁsh really has the lure is a good way to turn a hookup into a Pullingmiss.the rod out of the holder, thumbing the reel and swinging back

TROLLING TIME OK, let’s put these rigs into the water and troll. Sinker selection is based on the amount of ﬂow, but let’s say the ﬂow is average, so you start out with a 3-ounce sinker snapped on a rig armed with either a plug or spinner. To catch salmon while trolling you want your lure near the bottom, so with the boat moving just fast enough to make the lure work, lower your rig slowly down until you feel the sinker hit the bottom, then bring it up one turn of the reel. With the lure near the bottom, put the rod in a holder with the drag set fairly loose and the clicker engaged.

KNOW THE CURRENT Salmon will hit a lure moving with or against the current. Naturally when trolling against the current, the boat can move slower and the lure will still work well. When moving with the current you need to be moving faster than the surrounding water for the lure to work.

The only other thing you’ll need in terms of terminal tackle is a selection of torpedo weights ranging from 2 to 6 ounces.Alotof anglers wear rubber gloves when rigging up. They believe that the more human scent you keep off your lures, the better. I’m not sure if that’s true or not, but I wear gloves just the same, since it’s better to be safe than sorry! One aspect a lot of guys overlook until the moment of truth is a landing net. It takes a big net to land a big king. I’ve got the biggest net I could ﬁnd, and I use it on both salmon and sturgeon.

Properly wrapping a salmon plug with a sardine ﬁllet takes a little practice. The key is testing the plug beside the boat before lowering it to the ﬁsh. If it’s swimming correctly, you’ve done a good job. (CAL KELLOGG)

70 California Sportsman SEPTEMBER 2022 | calsportsmanmag.com with a massive hookset is a wonderful way to rip the hooks out of the fish or break the line. Once you’re locked up with a salmon, play the fish slowly and methodically. Forget all that pumping and fast reeling you see on TV. Instead, keep the tip of the rod up and never stop turning the reel, even if you aren’t gaining line. This method isn’t sexy, but it puts tired salmon into the net. Finally, if you are fishing with a partner, remember that landing big fish is a team sport. If you are on net duty, keep the net out of the water. You don’t want the plug or sinker to snag the mesh. Never jab at the fish or attempt to net a king that has its head angled down. If you are on the rod, stay calm. When the fish is worn out, guide it to the net, lift its head and lay it out, providing a nice easy target for the net man. CS FISHING

The prize, a big chrome-bright Sacramento River king, is something anglers look forward to in autumn, and despite many concerns about the overall health of salmon runs, this fall is showing promise for a good season. Scoring a ﬁsh like this requires proper technique and execution. (CAL KELLOGG)

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Fishing with my dad, I caught my ﬁrst ever trout in Plumas County 40plus years ago and I’ve been ﬁshing its waters ever since. Almanor, Davis, Frenchman, Antelope and Butt Valley Reservoir have been staples of mine for decades, yet Bucks Lake had long been a glaring hole on my Plumas County angling resume.

(CAL

During author Cal Kellogg’s recent visit to Plumas County’s Bucks Lake, he and his Lab Lucy focused on kokanee fishing and landed hard-fighting salmon to 16½ inches. For anglers wanting to escape late-summer heat and catch fish, this Sierra lake sitting at 5,100-plus feet makes for a great getaway. KELLOGG)

By Cal Kellogg

hen the ﬁnal tally is taken, I don’t think there’s another county in NorCal that can match Plumas County in terms of trout and landlocked salmon ﬁshing. That’s a bold statement, considering Northern California boasts a long list of outstanding trout and landlocked salmon lakes. Some of them are wellknown marquee destinations like Lake Shasta in Shasta County and Lassen County’s Eagle Lake, while others are more obscure and out of the way, such as Union Valley Reservoir in El Dorado County and Placer County’s French Meadows Reservoir. But the fact is, a trout and salmon enthusiast could spend a lifetime exploring Plumas County’s 2,613 square miles and never be left wanting in terms of action or possibilities.

calsportsmanmag.com | SEPTEMBER 2022 California Sportsman 73 BET YOU’LL GO BACK TO BUCKS! FISHING

