Check out the new issue of The Fish Sniffer Magazine for October 17, 2025.

In this issue of The Fish Sniffer, we celebrate the arrival of Fall. Much cooler temperatures and even some rainfall have occurred, setting the stage for excellent fishing in Northern California. Trout, salmon, bass, panfish, stripers, catfish, and all other species are on the bite to fatten up for the lean winter season.

Check out the articles in this issue, including a full report on the opening week at Pyramid Lake, the Fall Rio Vista Striper Derby, and the 25th Annual Shasta Lake Trout Derby. Learn how to catch more fish and enjoy the great outdoors in Northern California this fall season.

The golden mussel problem continues to impact boaters statewide, causing major boat launch closures and strict new inspection and quarantine rules at several lakes. These rules are beginning to change, and some lakes—like Oroville and Bullards Bar—now allow same-day launches following an inspection. Always check the regulations at any lake before heading out.

All you need to know about fresh and saltwater fishing in Northern California is in the new issue of The Fish Sniffer Magazine!

OREGON HOUSE – It’s feeling more and more like fall around here — beautiful quiet weekdays and comfortable camping weather. The lake is about 32 ft below spill, which is normal for this time in the irrigation season, and the surface water temperature has cooled down to 70.8 degrees.

While it’s definitely a different feel than “full to the brim,” it has its own beauty, especially when it’s still and glassy, and especially when the only sound is water dripping off your kayak paddles.

This is just about the slowest time of year for trout fishing. Even so, in September, longtime Collins Lake angler Jimmie Trejo and his friend John Hilton managed to bring in more than a limit of trout and a couple of bass to fill out the stringer.

They were trolling white Speedy Shiners out on the main body of the lake, where it took 300 ft of weighted fishing line to get down deep enough for those trout! Jimmie was out on the water again this week and brought in another nice bass weighing 5 pounds from out near the island.

Aside from trout, there is still some good warm-water action. Bass are scattered and you might even get a few unexpected bites while trolling. Or else when you’re fishing for bluegill… Keegan, Brody, and Colson reported catching a 4.5 lb largemouth bass while they were reeling in a bluegill — I’d doubt it EXCEPT… when I was a kid, the exact same thing happened to me and my brother at Collins Lake on the east bank of Elmer’s Cove on a #12 hook with a 4 lb test leader no less.

We had no net, and I remember my brother bear-hugging a big largemouth down in the mud to bring it up on shore. That’s...

SACRAMENTO – Trollers fishing Lake Berryessa are bagging big numbers of kokanee salmon, king salmon, and Eagle Lake–strain trout, while bass fishermen are picking up large numbers of spotted, largemouth, and smallmouth bass.

“After almost a two-week break for vacation, I am back on Berryessa and the limit train rolls on, baby,” said Nate Kelsch of Big Nate’s Guide Service after his latest fishing adventure. “My three-man crew scored limits of big, beautiful kokanee and a couple of nice king salmon by 10:30 a.m.

Epic fishing continues. We used exactly what I had been using before my vacation — Catch America 6-inch Offset Dodgers with Tpex lures from my Kokanee Kit, tipped with Chrome Killer Corn, on the brand new Big Nate’s Signature Trolling Rods — and we batted 1000%. If you use this gear, you will catch fish,” he added.

“The best depths were from 45 ft to 87 ft, chasing marks as I kept my eyes glued to the graph. The fish are a bit lethargic with the full moon, so keeping the presentations in their face is crucial,” he concluded.

Kelsch is now booking potluck trips, catfish trips, and crappie/bass trips on Berryessa.

On one recent fishing adventure at Lake Berryessa, Don Paganelli of Paganelli’s Bass Fishing reported that the “bass bite is still going.”

“The spoon bite was slow starting with only two largemouth, but the dropshot bite was great with 15 fish up to 3 pounds. A little cooler weather is all we need to get the fall bite going,” he forecasted.

However, on the following trip, Paganelli reported slow bass action. “I had a day towards the end of last week during that storm — and the fishing was really slow. That low-pressure system shut the bite off. We ended up with three bass...

ALAMEDA COUNTY – The weather is perfect, school is in, and the crowds are light. Seasonal plants may have ended, but there is still plenty of action to be had.

Lake del Valle – Paul Clouse and Al Hurwitz continue their quest for DV smallies and are starting to see some decent numbers. Last week the pair took a total of 12 fish (one bluegill and 11 smallmouth). The smallies were mostly on the dink side, except for one weighing 2 pounds. The fish were mainly caught on the western shore of the lake opposite Swallow Bay trolling 1/4 oz Panther Martin spinners in a salamander pattern at 16–21 feet below the surface in 20–30-foot water columns at a speed of 2.0–2.4 mph.

