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New Melones Lake and Reports

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Tuesday, December 31st, 2019

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    Report: by THE DR » Tue Dec 31, 2019 9:31 am

    I was there Sunday. We had a dozen fish to 4lbs. Mostly fishing deep ledges and deep island tops. Best bite was from 20-55ft. Everything came on dropshot shad baits and shakey head shad color.

    I threw the mag and glides part of the time and never had a follower...

Monday, December 30th, 2019

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    Report: by Whoopbass » Mon Dec 30, 2019 9:27 pm

    I was there with my partner on Saturday for the first time in 6 months. We caught 28 fish all day with nothing over 2 1/2 pounds. The fish were scattered anywhere from 10' down to 60'. All we threw were nail weighted senkos.
    We fished the South end and half way up river. The entire lake fished about the same. Seemed like up river the fish liked the bait shook pretty good and the south end we had to dead stick it with an occasional shake. The fishing wasn't great. There were a couple times where we didn't get bit for an hour or so.

Friday, November 22nd, 2019

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    Water Temp: 61

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: My friend Fred and I fished New Melones for 2 days Nov 21-22. I have only been here a few times and never at this time of year. The first day we struggled to locate fish while we looked for bait, hoping to find a spoon bite. We were fishing steeper areas in between the bridges. Expected the fish to be deep. We only manged 5 decent fish on a variety of baits. Next day we changed tactics and fished major creeks off the main body. Much better day. We found fish in the top 15 feet willing to take tubes and Ned rigs. We totaled 20+ decent fish, biggest was 3-12 plus a couple 3 pounders and several more in the mid 2 pound range. We figure the best 5 were 14 pounds. We were pretty happy with the end result. Really like this lake, it fishes a lot like Berryessa..

    Tips: Best areas were 45 degree banks and points with a mix of large rock and clay. Shade or a breeze seemed to help the bite. Hindsight, I might try an underspin or jerk bait along those banks with some wind. Watch for grebes, the birds were in all the areas we caught fish.

Friday, September 13th, 2019

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    Water Temp: 78

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished four of five days around this date. Fishing was slow but I did manage to catch 1-2 okay fish in the 2-4 pound range each day. Farther up the river, there seemed to be a morning topwater bite at dawn that lasted only 20-30 minutes. After that, deep was the ticket with underspin swimbaits working in 20-30 feet of water but again, pretty slow bite. Also snagged a 2.5 pounder under a rock with a wacky worm. And dredged a few out in the late morning near shore using a deep diving crankbait (orange).

    Tips: Fish the points, as I had zero luck in the pockets

Thursday, September 12th, 2019

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    Water Temp: 76.4

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: A quick trip, fished from 5 pm to 9:30 pm. Fishing was slow overall. I caught about 7 small fish 12" and smaller on jigs, worms, and spinnerbaits from the bank out to 20' depths. Maybe the fishing will pick up when cooler weather arrives.

Thursday, August 29th, 2019

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    Water Temp: 79.5-80.5

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Launched out of Glory Hole around 4:30 pm. Since only my 2nd time to this lake, I scouted a few miles of shoreline, saw some amazing structure, and noted some fish were busting shad in one cove. After I finished scouting, I returned to the topwater action cove and found they were small fish, so switched to other baits. Fishing was very slow until dusk, I picked up a dink on a crankbait, then I got a 2.5 pound LM on a 6" worm (I think was an old Magic Worms summer moss color). That was it for daytime. After dark, I motored over to a rocky point inside a cove and found the action good (though size only about 1-2 pounds) black/blue jigs and the 5" fat ribbed Power Worm in dark grape. Around 9:30 pm, I was working my way along the bank out of the cove to the main body and found waves and wind. So, I called it a night and headed back across the whitecaps to the ramp, caught a lot of spray on the way back. I think I would have found some heavier fish if I had been able to stay out later.

    Tips: Main and secondary rocky points were the best.

