Amador
(Ione) Bass fishing has picked back up in the last couple of weeks and lots of people are also catching rainbow trout at Lake Amador.
“What beautiful weather we are having,” said Elizabeth Lockhart at the Lake Amador Resort. “Both fish and fishermen are loving it.”
She said the spillway is still a hot area for shore fishermen.
“With the sunny weather, the dam should be a good area while fishing the debris line,” said Lockhart. “Trout usually like to hang out in the shade underneath. As usual, PowerBait and Power Eggs are knocking them out when used shallow and close to shore.”
“Bass fishing has been very good with large jigs, Brush Hogs, and swim baits in the 10-25′ range. Usually the main hot spot for bass is up toward the back of the lake this time of year, but some are being caught closer by the Dock and RV Park point,” Lockhart stated.
The NorCal Trout Anglers Challenge is coming up on March 18th. “Don’t forget to check us out on Facebook for more catches and details,” she said.
Jeremy Silvas from Pine Grove did well at the Spillway on green PowerBait, catching three rainbows weighing up to 3.86 pounds. Papa Greg caught his limit of rainbows, with his best fish weighing 4.5 lbs., at the Spillway while soaking garlic PowerBait and white Power Eggs.
Gary Bush limited out on trout while fishing from his boat. His two biggest fish weighed 5.1 and 4.1 pounds. Finally, Ryan Jones caught and released an 8 lb. largemouth bass while using a baby Brush Hog at the RV Point.
Pardee
(Ione) The trout fishing is going strong at Lake Pardee, while the black bass fishing is tough.
Big trout plants continue at Lake Pardee, boosting the catches for shore and boat anglers. A total of 12,400 pounds of rainbow trout were released during the opening weekend, and another 3000 pounds of trout were planted on Friday, February 24.
The trout plants are the result of a cooperative effort between the Lake Pardee Recreation Company, East Bay Municipal Utilities District, and Department of Fish and Wildlife that raises rainbow trout in the Mokelumne River Hatchery. The fish released so far are part of the 45,000 pounds of triploid rainbow trout being raised at the reservoir for release into Pardee this season.
Shore anglers are catching the trout on blue and silver Kastmasters, PowerBait and nightcrawlers, reported Robert Smalldon of the Lake Pardee Recreation Company. Fishing pressure has increased with the arrival of beautiful spring-like weather.
Larry Hemphill, fishing guide, went bass fishing at Pardee, reporting, “We didn’t have much hope of succesms due to the sudden cold front and the icy winds as the water temperature dropped to 48 degrees and up to 51 degrees in some areas. “
“We looked over the entire lake and landed a few largemouths to 3 pounds in the south end on jigs with Havoc bait trailers,” said Hemphill. “The main body has little debris, but the river arm is a different story, as you have to run very slowly through the debris. The water is still dinghy, but it is fishable. Every cove has a little waterfall entering the lake, and this is beautiful.”
Camanche
(Burson) Although it was close, EBMUD and Mother Nature managed to hold off Lake Camanche from spilling by a mere 21″ or so.
This year the highest elevation was recorded by the Department of Water Resources at 4:00 pm was on Friday 2/24 at 233.77′ or 97% of capacity. Now that the inflow is less than the outflow the lake level, will start to go down again helping to prepare for the snow pack melt and spring runoff.
Sunshine and calm weather has brought the anglers out for bass, trout and crappie. The water clarity has been fairly good on the main lake with visibility to 4′ to 5′. The river channel is still murky with floating debris west of the Lancha Palana Bridge.
1,200 lbs. of Mt. Lassen trout were delivered on Thursday 2/23 with 600 lbs. going in at both the north and south ramps. Another 1,200 lbs will be delivered this week before the weekend.
STAY ALERT FOR FLOATING DEBRIS WHILE OUT ON THE LAKE.
Cynthia Lenard commented, “What a day! It started out slow for us, with nothing for over an hour. Nate said he wanted to use a certain lure and said he had a feeling it will work, and boy did it!
“We had a double hook-up. I lost one right at the boat and was upset but redeemed myself with a 4.6 lb. rainbow. Natey also caught a 4 pounder. Even Nate caught some fish. We ended up with 13 trout, lost 3 at the boat and had about 5 other hits and misses”
Local angler Robbie Dunham reported good fishing with Diana Stockton
“We set up our lines just before Big Hat Island,” he said. “ We got three lines out and working on the fourth rod, when I hear a clicker screaming… first fish in the boat. We worked this area for a while and into the Causeway for a couple more.
“W hen made the trip to the Dam and picked up one more heading in that direction. Then back to Big Hat. So I decided to make the troll across the main lake to Little Hat.
“I was setting the line out on downrigger set at 4′ when it got slammed by a big fish behind the boat. Diana fought this fish, a 5.4 lb. like a pro. The then we headed towards the dam and across the buoy line. We got about 3 hundred feet from the buoy line, when the same rod got slammed again. I fought this big ole brute, slid the net under it. It was the exact same weight as her fish!
“So with two 5.4’s in the boat we were pretty happy. We stayed until 4:30 and ended our day with a total of 8 fish,” Dunham said.
New Melones
(Angels Camp) Monte Smith of Gold Country Sportfishing fished New Melones for the first time in two years, reporting good rainbow fishing in spite of challenging conditions.
“The big reservoir was 65 percent of capacity, had lots of debris in the water floating some really big stuff and small as well along with lots of grass,” said Smith. “Boaters need to boat with caution as many objects are hard to see lurking just under the surface.
“The water temperatures were a cool 48 degrees to a 51 degrees,” he noted. “The water clarity was heavily stained and visibility was not even two feet.”
Smith’s clients still managed to catch eight rainbows. “We didn’t catch anything big, but I feel we did pretty good with the conditions we had. We trolled with Vance’s Slim Willies and a threaded night crawler cover soaked with Pro-Cure’s Carp Spit did the trick,” he disclosed.
Shore fishing is picking up off in Angels Creek and off Glory Hole Point for anglers using nightcrawlers and PowerBait. “Anglers are picking up lots of planter rainbows, along with a few 3 to 4 pound holdovers,” reported Gene Hildebrand of Glory Hole Sports.
“The bass fishing has broken loose,” said Hildebrand. “Two bass fishermen reported catching and releasing more than 70 bass yesterday while throwing, swimbaits and A Rigs in the top 10 feet of water. They landed both spotted and largemouth bass up to 4 pounds.”
Anglers are starting to catch crappie up to 14 inches near the marina while using minnows and small jigs. “This is just the beginning of the crappie season,” noted Hildebrand.
The New Melones water level is 1010.75 feet above sea level and about 66 percent of capacity. The middle ramp at Glory Hole and the Tuttletown and Angels Cove ramps are currently open. Two courtesy docks are available at the ramps.
Don Pedro
(La Grange) Lake Don Pedro re-opened to all boating on February 27 after being closed due to high water releases.
“When I was last there in mid February, we found solid action on rainbows to three pounds. We released several large rainbows,” said Smith. “The fish were caught trolling spoons on lead core line and down riggers to 20 feet deep.”
The water clarity was about 6 to 8 feet, and the lake was nearly at full pool. Water temperatures were about 54 to 55 degrees, noted Smith.
Daphne Taylor landed a 5.5 lb. rainbow while trolling with her husband, Kevin, on a February trip to the reservoir.