Largemouth remain another solid target, with a decent morning and evening bite, and with water temperatures slowly dropping the bite window is stretching longer into the day. Additionally, the fish are moving into deeper water and are a bit easier to target in the cleaner water. Catfish are still more than available, panfish are at about their largest size of the season, and there are still some outliers such as the occasional striper. Weedless plastics, chatterbaits, shallow divers, and spinners will all work for bass.

Cut baits like anchovies and sardines are best for the cats, and worms under a bobber or small jigs should produce both crappie and bluegill. There was a surprise DFW trout taken this week.

A caution advisory for algae remains in effect but has had little effect on the fishing. The water level is good, and water temperatures have been between 75 degrees in the morning and 79 degrees in the afternoon.

Contra Loma – There has been little change to conditions, and the bite remains slow for mostly dink bass. Catfish...

FOLSOM – The fishing for king salmon and rainbow trout has been tough on Folsom Lake, but that should all change soon as the surface water temperature cools down and the fish become more active.

“It’s a case of quality over quantity,” said Tom Malley of Get the Net Fishing Guide Service. “There are some nice salmon pushing 6 to 8 pounds on the lake now. We landed one king weighing 4 pounds and lost a bigger fish at the net on Saturday. We hooked and lost a big salmon on Sunday, while my fishing buddy landed one weighing 5 pounds.”

“You’ve got to get out before first light; there’s been a window of about 45 minutes when the fish bite lately. We’ve been trolling with white and green Pro-Trolls and green Jig-Its, both tipped with anchovy fillets. The fish have also been hitting Trigger Spoons,” he advised.

“The depths have varied depending on the day,” he said. “Two weeks ago, we hooked two kings at 35 feet deep while fishing with Trigger Spoons. The key is slow trolling and hitting the drop-offs, as long as you watch out for sunken trees. You need to bounce your weights on the bottom.”

On one trip, Malley reported, “We had a slow morning on Folsom with one chrome-bright six-pound king salmon caught — and on the kid’s birthday, to boot! We caught the fish off Brown’s Ravine at 45 feet, at a speed of 1.8 mph on, believe it or not, a yellow Thomas Buoyant I was using as a cheater spoon. So it was just the kid and the fish.”

For black bass, Don Paganelli of Paganelli’s Bass Fishing Experience recommended fishing Robo Worms on drop-shot rigs in the creek channels leading into the coves at Folsom. “Use your electronics to...

EL GRANADA – Rockfishing adventures along the San Mateo County Coast continue to yield limits of colorful rockfish, along with some lingcod and an occasional halibut.

“All-depth rockfishing is now allowed off our coastline,” the Half Moon Bay Sportfishing Center reported. “The state and federal fishery management agencies have both approved changes to the rockfishing off our coastline effective September 18, 2025, to no depth restrictions through the end of the year. That means fishing the Deep Reef is in play, as well as fishing as deep or as shallow as we’d like.”

For example, the Queen of Hearts returned to the dock with 210 rockfish and 2 lingcod for 21 anglers on October 11. The boat checked in with 120 rockfish and 5 lingcod for 21 anglers on October 10.

The Center is now taking reservations for Dungeness crab and rockfishing trips beginning on November 1 through the end of the year.

Salmon fishing is closed for the rest of the year as the 7,500 fall harvest guideline has been met. News about a salmon season in 2026 will be discussed in fishery management meetings beginning in February 2026.

“Perch are hitting along the coastline, and squid and anchovies are showing up outside the harbor,” the Center stated. “Folks continue to enjoy catching rock crab off the fishing pier inside the harbor as well as on the jetty. Recreational Dungeness crab season is closed until the first Saturday in November, but the rock crab season is open all year using either hoop nets or snares.”

“If you’re interested in monkeyface eel, there’s loads of them available hidden in the jetty rocks for poke-pole anglers. Striper fishing along the beaches has slowed down, but there are still a few being landed here and there. Halibut have moved in with some...

SOMES BAR – I have some first-hand info to share today. We sent seven boats out fishing over the last three days covering the Coon Creek to Stuarts Bar areas. In summary, we are seeing very few steelhead.

Here are our actual totals from the seven total boat days: we netted three adult steelhead and three half-pounders, and dozens of smolt were hooked. There were several half-pounder hits on the flies that did not lead to a netted fish.

