Lake Chabot is fishing well for July with water temps hovering in the mid-70s. EBParks dropped a catfish plant earlier this month, and there's been plenty of catfish action near the Marina and west of Live Oak Island on garlic prawns and chicken livers.

Small bass are showing up everywhere around the weedlines and backs of coves, mostly in the 1–1.5 lb range. Finesse is the way to go... dropshots, shaky heads, and wacky-rigged Senkos are all working. Although a 5-pounder was caught last week on an Urchin style soft plastic... the new bait taking the bass world by storm.

Another CDFW trout plant went in last week, to add to an already awesome trout bite. Plenty of action all around the lake, with anglers getting them a variety of ways. In the mornings, the spoon bite has been very good, with some folks limiting out quickly with long casts and stop/go retrieves. Most of the all-day bite, though, has been on bait... Carolina rig with at least a 3-foot leader, soaking garlic PowerBait, nightcrawlers, or mice tails. Most are stocker-sized fish, but a few bigger rainbows and the occasional lightning trout are being caught.

There's a solid crappie bite right now too... fly anglers are stripping stonefly nymphs around submerged brush in quiet spots, hooking some nice fish in the 1-2 pound range (along with the occasional trout).

The occasional bass is being caught either accidentally on trout spoons/spinners, or on smaller finesse soft plastics.