Submit
Report

Oroville Lake and Reports

Limit:
Click for interactive map

Wednesday, September 6th, 2017

  • By

    Water Temp: 78-79 degrees, elevation 745.88

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Launched at Lime Saddle about 6:50 am, stopped fishing at 9:30 am, getting warm, but muggy as all get out, not my kind of fishing weather, yet I still do it! Kind of slowing bite this am, warm water 78-79, and ramp is about to turn the corner. If the lake continues to drop like the last month, maybe the ramp will last 30 more days, then it's middle fork for me!! Miss fishing the area. Only caught 16 fish today, most 13-13 1/2", a couple 12". Best fish today, right at 15", second best just 14". Water is so murky with algae, like a green mud look. Pictures in fishing forum.

Wednesday, August 30th, 2017

  • By

    Water Temp: 78-79 degrees, elevation 755.48 feet

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Launched at Lime Saddle about 6:45 am, stopped fishing right at 9:15 am before the heat came on. Wow, water has started to cool, down to 78-79 degrees, which is going to bring the bite back and better fish. Seems it helped the bite today. Found a location that gave up 6 fish for 6 casts. Never ever move on after catching a spot, remember they tend to school at times. Finally got a decent fish, one 16" and one 14 1/2" with the rest 13" to 13 1/2" and only 2 dinks for a total of 25 fish this morning. Most fish taken at about 25-35 feet, one at 40 foot mark. Also got another large mouth, small, 12" size. Three trips in a row catching large mouths. Guessing about 30 days before Lime saddle runs out of water, ramp right at where the corner begins. Pictures in fishing forum.

Wednesday, August 23rd, 2017

  • By

    Water Temp: 80-81 degrees, elevation 764.28

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Got launched at Lime Saddle about 5:45 am, stopped fishing at 10 am, as it was really getting hot with no breeze. Water still warm as can be, still 80-81 degrees, worst part, algae seems to be really clouding up the water with all the warmth this summer and it seems to hurt the bite some? Caught 18 spots today, best right at 14 1/2", and another surprise large mouth caught very close to the last one I caught. Small one, just 13 1/2" but a rare catch for Oroville. Most all fish went 13 to 13 1/2" today, with just two smaller 12" caught. Wishing for cooler weather, cooler water and better size fish that come with it. Water dropped 10.28 feet the last week, seems they are going to shut down Lime Saddle by the end of summer!! Pictures in fishing forum.

Monday, August 14th, 2017

  • By

    Water Temp: 81 degrees, elevation 775.28

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Got launched way to early today about 5:35 am, stopped fishing at 10 am. Another weird day with no sun rise to fire up the bite, slow fishing the entire time we had cloud cover. Good part, only one dink at 12", all the rest 13" to 14 1/2" and another one of those pike minnows right at 4 pounds, for a total of just 18 fish. Second pike minnow this year, so weird, never caught any over 5 years, till this year. Better bite came deeper today, fishing as deep as 50 foot, better fish 30-35 foot mark. Windy, then calm, windy, then calm, water still 81 degrees! Spots seem to be putting weight back on, getting much fatter then a month ago.Pictures in fishing forum.

Tuesday, August 8th, 2017

  • By

    Water Temp: 81-82 degrees, elevation 783.82

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Got launched at 5:30 am at Lime Saddle, stopped fishing at 10 am as it began to warm up. Decent day, caught 23, surprise, caught a large mouth, so excited, forgot to measure it, looks to be about 13 1/2" or so. Small fish plentiful, about half the fish 12" size, the other half 13" to 14 1/2" as my best for the day. Picked up fish to 45 feet, mostly 20-35 feet. Hot water not helping the bite, high 82 degrees, mostly 81 degrees. Thought I had a giant spot for a second, weight, no fight!! catfish hit a roboworm, soon as it hit bottom. Guessing dropped it right in front of his mouth! Water beginning a faster drop, 1 foot a day, but twice a week 2 foot drops. Guess they are going for that 700 foot mark sooner then later. Pictures in fishing forum.

