- Joined
- Mar 11, 2001
- Messages
- 70,011
- Reaction score
- 1,003
It's time to match that hatch, and switch to fish salmon eggs
Thom Gabrukiewicz, Redding Record Searchlight
October 27, 2002
It's 7 a.m. and there's steam rising from the lower Sacramento River near where Clear Creek pours in.
Everything is muted with the rush of the water. But in a shallow riffle downstream, a chinook salmon rolls and splashes — an indication that the female is brushing aside pebbles to build a redd, the place she will release between 4,000 and 14,000 eggs that will be fertilized with milt from a hump-backed, hook-jawed male.
The egg hatch has begun specifically on the lower Sac, but on the Trinity and Klamath rivers as well. This is a time of great success for anglers who prefer their fish come from rushing water.
Most fly fishermen will refer to the caddis hatch, or mayfly hatch or hex hatch, matching their flies to whatever bug that's emerging from the river.
"We call it the omelet hatch," said master fly angler Mike Mercer with The Fly Shop in Redding. "Flows are down, and there's plenty of wading opportunities. And larger fish will move into the shallows.
This time of the year, we know that the trout are going to be following the salmon, sucking up the eggs. It's a great time of year."
Thus, fly fishermen will — or should — be throwing fly patterns like the standard single egg, the clown egg or the Pettis Unreal Egg.
The latter two are favorites of guides at The Fly Shop (including Jim Pettis, The Fly Shop guide who came up with the unreal pattern in colors peachy king, brite orange and Oregon cheese).
"That's a good one," Mercer said. "Because it's the exact same size as a salmon egg. That is key."
The idea is to get the egg pattern down to fish level — at or near the bottom — with some split shot and under an indicator. Anglers should aim for a dead-drift, since presentation is everything.
Bank anglers with a spin rod, a jar of Pautzke's Salmon Eggs, some surgical tubing and solid pencil lead will find the lower Sac an angler's paradise as well. Bounce a single egg on a No. 10 hook behind an inch-long piece of lead encased in the surgical tubing 18 to 24 inches from the hook. Cast ahead of your position and let the current do its job.
Just be sure to set the hook on anything that feels suspiciously like a bite — whether you're holding an 8-foot fly rod or a 6-foot spin rod.
Of course, you don't have to use Pautzke's eggs. If you've already been out on the lower Sac for the fantastic salmon run (and your guide didn't confiscate the roe from that 24-pound hen you hooked on a K-15 Kwikfish for his own), it is fairly simple to cure your own eggs. There are a couple of commercial products on the market, but here's a couple of homemade recipes I've found on the Web at a site called Fishing in the Northwest (www.angelfire.com/wa/nwfishing): • This one's called Leddy's Egg Cure. Mix 1 cup each of sugar, borax and salt into a quart of water.
Cut eggs into bait size and place in solution for an hour. Let air dry overnight on paper towels, then place in baggies until ready to use. You can use the eggs in their natural color, or go to a cake shop to get red dye. Cake dye seems to work pretty well. • This one comes by way of anglers on the Olympic Peninsula and sounds pretty strange. If anyone tries it, I'd like to hear how it works.
Mix one part raspberry Jell-O mix, one part salt and three parts borax. Sprinkle the mixture in each fold of the eggs and on the skin side of the skein and dry on paper towels (with plenty of newspaper backing) in the refrigerator for one to two days. These eggs apparently will freeze forever and keep in the fridge for at least a month-and-a-half.
In both cases, just make sure the roe you start with is fresh, that you've bled the female immediately after the catch and that you rinse the skeins, then pat-dry them with non-dyed paper towels.
The bag limit now on the lower Sacramento River is one hatchery trout from 650 feet below Keswick Dam all the way to San Francisco Bay, with the exception of the closed area around the Red Bluff Diversion Dam, according to Department of Fish and Game regulations (it's best to check your 2002 Sport Fishing Regulations booklet for all the rules).
But for the sake of the fishery's future, consider catch-and-release practices with all the trout.
One last thing — when fishing the egg hatch, watch out for the redds. Give any gravel depression a wide berth and don't go spooking the salmon that are sitting on a redd.
A strong run of salmon that spawn successfully this year will assure all anglers of future egg hatches.
Thom Gabrukiewicz's Outside column appears every Sunday in the Record Searchlight. He can be reached at 225-8230 or at tgabrukiewicz@redding.com.
