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Winter 2026 Hi All, I’d like to begin this issue by congratulating Anglers Marine on their longevity and continued impact on the Western bass community. Their dedication to anglers, tournaments, and the growth of our sport has made them a cornerstone of the region. We are happy to host them on the cover as we step into a new year of fishing. As we go to press, the 2026 season is just about to launch, and tournament anglers across the West are already preparing for another busy schedule. New gear, fresh patterns, and early-season opportunities will shape the months ahead. Whether you compete or simply enjoy time on the water, this season brings plenty to look forward to. January also brings the International Sportsmen’s Exposition back to Cal Expo, a key kickoff event for the year. It’s a great place to learn, connect, and see the latest products in person. The WesternBass title sponsor Fisherman’s Warehouse will be onsite with super show specials and always a shopper’s favorite, the NO SALES TAX deal. Be sure to visit the Westerbass Fish Tank there’s always giant fish to see! Please enjoy this issue with a highlight of some of the new gear for the new year and as always we encourage you to support the sponsors who support you. Their commitment helps keep the WesternBass website, magazine and forums and socials strong and our fishing community growing. Tight Lines, Wayne

Fall 2025 Fall marks the close of another exciting tournament season and brings with it the much-anticipated Tournament of Champions events. It’s hard to believe how fast the year has flown by! This season may have spared us the chaos of recent years—no COVID shutdowns, supply chain nightmares, or extreme water levels—but it brought a new challenge for California anglers: Golden Mussel restrictions and launch closures. These invasive species continue to disrupt fisheries across the state, with recent restrictions at Diamond Valley Lake (DVL) underscoring the ongoing impact. That said, there was a silver lining for Delta and Clear Lake anglers: the introduction of the Golden Mussel Region by Randy Pringle at Best Bass Tournaments (BBT). His forward-thinking solution allowed for localized, single-area launch team opens at venues affected by broader closures. We appreciate the continued innovation and commitment to the sport—thank you, Randy. On a more exciting note, shipments of new gear from ICAST 2025 have already begun arriving! It’s always a thrill to see what’s coming next, and you can check out many of the latest product releases from online at Fisherman’s Warehouse—our WesternBass advertisers are rolling out some serious game-changers. Tight Lines

Summer 2025 Hi All, Topwater, six-hour tournaments in California, and ICAST – it all screams summer and while we are used to an FLW or MLF Western Division tournament circuit stop on the California Delta this time of year, for 2025 it was missing. Fortunately, Mark Lassagne and the BAM Trail stepped in and brought those of us that call the tidal water of the West an event. I would like to congratulate Ish Monroe on his win at the Pro/Am event! Quite an accomplishment! Ish has been one of longtime WesternBass supporters and well as one of the Fisherman’s Warehouse pro staff (a WesternBass title sponsor), so it was great to hear that the Fisherman’s Warehouse exclusive color Missile Baits D Bomb in Rotten Tomato played such a big factor in his win! While summer kicks off and we get ready to head to ICAST, we once again ask that the WesternBass readers support the advertisers that allow us to bring this digital mag as well as the site to you for free! We appreciate them and you! Tight Lines Wayne

Features

Golden muscles found in Friant canal rapidly multiplying

Action Alert Update: AB 497 has been withdrawn! Restore the Delta

Proposed 1.5 million acre-foot offstream reservoir in NorCal More than 100 miles of the canals and pipelines that will be connected

Forums

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	Hitch maintenance by JVGondal Fri Mar 13, 2026 7:50 pm
	Hitch maintenance by JVGondal Fri Mar 13, 2026 7:50 pm
	BASS HOLE TEAMS #2 MARCH 8TH by thebassholetackleshop Thu Mar 5, 2026 4:14 pm
	2025 LOWRANCE Ghost Trolling Motor Service Unit with Factory Warranty $1200 by DeltaBASSN74 Wed Mar 11, 2026 3:37 pm
	Double Digit Alert \| 10.30 Pound Bass by WB Staff Sun Mar 1, 2026 8:16 pm
	Owner Cultiva GetNet Juster Shad Swimbait by JRuck504 Fri Dec 19, 2025 4:36 pm
	Three anglers of the West Coast are competing at Lake Chickamauga with the Bassmaster Kayak Series by basstrophy Tue Mar 10, 2026 3:20 pm
	Striper fly fishing by Swimbaitspence Wed Jul 2, 2025 6:41 pm

Classifieds & Latest Posts sponsored by Fisherman's Warehouse

Classifieds	Last Post	Last Post
	2017 Nitro Z18 Pro W/ Merc 175 Proxs 2stroke by VMcCalla Fri Mar 13, 2026 2:43 pm	SOLD - Nitro Pedestal Seat - FREE by WalkingFrog Fri Mar 13, 2026 7:43 am
	Must Sell! Used 2025 LOWRANCE Ghost Trolling Motor Service Unit with Factory Warranty $750 by DeltaBASSN74 Thu Mar 12, 2026 4:21 pm	AFTCO Gear!! $100 by Simon Cowart Fri Mar 13, 2026 4:43 pm
	Garmin LiveScope LVS32 by SetTheHook Fri Mar 13, 2026 6:00 pm	Daiwa Tatula SV TWS by Poonsie Thu Mar 12, 2026 5:21 pm
	Sneaky petes and pistol petes by fishkiller Tue Mar 10, 2026 11:45 pm	NATES 12� TROUT by RMANZO Fri Mar 13, 2026 5:09 pm
Kayak Classifieds	2015 Hobie Mirage Pro Angler 14 Rigged by West Coast Angler Thu Mar 5, 2026 2:37 pm	selling my EGO S2 clear rubber net by DanC Thu Mar 12, 2026 7:59 pm
	Clear Lake vacation rentals by adamcera Mon Sep 29, 2025 2:27 pm	Wanted to buy mid size pickup by Dfowler Wed Oct 15, 2025 7:11 pm