Tuesday, August 1st, 2017

  • By

    Water Temp: 80-81, elevation 792.77

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Launched at Lime Saddle about 5:30 am, stopped fishing at 9:15 am before it got hot!! Weird day on the lake with the smoke in the air, like the sun never really rose and fish seemed to know and were not fired up to bite like clear sunny mornings. No big fish at all, all fish ranged from 12" to 13 1/2", and managed to land 21 fish today. Water super warm, 80-81 degrees, to me, hurts the bite lots, way too warm. Not the best pictures, but showing the ridge line that holds fish well when 15 feet plus under water. High and dry now!! Pictures in fishing forum.

Tuesday, July 25th, 2017

  • By

    Water Temp: 79-80, elevation 800.65

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Launched about 5:40am at Lime Saddle, stopped fishing at 10:15 am when the heat began to get to me. Seems the lake is back to dropping a foot a day like the old days, now down to 800.65, now 102 feet down from full pool. The ridge at the launch now shows well, all above water line. Should have gotten a picture. Great fishing spot when it's 15-25 foot under water. Fish the drop off side, even when it's shallow, might surprise you. Water still about 80 degrees, got 79 in a few locations. Managed 29 fish today, with about half the fish in the 12" dink size, the rest mostly 13 13 1/2". Getting ready to call it quits, and got a fatter 15" and a second 14 1/2" right after. Spots seem to be adding weight again, not looking quite as skinny as after spawn. Did most of my fishing 20-35 foot today, shore line crawling with dinks under 12" As of 8am, only 2 other boats had launched, seems the heat is driving away fisherman. Sure wish I knew how to get a hold of the park rangers, parking signs need lowered so us old farts don't have to walk half way up the ramp. Sorry about the water spot in the pictures! Picture in fishing forum.

Wednesday, July 19th, 2017

  • By

    Water Temp: 80 degrees, elevation 806.20 4 foot drop in a week!!

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Got launched about 5:30 am at lime Saddle, stopped fishing at 10:30 am. Decent bite today, but not many fish over 14", so typical of hot summer fishing on the lake. Landed 33 fish today, with more then half of them caught in the basic Lime Saddle marina area. Fish shallow and deep, still not finding any larger fish. Best today, right at 14 1/2" with all other fish 10-14", half of them 10-12" dinks, the other half mostly 13-14". Just two 14 1/2" fish as my best today. Stayed longer, not nearly as hot on the water today, but killer hot when working to get the boat off the water. Just a couple more months and won't have the damn heat! Saw a post on oroville, guy (foul hooked) says those posted catching many fish are lying about catching this many, wrong, just need the right baits or fishing locations. Caution, the ridge is now shallow at the launch, looks deep, not deep, they finally marked it today to prevent prop damage!! Picture in fishing forum.

Monday, July 17th, 2017

  • By

    Water Temp: 81

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: garbage fishing except in the marina area, but its short lived. people are on here claiming 30+ fish a day which is a lie. you can fish from 5am to noon and only catch a couple small bass. not liking this summer bite at all. tired of getting skunked at lake oroville.

    Tips: go to the afterbay. its free to get in and launch. there are TONS of bass.

Wednesday, July 12th, 2017

  • By

    Water Temp: 80 degrees, Elevation 810.38

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I got launched at Lime Saddle about 5:30am, stopped fishing right at 9:30am, getting too hot to fish much longer, even though fish were in the biting mood still. Decent fishing, but many more smaller fish then last trip. Seemed like half the fish today were runts, 10-12" with the rest 13-14 1/2". Only two 14 1/2" , one 14" for 27 fish for the morning. Fished deep and still could not entice anything larger today. Best fish came from the 30-35 foot mark. Seemed like most banks produced fish, just nothing of any size. No picture of the second 14 1/2", slipped and away she went before I got the picture. Water super warm on the surface, still 80 degrees. Lake lever dropped about a foot since last week. Picture in fishing forum.

Thursday, July 6th, 2017

  • By

    Water Temp: 80-81 degrees, elevation 811.11

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Got an early launch at lime saddle, right about 5:30 am, stopped fishing at 9:30 am as the heat began to warm up. Lake level seems to be about the same, not much change since last week, exact level?? website is down. Water still warm, 80-81 degrees in most locations. Bite was fair, better fish this week, only two dinks at 12", with one 16", one 15 1/2" one 14 1/2" and some weird fish, never seen one before, for a total of 21 fish. Does anyone know what the heck this fish is. My better fish came from about 30-35 foot range, where the water feels better then the surface temps. Pictures in fishing forum.

