Don Pedro Reservoir Fishing Report

Things are picking up at Don Pedro with both trout and kings on the chew reports Monte Smith of Gold Country Sport Fishing. Kings are coming on corn-tipped lures run behind dodgers, anywhere from 20 to 70 feet down. Rainbows are up higher, usually between 15 and 30 feet, and chasing shad-patterned spoons. The water’s in great shape—clear with surface temps hovering in the mid-50s.

Bass are active too, with numbers on plastics and better size coming off swimbaits and umbrella rigs. A cold front could stall things a bit, but overall the lake’s fishing well.

Fishing at Don Pedro is firing on all cylinders right now. Trout action has been consistent, with planted rainbows and holdovers up to 3 pounds biting in the top 20 feet. Kings are showing up in good numbers as well. Trolling with shad-patterned spoons, Speedy Shiners or Rapalas are getting fish. Colors and depths must be adjusted throughout the day to keep the bites coming, but limits have typically been the norm.

Bass fishing has also been excellent lately, especially on points in 30-40 feet of water with jigs, dropshots, or other finesse soft-plastics. There's a shallow bite in the morning on trout-colored reaction baits (glide & jerkbaits). The crappie bite is available too, although they're also deep. Use sonar.

It’s big bait time at Don Pedro. The recent CDFW stockings have fired up the biggest of bass. Anglers are throwing trout-imitating glide and swim baits at these giants as they aggressively target unaware stockers. Calm water around the launch ramps has been best.

The overall trout bite for trollers is still very good as the water cools and fish move up the water column (salmon as well). Most action is coming north of 50 feet on spoons and other small shad imitations. Big bait balls are still the target on sonar.