Glory Hole Sports , Lake Melones Report 1-3

[Fishing Report]

GLORY HOLE SPORTS

2892 HIGHWAY 49

ANGELS CAMP, CA. 95222

(209) 736-4333 FAX (209) 736-0802

P.O. BOX 1195

MAIL ghs@goldrush.com

Check out our web site at www.gloryholesports.com

New Melones camping reservations:

(877) 444-6777 or www.recreation.gov (enter New Melones, then Glory Hole or Iron Horse area)





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Glory Hole Sports Newsletter

January 2, 2012



Dear John,



Whoo! We have been busy this past week- it has felt like summer at Glory Hole Sports, both with the amazing weather, and the amount of business we have done. The sunshine, the fish biting, and the holidays have really brought out the anglers. And they have not been disappointed! Melones is starting out the New Year right- producing some great fish for everyone, and a new lake record brown trout for one lucky young man!



Michael Oliveira of Hilmar was bass fishing by the dam when he caught the beast. Being a bass angler, he didn't even realize what a great catch he had until he got to the boat ramp and someone told him he better take the fish to Glory Hole Sports to be weighed! He is going to have it mounted.



Dan and I got out for about an hour on Sunday evening. We just went down to the bank in Angels Cove. We caught three nice trout for dinner in that time. We lost several more- we should have been using smaller hooks. We were saying how lucky we are that we can run down and catch some fish, and be home eating them in half an hour. Beats the city life any day! There was a family in te cove next to us. The kids were running all around, exploring the little creek and enjoying being outside. They would get so excited when someone caught a fish. It was so fun to watch them!





Dan likes them fried up. He filets them, and I dredge the fillets in flour, dip them in beaten egg, and then coat them in panko and lemon pepper before frying them in hot peanut oil. How do you cook trout?



Remember to buy your 2012 fishing license. You may want to do that before the day you plan on fishing- The new Fish and Game computer system is full of glitches and bugs when they get busy- it freezes up, and we (along with all stores that sell licenses) are having a terrible time with it right now. Sometimes it is down for 30-45 minutes, and we can't sell licenses during this time. So give yourself plenty of time when you plan on buying one.



Have a happy and healthy 2012!



Melanie

Take a Kid Fishing
We love to complain about young people spending their time playing violent video games, staring at their computers, and watching too much TV.



You can teach them something else to do with their time, if you take the time to share your passion for fishing with a kid. Grap your child, your grandchild, or a kid your neighbor's kid, and teach them how much fun it is to get outside and go fishing. Give them the gift of your knowledge.



The skills you teach them will help keep them out of trouble. And you can have some amazing conversations when all the electronic distractions are gone! Their smile will be your reward.



Check out the smiles on these lucky kids this week:





Porter Franklin (with Duncan Franklin) caught a 2-pound, 6-ounce rainbow on white Poer Eggs while bank fishing in Angels Cove.



Ian Cornelius and Jayson Koishor got into some nice holdovers while bank-fishing off of Glory Hole Point. They used green Poer Bait and Roostertails to catch their fish, wighing up to 3-pounds, 2-ounces. The 5-fish limit weighed 13 1/2 pounds!



Baily Atkin went fishing with JR Shileds, and caught this nice rainbow on a crawler while bank fishing off Glory Hole Point.





Robert Mercer, Joey Cassalli, Caden Spurr and Spencer Berdahl had a good day while bank fishing off Glory Hole Point. They used garlic-scented Berkley Gulp Bait.





Nik Schoening, Dylan and Ryan Weighlein had a great time soaking pink Power Bait off in Angels Cove.



New Melones Report
Water Conditions: New Melones Lake is currently holding 1,971,373 acre-feet of water. The lake level has been steadily and slowly rising for the last few weeks. It is currently at 1050 ft. above sea level and 38 ft. from full. The water temperature has dropped, and is currently 52-53 degrees. The lake has turned over.





