Fishing Report

Limit:

Monday, March 4th, 2024

    • 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 29th, 2024

    • By

      Report: I had a chance to get out with some good friends Earl Dalton, Derik Dalton, and Chris Gambal.

      We fished at Lake Pardee. This lake is a cool place because it’s full of big smallmouth and it also has some giant largmouths. This lake closes in the fall for several months out of the year. So when it opens we always try to plan a trip.

      When we put the boat in, the surface temperature was a little over 50° and if you’ve ever been to this lake you know it is super clear!! Which means I would usually start looking deeper on points and breaks.

      But this lake always amazes me me how shallow they will get. My buddy Earl started off throwing a Rodstrainer
      spinnerbait and caught the biggest fish of the day but after the sun got high we started poking around and figured out that we had to play the shade game. What that means is you go around and fish every little bit of shade that hits the water. It could be from the banks or it could be from laydown trees in the water or just anything that makes a little bit of shade can hold a fish.

      The baits that worked for us were an ED’s Lead Ned Rig, a spinnerbait and a half-ounce Bass Union jig.
      I hope this helps. Good luck fishing luck fishing.
      Stan Lafever

Monday, February 26th, 2024

    • Report: At Alamo Lake (report courtesy of Sportsman's Warehouse), Senkos, Wacky and Texas rigged are always a favorite. Any craw-shaped plastic will do well here as well, either Texas-rigged or on a jig. Some better ones are the Strike King Rage Bug and the Googan Bandito Bug. Fish deeper waters where available. Grubs at about 20-40 feet deep should do well. For catfish, you can use any mixture of stink bait, chicken liver, or hot dogs to catch them. Using live blue gills as bait will also work to catch bigger flatheads. For crappie, crappie jigs and tubes are the way to go. Crappie Dapper Plastics have been a great soft plastic bait to use. Pay close attention to water clarity and be sure to check in on weather and wind reports.

    • Report: At Bartlett Lake (report courtesy of Sportsman's Warehouse), the crankbait bite is slow, but dropshot and Texas rigs are producing fish. The best bite seems to be later in the day. Remember, bass can be caught around boulders and in brush lines on Senkos and spinnerbaits. The lake is 49% full. Be careful when launching. Crappie is just starting, try around the Yellow Cliffs with 1/16-ounce jigs and 2-inch Kalins. Slow trolling can work well. Catfish are becoming active. In the days and weeks to come they will be lurking the shallows in search food. For channel cats, use live worms, stink baits and chicken livers. For flatheads, load up with big line 20-pound plus, fish 5-15 feet deep with live worms, live bluegill of small carp. Rig up a Carolina rig with 1-ounce egg sinker to help keep your bait on the bottom. Fish from dusk to dawn.

Thursday, February 22nd, 2024

    • 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.”

Monday, February 19th, 2024

    • Report: by jiggin4bass » Mon Feb 19, 2024 8:13 pm

      Swimbait fishing at the lake off to a great start
      There is a video on fishing MB559 Fishing showing a guy weighing a 13.24 last week his personal best
      Swim baits jigs drop shot and ned rigs are all working. In 15 to 30 feet of water. Trout plant is coming soon

Sunday, February 11th, 2024

    • By

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: I finally got a chance to get back to Lake Don Pedro with my buddy Jon House.

      It’s been over 10 years since I’ve been there! But we picked up right where I left off and started catching them. We didn't get nothing big, but we had a lot of fun.

      We caught fish on 1/2 ounce Bass Union Jigs early on. Later we caught them with two things. We used a 4” shad color worm on a dropshot and also a ED’S Lead Ned with a Green Pumpkin FattyZ which seemed to work better when it was later in the day.

      When we got to the lake, the surface temperature was 50° and the water was pretty clear in the main lake where we finished. We caught most the of our fish between the depths of 30' to 40‘.

      Hope this helps.
      Good luck fishing,
      Stan Lafever

Saturday, February 10th, 2024

    • Report: by StanL » Sat Feb 10, 2024 7:24 pm

      Camanche has came up quite a bit the last week or so and has made the Fishing a little bit challenging. I would say your best bet is to try Melones drop shoting a shad colored worm in 30 to 40 feet on island top and main Lake points have been working pretty good. I hope this helps.

