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Oroville Lake and Reports

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Monday, March 4th, 2024

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    Report: BAM Oroville Predictions with Alex Klein
    Fresh off of the Trail's debut at Lake Shasta, BAM Tournaments blasts off into the second stop of the Pro/Am division's 2024 season at Lake Oroville on March 15 -17. It is anticipated that the early spring bass fishing competition will hit the second-largest Northern California reservoir just after another multi-day rainstorm, and if the weatherman is right, anglers be welcomed with mild temps that include highs in the low-70s and nighttime lows hovering around 50 degrees. With less than two weeks to go, the lake is at 83 percent of capacity, with an open spillway. Lake local, Alex Klein and former Oroville Pro/Am champion, shared some of his insights on how the lake would fish.

    "The bite could be really good after the storms," Klein began. "New water is always good, so it could be really good; but they are dropping the lake too.

    "If they are letting more water out of the lake than is coming in, most of the time the fish will go out and suspend off the bank. If there is more rain coming in than what is going out they won't suspend as much; but after this last big storm, the lake was already full and they started dropping it as fast as they could to have room to capture more rain and the snowmelt."

    Klein confirmed the lake has been fishing well all year and predicted that it would take 14- to 14 1/2-pounds per day to win. A sizeable three-day accomplishment considering when he won an early-season Pro/Am in 2023 at the same fishery, it was with a three-day, tournament total of 39.89.

    Although spots are predominant at Oroville, there are some big largemouth available for the taking. The lake record is documented at 14 pounds, 15 ounces and while a news-maker like that hasn't been seen in awhile, double-digits were caught as recently as last year in the spawn.

    Klein noted the lake was currently in a pre-spawn pattern. He anticipates the lake's water temp will have to come up to the mid-50's before some of the big spawners will be caught.

    "That is when the bigger baits will come into play - the big swimbaits, and the A-rigs," he added.

    Klein feels there will have to be a two-prong approach of finesse and reaction to triumph.

    "You'll have to get a big bite or two on a reaction bait, and find a school of quality fish that you can catch finessing throughout the day," he said.

    His advice for a backseater was a good attitude, willingness to learn and being ready to have fun. His bait suggestion was undoubtedly a drop-shot. "It's a co-angler go-to," he said.

Thursday, February 22nd, 2024

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    Report: by basstrophy » Wed Feb 21, 2024 11:24 am

    Most of the day, the lake was calm and slick with a few drops of rain only lasting a few minutes at most. The water temperature ranged from 47 to 49 degrees with the air temperature stretching from mid 40’s to the upper 50’s. Lake Oroville has the tallest earth-filled dam that was completed in 1967, the dam reaches 700’ above the Feather River and is 900’ above sea level.

    Lines in was at 0730 (7:30am) with lines out at 1500 (3PM). The fish had to be submitted before 1530. Once all the fish were submitted and the judging was completed, Joseph Silva won with 83.00” besting second place by 2.25”. Silva used the Strolling technique to catch his winning limit. He rotated through four different fluke style baits to entice the bass to bite. After doing his homework with map study, Silva found an area that had a few shallow humps with deep creek channels nearby. His morning run took around 60 minutes to arrive at his calculated location. Silva used his Garmin Live Scope unit to target suspended bass in the 15 to 20-foot range of water near the hump structures he located.

    “I had my 83” by noon and never culled the last three hours of the day.” said Silva, “I focused on the larger returns skipping the smaller returns to catch the larger fish.”

    “I would cast past the fish and let the fluke style baits hover over the fish.” said Silva, “Using 4-pound test helped me present the lure with a shimmy to entice the fish to bite.”

    “I would position my boat in 30-feet of water and cast to 15 to 20-feet of water.” said Silva, “I used a slow retrieve with a soft shake of the rod tip to give the lure the shimmy.”

    Silva found that the fish were set up on secondary points compared to all the way back into a cove or on main lake.

    “I used a 3/32-ounce bait paired with 3” fluke style baits to catch the fish.” said Silva, “The shad color seemed to work better but I would use other colors to entice more bites when the fish became picky.”

    Greg Blanchard finished in second with 79.75”. Blanchard found fishing tough during practice on Friday. He found a point that held several fish during the last part of the day on Friday. On tournament day, Blanchard arrived at the magical point after a 40-minute run.