*Remember- you can see more photos from the week at www.gloryholesports.com.



Trout: Very good! We had another great week of trout fishing.

The new lake record brown trout was caught on December 30, 2011. Michael Oliveira caught this massive 13-pound 4-ounce fish and he wins The Glory Hole Sports Big Fish Contest. He was fishing near the dam with a small (similar to a Rapala Shad-Rap SR-5) shad-patterned crank bait. He says he saw something large swirl, so he made a cast. The fish followed his bait back to the boat and then crushed it. The big hen was full of eggs, and was dropping them like crazy- she would probably have weighed closer to 14 pounds if she had retained them. She was 26 ½" long and had a 20 ½" girth. The previous record was 13-pounds and 3-ounces. This is considered to be the best time of the year to target the big brown trout. Bank anglers have really been doing well using Power Eggs or Power Bait to catch their limits. Rainbow and chartreuse are definitely the most productive colors. You can get a few more bites a day by adding a little scent to your bait. Garlic has been the most popular scent for applying to bait, and shad scent works best on casting lures. This is a great time to take your kids fishing- the hot action will keep them from getting bored! Trolling anglers have been having luck top-lining and using side planners. A single nightcrawler threaded onto a Wedding Ring behind a Sling Blade is hard to beat. Needlefish, Excel, and Vance's spoons are also catching a lot of fish. Shad patterns such as, natural shad, chrome, and cop car will resemble what fish are feeding on. Sometimes bright colors such as chartreuse, flame orange, copper, and gold, will catch their attention better than natural colors. To make your lures even more appealing, add a trolling grub, hootchie skirt, or a piece of crawler. For targeting brown trout, try using a Rapala J9, Sebile Magic Swimmer, or an S-Waver to coax these large aggressive fish.



Grandpa Bob Bumbaca took out his #1 fishing buddy- grandson Blake Kuehl for day on the lake. Blake landed this 4-pound, 8-ounce beautiful brown trout while trolling a shad-patterned broken-back Rapala 100 feet deep. Nice Fish! And nice grandpa!



15-year-old Joeseph Devncemzi caught this limit or 'bows on chartreuse Power Bait while bank-fishing off of Glory HOle Point- the biggest was 2 1/2 pounds.



Steve Olson and Kyle Wise trolled Excels and Rapalas 20" deep in the South Fork upriver to catch these limits. They used Procure's Bloody Tuna scent.



Kokanee: Done for the season.



Bass: Pretty good. The fish are extremely healthy this year. They are schooled up and gorging themselves on the abundance of shad. There are a lot of 2-pound-plus spotted bass. Once you find the bait, the fish will be nearby. Spoons are a great way to imitate injured and dying shad. The bass have a hard time passing on easy prey. Also, try using a drop-shot rig. Shad-patterned hand-poured worms have been working good for most anglers. Larger fish tend to feed on crawdads, and small planted trout. Use Zoom craws and tubes to mimic a crawdad and if the wind kicks up a little, try using a trout-patterned swim bait. Remember to practice catch and release, especially largemouth bass as we are seeing fewer each year.





Gino Chiarpotti (son of bass fishing guide John Chiarpotti) shows off some nice Melones spotted bass, caught onsculpin jigs from California Reservoir Lures. Bass were 50-70 feet deep, and feeding heavily on sculpin.



Catfish: We have had very few reports, but there aren't many people targeting catfish. Try fishing 35-70 feet on deep ledges and main lake points. The catfish will feed at any time during the day- you just have to be patient. It is best to use two rods with two different baits. This way if the fish don't go for one offering they might go for the other. Using baits that are natural such as nightcrawlers or shad will often trick the bigger ones into biting. Soaking your bait in Pro Cure scent will make it even more appealing to those lunker cats. Leave your bail open so the cats can't feel the line if still-fishing. Another way to catch them is to fish a weightless rig. Put enough bait on your hook to have enough weight so you can make a long cast. This rig will sink slowly and drift and roll along the bottom. There were no fish weighed in for the Glory Hole Sports Big Fish of the Week Contest.



