California Fishing Reports

Pond smelt are the dominant forage right now at Lake Oroville. King salmon, rainbows, and spotted bass are all keying in on the schools. Trollers are getting a ton of action on hoochies tipped with anchovy fillets between 50-100 feet, with rainbows higher in the water column and kings deeper. Some big fish being pulled out... plenty of 5 pounders with a few in the double digits last week.

Bass are also chasing these smelt schools near rocky structure in 20-30 feet. Any lure that resembles these baitfish is producing like crazy... crankbaits, swimbaits, Roostertails, etc.

The McClure salmon bite really picked up early last month, but with the summer season here, increased water temps and boat traffic have negatively impacted the bite. Limits up to 17 inches were being pulled out early in the day in the 40-60 foot range... but now the Kokanee are pushing deeper, upwards of 80 feet, and limits haven't been much tougher to come by. Still, fish are being caught... purple Apex spoons are working well. Reports mention close to 1500 pounds of rainbows were dropped in June 20th.

With the recent water drop, bass are moving offshore as well, pushing near submerged structure, points, and transition zones in 20-30 feet of water. Deep-diving crankbaits, jigs, and dropshots are getting most of the action.

Water temps are now in the mid-70s, and we're in summer mode. Algae has been a bit of a problem, with that green layer showing on top in the quieter parts of the lake. But there was mention of an algae treatment going in last week, so it should be clearing by now. Overall the bass bite has been good, mostly in deeper water around 20 feet. Dropshots and wacky-rigged C3 worms in Cinnamon and Purple Haze are reportedly the hot baits, according to guide Jim Taibi. He also mentions that once the water clarity stabilizes, the shad should push shallow and spark a better reaction bite.

For stripers, there've been sporadic boils around the lake, with a few anglers reporting fish on Chappos and jerkbaits. But nothing consistent.

Cold front after cold front this year, disrupting the typical patterns we see this time of year. Spending lots of time fishing the lower portion of the water column with drop shots, free rigs, Waco rigs, t-rigged creatures. Topwater is really spotty....ok in the mornings but shuts off at 10a. A bit tougher this year, than past years. Water temps are running about 5-6 degrees cooler than the same time last year, based on my records. The wife asked me if my coike's were decorations for the boat, hahaha.....I guess actually, that's what they are.....I've been able to hook only 2 fish, all year on these urchins. So, maybe they are decorations. Lol. Tight lines!

Water temps are now in the high 70s at Perris, and summer mode is starting to settle in. Bass are still biting, but not in the numbers we saw a month ago. Overall, it's either mornings, evenings, or finesse. The morning bite has been good shallow on reaction stuff... topwater walking baits, Rapalas, and crankbaits. But after 10am, Senkos (watermelon), dropshots, and T-rigged straight-tail worms (green pumpkin) have been best in 10–20 feet of water. It's been mostly smaller fish, but reports of an 8 and 6 pounder came in last week.

The most impressive action at Perris lately, though, has been huge bluegill. Giant, beautifully dark-colored, hand-sized bluegill are being caught on Kastmasters, grubs, and even small crankbaits. Red worms are always a go-to for panfish here as well.

If you're into carp, folks are getting into an excellent bite launching corn or cornmeal dough as far as they can off beach areas around the lake.

The water level is dropping and temps are increasing, but there's still an excellent multi-species bite happening at Isabella right now. Bass guys are crushing 1-2 pound fish off points, rocks, and hard structure on soft plastics... Senkos, dropshots, and Flukes in shad colors. Some fish are keying in on crawdads too, so red jigs and crawfish-style baits are working as well. A 12-pounder was landed last week on a shad-colored crankbait, so the reaction bite is there, but it's best early and late in the day.

Crappie have been somewhat scattered... small schools are still around in the 20-foot range near submerged brush and wood. Live shiners are always the go-to, but minijigs are working also.

Catfish are hitting extremely well late in the evening on chicken livers and nightcrawlers.

A few trout are still being picked up as well near the North Fork in the early mornings. Soaking Powerbait or floated nightcrawlers is the best bet.

Water temps are increasing at Eagle Lake, but early limits have still been the norm. Spoons (Little Cleos, Thomas Bouyants) are the ticket trolled between 15-25 feet, in a variety of color combinations. Red/white, pink/white, red/copper, etc. The east side near Eagles Nest has been producing well. Reports mention bigger schools of bait are starting to ball up in the 20 foot range. Fly anglers have been most affected by the rising water temps... fish are moving away from shallow rocky areas that produced well earlier this month.

Stripers are really hitting right now at Pyramid. Boats are going out, pulling limits on the daily, mostly on bait. There've been a few boils here and there to throw spoons or jerkbaits at, but soaked sardines and anchovies have been doing most of the damage.

Water temps are sitting around 74 degrees, and bass are still very active shallow. Senkos, dropshots, or other finesse soft plastics are doing well near most structure from 5-15 feet. Plenty of 1-2 pound fish, with the occasional 3+.

Oddly enough, a few anglers reported catching trout... crazy this late in the season. They were soaking nightcrawlers for catfish... hooked some nice ones but ended up landing multiple rainbows as well.

Pyramid is in excellent shape right now, and the bite should remain hot until water temps push into the upper 70s, low 80s. This is when fish start pushing deep.