    “I fished that point all day.” said Blanchard, “I knew there was a huge group of fish there and fishing was tough, so I fished it all day long.”

    Blanchard first used a drop shot paired with a Berkey Flat worm in Gobyashi color.

    “I used the Flat worm in Gobyashi color to catch my first limit.” said Blanchard, “I had to dead stick the bait to get my bites.”

    “I was casting around the point in 10 to 20-feet of water to get my bites.” said Blanchard, “I could see them on my Humminbird graph.”

    “The key to the bigger bites was changing to a shaky head paired with a 5” Berkey General in the cinnamon purple color.” said Blanchard, “I wasn’t getting many bites, but they were bigger fish, I kept the shaky head in my hand the rest of the day.”

    Shaun Leytem placed in third with 79.50” just .25” behind second place. Leytem found little coves with water that had washouts that held fish. He would follow the washouts out to deeper water from 20 to 30-feet deep to get his bites.

    “One of the washouts still had water running into the lake with a tree in the middle of it.” said Leytem, “There was a ton of bait there, I dragged a ¼ ounce ball head paired with a 3.3 Keitech.”

    “I would just barely drag the bait on the bottom really slow to get my bites.” said Leytem, “I would cast out behind me and let the kayak move super slow.”

Wednesday, December 6th, 2023

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    Water Temp: 58

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: From Double G. Just got off of Oroville. Here's what I found out and am willing to share with you. Look, the fish are in multiple stages. The water temperatures we found were about 58.7 - 59 ish - right in there. And the lake seemed to be fairly stable. The water clarity was - that's just it, it was clear. But the baitfish are there. They're moving. They're balled up and they're active so one bait to throw is obviously an A-rig. I like the Frenzy Baits Kira. It's just bladed and it seems to be triggering fish. Also if the fish are really up shallow, if you see 'em up there on your electronics shallow and they're up moving in the baitballs, you could just throw anything shad-colored or baitfish-colored jerkbait. And when the fish and the sun starts getting up and the fish start going down, switch over to your favorite bottom bait, as long as its a Frenzy Baits nail. I just throw a 6 1/2 - 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 inch worm on a nail and I pin it to the bottom. That's about it. You could pretty much catch fish, if you change with the water - not with the temperature but with the sun. Keep watching your graphs, looking for the fish activity.

    Tips: Keep watching your graphs, looking for the fish activity.

Friday, September 1st, 2023

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    Water Temp: 73/74

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: We fished Oroville yesterday and it was great to see the lake this full for this time of year. Wind blew and cloudy almost all day. Marked bait fish all over the place, mostly in the 15 to 25 ft depth range, everywhere we went. Bites were almost non existent but we did put three fish in the boat. Best was 16". Texas rigs, darter head rigs, ned rigs, drop shot, crawdad imitators, Kieteks, whacky senko's - - - - - ! We were glad to be on the water but the fishing sucked.

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2023

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    Report: by basstrophy » Wed Feb 22, 2023 9:34 pm

    Yak-a-Bass event had 120 anglers sign up for the season opener at Lake Oroville. The weather was cold with air temperatures ranging from 30 to 65 degrees, water temperatures were chilly 45 to 48 degrees. The fish were schooled up in specific locations and if an angler found that magical spot they were rewarded with the Motherlode. When the lines were out, and all the fish were submitted, Joseph Tax had found the motherlode with 76.25” beating second place by 1.5”. Tax launched out of Bidwell and headed to the Middle fork. The wind was blowing straight in his path with 3-foot waves crashing over his bow. Tax stated Oroville Lake was like a scene from the Deadliest Catch, “it was terrifying.” His kayak took on water and he had to stop twice to bilge the water out. Tax caught his fish using a drop-shop rigged with a 2.8” Keitech. His key presentation was to slowly move the rig in 70 feet of water right in the middle of the creek. The action was just to lift slightly and let the bait naturally swim back to the bottom, then lift again and a fish would bite. Most of his larger fish came in 70 feet of water but several of his 15-inch fish came in 50 to 60 feet of water. The Western Grebes were present in his Motherlode location, he noticed that the birds were eating shad the same size as the 2.8 Keitech. He knew that bait was present, giving him the confidence to work the area over. Tax stated that he caught around 65 fish in that single area. Because of the “terrifying” boat ride to his location, he felt it was best to stay. Tax thanked P-Line, Keitech, Owner Hooks, Powel Rods, Daiwa, and his biggest supporter, his wife.

