Almanor Lake and Reports

Monday, June 27th, 2005

• By Les

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: Fished from Mon - Friday from shore. It rained on Saturday and the weather is just beginning to warm up. Caught some smallies on senkos and cranks on Monday but then the fishing shut down. fished rocks and around by the Dam. Late evening, no fish activity on the water. Fished for trout as the mayfly hatchings were just beginning. Counted 28 float tubes and boats in one area each night where we were fishing. Plenty of good size trout on flies. Hatchings seem to occur at 8:30pm each night and last for 1/2 hr and then the bite stops. Caught SMB on flies also.
  City: South San Francisco

  Tips: By Pratville, near the marina, there are two rocky peninsulas and the trout are holding right next to them each evening, waiting for the mayfly hatches. Using bobber with fly, cast out and retrieve very slowly. This action should last for 10 days. Weather was starting to get gloomy with forcast of 30% thunderstorm.

Saturday, June 18th, 2005

• By Larry Hemphill

  Water Temp: 61-65

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: Again, I brought winter to Almanor! My wife and I were going to stay at Lake Almanor Resort from Mon to Sat, but we left Friday noon as Almanor gave a repeat performance of the late May storm. Noon temp was 45, colder than in the May storm!! The wind Thurs reached the 50 mph range and I had to get my boat out of the lake in 4 foot swells. THAT is an adventure!! It snowed briefly in Chester - June 16th!!! The weather was pretty good Mon and Wed and so was the fishing! Tues was ok, except very windy. I fished the south penisula and west shore exclusively and found smallies in post spawn and spawn mode. The fish wern't as big as those in May, but I did catch many in the 2 1/2 to 3 lb range. The last one I hooked on Wed evening was a post-spawn, near 20 inch smallie. Who knows what she would have weighed a month earlier! The highlight of our stay was my guided trip with a mother who LOVES to fish and her 7 year old son who is a future Aaron Martens! In the first 20 minutes - his first smallie of the day - he casts-hooks-fights-and lands a 3 lb 3 oz smallie - all by himself - on 6 lb test. Yes, I was giving him loud verbal directions second by second!!!! I might put his photo in the photo section. Mom also caught a 2 lb 5 oz smallie. We caught 15 in our 4 1/2 hour trip - the 5 biggest about 10 1/2 lbs. We were able to sight-fish one or two and saw several crusiers since the water was finally calm. What a fun trip!! In spite of the weather, summer fishing is here because many of the 1 to 1 1/2 lb smallies are showing up. Smaller, but FUN!!
  City: Yuba City

  Tips: I was able to crank 5 smallies this trip on chartreuse Norman deep little-n's. They were all in the 2 to 2 1/2 lb range - mostly in the shadows of the evening. Topwater was a no-go. I and my clients were mostly split-shotting morning dawn, green craw, green pumpkin, and electric grape 4 inch worms. I was going to use Thurs and Fri to experiment with a lot of different baits, but never got a chance to. Caught a few fish in stumps, but mostly I targeted docks with deep water nearby. Lots of bass were on flats and not on the rock walls yet. Many of the points in May where I caught good quality bass didn't produce this time, maybe because the water was clearer. I did some dragging again this trip and it worked well. Most of our bigger bass were caught casting to targets however. The young boy's bass was caught on a Camanche Jack 4" early dawn worm in about 6 feet of water at the side of a dock. Yes, he made an excellent cast!

Tuesday, May 31st, 2005

• By Tim

  Water Temp: 64

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: Arrived 5/26 fished from 6:30 pm to 8 pm and put 9 in the boat with the larger fish running just under 3 lbs. Fised all day on Friday and caught 25-30 with the larger fish about 3 lbs. Fished Saturday am for a couple of hours and caught 6, Sunday evening for about 5 and Monday from 6:30 to 2 pm with 9 beign caught. Largest fish 2.97 with about 10 others at 2.92, 2.94, 2.95 rest of the fish around 2 lbs. Very few dinks caught. cold front came Friday night which slowed the bite down alot on Sat, Sun and Monday.
  City: Roseville

  Tips: Most fish came off of jig with a very lite bite. had to work for them. You had to dead stick for long periods of time to get the tick. Did catch a few on flukes, worms, jerk bait.