Crappie and bluegill: Slow. Using small minnows, red worms, and meal worms on a slip-float rig fished 15-25 feet deep will work. Generally 4-6 pound test line will get you more bites and fishing light tackle can be a fun way to catch them.



Guides' Reports
Danny Layne
Fish'n Dan's Guide Service
Twain Harte, Ca.
209 586 2383


Don Pedro Report

Hello,
Very unseasonable weather has brought on a very good bite here on Don Pedro. Recent plants of rainbows from the Moccasin Fish Hatchery have placed a lot of planters at a depth of 10' to 20' in Mexican Gulch, also found action off the Fleming Marina into Fleming Bay. Small spinners,
Ex-cel, Needlefish or Tripleteaser Lures or try the flasher/crawler combo's for these very active rainbows. For some bigger bows there is some very good action
for 17" to 19" bows in the river channel above Rough n Ready Island working toward the Wards Ferry Bridge, drifting nightcrawlers at 30' for fat bows to three pounds.
With the New Year come the challenge of targeting the healthy population of King Salmon found here in Don Pedro. Kings are biting in Fleming Bay over the river channel
into Middle Bay at depths from 150' to 180' on slow rolled Threadfin Shad, Kings to three pounds.

Regards,
Danny Layne
Fish'n Dan's Guide Service
Twain Harte, Ca.
209 586 2383
Help us Support a Local Marine
We are continuing to send packages to Marine Patrick Rowe and his fellow Marines. Security is very tight, so he is not able to share information with us, but we have received several thank-you notes from the guys. Please keep the donations coming- it means a lot to the young men to know that they are not forgotten while they are overseas serving our country.


Help us support a local Marine and his platoon. We are accepting donations of items (see list, below) or cash (which we will use to make purchases and for postage). We will be sending packages weekly.

Local Marine Patrick Rowe is 24 years old- he will turn 25 on November 18.



An Angels Camp- Bret Harte High School graduate of 2005, He Joined the Marine Corps in April of 2008. He and Kate Beckmen were Married last April. She is from Arnold and also a Bret Harte Grad.





Patrick was an Infantry Machine Gunner his first deployment to Afghanistan. He was awarded the Bronze Star for Valor during his last deployment.





Here is a link to a news report:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5YbxZsp2-I



Support the Troops Care Package

"Wish List"

FOOD ITEMS (High nutritional value types)
Beef Jerky
Protein Bars (like athletes use)
Backpacking food, such as Dried Fruit, Clif Bars, Trail Mix
Nuts, Sunflower seeds, in smaller size packages
Peanut Butter, Nutella
Non-perishable, individual packaged snacks
Individual-sized Powdered Drink Mix, like Gatorade or Crystal Light
Coffee, ground or instant, Tea Bags
Tuna- the ones in foil bags are easiest to ship
small packaged seasonings
Gum and candy
TOILETRIES
Barbasol or cheap Shaving Cream, the white kind (for use on patrol)
Q-Tips (very important for cleaning self and guns- highest priority)
Lip Balm in a tube, such as Burt's bees, or Carmex
Disposable Razors (Multi-blade for shaving rough beards)
Sunscreen, non-stinging, "Faces", Sport-types
Baby Wipes (Thickest type), hand sanitizer,
Shower gel, deodorant, toothpaste, disposable toothbrushes
Foot care products, spray, powder, insoles, creams
PERSONAL CARE
Winter Socks ( merino wool, polypropylene; Brown, Green, Black)
Thermals (dark colors)?
Gloves, Hand warmers (like Hot Hands)
T-shirts (OD Green)
Writing Materials (Paper, pens)
Magazines (appropriate materials)
Computer Flash drives
Small toys to give to the local children