Saturday, August 3rd, 2019

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    Water Temp: 80

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Launched at Glory Hole ramp at 7:20 ran up the river and started fishing main points. The fish where at 20 ft plus for me using zoom worms. Ended the day about 1:30 it was getting to hot for me and the bite also was slowed way down after 12. Ended the day with about 11lbs. I had a 3lb spot and a 3.75 large mouth, 16 total fish a mix of large mouth and spots. I haven't fished New Malones in many years can't wait for the spring.

    Tips: This was my 3rd trip in 4 weeks. Same pattern working for me. The fish seem to like the 6" zoom worm, fish it down to 20 to 30 ft fish it slow, a little shaking helps and move the boat slow. Most fish I don't feel, when I go to move the worm they are just there.

Tuesday, July 16th, 2019

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    Water Temp: 78-79 degrees

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Wow, what a beautiful lake! This was my first time on the lake. Fished the full moon July 16th from 7:30 pm - 1:30 am. Because of a strong west/northwest wind right before sunset (whitecaps), I headed directly into the wind and fished the sheltered areas along the 1 mile of shoreline due west of the Glory Hole ramp. I also fished a main lake peninsula about a mile north of Glory Hole for about an hour. It didn't matter where I fished, steep or sloping banks, I always got the same results: over 30 bites, many very aggressive, but with only about 8 fish landed, all 9-13 inches - all tail biters! No quality. Fish were caught on spinnerbaits, black/blue jigs, and 5" thick ribbed power worms with a couple of blowups on a spook. Areas with large rocks on shore seemed a bit better. The grub trailer I used on jigs and spinnerbaits was a #177 5" Yamamoto grub. I think these small fish were after the grub tail. When I switched to a different grub color on the jig, no bites. The only worms which got bit were dark grape power worms. Senkos were not producing, I might have gotten one bite on a senko. There were enough insects out that I didn't bother turning on my black light (which attracts bugs at night). I hope to return here again with better (larger) results!

    Tips: Spook: twitch 3-4 times then stop, that's when the fish hit.
    Spinnerbaits: Cast parallel to bank over submerged rocks, let helicopter down once in a while. I was lazy and didn't use a stinger hook, this would have added about 8 more dinks to my fish count. At night, I use the Strike King Midnight Special black/blue with rattles, a very good night time spinnerbait with #177 5" Yamamoto grub trailer. During the day I used a Terminator silver willow-leaf with same grub. Both worked.
    Worms: Dead stick it once in a while. I used brass and glass but I doubt it mattered this trip.
    Jigs: Mostly black with big gap hook and rattles with 5" #177 grub and Smelly Jelly crawfish.

Saturday, June 22nd, 2019

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    Report: by Wrknap » Sat Jun 22, 2019 6:09 am

    We had a great trip to New Melonies this past week. We fished three days and every day was fantastic, 50+ fish days and we were off the water by 1pm. I found the better areas were above the 49 bridge. Early mornings were beautiful but slow, the bite didn’t really get going until the sun hit the water. SpiderJigs with twin tails seemed to work best although we caught fish on just about whatever we threw. My brother-in-law even caught a big cat on a spinner bait, crazy!
    Looking forward to the next trip!

Friday, June 14th, 2019

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    Report: by Andrew5414 » Fri Jun 14, 2019 8:09 pm

    Bite has been great, top water has been solid and kitechs In sexy shad on a underspin has been working really well win suns up and bite shuts down sometime us have to throw the ol stinks but it will produce numbers and every once in a while quality. Top water and underspin have been pretty solid fish. I have been fishing 49 bridge and up

Monday, May 6th, 2019

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    Water Temp: 72+

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: There was a high school TOC with 16 boats that went out of Glory Hole Sunday. All teams brought in nice limits over ten pounds. The best of the best chased bass that were chasing baitfish schools up the river. They used topwater and S-wavers to get their fish. Another team used jigs to target big largemouth they found on beds in Angels Creek. It took over 17 to crack the top five and 22.53 pounds to win it. So it is fair to say that New Melones Bass fishing is hot!!