Tuesday, May 24th, 2005

• By Larry Hemphill

  Water Temp: 56-59

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Yes, I am the same person that posted last year, but this is 2005 - new report!! I put stained water to get your attention. Actually, the water ranged from muddy at Hamilton Branch and the north end to clear on the west side. I was planning to stay at Lake Almanor Resort and fish for about 4 1/2 days. Because of a major winter storm, I fished Tues evening for 2 hours in 37 degree weather and sleet. I couldn't go out until about two hours before dark on Thurs, where I caught 4 smallies on jigs and a 2 1/2 pounder on a crankbait. The storm was so bad on Wed that you couldn't see the lake - wow! At least I felt better and the air temp had warmed up to 48!!! I got a lot of reading in for two days - but stuck it out and am glad I did. Friday was worth it! The storm clouds cleared out slowly but the wind didn't - horrible wind for 4 days. I was able to launch on the west side and tried to fish the north end and was somewhat successful, catching 5 smallies to 3.1 lbs on cranks and split-shotting a Berkley Pulse worm (green pumpkin). Finally I decided to let the wind drag my boat around points with the split-shot rig on the west shore and started with a 3 1/4 pounder. The next three were all bigger, including one that would have been over 4, but she had already spawned. Those 4 big smallies were worth the trip - I wound up with a 15 lb 3 oz limit. Sat suddenly turned into a late spring day - 70 degrees and a dead flat lake - couldn't believe the change. Again, I started about noon and fished for about 7 hours, but also looked over new areas of the lake. I only caught 5 as the post-front must have hit that day. One was a 3 pounder. I wound up with 7 smallies on the trip from 3 to 3-11, just couldn't get the big bite. There were some bass on beds, but probably nothing like there will be this week. Had to get home to guide at Clear Lake.
  City: Yuba City

  Tips: One of the big Friday fish actually started spawning in my boat after I landed her. They are ready. I am always sad to hear that there are tournaments (there was one on Sat) in the spring where they probably move those spawners to who knows where. They can't exactly hide in that lake. I wish tournaments would only be held in the summer and fall. I have had a lot of success with split-shotting slightly bulky worms in junebug, green pumpkin, and morning dawn. They certainly worked well this time for some quality fish. I did throw a spinnerbait for awhile and got a tremendous hit, but missed it. Should have thrown it more. I tried topwater also - no action. Most of my bass were caught from 2 to 10 feet. I'll be back in a few weeks to do some guiding. Who knows, maybe another report will happen!!!!

Sunday, May 15th, 2005

• By SHASTACASCADEBASSANGLERS

  Water Temp: 58

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: HAD OUR MONTHLY TOURNAMENT WITH ABOUT 20 ANGLERS.
  TOP 5. 1ST PLACE BOB R. FISHED THE NORTH EAST END OF THE LAKE IN 8' TO 10' FEET DEEP DRAGGING A GRUB. HIS LIMIT WAS CLOSE TO 16 LBS.
  2ND PLACE STEVE B. WENT SIGHT FISHING WITH A DARTER HEAD HOOK TAIL WORM TO CATCH A 15.26 LB LIMIT IN 4' OF WATER.
  3RD PLACE JEEP S. WENT SIGHT FISHING ON THE WEST SHORE WITH WORMS TO CATCH A 12.71 LB LIMIT.
  4TH PLACE KEN L. CAUGHT HIS 12.51 LB LIMIT SIGHT FISHING WITH A GRUB IN THE SOUTH END OF THE LAKE.
  5TH PLACE KEN K. WAS ALSO SIGHT FISHING WITH PLASTIC BAITS TO CATCH A 12.44 LB LIMIT, FISHING THE NORTH EAST AREAS OF THE LAKE. LIMITS CAUGHT BY MOST OF THE ANGLERS, BASS IN GREAT SHAPE THIS YEAR. ALL SMALL MOUTH, NO LARGE MOUTH BASS REPORTED OR WEIGHED IN.
  City: REDDING

