Lake McClure, CA

By Mark Lassagne

Reproduced with the exclusive permission of Bass West Magazine, Please Click on the Bass West Enhanced banner to subscribe.

Have you ever dreamed of catching 20, 30 or even 50 fish per day? Located close to Lake Don Pedro (Piney Creek is only five miles away as the crow flies, but the drive is a lot longer) in the beautiful Sierra Foothills, is Lake McClure, a tremendous bass fishery.

Owned and operated by the Merced Irrigation District, Lake McClure has 7,100 surface acres when full, 26 miles long with 80 miles of scenic shoreline and sits at 867-feet elevation.

The magnificent scenery and miles of secluded shoreline, provide for fantastic boating, water sports and excellent fishing. This makes Lake McClure the perfect place for a day trip, weekend getaway or extended family vacation.

There are five major recreation areas at Lakes McClure: McClure Point, Barrett Cove, Horseshoe Bend and Bagby. Elevations range from 400 to 1,000 feet, and provides pine and oak woodland settings. All areas offer swimming and sandy beaches.

Facilities include: boat rentals, house boats, snack bar, restaurant, grocery store, full-service marina, campgrounds, Laundromat, disposal station, gas and propane.

Directions:

From Highway 99 at Modesto, take Highway 132 east through La Grange.

From Highway 99 at Turlock, take Road J17 through Snelling.

From Merced, take Highway 59 to Road J17 through Snelling.

From Highway 49, take Highway 132 west at Coulterville to Horseshoe Bendor, use Bagby access at the Merced River north of Bear Valley

Day use fee with a boat is only $5.00

Camping Fees with hookups are from $12-18 depending on which campsite you choose.

Exchequer Dam storage and elevation information can be found at: http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/queryF?exc

The lake is home to a number of different species, including largemouth and smallmouth bass, spotted bass, rainbow trout, salmon, crappie, bluegill and catfish. Spotted bass is the dominant specie and can be found almost anywhere in the lake. Lake McClure has a slot limit; all Bass from 12-15 inches must be released.

BEST TIMES: Spring and Fall

The best time to fish McClure is the spring and the fall, but good number of fish can be taken all year long. Outcroppings of rocks and steep drop-offs provide excellent cover for the aggressive spotted bass. Even though the lake has a good population of Large and Smallmouth bass, the spots dominate. Be sure to bring your finesse stuff. The water clarity is usually 4 to 8 feet, line size from 6- to 8-pound-test works just fine for shaking a worm, dropshotting or splitshotting. We still catch reaction fish here, but it is mostly plastics that bring home the bass.

In the Fall, look for these fish to gang up on the off shore structure (any structure that’s not on the bank), instead of catching one per spot, there can be three, four, five and sometimes even 10 or more on one point. In the morning, start off with reaction baits in shallow water, like a rip bait, spinnerbait or a small topwater, like a Splash-it, and keep it handy all day. During the fall, the bass gorge themselves on shad and at times you will see fish “busting bait” out in the open water (this is fun). Just keep an eye out for fish jumping, they are not always trout. When you see this happening, throw your topwater or rip bait as close as possible to them and then work it slowly. Sometimes these fish will come up from 50 feet deep. Go back to the structure in the fall, fish points, ledges, islands and creek channels and forget the straight banks. Plastics in shad patterns work well this time of year, salt and pepper along with a green, purple and red. In clear-water lakes, Green always works (summer moss, green weenie etc). There will be fish back in the creeks, but the better fish will be in the main lake. Experiment, change up, let the fish tell you what they want.

Winter:

As the air cools so does a bass’ metabolism and the need for food diminishes, but they still bite here at Lake McClure. In the winter, most of the fish, largemouth and spots hold in the 20- to 40-foot range. Look for the steeper banks on the main lake. The Cottonwood and Temperance areas can be hot his time of year. Start with the points, (points with a creek channel running close are the best) fish shallow to deep then try deep to shallow. If the fish are not on the points, then look for steep bluffs that drop straight off to 30- to 40-feet, these bluffs are a safe haven for the bass during any kind of a change. Plastics will always catch fish on McClure, but in the winter, “JIGS RULE.” Some good colors here, are brown/brown, brown/purple and brown/black, Yamamoto spider grubs are also and excellent choice. Jigs from 3/8- to 3/4-ounce work best for fishing deep. One key to fishing the jig is to fish slow, slow, slow. Crawl it down the point or over the structure, it may take a few minutes to make right cast, but the rewards are worth it.

Summer:

It’s wide open on McClure. But, try fishing small finesse worms, preferably in a pumpkinseed color along the mud lines. Don’t miss out on this fantastic lake.