Thom Gabrukiewicz, Redding Record Searchlight
October 27, 2002
It's 7 a.m. and there's steam rising from the lower Sacramento River near where Clear Creek pours in.
Everything is muted with the rush of the water. But in a shallow riffle downstream, a chinook salmon rolls and splashes — an indication that the female is brushing aside pebbles to build a redd, the place she will release between 4,000 and 14,000 eggs that will be fertilized with milt from a hump-backed, hook-jawed male.
The egg hatch has begun specifically on the lower Sac, but on the Trinity and Klamath rivers as well. This is a time of great success for anglers who prefer their fish come from rushing water.
Most fly fishermen will refer to the caddis hatch, or mayfly hatch or hex hatch, matching their flies to whatever bug that's emerging from the river.
"We call it the omelet hatch," said master fly angler Mike Mercer with The Fly Shop in Redding. "Flows are down, and there's plenty of wading opportunities. And larger fish will move into the shallows.
This time of the year, we know that the trout are going to be following the salmon, sucking up the eggs. It's a great time of year."
Thus, fly fishermen will — or should — be throwing fly patterns like the standard single egg, the clown egg or the Pettis Unreal Egg.
The latter two are favorites of guides at The Fly Shop (including Jim Pettis, The Fly Shop guide who came up with the unreal pattern in colors peachy king, brite orange and Oregon cheese).
"That's a good one," Mercer said. "Because it's the exact same size as a salmon egg. That is key."
The idea is to get the egg pattern down to fish level — at or near the bottom — with some split shot and under an indicator. Anglers should aim for a dead-drift, since presentation is everything.
Bank anglers with a spin rod, a jar of Pautzke's Salmon Eggs, some surgical tubing and solid pencil lead will find the lower Sac an angler's paradise as well. Bounce a single egg on a No. 10 hook behind an inch-long piece of lead encased in the surgical tubing 18 to 24 inches from the hook. Cast ahead of your position and let the current do its job.
Just be sure to set the hook on anything that feels suspiciously like a bite — whether you're holding an 8-foot fly rod or a 6-foot spin rod.
Of course, you don't have to use Pautzke's eggs. If you've already been out on the lower Sac for the fantastic salmon run (and your guide didn't confiscate the roe from that 24-pound hen you hooked on a K-15 Kwikfish for his own), it is fairly simple to cure your own eggs. There are a couple of commercial products on the market, but here's a couple of homemade recipes I've found on the Web at a site called Fishing in the Northwest (www.angelfire.com/wa/nwfishing): • This one's called Leddy's Egg Cure. Mix 1 cup each of sugar, borax and salt into a quart of water.
Cut eggs into bait size and place in solution for an hour. Let air dry overnight on paper towels, then place in baggies until ready to use. You can use the eggs in their natural color, or go to a cake shop to get red dye. Cake dye seems to work pretty well. • This one comes by way of anglers on the Olympic Peninsula and sounds pretty strange. If anyone tries it, I'd like to hear how it works.
Mix one part raspberry Jell-O mix, one part salt and three parts borax. Sprinkle the mixture in each fold of the eggs and on the skin side of the skein and dry on paper towels (with plenty of newspaper backing) in the refrigerator for one to two days. These eggs apparently will freeze forever and keep in the fridge for at least a month-and-a-half.
In both cases, just make sure the roe you start with is fresh, that you've bled the female immediately after the catch and that you rinse the skeins, then pat-dry them with non-dyed paper towels.
The bag limit now on the lower Sacramento River is one hatchery trout from 650 feet below Keswick Dam all the way to San Francisco Bay, with the exception of the closed area around the Red Bluff Diversion Dam, according to Department of Fish and Game regulations (it's best to check your 2002 Sport Fishing Regulations booklet for all the rules).
But for the sake of the fishery's future, consider catch-and-release practices with all the trout.
One last thing — when fishing the egg hatch, watch out for the redds. Give any gravel depression a wide berth and don't go spooking the salmon that are sitting on a redd.
A strong run of salmon that spawn successfully this year will assure all anglers of future egg hatches.
Thom Gabrukiewicz's Outside column appears every Sunday in the Record Searchlight. He can be reached at 225-8230 or at tgabrukiewicz@redding.com.