    Danny Miller finished in second place with 74.75”. Launching from Loafer Creek and making an hour-long run to the Middle Fork where he had found quality size fish during his practice fishing. He focused on long clay points; his lures of choice were a swimbait and drop-shot. Making a run to a small cut with a feeder creek, Miller spent the rest of his time there culling fish. Miller showed his gratitude to James Snyder, Bill Bukowatz, Ron Lewis, Mike Lavoie, York Sell and a special thanks to his wife Kelly and the good lord above who is always with us.

    Mike Ensign finished third with 74.25” Launching from Lime Saddle ramp. Ensign traveled over 14 miles total during his day. After fishing a jig with no bites and the wind picking up, he made an adjustment that proved to push him to the top three. Ensign adjustment was to target windy main lake points with a Dark Horse A-Rig. He fished the A- rig in 25 feet of water ticking the bottom while going with the wind. Ensign sponsors are I-rod, Bioenno batteries, Dark Horse Baits, Gama Fishing Line, and NewPort Motors.

Saturday, August 13th, 2022

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    Report: by LookoutRanch » Fri Aug 12, 2022 1:09 pm

    Catching fish won’t be an issue. Most finesse the techniques are easy to have 30+ fish days. Graph before dropping lines, bait is everywhere.

Saturday, January 8th, 2022

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    Report: by Rmats » Sat Jan 08, 2022 4:54 pm
    First time fishing Lake Oroville. Found a decent jig bite and caught quite a few on a brown purple 1/2oz football jig with a green pumpkin rage chunk trailer!

Sunday, October 24th, 2021

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    Report: by Pat » Sun Oct 24, 2021 7:16 am

    This will definitely put some water in our Lakes. Oroville has come up 2 feet since Friday, and this major storm is still coming. They just opened a low-low-low water gravel ramp at the Oroville spillway. With this storm, the possibility exists that the water will raise enough that it will not be usable. The problem since August has been the water level had this old gravel haul road on a flat area that did not have enough slope for launching. Let's hope it rises enough to get past this flat stretch. The few people that have gotten on the lake have reported that fishing is off the hook. Fish have not see a lure in months! And it is time for the fall feed.

Thursday, October 22nd, 2020

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    Report: by Joe daddy » Thu Oct 22, 2020 3:55 am

    Went out yesterday with Cotton and Big John. They crushed it. Catching fish all around me. The drop shot rig definitely produced more bites for Cotton. A number of fish on the reel in on that rig also. We did dabble into the cranking some, heard it’s been hot. Not much luck with that but we are no crankster gangsters by any means. Gave it up pretty quick. I finally managed to find a nice one around 3:00. Missed what felt like a large mouth bite around 10:30 on best point we came across...good day of fishing, happy to get back on the water.

Tuesday, May 26th, 2020

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    Report: by Joe daddy » Tue May 26, 2020 4:05 am

    So just been laying low lately. Some how I got my hands on a picture worthy fish from oroville awhile back. I believe enough time has passed so I’m going to post it.
    The fishing story-
    So, jitterbug and I were out beating the banks up like we do. On our way back up we run into a guy with his girlfriend walking down the ramp. We start b s ing with them and dude is like ‘yeah my buddy caught an 8 pounder the other day.’ So we were like ‘oh that’s cool take it easy’ and proceeded on our walk up. After that of course we were joking back and forth yeah I caught a 5 pounder, yeah I had a 6 pounder on but she broke me off.
    So, the next day by chance jb runs into one of his old high school buddys. They shortly got to talking about fishing when jbs buddy says one of the kids he coaches caught an 8 pounder at oroville and sent him this picture.
    All this transpired in early April.

Wednesday, March 4th, 2020

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    Report: by Joe daddy » Wed Mar 04, 2020 6:02 am

    ...man guys it was beautiful out there. The hottest day or the year and a 12 mph northwest wind, sign me up. Had 3 bites, missed the first bite on point, based on poor knot tying, good hook set though. :roll: Just one of those days where everything just looked amazing. Could of lived in that moment forever, very special. I’m assuming the bite should just get better here on in. Some fish are up and aggressive.