    Tips: We got fish on Spooks, poppers, crank baits, drop shot worms, jigs, S-wavers, and senkos. So, throw what you like and have fun!!

Thursday, March 14th, 2019

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    Report: by RMANZO » Thu Mar 14, 2019 7:36 am

    Just finished a “2” day trip to Melones w/client Paul Arias.. Always awesome when a client becomes a friend..Tuesday we caught fish all day anywhere from 10-40 feet.. No swimbait fish but had a 5 pounder and best 5 went around 18 pounds.. today we decided to hit a different area of the lake, and the switch up payed off.. Paul got his first Wagtail fish and first Homicide Glide fish.. A nice one over 5 pounds and the other close to 5... I love the excitement I feel when I tell a client exactly where to cast and which swimbait to throw for that situation, and it pays off :D . Once again, we caught fish all day long, and although we didn’t get any giants, our best 5 went over 23 pounds.. one spot we hit was just loaded w/quality 4 pounder after 4 pounder.. Thank you Paul for your business, and look forward to fishing w/you again soon...
    For anybody out there that is wanting to go out and catch fish all day long, or is looking for their new personal best, “now is the time”!!! **SPECIAL** The next “3” people to book a trip w/me, will get a rate of $200 for a full day... What are you waiting for “BOOK IT”!!! On a side note, I am putting in another order for some wagtails and homicides this weekend.. let me know what you need

Thursday, February 14th, 2019

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    Water Temp: Water temp 51-53°

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: by RCook » Thu Feb 14, 2019 8:07 am

    Lake New Melones
    2-9-19
    On the water at 7:00 am
    Off the water at 3:30 PM
    Water clarity 4-15'

    Air temp 28-45°

    Joe and Brandon made the drive up to New Melones to come fish with me for a day and we absolutely hammered em! We started off in a major creek arm working jigs, underpins and senkos VERY slow over some bigger rock piles. It didnt take long to get the day started, as we had a fish over 5 lbs in the boat within a few minutes. We boated quite a few fish on the am side of the day, with most of them being very healthy 3+ pounders.
    Mid-day we decided to run to the main lake and fish some deep island tops in hopes if catching a big spotted bass, and although we didnt find the big one, we did go catch a bunch of spots and had some fun!
    Around 1:00pm we went back to another creek arm and ran the same pattern, fishing bottom bouncing baits slow over big rock in 15-35' of water, and they were still chewin'. We ended the day with 40+ fish, with our best 5 going around 23 lbs with a 7-10 kicker. Most fish were caught on 1/2 oz football head jigs. 1/4 oz Fatty's worms underspin, and 5" senkos on a shakey head.
    Another great day on the water with some great company! Book your trip today guys! 559-691-7008. $250 gets you a FULL day of fishing for 1 or 2 people.

Tuesday, January 29th, 2019

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    Water Temp: 52-56

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: What a great start to 2019! We have been catching a lot of quality bass during the month January and recently the action seems to have really picked up. Last week I landed an 8-pound largemouth on a big swimbait and over the weekend we boat numerous fish from 3 to 5-pounds. The water temperature in some areas has begun to gradually warm and it is starting to feel like spring. A few fish are transitioning into shallow throughout the day, however many fish are still holding out deep. We have been covering a lot of water, fishing the main lake and major creek arms. The most consistent pattern has been jigs and shakeyheads fished down steeper banks. These areas can be fished from 5’ to 55’ feet with one cast. The next few months are some of my favorites and we are going to be catching some impressive largemouth and spotted bass. Join me on the water for an awesome fishing Xperience!