Friday, May 6th, 2005

• By Ted

  Water Temp: 50

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: I have been ask if there is alot of floating wood on the the lake. Any time you have high water level year you will have this problem. it is out there not a lot. Just be awear that it is there. Just slow down and keep your eyes open. At 3.50 per gal of gas who would want to run full boar anyway. stay safe.
  City: chester

• By Ted

  Water Temp: 50

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: The bite is on right now for prespawn bass. the past couple touneys it took in the 17# range to win. The lake is realy full right now and will be at max soon with the run off still coming in strong. The spawn will be on soon so remember that catch and release is very important this time of year. Also on June 3 we will be having our kids day fishing clinic at the chester park with lots of prizes, and all kids get a fishing pole. So if you are in the area stop by and help support the program
  City: Chester

  Tips: rip rip and then rip somemore. We are still working on the large mouth project. the numbers are getting better but we still need to do catch and release on them so they can make babys. I had one report that two 7#ers went home last week.

Sunday, May 1st, 2005

• By bazzcapt 1

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: fish are on beds big time on west side also starting to bedup good on eastshore but a little skidish if bedfishing is not your thing there is a ripbite.
  City: redding

  Tips: ghost and trout colors for ripbaits

• By bazzcapt 1

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: fish are on beds big time on west side also starting to bedup good on eastshore but a little skidish if bedfishing is not your thing there is a ripbite.

  Tips: ghost and trout colors for ripbaits

Wednesday, April 20th, 2005

• By Nathan

  Water Temp: ?

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: Does anybody Know the lake water temperature, I find it hard to belive that it is in the mid 60's When it is only in the mid 50's outside.
  City: Red Bluff

Friday, March 25th, 2005

• By Rip em and Lip em

  Water Temp: 51

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: Fishing in steady for smallmouths. Hit the rocks with brown tubes. Nothing else to be said.
  City: susanville

  Tips: Catch and Release

Thursday, October 7th, 2004

• By Larry Hemphill

  Water Temp: 65

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: I was able to spend Tues and Wed fishing beautiful Lake Almanor, soaking up the sun and blue sky. It was fun guiding myself! Actually, the weather was too good for great fishing - the lake was basically flat for the two days I fished, along with bright sun. Each day I was out from about noon to 6:30 pm. I caught about seven the first day, losing several for some reason. One was a near 4 pound smallie I brought to the boat that hit a rip bait as soon as it hit the water. She exploded on it, but the hooks let me down at the end. I did get a 3-7 on a crankbait, which was the biggest of the trip. My 5 fish limit was near 15 pounds. The second day I landed 12 to 3 1/4 lbs with a 13-6 limit. I was able to drop-shot 2 fish, land 1 on a jig, and 2 split-shotting. On a tip from local guide Ted Pilgrim, I targeted stumps rather than rock and mainly threw rip baits and crankbaits. Ted was right on! I was surprised that some smallies would hit a rip bait in 2 to 3 feet of water with bright sky in the middle of the day. The crank bite got better as the sun got lower. I think I only saw one bass fisherman and just a few trout fishermen. I was honing my fall skills for some future guide trips next year. The bite was slow but the quality was good.
  City: Yuba City

  Tips: Have you ever been on the water and just enjoyed watching the bass? When I threw the Lucky Craft rip baits, 3 to 5 smallies would follow it out to the boat, swim around and watch me (I guess)! We just stared at each other!! I saw two over 5 pounds. They were very spooky in the shallow water - if they saw me - no chance to get them to bite. Occasionally there would be a little riffle on the water and that helped the bite. I was using a Storm Wiggle Wart (color #37 - red craw) and the old standby - a brown craw Rebel deep wee-R. I did throw the magnum black Wiggle Wart as I do at dark - looking for the toad. My toad Tues evening was embarrasing - 8 inches! My only dink however!! All my bass were 1 3/4 lbs to 3 1/2 pounds, mostly over 2 3/4 lbs. I wanted to night fish, but thought better of it since I had 4 guide trips in a row when I got home. I'll bet it would have been good!!