  • By

    Water Temp: 81-84

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I have the grandsons for a few days so I took them to Oroville. We didn't wet a line until 9:30, really tough to get 2 guys less than 10 years old moving. We started out in the middle fork with drop shot and wacky senkos and landed 12 to 15 dinks. They would rather swim than fish. We moved to the middle fork around 11 and I landed 5 more 10-12" fish on dartheads and drop shot while they went swimming again. Their grandmother was the life guard although she did catch a couple of senko fish earlier.
    Pulled off around noon. Ramp was getting crowded and I had to wait to pull out.

    Not like 5 weeks ago when the bite was hot and 50 to 100 fish wasn't all that hard.
    Lake is of course down 90' from full and holding but I still have guys asking why? I guess no one reads a paper or watches the news.

    Tips: Best colors Roboworm Morning dawn and KVD Chart/blue dream shot. The 3 to 4 fish on the senko hit 4" in white.

Tuesday, June 27th, 2017

  • By

    Water Temp: 80-81 degrees, elevation 812.69

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Launched about 5:30am at Lime Saddle, stopped fishing at 10am. Felt good being back after shipping last week during the heat wave. Couldn't bring my self to fish when that hot. Didn't do as well this week as past weeks, fish were smaller, but still plenty of them around. Only caught 23 fish this morning with all on the smaller side, best just 14 1/4" Banks are crawling with dinks, and or young fry. Me, I avoid fishing too shallow, most small fish and not looking to catch those tiny things. Water was 80-81 degrees in all the locations I fished, think the larger fish are hanging deeper where water is a tad cooler. My best fish hooked at about 30 foot or so. Just about all baits seem to work. Picture in fishing forum.

Monday, June 19th, 2017

  • By

    Water Temp: 68-74

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Lake Oroville has been fishing great for the last 3 weeks, 40-70 fish days are very common right now and its a great time to get the kids on fish during the cooler hours of the morning and evening! Most all of the fish are done with the spawn with only a few stragglers left behind that are in the upper stretches of the middle fork and north fork. As most cases with Oroville the average fish is a spot between 1.25lbs and 2lbs. Top baits for numbers have been 5" Baby Bass and Natural Shad senkos, 6" Roboworms in Oxblood light red flake and Warmouth fished on a Dart head or shakey head and of course the 2.8" Keitech in Rainbow shad and Tennessee shad have produced very many fish lately. There have reports of several big large mouth being caught and a couple spots in the 4lb class, most of the bigger fish caught recently have been taken on top water baits like the River 2 Sea Rover, Vixen and the Rio Rico during the low light hours. we expect to see the deeper crankbait bite fire off any day now as there are many fish heading off shore to points, breaks and relating to the pond smelt. Top areas of the lake have been the South fork, upper stretch of the North Fork and the west Branch, expect the mouths of the arms to get better as we get deeper into summer and the night bite to be good with the next moon.

    Its getting very hot so be prepared with lots of water and sunscreen and be on the look out for other recreational boaters, the heat has brought all the wakeboard boats out so keep an eye open. Be safe and good luck!


    Lake Oroville is currently at 812'
    Lime Saddle Marina, Bidwell Canyon and Loafer creek launch ramps are all open as of now.

    Tips: Fish topwater early in the day over points. As the sun comes up switch to soft baits in shad patterns fished on the same points and also bluff walls or anything with a shade line. The prime depth has been 1'-15' for the last couple weeks.

Tuesday, June 13th, 2017

  • By

    Water Temp: Forgot to look at temp, elevation 813.24

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Launched about 5:30 am today, stopped fishing about 10:10 am. Found fish again right off the dock where they sell gas, 12 fish right in the marina and my best fish of the day right at 15". Good bite, but about half the fish were smaller then past trips, lots of those 10-12" for some reason. Total 31 fish, one 15", two 14", 10-12 13-14", the rest dinks, taken in water 15 to 35 feet deep. Better fish came on the deeper side today. Water finally slowed dropping, hope the continue the water drop at this rate. Word is they are going to drop it to the 700 foot level before winter, old drought levels!! So sad Picture in fishing forum.