Friday, February 7th, 2020

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    Report: by Joe daddy » Fri Feb 07, 2020 3:32 am

    Jittterbug and I again, one fish on rock wall next to bank. Running water in the cove with deep water access. Pretty slow, glassy water, only that bite. I’m sure more wind would of helped. Just nice to get out.(In one of the pics you can see where the hook set was in the right side of its mouth)

Friday, January 24th, 2020

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    Water Temp: 50-51 degrees

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished Oroville Friday with Rick J. caught 20+ in the slot area and Forman Creek area. All fish were caught on dropshot with wacky rigged prism shad. No size fish ranged 1.25 to 1.75. Fish were caught from 20 to 55 ft.

    Tips: Find steeper rock walls and bait . Bait is stuck in the bottom and varied from 1' to as much as 8' thick. Fish slow!

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    Water Temp: 49

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: I had the itch to fish Oroville today for my first trip of the year. I satisfied my itch but did not catch any fish. I had one bite all day and missed it. My buddy got two bites and missed one and caught the second, which was about a 5 lb Channel Catfish. Fished glide baits, small swim baits, jigs, ned rig, lipless cranks. Fished a few points around the main lake, Potters Ravine, and up the middle fork. We did find some fish, mostly in 20 to 25 foot range but just could not get them to bite. Water is very clear.

    Tips: Sorry, I can't give any tips here but I could sure use some. Bass Union makes it look so easy. Maybe I should invest in some of his jigs.

Monday, December 16th, 2019

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    Report: Lake Oroville 12-16-19
    Unread postby Joe daddy » Tue Dec 17, 2019 5:42 am

    Water has came up a tad bit. Bite was about the same maybe a little slower/colder. Got-eem, went 3-3, jitterbug 3-4. This spot like the gift that keeps on giving. Marry X-Mas.

Wednesday, November 20th, 2019

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    Report: by Inland fisheries advocate » Wed Nov 20, 2019 6:03 pm

    Grest day on Oroville. It was gusty winds, but we found some protected coves up the middle fork. Fish were in 15 to 35. Nice fat healthy fish.
    Used minnows, but I'm sure they would take senkos. Lots of fidh in back of coves around rocks & downed trees

Saturday, November 16th, 2019

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    Report: Lake Oroville bass by Inland fisheries advocate » Sat Nov 16, 2019 8:45 am

    Fished the the Big O Thursday. Middle fork rock piles & coves. Fished with minnows. Caught 12-15 fish. All really fat & spitting out pond smelt. Mostly in 15 to 30 feet. Going to try plastics next time, minnows were $20+/dozen... ouch.... time to enjoy this fishery

Sunday, November 3rd, 2019

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    Report: by Pat » Sun Nov 03, 2019 4:46 pm

    Yes, the fishing has been pretty good. Target bait fish, if you don't see bait on your graph, keep moving. Not saying you won't catch any if you don't see bait, but it definitely improves your chances. We have been catching fish from right on the bank out to about 30 feet. Water has been falling about a foot a day.

Friday, September 13th, 2019

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    Water Temp: 74-78

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Kayak fishing for spots at lake Oroville launched at String Town ramp at 6am, fished until 11am, 22 fish, most in the 15” to 17” range with one 18” to 20”. Most of the fish in 40’ to 45’ range a few in the 30’. Submerged rock piles and islands seem the be the best bet. Friday was a great day only saw one boat on the south fork. See fishing forum for pictures.

Thursday, July 4th, 2019

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    Report: by Joe daddy » Thu Jul 04, 2019 2:46 am

    It’s been a tough week for me on the lake. Oh, I been fishing just not catching. So I got my sorry butt off the couch to utilize the last 2 hours of daylight. Glad I did. Fished the main body point before the bridge on the left (hobo-spot). With all the boats on the water banks finally looked like they had the right color stain to my eye. So the more the merrier. Had 3 bites, caught 2 that would keep. Felt like lunkers :lol:
    Notes: post spawn, find structure, cooler water, evening bite has been good. This is what I noticed in the past week. *happy 4th*