Saturday, June 26th, 2004

• By Larry Stafford

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: Well like Larry said, the fishing was a bit slower than past times, but that didnt stop us from pulling in some nice fish. I actually believe i saw you fishing with the father and son Larry, you came right in front of our dock and then the little guy caught a decent fish about 200 feet away from us. Caught all of our fish on 4 and 3 inch senkos in green and brown colors, also picked up a few fish on Spider Jigs. All but a few smallmouth were very nice fish. As Larry H. reported the fish were not holding on rock points at all. I noticed that transitions from rocky points to weedy beaches held lots of fish. We probably ended up catching 15 fish that were all over 2.5 pounds, with 2 of the fish being over 3 pounds. On the last night i went over to Lassen View docks where we had caught a few others before, my girlfriend had a 5++ smallmouth follow in here senko all the way to the dock, biggest i have seen in the lake ever. Then i hooked into a monster, a for sure 4+ fish on a senko in about 30 feet of water. I could feel the fish was rubbing on something, then noticed the evil dock cable in front of me. I tried to get over the cable but the fish took one more good run snapping my 8 pound maxima. I was really depressed considering it was our last night and my girlfriend had a bigger fish than me for the week. Oh well, theres always next time. Most of our fish were caught early in the morning from about 6-noon and then in the evening from about 7-9, with the exception of a few rather windy nights. The lake usually becomes very windy from about 3-7 in the evening but we had a few noon-10 windy days. The lake is beautiful, we will be returning this august for another week.
  City: Rancho Cordova

• By Larry Hemphill

  Water Temp: 71

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: Well, I finally hit for the cycle! I caught a smallmouth a few years ago at Clear Lake and I just caught my first largemouth at Almanor. She was fat! I fished near the north end and got 5 good hits but only landed 2. I got a 3 lb 2 oz smallie followed by the 3 lb 12 oz largemouth. They were both caught on Rodstrainer Jigs w/ #180 Yamamoto grub. I caught another 2-9 on the same jig another evening. My wife and I stayed again at Lake Almanor Resort for a little over a week. Frank and Holly run a great place with good docks for the boats (530 596-3337). We arrived at the beginning of post-spawn and the fishing was very tough compared to the time I was there last year. The reaction bite was better however as I caught several on rip baits and topwater. I lost two big smallies on my Chug Bug - maybe one about 4 lbs. Darn! One evening I got onto a fairly good crankbait bite (Wiggle Warts, color #37) and actually landed 5 for 9 1/2 pounds! The biggest was 2-11. The next night - nothing! We had several evenings of heavy south winds which might have something to do with the sporadic bite. I had a very nice guide trip over last weekend with a father and 9 year old son. We caught 10 in about 6 hours with the boy landing a 1-15 smallie and dad finally getting a 2-2 smallie on the last cast - around noon! Wow, what a surprise!! Morning dawn and purple ghost worms, split-shotted, did the trick that day. Drop-shotting was a dead issue the whole trip and dragging wasn't much better. Many good fish hit the worms but wouldn't take 'em! Sounds like I was there at the wrong time?! I'm sure the day and night bite will pick up in a week or two. Anyway, we did have 10 smallies over 2 pounds in the boat and the scenery was as beautiful as ever! Great thunderstorm too - hail and an inch of rain. I'll bet the bass loved that!
  City: Yuba City

  Tips: Contrary to last year, I did not find many bass in rocky areas. They had moved away from rock walls and points. I found most of the action near weeds and stump flats - in about 6 to 10 feet of water. The evening bite was always better as it usually is for me. The largemouth morning was the exception. I got the most action in shadows or when the sun was low. Six pound test is a must when the sun is high.