    Tips: Xperience Fishing Guide Service
    www.xperiencefishing.net
    xperiencefishing@yahoo.com
    John Liechty (209)743-9932

Friday, January 4th, 2019

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    Water Temp: 50-53

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Launched at 7AM out of Tuttletown. Second time to the lake so wasn't to sure where to start so i motored directly across the ramp and worked the shoreline headed south. Started out with a jerkbait and was surprised when i got bit on the first cast. Ended up with 6 spots on the jerkbait to 3 lb's. The bite slowed and nothing on a crankbait so i started throwing a ned rig. By the time i got to the dam i probably put another 15 fish in the boat. Ran across to the east side looking for similar structure and caught 3 fish on three cast at my first stop, again on the ned rig. A breeze came up so i pitch the jerkbait again for 2 more fish. Pretty much a steady pick the rest of the day on the ned. Most of my fish were 10-20 feet of water. Off the water at 5 pm.

    Tips: Megabass 110 is the jerkbait i was throwing, shad pattern. Threw every color of ned rig and they all caught.

Tuesday, December 11th, 2018

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    Water Temp: 56

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Bite was tough all day. I’ve been fishing this lake for 10+ years and haven’t seen it this tough during this time of year ever. I fished last month and it was extremely tough too. I tried big baits for 3 days in the rain and only yielded a big catfish. Finesse only yielded small spots. Lots of fishing pressure has definitely had an affect on these lakes. Saw over 30 bass boats on Sunday.

Friday, November 30th, 2018

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    Report: by steve black » Fri Nov 30, 2018 8:46 pm

    My opinion, New Melones, only because I've had better success in winter months fishing for large spotted bass. The R2S s-waver that you asked about in you previous post is the next best thing than the A-rig on that lake for me. The Spots don't seem to be effected by weather on Melones than on Pedro IMO. Maybe because of all the near by cover in that lake or more food chain for them. Either one can produce big limits if fished correctly, but I lean more to New Melones. Don't forget Glory Hole Sports, always a great excuse to stop in if you think you might have forgotten something. If you ever get the chance go look at their trophy wall of whats come out of that lake, very impressive. Great info from the staff their if you've never fished the lake. Good luck, try both lakes , you cant go wrong with either one. :D

Monday, November 12th, 2018

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    Water Temp: 60-64

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: The fishing on New Melones and most of the Motherlode lakes has been a little bit tough. But the weather has been absolutely gorgeous. The fish are in transition from summer to fall and the weather has been so nice they are stuck in limbo. This has spread out the baitfish and the bass. We have been successfully catching fish in shallow water and deep water from 5’ to 70’. The most difficult part has been they are there one day and gone the next, leaving us searching and starting with a clean slate each trip. Regardless of the tough bite we are still have a great time on the lake and finding plenty fish on each outing, we are just having to work a little harder to locate them. Using a variety of search baits and finesse presentations has been key. Along with using our fish finders to locate balls of bait. Umbrella rigs, underspins and rip-baits can be fished at various depths and used to cover water. Dropshots, jigs, Ned rigs and shakeyheads work best when slowing down to comb and area. With a little bit of cloud cover and rain we should start to see the epic fall bite we have all been waiting for.

    Tips: Xperience Fishing Guide Service
    www.xperiencefishing.net
    xperiencefishing@yahoo.com
    John Liechty (209)743-9932

Sunday, November 4th, 2018

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    Water Temp: 63

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fishing was still slow but the bites were bigger. My best 5 went 18 lbs. Most caught off a shaky head. Heard they're eating jigs but I never threw any. Evening time I caught a few on a jerkbait and missed one on a Pop-R.

Sunday, October 28th, 2018

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    Water Temp: 65

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Tough bite. Slower then it was a month ago. My fish came in 1'-15' of water. Boated around 10 and lost or missed a half dozen more. Most fish were about 12". I did get lucky and caught a largemouth right at 10 lbs. Caught all of my fish on a shaky head.
    Fish are scattered from shallow water out to 40+ deep. You will catch 2-3 real quick in an area and then it shuts down and then you have to find a new spot but when you hit the right spot you will catch another 2-3 in a row and then you have to find another area where they're biting. Lots of dead time in between. I presume a guy could work an area real slow and catch around the same amount of fish as running around but I don't have the patience for that.