Friday, January 19th, 2024

    • Report: At Lyman Lake (Jan. 19 report courtesy of Park Ranger Donna Hartell), fishing has slowed down. Some anglers are still experiencing success with Lyman’s walleye and channel catfish. Most of the walleye are being caught near the dam in 25 feet of water on chatterbaits and lipless crank baits fished near underwater structure. The channel catfish are biting best on nightcrawlers or anchovies fished on a slip sinker rig

Thursday, January 11th, 2024

    • Report: by StanL » Thu Jan 11, 2024 1:25 am

      I had a chance to get out with my good buddy and Jackson Rancheria teammate Earl Dalton lll.

      It was on a very cold day at New Melones. The fishing was challenging at first but then we started to figure things out. Once we knew the fish were on steep rocky bluff banks, it was on!

      We caught most of our fish in about 35 feet. We were throwing both an ED’s Lead 1/4 oz Ned rig with a Big T.R.D. and a dropshot with a = 4” Keeper 1001b worm.

      We have a saying. That is - ‘it’s only hard until you figure it out and then it’s easy’ and I have to say Earl got my dollar on this day but I’ll be back!

      I love getting out and fishing with my buddies in the wintertime it is by far my favorite time of year! Don’t be afraid to put on some warm clothes and endure the cold it can be very rewarding.
      I hope this helps.
      Good luck fishing.
      Stan lafever

Monday, January 8th, 2024

    • Report: by StanL » Mon Jan 08, 2024
      The last month Fishing has been fantastic at Camanche. East Bay Mud has kept a consistent and higher lake level than I’ve ever seen for this time of year.

      The water temperature is in the low 50s and visibility is 6 to 8 feet, depending on where you are.

      There’s been a of couple team tournaments in the past few weeks and it has taken over 15 pounds to win!

      People are catching them in a variety of different ways from fishing shallow reaction baits to deep structure. My son and I fished a NorCal Bass yesterday and had 12.63 at 11:45 a.m. Then we had motor failure and started trolling motoring in all the way from Little Hat to North-Shore! Luckily we had Bioenno Batteries!

      Most of our fish were caught early with an Ed’s Lead Screwball (available at Hook’d in Ione) with a 3.3 Keitech in the morning and then a 1/2 ounce brown and purple Bass Union jig after 9 o’clock.

      So, if you’re heading to Camanche to go fishing, keep an open mind and fish the day and the conditions. Here are a couple of pictures from the last month of fishing.

      Hope this helps.
      Good Luck Fishing
      Stan Lafever

Wednesday, December 6th, 2023

    • 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.

Monday, December 4th, 2023

    • Report: What's up Western Bass. Christian Ostrander here. My partner and I just won the ABA up here at Clear Lake yesterday. 25 Pounds. Been out here all week. 20 pounds hasn't been hard whatsever. You need three rods out here right now. A-rig, underspin, Trash Fish. Sone days we will catch 20 fish a day, some days a little tougher, we will catch 10 fish. Running around the whole lake. Catching big ones up North on a Trash Fish. Throwing a rig and an underspin down South. Having a lot of fun. I'm guiding up here until January 15 when I leave for the Bassmaster Opens so if anyone wants to come out here and get on some fish, or learn their electronics, LiveScope, scanning, SideScan, whatever, give me a call. Thanks. 209.648.3778

      Tips: Catching big ones up North on a Trash Fish. Throwing a rig and an underspin down South

Friday, November 24th, 2023

    • Water Temp: 58

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Fishing Report From Double G

      Fishing Clear Lake for Turkey Day. Fishing was fun. Right now, is a great time to bring kids, or family and friends and introduced them to fishing by soaking a minnow.

      We hit the water at about 10:00 am. It was bluebird skies. Water was clear with a little bit of sediment. There was a little suspended matter to cloud the view – 3 to 4 feet visibility. Maybe the lake’s trying to turnover but it’s not cold enough. There is fresh duckweed on the surface in some areas. There was no current movement, but was level is pretty low, typical drawdown for the rainy season. The water temp was 58 degrees most of the day.

      Baitfish are prolific right now, keeping the fish fat, but also probably why the number bites were on the lower side. Found bait using the Lowrance HDS Pro SideScan, the bass would move through the ball and pick em off slow and easy, methodical. There wasn’t any erratic swishing or slashing through the bait ball. Keep an eye on 6 to 12 feet.

      Tips: Slower bottom moving baits were best. Bottom baits in tried-and-true colors green pumpkins, watermelon, shad imitators. A Frenzy Nail with a 3/16 head so it floats across the silty bottom is better. Got a few hits on a new prototype Frenzy Bait. Stay tuned on that.