Thursday, June 8th, 2017

  • By

    Water Temp: 70-73

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: I took two young men to Oroville for a morning of bass fishing. One was a good high school fisherman and the other gentleman really hadn't fished before. We went up the middle fork and found the bite to be ok, but not great. I was impressed that each of them caught a decent spotted bass - one at over 17 inches and one about 16 1/2 inches. However, in spite of their nice length, they were very skinny. I know they had just spawned, but I thought they were too thin. I just had the guys using Robo worms Texas rigged, because we were fishing too much rock to drop-shot. We used about 3 or 4 colors, with morning dawn and MM111 the best colors. Most bites were from 10 to 20 feet deep.

    Tips: It was just amazing to see the lake drawn down so fast in such a short period of time. Just a massive amount of water released the past 3 months. Living in Yuba City - below the dam - made the releases ok with us. There are many other baits we could have used but I knew the worms would work well for them. Bass still seem to be scattered all over the place in spite of the dropping water. Our quality bass were always a little deeper than the smaller ones. Water color is excellent - just right up the middle fork. The bald red banks - points - seemed to hold the better fish.

Tuesday, June 6th, 2017

  • By

    Water Temp: 74, elevation 818 feet

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Launched at Lime Saddle about 5:30am, stopped fishing at 10:30 am as it was getting way too hot and I had caught my share for the day. Got into them right away in 15 feet of water on a tiny ride right by the last dock used for getting fuel. Picked up 13 spots and one decent 15 1/2" spot, headed towards N. Fork and found fish nearly every place I fished. Fish ranged from 15ft to 35ft deep today, but most fish skinny after the spawn, kind of look odd so thin. Fish will take just about anything tossed at them, not real picky now, except for suspended fish, those are hard to entice to bit. Found one location in 160 feet of water that must have had 120 or more fish suspended from 20-45ft, never have seen this many hanging together, but no takers, like they are taking a nap or something. Anyway, landed 36 fish today, with best fish, one at 16 ", two 15 1/2", and three 15". Water dropped so much since my last trip, ruined several honey holes, too shallow now. Pictures in fishing forum.

Tuesday, May 30th, 2017

  • By

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Two of us caught about 45 fish but many were smaller. Two at 15 inches and one at 16 but most right around 12 or 13. We were dart heading with chartreuse or white grubs. The little guys were nipping a lot of tails off. We fished from 7 till 11 AM and launched at the ramp near the house boats. There was not a lot of debris on the water and that was a surprise. It was my first visit to Oroville this year. The wind chases us where ever we went on the lake.

Tuesday, May 23rd, 2017

  • By

    Water Temp: 58-70 degrees, elevation 828

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Launched at Lime Saddle about 6:35, stopped fishing at 10:40am when the heat began making me sweat!! hot today. What a difference when water warms back up from my last trip, up to 68-70 degrees today and the fish were loving the warmth more then last week. Killed them today (not really) released all. Managed to catch 44 spots this morning, with 4 in the 15-15 1/2" range, one 16" and one 17" along with many in the 14 1/2" range with only 2-3 in the 10-12" range. Also got my first smallie about 13". All thin as most have spawned already, but 2-3 still full of eggs. Pictures in fishing forum.

Wednesday, May 17th, 2017

  • By

    Water Temp: 62-64, elevation 834.66

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Got launched about 6am at Lime Saddle, stopped fishing right at 10:15am. Today, one of the rare days without blowing winds this morning, dead calm, kind of spooky! Water cooled a lot, down to 62-64 all the places I fished. Bite was good, but not as good as my last trip, caught 29 spots, 2 at 14 1/2", with most around the 13" range and 1 dink about 6". Surprised, water dropping lots, down 14.07 feet from my trip last week. Think they are running the lake in the scared mode still, letting out twice the water coming in. Seems they never consider spawn when dumping water the way they are. Can't figure out why they do this, the way they do. Wood cleaned up a lot, hardly any but a few logs still floating around, be careful. Pictures in fishing forum.