New Melones Bass bite

Inland fisheries advocate · Fri Mar 24, 2017 7:19 am

I'm taking my brother-in-law to New Melones next week..m is the bite worth going.m.thanks

Chad Sweitzer · Post by **Chad Sweitzer** » Fri Mar 24, 2017 7:50 am

The bites tough right now, low weights compared to last year. Last time I went out I had 35 bites and only put 5 fish in the boat!

Whoopbass · Post by **Whoopbass** » Fri Mar 24, 2017 7:51 am

The bite is very good. Use kietech's reeled slowly. Next week there should be some beasts up spawning so look for them.

yjjustforme · Post by **yjjustforme** » Fri Mar 24, 2017 8:11 am

The bites been great for me, slow rolling (maintain bottom contact) 4.8 & 5.8 silver flash keitechs on a 1/2 to 3/4 dirty jigs Matt allen swimbait head. And the last time bait balls were all over the lake in 20ft and was able to spoon some good spots up on a duh spoon. Ran this pattern all over the main lake and the west side of it and make sure you try to go back all the way whatever creek arms you can. And try to get back to incoming water. Also ran north of the 49 bridge and was getting some good ones on a blk/blue chatter bait SLOW rolled (roll just fast enough to get the vibration) and drop shotting small keitechs on main lake points. Hope it helps.

BrandonCook · Post by **BrandonCook** » Mon Mar 27, 2017 7:37 pm

Guys,
I've been thinking about new melones since last year when we saw it low low, I think I remember seeing it was in the teens, I want to say I saw it as low as 16% capacity at one point.

So this is my thought but hopefully someone can shed some light on this theory.... so when melones is at full pool or close to it, I think it's safe to say there are hundreds of thousands of fish in a lake that size, I don't think over a million is out of the question. Then you add in bait, crawdads, salamanders and whatever else might me be living among the rocks down deep, there is a ton of living things beneath the waters surface.

With that said, when the water was as low as it was last year, was there a big die off of fish and forage? I would have to guess yes because otherwise we would have had people posting on her all last summer with huge fish caught out of melones. I guess I'm thinking of the fish in a barrel reference!

If there was a die off, how bad was it and how long till we see the lake come back to the population of fish we saw before the drought?

I'm just curious of the population because I see the bite is really good right now with what people are posting so I thought I'd throw this theory out there and see what you all say.

Whoopbass · Post by **Whoopbass** » Mon Mar 27, 2017 8:01 pm

Your theory sounds logical but it isn't the case. Even at its lowest point there was still plenty of water to sustain life. There was never a scenario where it was like shooting fish in a barrel. You didn't hear any fishing reports because the ramp was a dirt road that just led into the lake so guys just avoided the place.

BrandonCook · Post by **BrandonCook** » Mon Mar 27, 2017 9:34 pm

But I mean come on....if no die off at all and the lake that low some guys must have been smashing them!!! Even with enough water to support life the lake was still only 1/6 of the size....those fish had to have been concentrated enough for fishing to be much better unless it through them into a funk. We are talking millions of fish here!!!

Maybe I'm wrong but I'm just saying!

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Mon Mar 27, 2017 11:14 pm

People were smashing them, they were just smart enough not to provide that information to the public. Much easier to find what you are looking for when the search grid is small, i.e., low surface water level vs. full pool.

yjjustforme · Post by **yjjustforme** » Tue Mar 28, 2017 2:19 am

Steve wrote:People were smashing them, they were just smart enough not to provide that information to the public. Much easier to find what you are looking for when the search grid is small, i.e., low surface water level vs. full pool.

This

Richard - Sonora · Post by **Richard - Sonora** » Tue Mar 28, 2017 5:15 am

was still more than 150 feet deep in the main lake. The primary difference between low and high levels is the shoreline available to the fish and the fisherpeople. Concentration changes were minimal. Think WHERE not HOW MANY. Richard - Sonora

Chad Sweitzer · Post by **Chad Sweitzer** » Tue Mar 28, 2017 2:02 pm

Absolutely correct that the lower water concentrated the fish. I had back to back days with 22.31 then 24.50 for my best 5 off of one point. It was the only point within a quarter mile each way, every big fish was pushed to that spot. Now that the lake is up those fish have really spread out!