Monday, November 20th, 2023

    • Water Temp: 64.5

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Fished Sunday. There was a small club ( 6 boats?) that got out first. I launched and there was a boat where I was headed so I started at the submerged island. It was a very slow morning with a bluegill and a short on spoons by 8. The wind picked up blowing maybe 20 mph from the marina to the dam. I finished my breakfast and stayed along the edge of the island I was following in 45-50 ft. The wind helped and I noticed the fish would stack up under the boat but would eventually fade away so I started mixing up my spoons. The 3/4 oz. hopkins got the most attention all day long. When I got them interested but not biting I would reel up the hopkins and drop down a 1/2oz. tungsten spoon. Game on...I did this until about 9;30 catching fish until they stopped eating and moving 10 feet and locking in for fish until I ran out of edge. I moved into the area along the 150 hwy where there were white caps. I stayed in the 45-50 area and while I didn't get as many fish I did catch 4 legal 1+ pound fish all on the hopkins. At 11:45 the wind stopped and turned 180 blowing from the dam to the marina just as hard. I moved to the lee side of the point where I had started when the wind was blowing on it and I hadn't been bit and wham. the fish now on the lee side were chewing. I stayed with that side but I changed out the 1/2 tungsten for a 3/4 size and went at them alternating the spoons as their disposition on my electronics was displayed. I came across a fish in 65 feet that was 15 off the bottom and dropped the tungsten spoon down and I was on before it got to 30 feet. Two pounds 8 ozs. which was my last keeper before I shut it down at 3:00... I haven't had a limit since the first week of May so I felt pretty good about my efforts. I am seeing some dads out on the water with their boys and they were all dong what I am doing...Catching fish.

      Tips: The amplitude bar on my Lowrance are my eyes at this time of year. If I don't get a few fish to come up to look then I move along. Some spots go for awhile before they shut down others just one fish. Keep moving as some spots are just plain better than others. I fished only main lake points and I stayed in the 45-50 range all day. The baitfish were in 30 but from 47 feet and deeper there isn't anything(or very little ) structure to snag on and the fish are willing to dart out from the brush a few feet away. I am not bouncing my spoon on bottom. I am working it away from the snags by a few feet either above or to the side of the tangle of brush and yo-yoing in open water and I seem to be doing okay. I only had one snag out that deep and It took me a couple of minutes but I shook it free rather than breaking out my plug knocker. If the fish are there but are unwilling...Try ripping the bait violently up 7 feet and down 7 feet for a while...That tends to get them amped up...Cheers

Monday, November 6th, 2023

    • Report: Got out on the Delta this weekend to introduce a new teen angler, Kayden, to fishing from a bass boat. Hit the water from the East Side of the Delta at about 7am. The tide was just starting to come in and I thought I’d go see if there was any stripers in this far. So we started at the mouth where the San Joaquin River comes into the Turning Basin. I used my Lowrance Active Target to search around all the pilings and found a bunch of bait balls and active fish at about 12 to 15 foot depths. I tried a spoon, ripbait, LV500 and a rig but couldn’t get bit, We made our way down the river. Having the teenager on his first trip, put the pressure on to get bit quick.
      So we targeted some wood on and around the main river. We picked up a drop =shot and we immediately put 3 in the boat, so that was fun, But it’s fall on the Delta so I tied on old faithful, the 1/2-ounce Jackhammer and added a Missle Baits Spunk Shad trailer, seems like thats the one to fish this year. I went to work while Kayden threw a white and nickel spinnerbait.We ended up catching about 15 fish and I would guess our best five would of went 14 lbs.

      Tips: Take aways:
      1) Find some colored water. The fish were way easier to catch when there was some color in the water.
      2) The fish were shallower and not as aggressive.
      3) You had to make really good casts and make sure you were reeling your bait thru and on top of the grass as slow as possible.
      4) The water temp was 59-61