Recent Forum Posts

Get ready by JVGondal Fri Mar 13, 2026 7:52 pm

Hitch maintenance by JVGondal Fri Mar 13, 2026 7:50 pm

Top Water by JVGondal Fri Mar 13, 2026 7:47 pm

Garmin LiveScope LVS32 by SetTheHook Fri Mar 13, 2026 6:00 pm

Bass factory circus today! by birdman920 Fri Mar 13, 2026 5:27 pm

NATES 12� TROUT by RMANZO Fri Mar 13, 2026 5:09 pm

Industry Press Releases

WORLD BASS ENTERPRISES UNVEILS “THE CHAMPIONS” TOURNAMENT RECORD-SETTING $3 MILLION PURSE

2025 Collegiate Bass Fishing Series In the latest mid-season rankings review for theSchool of the Year presented by Abu Garcia, the ACA highlights teams ranked 6-15.

101 anglers set to compete on 2026 Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series Coming off the heels of a record-breaking 2025 Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series season that awarded 11 century belts, saw four-first time champions (two of which were members of the 2025 rookie class) and garnered over 183 million social media impressions, B.A.S.S. has announced the 101-angler field for an exciting 2026 Elite Series season.

MLF Announces 2026 Forward-Facing Sonar Restrictions Across All Circuits MLF announces new 2026 forward facing sonar restrictions across all circuits aiming to balance technology with traditional skills for more dynamic competition

NPFL 2026 Full Roster Released NPFL confirms its biggest 2026 field yet with 130 anglers but leaves room for select applicants See the full list and how to join

Recent Lake Reports

McClure Lake By A_Isheim Sunday Mar 8 2026. Fished all parts of the lake with Jigs, Magdraft, and plastics. Found some fish in the river and then upgraded those fish off of points in the main lake. All fish came off the sides of smaller points in 12-16 feet of water in the river and 18-24 feet of water in the main lake. All came off of plastics. Ended up with 6.5 lbs, but would have had 9 or 10 if we had landed all of our fish (Bad leader). All fish were spots other than one largemouth first thing.

California Delta By WB Staff Delta Fishing Report | First Real Pre-Spawn Wave Hits the Delta With Fisherman's Warehouse pro Ken Mah Water temperatures on the California Delta are climbing and the first real wave of pre-spawn bass is beginning to show up shallow. Fisherman's Warehouse pro Ken Mah has found the tidal water conditions are already lining up for the kind of weights anglers expect this time of year. “Depending where you launch, water temps are anywhere from 55- to 57-degrees," Mah said. "Once the Delta is 52 degrees in the morning, and then it warms, you can catch 28- to 30-pounds.” With temperatures already well past that threshold, the fishery is moving quickly into a productive early-season phase. DELTA CONDITIONS Recent rains have stained portions of the system. Of course, visibility varies widely depending on launch location. “The water is very dark and it's almost cloudy, muddy in some areas, but it's still fishable," Mah explained. “Probably half the delta is 1- to 3-foot visibility and then the other half is three-plus.” Mah believes a wave of bass moved shallow recently, and warming conditions are helping them settle in. “There's definitely a wave of fish that are up in that 3-to 7-foot rang," he said. But anglers shouldn’t expect fish to be evenly spread across entire sloughs yet. “You can't just fish down the entire slough and catch fish," he said. "There would be little sections of those big sloughs where there's a pot of fish up.” Mah suggested focus on staging areas along the first tule lines near deeper water, saying that on the Delta, even a small change in depth can be the key. “The majority of it might be 3-feet and then you find a little section where it's 4-feet and that's where those fish are going to move up first," he shared. TOURNAMENT OUTLOOK Mah recently fished the BBT Golden Mussel event at Big Break and saw how quickly conditions were improving. “Nick and I fished and we weighed 19.38 and took third," he said. The event required solid bags but the bite wasn’t wide open yet. “It took 23 to win that one and there were a lot of non-limits, a lot of people complaining about not catching a lot of fish," he stated. Just a week later, in another event, with a different partner, Jaden, the fishing improved dramatically. “Everybody at the weigh-in was talking about how good the bite was," he said.“Jaden and I probably caught 22 to 25 keepers. That's a big number for March first to catch that many.” PRODUCTIVE BAITS Mah says anglers can keep their approach simple right now. “We're basically throwing two baits," he shared. “And, I still cannot catch a reaction fish for the life of me.” His primary patterns for his most recent success were a chartreuse and white spinnerbait with gold blades and flipping creature baits. One bait in particular has produced his biggest fish so far this season. "The Big Bait Bites Fighting Craw in the 99 color has really been my go-to so far early this year," Mah revealed. "Last week I caught a 7.02 on it and this week, I caught a 6.60 and another one that was 5.55.” DELTA PRE-SPAWN BEGINNING Mah believes the Delta is just entering its pre-spawn phase. “I don't think there's any fish spawning right now," he said. "I hink the system is definitely just starting its pre-spawn phase.” The next several weeks could provide some of the best fishing of the year. “It's going to be a lot of fun," anticipated Mah.

From the Blogs

Rowdy Reed 2026 RB Bass Outdoors Recruit By Vern Westberg II

Here is RB Bass Outdoors angler Rowdy Reed giving some background on himself and how he got into fishing. Rowdy also talks a little bit about what his 2026 season will be like as far as what he is fishing and hunting. Be sure to follow Rowdy on his social medias as well as the […]

The post Rowdy Reed 2026 RB Bass Outdoors Recruit first appeared on RB Bass Fishing.