Bass Fishing Forum - Westernbass.com

How have you been catching bass this winter?

With falling water conditions and dry conditions this year what changes have you noticed?

Remember three years ago with wet conditions at McClure and New Melones if you didn’t have 13lbs you didn’t cash a check and now if you have 7 or 8 lbs you cashed a check.

What happened to all those magnum spots and largemouth? Are the magnum spots and largemouth all suspending like the trout? Due to the falling water this year.

Have you noticed that the bass all seem to be on a diet this year? Seems like most of the fish are all head with this skinny body and long tail. Is it due to falling water or lack of baitfish and food ?

Please post what you have noted and how you have been catching fish with this years winter drought fishing conditions.

They are still there. There are lots of shad. I believe at McClure the 2 to 4 pounders are feedind deep and they have lots of food. At the won bass Melones there were lots of healthy fish being weighed in. The fall bite at Pedro was great. With that said I think the lack of rain has the fish in places that were not used to. When and if we get rain the food supply will move and the bite will be hot. This time of year the fish feed reel hard on big schools of sculpin. If you go to Melones you will notice the lack of bank trout fisherman. The fish are still deep and the planters are going down too. But they are starting to move shallow. They are coming soon. These lakes are full of fish.

I agree with you Basstrophy, these McClure spots that were chunky fighters two-three years ago are all but gone for me. For a good example, last Sunday at our bass club outing, I weighed a limit of spots for a grand total of 4.38 lbs!!!!!!!!!! That's just wrong, a 13" bass should at least be a pound if you ask me. I think my "big" fish tipped the scales at a whopping 1.32 lb. Do the math there and you're left with 4 keeper spots that only average 3/4 pound, and one of those was a 14+ inch snake. Funny thing is most of the fish that were caught were all spittin' crawdads when they came up, so you know they're eating?? I really do believe that the weather and lack of water has these fish screwed up. Maybe stressin' and losing weight?? By the "weigh" , my 4 lb limit was good enough for 3rd place on Sunday (pitiful!). Then I look on Westernbass photos and there's a beautiful 13 lb black that just came out of McClure.............what I would have given for that fish! NICE cya