Thursday, November 2nd, 2023

    • Water Temp: 60-62

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Another zero-dark-thirty launch from Paradise; a lot of floating patches of hyacinth everywhere, no matter where we were, and pockets of surface fog made for tough visibility in the dark. Went to our first location and still had an hour of darkness before daybreak so we power-poled down and started with dropshot...zip, zero, nothing. Then tried throwing ploppers as it was low tide and I thought maybe they'd be up shallow feeding while still dark; amazingly enough, we were getting blow-ups and caught a few, nothing sizeable but some keepers. Feels funny casting in the dark and sometimes I had to turn my headlamp on to work out a minor backlash. But it was weird catching on topwater in the dark ... we'd hear a splash followed by a tug and that's when we'd just start reelin'... no hookset until I knew the fish was on. When that bite slowed, started throwing a donkey rig but then I took the slider off and just started fishing a single fluke (easier to manage). Hits came on the slow fall, twitch twitch pause and majority of hits were on the pause.. As morning turned to light, started throwing a shad pattern Little John 50 and worked the ledge/dropoffs in 9-12 ft due to the low/incoming tide; picked up a few 10-12"ers; alternated with underspins which picked up a few more but again, not much size. Started heading back to Paradise and decided to work some tules; I saw a hen coot jump out of the water and take off fast and then noticed swirling and splashing where she took off from; threw a craw Little John to the spot and a 4lber smashed it on the first turn of the reel. Finished the morning with that one.

      Tips: As always, not so qualified to give tips; here's what worked for us:
      - Choppo / Ploppers in 90 and 75 size
      - Shad / Craw Little John 50 cranks (worked reeeally slow just touching weed tops)
      - Keitech 3.8" on 1/8 and 3/16 underspins
      Hope everyone continues to get time out there!!

Sunday, October 29th, 2023

    • Water Temp: 68 to start 70.3 to finish

      Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

      Report: Started my Sunday morning on a point that I got chased off before I got to fish it last week. Ten casts into last week with no other private boats yet into the water other than when a boat comes strait at me and comes down right on the place. I left and never saw him again for the rest of the day. I sat on this point for 2.5 hours straight on spot lock catching fish on every cast"drop" of my spoon. 3/4 oz. Hopkins Shorty " chrome " with a red #4 hook. You can cast it and yo-yo back to the boat or just drop it straight down. At first light the fish swallowed the spoon before getting near the brush below. I ended the day at 3:00 with two keeper fish ...4 bluegill " males " ...I have no idea how many shorts but four out of the hundred or more shorts for the day were exactly 12 inches. I never caught more than one legal or 12" fish on any one spot. There was a lot of bait in the 30 foot zone . I found some places were the brush was more sparse which helped me get the spoon to the bottom however that is not necessary at this time. Deepest I fished depth wise could be 50 under the boat but you watch your meter vertical fishing so I would drop to within 2 feet of the brush and start the lift fall. If you see them not doing doing much try dropping the spoon free fall and reeling it straight back up 3-4 times and then drop the spoon into the pack that is now straight under the boat and stop it in the middle of them. Then lower and raise your tip very slowly down 3 feet...stop ...pause...raise slowly 3 feet. You might just get crushed the next time you lower it to your stop point. If that proves to not work. Try putting the spoon 2 feet off the top of the brush and rip it like your mad at it up ...free fall do this over and over and over again ...Nothing. Move to another spot if you can't bring them to you. Once you do catch one. Be as quick to release your fish and drop down again as fast as you can...Have your pliers on the deck because you'll need them. They get into a frenzy once you catch a few it gets hard to even drop the spoon so apply a little thumb on the drop because when they get going it's like fishing for piranha's.and the line will just stop 10 feet down....your on....swing! The yo yo works best after they go off the vertical ...on this morning around 10:00. It seemed the shade the point I was fishing helped me catch fish longer than normal without having to go any where.,

Thursday, October 26th, 2023

    • By

      Water Temp: 69

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Crappy fishing. I’ll leave it at that.

      Tips: Go somewhere else.

Friday, October 13th, 2023

    • Water Temp: 68-70

      Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

      Report: Usual early start from Paradise in the dark; idled on down Disappointment to our usual starting spot; couple of blowups on plopper and popper but nothing pinned. When daybreak came, the bite window opened up... this time out, not as many dinks or 10-12"ers but a few. Probably 90% boated were keeper size up to 2.5 lbs and were upchuckin' white baitfish so we stayed with shad colored shallow cranks (white w/blue or blk back), ploppers and poppers. Buddy also caught a few on ned/TRD; Ended early cuz I forgot my cellphone in the truck and headed in to get it. Out of the water by 11am. Nice early start back home, we like it that way.

      Tips: As always, not qualified to give tips... but here's what worked for us today:
      - Shad colored shallow cranks (squarebills, Hybrid Hunter, R2S Biggie)
      - Whopper Plopper and Choppo in 110 size - changed colors from usual Blk / Loon to translucent (Abalone and Ghost Bluegill)
      - R2S Bubble Walker - Powder
      - Dropshot with 6" Margarita Mutilator
      - Ned / TRD - Green Pumpkin, Roboworm - Desert Craw