On my way to other honey holes, I’d

TROUT, KOKANEE PLENTIFUL AND NICE-SIZED AT HIGH-ELEVATION PLUMAS COUNTY LAKE

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A colorful Bucks Lake brown trout is ready for release. Want a trophy brown? You can find them at Bucks. Pull large plugs and flies in the spring and fall for the fish of your dreams. To land a 10-plus-pound trophy you’ll have to combine those baits with plenty of patience. (CAL KELLOGG) seen the sign in Quincy announcing, “Bucks Lake That-A-Way!” Buddies of mine have long proclaimed the virtues of Bucks, and I knew the lake offered a full menu of cold-water species, but for some reason I’d never got around to making that right turn in Quincy leading to Bucks. Or I should say, I never got around to visiting Bucks until this July. The trip came together like this: With foothill temperatures tickling the 100-degree mark day after day, my wife Gena, Lucy the Labrador and I were ready to leave our responsibilities behind and beat the heat with a camping and fishing trip to the mountains. Where to go? We wanted to hit a high-elevation lake and preferred to visit a place we’d never been, so Bucks Lake filled the billWithnicely.a few keystrokes on the computer, I’d secured a lake-view camping site at Haskins Valley Campground right on the shore of the lake. The fishing promised to be good and the cool temps at 5,170 feet promised to be even better! Days later on July 18, I worked the wheel of the Suburban and guided our trailer sporting a pair of Hobie pedal-drive kayaks into Site 63 at the campground overlooking Haskins Bay. A couple hours later, the tent was up, the kayaks were wet and we were kicked back in our chairs eating sandwiches and sipping cold sodas. The fishing action would begin the next morning! BEFORE I GET INTO my fishing experience at Bucks, I’ll take a moment to give you an overview of the fishery, because I think it’s a place you’ll definitely want to visit. Bucks Lake was formed back in 1928 when Pacific Gas & Electric Company constructed a hydroelectric dam on Bucks Creek. With 1,827 surface acres when at capacity, the reservoir is just about the perfect size for a broad cross section of anglers. It’s large enough not to give guys running big aluminum sleds the claustrophobic feeling like many small high-mountain lakes do, but it’s not so large that it intimidates kayakers and other anglers fishing from small craft. Bucks features four public launch ramps, giving small-craft anglers easy access to all areas of the lake without having to cover large expanses of open water. Less time pedaling or paddling to reach the fishing grounds means more time fishing and more fish in the net. Bank anglers enjoy great action too, early and late in the season when the surface temperature is cool enough to lure predatory fish toward shore.

The kokanee were holding from 25 to 50 feet deep and I had the best success in the 35- to 40-foot range. A couple big boats were enjoying fast ﬁshing pulling micro hoochies, while I got all the action I wanted on small pink spinners and tiny orange and chrome spoons. I teamed everything with small dodgers and tipped the lures with shoepeg corn. I had corn spiked with several different scents, but corn treated with a little Karo Syrup and sea salt worked best.

SO, HERE ARE MY biggest takeaways from the trip: The campgrounds surrounding the lake are top notch and relatively uncrowded based on the light crowd we saw during the peak of the summer vacation season.

Chris Mayes and Brett Freitas show off a pair of 30-plus-inch Mackinaw they pulled out of Bucks Lake during an early-spring kayak ﬁshing mission. (CAL KELLOGG)

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The two mornings Lucy and I ﬁshed, we hit the water at dawn and I peddled out of the inlet – dropping kokanee gear at the mouth – and then trolled a path north toward the dam.

In terms of trout, you’ll find browns ranging up to and beyond 10 pounds, rainbows running upwards of 5 pounds and some of the biggest brook trout in the state. The average Bucks Lake brook trout is a pan-size fryer, but 2- to 3-pound fish are caught annually. The heavyweights at Bucks are the lake’s Mackinaw. Fish in the 12- to 15-pound class are common, 20-plus-pound trophies show up just about every year and unlike Tahoe and other lakes, you don’t need to go super deep to hook them. Early and late in the season you can find them 20 to 40 feet deep, and even in the heat of summer you seldom must go down more than 60 or 70.

Access is plentiful and both bait soakers and lure ﬂingers score well. The piscatorial menu at Bucks is impressive. Kokanee enthusiasts enjoy a robust landlocked sockeye population. So robust that the limit is currently 10 salmon per day and 20 in possession. The generous limit was instituted a few years back when the lake’s salmon were running small – say, 11 to 13 inches – but recently there has been an upward trend, and currently the kokanee are running 14 to 17 inches.

FOR ME, A VISIT to a lake is usually more of a recon mission than a hardcore ﬁshing trip, which accurately describes my recent visit to Bucks. The surface temperature was 70 degrees, so there was little action in the shallow waters of Haskins Bay, where I had my kayak banked.

The first morning, I had to play with the bite a little and didn’t score a stringer of salmon until about 11. Knowledge is king! On day two I had the bite dialed in, scoring five fish from 14 to 16 inches by 9:30 or so.

In terms of ﬁshing, I never strayed from the kokanee to search for trout

78 California Sportsman SEPTEMBER 2022 | calsportsmanmag.com FISHING

Welcome aboard the kayak! Kellogg wraps up a morning of kokanee fishing with a fine Bucks Lake sockeye. “In short, my Bucks Lake recon did nothing but stimulate my appetite for future exploration,” he writes. “I’ll be back this fall hoping to slap the rainbows and brookies around.” (CAL KELLOGG) or Macks, but I did have a Mack grab one of my hooked kokanee, leaving a bite mark that measured 3.5 inches across!My visit was at the warmest time of the year – the summer doldrums, if you will. From sources I’ve contacted, May is the time to score a big Mack and to hook multiple Macks per day while pulling big plugs, flies and spoons. Spring and fall are the top times for chasing rainbows and brook trout, when the fish tend to be spread out and scattered throughout shallow water areas looking for tasty targets of opportunity like small spoons and trolling flies in the 1- to 2-inch class. If a big brown is your ambition, spring is good, and fall is better. Trolling structure with big minnow plugs and trolling flies is the way to go, but patience is a key ingredient of success. In short, my Bucks Lake recon did nothing but stimulate my appetite for future exploration. I’ll be back this fall hoping to slap the rainbows and brookies around. And an early spring hunt for trophy Macks is on my must-do list for 2023. My advice to you is give Bucks a try this fall or next spring. You can thank me later! CS Editor’s note: Cal Kellogg is a longtime Northern California outdoors writer. Subscribe to his YouTube channel Fish Hunt Shoot Productions at youtube.com/user/ KelloggOutdoors.

California Sportsman Mag - September 2022

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The Editor’s Note

September bandtail pigeon hunt a great tuneup for bird dogs