Almanor Fishing Adventures, Outlook for 2008
www.almanorfishingadventures.com


      Heavy snows this past winter covered Almanor from late December into February and it's not finished yet. The 2008 season has given us a great snow pack in the surrounding water shed. Last year the rain and snow totals were very low and there was talk of drought being just another bad season away. Several seasonal streams never started flowing, even Bailey Springs stopped flowing. Last time that happened was about 30 years ago. Water quality and quantity is a good thing and we will have plenty of both this year, Almanor will be full to the brim. Watch out for floating hazards however, I would expect lots of wood and floating logs to be out there during the runoff.

     This could be the best of times. Almanor's Smelt population really made a comeback the past two years and in big numbers. Large clouds of these bait fish were all over the lake, millions and millions, followed by schools of actively feeding Salmon and Trout. Along with the Hex hatch, Midge hatch and a good water year, 2008 is looking to be a very interesting year. Fishing was solid last season, especially the King Salmon. Lots of action with fish up to 6 pounds but most were about 3 pounds and up. You can expect more action like that this year. Salmon plants in 2005 through 2006, approximately 120,000, will be the fish we'll be catching this year and perhaps some hold over Salmon from the 2004 plant, which was 176,000. With the large quanity of bait in the water the past 2 years the Salmon have been feeding well during the winter months, when food is usually a little more scarce. This is the same of course for Rainbows and Browns. We caught many big fat fish last season that were gorging on smelt. I mean real hogs, we called them footballs with fins and there's every reason to expect the same this year


    It was a mix of trolling and bait fishing that produced most of our fish last year. I like trolling with a plain old crawler, threaded and scented and pulled real slow with a good swivel or two. I also use a 04 size Ultra Violet dodger/crawler combination. We trolled UV dodgers last year about 50% of the season with great success. Fish can see light in that spectrum and will come from a greater distance to get a better look, especially in poor clarity water conditions or just downrigged deeper where there's less light. Pro-Cure, the bait scent company, has now added UV material to it's scents and will be from now on, according to Steve Lynch National sales manager for Pro-Cure. So, there must be something to it. I haven't tried the new UV scent product line yet but I have a bunch for this season. I've been using Pro-Cures product for years and recommend them when fishing Almanor or any lake for that matter. It's always a good idea to use some kind of scent, it's a great attraction and it masks human scents, which fish don't like.

All in all, I can't wait to get all this snow cleared and let the fishing and fun begin. Almanor Fishing Adventures guide service is now into it's 6th season. We are currently booking fishing trips for this spring, summer and fall. We are service orientated and will pick you up at your dock or close to your accommodations. We provide all tackle and bait, have family packages and, love taking kids fishing.

Look for my current "Almanor Fishing Report" on, www.anglerboys.com. To book a trip or for more information about Almanor Fishing Adventures check out www.almanorfishingadventures.com.

Check out the Lake Almanor page for more information on fishing Lake Almanor and current fishing report. Click Here