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Dancin Fish Baits Powers Up SoCal Trout Action This Season

Dancin Fish Baits Powers Up SoCal Trout Action This Season

30 Jan 2026Dancin Fish Baits profileDancin Fish Baits
Fish Thug Baits Mini Jigs Deliver Big Trout This Season

Fish Thug Baits Mini Jigs Deliver Big Trout This Season

30 Jan 2026Fish Thugs profileFish Thugs
MADE Baits Hook Trout, Crappie, and Bass This Season

MADE Baits Hook Trout, Crappie, and Bass This Season

30 Jan 2026Mike Cooper profileMike Cooper
Collins Lake High Water Update: Bait Fishing Beats Slow Trolling

Collins Lake High Water Update: Bait Fishing Beats Slow Trolling

19 Jan 2026Tom Mailey profileTom Mailey
Trout Action at Folsom Lake Plus Surprise Chinook Spawn

Trout Action at Folsom Lake Plus Surprise Chinook Spawn

19 Jan 2026Tom Mailey profileTom Mailey
Exciting Weekend at the International Sportsmen's Expo with Reel Addiction Sportfishing

Exciting Weekend at the International Sportsmen's Expo with Reel Addiction Sportfishing

19 Jan 2026Ben Mechling profileBen Mechling

Freshwater

Read all in Freshwater ➔
Truckee River Fishing report

Truckee River Fishing report

Target Quality Rainbows with Stonefly and Egg Patterns TRUCKEE– The extended stable conditions on the Truckee River over the last few weeks have made for good flows, clear water and steadily rising...

12 Feb 2026Miles Zimmeramn profileMiles Zimmeramn

Saltwater

Read all in Saltwater ➔
Mixed Bag Poke-Poling at Low Tide

Mixed Bag Poke-Poling at Low Tide

Lawrence Ngai from Durasnare went poke-poling at low tide and brought back a good haul: one greenling, one monkeyface prickleback eel, three rock crabs, and 10 pounds of mussels. Nice mix from the Cal...

30 Jan 2026Lawrence Ngai profileLawrence Ngai
Volume 45 Issue 2 Out Now!

Volume 45 Issue 2 Out Now!

Read Now

Northern California

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Salmon Season Special Public meeting

Salmon Season Special Public meeting

CDFW to Host Public Meeting on California’s Salmon Fisheries Sacramento - The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) invites the public to attend its annual Salmon Information Meeting. Th...

12 Feb 2026Dan Bacher profileDan Bacher

Central California

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Browns in Eastern Sierras

Browns in Eastern Sierras

Mike Cooper of MADE Baits caught this brown in the Eastern Sierras. He hit the river reservoir edge during the tail end of a fall storm before check in and found a heavy pumpkin colored buck brown. It...

6 Nov 2025Mike Cooper profileMike Cooper

Staff Tackle

Jack Naves

Jack Naves

Jack Naves fished Lake Amador with Robbie Dunham of Koke Machine Guide Service in Robbie's 20’ Boulton boat powered by Yamaha. They caught three cutbow trout and one blue trout using Edge Mag Pro rods in Scotty downriggers.  The rods were teamed with Abu Garcia Max Toro DLC levelwind reels loaded with Triene XT 14-pound test clear monofilament line.  They trolled gold-colored Speedy Shiner spoons and orange Arctic Fox Tube Flies ran directly behind small Wigglefin Action Discs in the top ten feet of water.

Paul Kneeland

Paul Kneeland

Paul Kneeland fished Eagle Lake with Bridget Looney in the Fish Sniffer 21 Rogue Jet Coastal. They caught rainbow trout to 22 inches and 3.75 pounds using a Lamiglas 7 ½ foot ultralight graphite rod with a Daiwa Lexa low profile line counter reel loaded with 6 lb test P Line flourocarbon line.. They trolled 2 inch Mag Lips. Thomas Bouyants and Excel spoons, on the surface and off the Canon Downriggers at 10 to 20 feet deep and 2.2 mph.

Dan Bacher

Dan Bacher

Dan Bacher fished for rainbow trout at Lake Camanche South Shore. He used a Berkley Ugly Stik GX2 6’ 6” medium action spinning rod, teamed up with a Shakespeare GX235 spinning reel filled with 8 lb. test P-Line CX Premium Fluorocarbon Coated Line. He fished with Berkley Tequila Sunrise Power Bait on a #14 Eagle Claw gold treble hook on a sliding sinker rig.

Hot Bites

CLEAR LAKE

Hefty largemouth bass are the reward for anglers using live scopes to locate fish. Use shad pattern swimbaits, jigs and other lures for the best success.

FOLSOM LAKE

Holdover rainbows, recent planters and king salmon are being caught by experienced anglers. Troll with Trout Trix Worms, Speedy Shiners and other lures from the surface to 25 feet deep.

MONTEREY BAY SANDDABS

Sanddabs, along with petrale sole and mackerel, are the reward for anglers venturing out on charter boats out of Santa Cruz and Monterey. Tom’s jigs, tipped with squid strips, are the top lures.

COLLINS LAKE

Trollers are catching rainbow trout on spoons and plastic worms behind dodgers. Shore anglers are hooking trout while tossing out PowerBait and nightcrawlers.

Good Bets

LAKE OROVILLE

The spotted bass action should shift into high gear for anglers using small swimbaits and soft plastics. Expect to catch fish in the 15 to 25 foot range.

PORT/DEEP WATER CHANNEL

Fishing for striped bass is tough on the Delta. However, anglers trolling Dredger lures and spooning in the Port of Sacramento and Deep Water Channel are catching fish averaging 6 pounds.

AMERICAN RIVER

The stretch of river below Nimbus Fish Hatchery is producing steelhead. Anglers are throwing spoons, drifting nightcrawlers under floats and pulling an array of plugs.

RUSSIAN RIVER

The steelhead season is in full swing. Boaters are hooking bright steelies while pulling plugs, while shore anglers are using fish pills, yarn and salmon roe.

Sleepers

TRUCKEE RIVER

Rainbow and brown trout are hitting flies on the Truckee River. The stonefly hatch is expected to begin in March.

UPPER KLAMATH

Steelhead fishing has been tough since dam removal. However, one guide reported catching and releasing 6 adult fish while fly fishing on a recent trip.

SAN PABLO RESERVOIR

The lake reopened to fishing on February 6. 4,000 pounds of rainbow trout went into the reservoir before the opener

SUISUN BAY STURGEON

Catch-and-release sturgeon fishing has been productive. Use ghost shrimp, salmon roe and lamprey eel for the sturgeon.

Coming Soon

HALF MOON BAY

Rockfish and lingcod season will begin on April 1. Expect to bag limits of colorful rockfish, along with lingcod, while using bars, jigs and shrimp flies.

SACRAMENTO/FEATHER RIVER

It won’t be long before the striper run begins in the Sacramento and Feather rivers. The fish typically start moving into the rivers in early March.

BODEGA BAY PERCH

Expect the perch fishing to pick up off the Sonoma County Coast in March and April. Toss out pileworms, shrimp and plastic grubs for the best action.

SAN FRANCISCO BAY HALIBUT

Bay Area party boats will begin trolling anchovies and herring for halibut in March. This should be another great halibut season.

Conservation

Read all in Conservation ➔
Salmon Season Special Public meeting

Salmon Season Special Public meeting

CDFW to Host Public Meeting on California’s Salmon Fisheries Sacramento - The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) invites the public to attend its annual Salmon Information Meeting. Th...

12 Feb 2026Dan Bacher profileDan Bacher

Southern California

Read all in Southern California ➔