Friday, June 11th, 2004

• By Mike Ramos

  Water Temp: 64.7

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: We spent five day at Lake Almanor Resort. Had a great time! Smallmouth are holding between 18-24 feet. Caught all but a few on Senkos. If you are set up to fish at night, the smallmouth move into the shallows and the fishing is great. Capped the week off with a nice 24 inch Eagle Lake Trout on a J6 Black and Gold Rapala. Thanks to Frank and Holly at Lake Almanor Resort.
  City: San Leandro

  Tips: Daytime fishing is best on the south end using Senkos at 18-24 feet. After dark a 6 inch stick or jerk bait works well.

Sunday, June 6th, 2004

• By MARK TURNER

  Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

  Report: Anybody have some tips for a couple of guys coming up from the Reno area for the day? We're just lookin' to have some fun, get away from the old lady, and catch some fish. We're used to fishing Shasta, Clear Lake, and Oroville. How can we get some fish in the boat?
  City: CARSON CITY

Sunday, April 25th, 2004

• By Rick Tietz

  Water Temp: 52

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: I fished with Janet Thompson on Tue. from 6am to 4pm. Started ripping and top water down by the dam and couldn't get a reaction bite so we started fishing the east side flats and saw lots of 2-4 lb. smallies on beds and cruising. Pitching a Basstrix (flashtrix) smelt and a threadfin (bait fry) on a drop shot, we caught about 30 bass up to 4 1/2 lbs.
  Went back wed. with John Hamman and was greeted with a monster north wind, so we luanched at little Norway (north end) and fished what ever we could in the protected coves and caught about 20 nice smallies to 3-1/2lbs. useing the same drop shot baits pitching to beds and cruising fish in 4 to 8ft.
  City: Sacramento

Friday, April 9th, 2004

• By Bill K

  Water Temp: 51

  Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

  Report: Cameron. We are just stingy up here and want to
  keep Almanor to ourselves, however more and more are finding out about the smallmouth. Right now it
  is very good, with fish moving up. You can get them on plastics and tubes, alongwith cranks and
  topwater will work, but slower, right now.
  Any good looking shoreline/rocks or structure is
  the place to start. Have fun on your next trip. Bill K
  City: Eagle Lake

Monday, April 5th, 2004

• By Cameron

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: I come up to my folks house on the pennisula about once a week, I wish someone would take advantage of this site and make some posts. I fished for trout here since I was a kid with relative ease. I'm ready to attack this lake for some bass. Any info. on bass fishing in Lake Almanor would be helpful. Thank you so very much.
  City: Rocklin or Lake Almanor

Saturday, October 4th, 2003

• By Mike Ramos

  Water Temp: 64-66

  Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

  Report: A antastic 5 day stay at Lake Almanor Resort. The smallmouth ishing was great. My wie caught her all time 4.0 lber. Also a 3.1 . The smallmouth were holding between 18 to 23 eet. We ended up catching our largest ish by draggin jointed Rapalas at 20 eet deep using the riggers, still it was a blast. The best time was discovering that in the aternoon the wind would come up and blow the smelt into small coves on the east side o the lake, the birds were our ish inders, and the ishing was ast urious during these times. Not only were the smallmouth located here but the Trout were piled up in these coves. Incredible time, incredible ishing trip. Thanks to Frank at Lake Almanor Resort and thanks to Larry or his last report about this lake.
  City: San Leandro

  Tips: Fish are in small pockets, ind them on your electronics and work lures that resemble the orage(Pond Smelt). Look or the birds working, thats where the bait is balling up. Fish outside the bait using kastmasters or bronze or gold jointed plugs.