My personal boat run today with two expert fly fishermen only produced one netted adult (about 4 or 5 pounds) and zero half-pounders. So, there just aren’t many steelhead in this stretch of the mid-Klamath.

However, the general river quality is fishable. Clarity varied over the last three days but averaged about 2–3 feet in depth. River temps are in the mid-60s, and the river is flowing at 1,600 cfs in Orleans. We continued to clean off moss globules from our flies after every other cast.

The typical number of smolt interacted with on each guide day totaled around a dozen to two dozen per boat. The large number of smolt interactions is encouraging as far as potential growth for the future steelhead population, but we are obviously hit hard by the current loss of the half-pounder population and the small numbers of adults.

We have more rain predicted at the end of this week and early next week, so we are hoping that there might be more pods of fish migrating upstream with increasingly cooler water temps.

It has been tiring to fish hard all day with only one or two fish hits, but that’s fishing — so on we go.

The Klamath and Trinity rivers are closed to all take of Chinook salmon this year due to the collapse...

SANTA CRUZ – While most anglers are focusing on rockfish and lingcod now that all depths are open, a few bluefin tuna are beginning to show in the Monterey Bay region.

Three bluefin tuna caught by local anglers were recently weighed in at Bayside Marine. One angler landed an 87 lb bluefin while trolling a Mad Mack lure. Another fisherman brought in a bluefin while trolling 16 miles out from the harbor.

“There was only one boat looking for bluefin today,” said Todd Fraser of Bayside Marine on October 11. “He caught his fish in the middle of the bay on a Mad Mack.”

“However, the majority of anglers caught a mix of rockfish and lingcod up the Santa Cruz County coast,” said Fraser. “The deep-water rockfishing was also great straight out of the harbor.”

Anglers landed the bottomfish while fishing bars, jigs, swimbaits, shrimp flies, and live bait.

Some quality striped bass were caught near the San Lorenzo River mouth on Lucky Craft lures, Fraser noted. Some big halibut have been weighed in at the store lately. For halibut, Fraser recommended drifting live bait or trolling lures from Four Mile Beach to Davenport.

Charter boats out of Chris’ Fishing Trips in Monterey reported excellent fishing for rockfish on recent outings. The boats are returning with daily limits of rockfish, along with a few lingcod. Anglers are using shrimp flies baited with squid strips, jigs, bars, swimbaits, and other offerings to nail the bottomfish.

The Checkmate returned with limits of rockfish (200) and 7 lingcod for 20 anglers on Saturday, Oct. 11. On the same day, the Caroline tied up at the dock with limits of rockfish (170) and 8 lingcod for 17 anglers. The Checkmate also returned with limits of rockfish (200), including limits of vermilion, and 8 lingcod...

NAPA – If you’d like to troll for stripers on the Napa River from Cuttings Wharf, the bite is going strong on trips with Dennis Grossi of Grossi’s Guide Service.

Dennis continues to get limits of stripers for his clients on each trip. He reports trolling 1-ounce Rat-L-Traps in the sloughs and at the mouth of the sloughs. The last hour of the outgoing tide and the turn to the incoming tide have been best. Dennis noted that the fish have been averaging about 5 pounds.

• Ken Baccetti, President of the California Striped Bass Association (CSBA), Isleton-Delta Chapter

BURSON – Shore anglers and rental boaters are catching big numbers of black bass, particularly smallmouths, at Pardee Lake as the season nears its end on November 9.

Fishing pressure has been light at Pardee, as the ban on launching private craft continues through the end of the season.

“The bass bite has been hot for those going out,” said John Blim at the Pardee Lake Marina. “Guys in rental boats have reported catching up to 30 bass while using topwater lures, spinnerbaits, and plastics. There are lots of quality smallmouths being caught. The biggest fish reported lately was an 8 lb smallmouth caught from shore a month ago.”

While the 8-pound bass is big news, another angler topped the year’s catfish catches with a 25 lb channel cat caught on a nightcrawler from shore in the middle of the day. Anglers also caught two other catfish weighing 10 and 12 pounds this season.

“The catfish action has been best early and late in the day from shore,” said Blim. “All of the big ones are being caught on nightcrawlers.”

The kokanee bite has recently shut down as the fish move upriver to spawn. However, the kokanee bite was hot for anglers going out in rental boats who brought their own downriggers to clamp onto the boats. While the lake has been known for its small kokanee, fish in the 17-inch range were the norm this season, he noted.

Trout fishing from shore has been slow over the past few weeks due to the warm weather, although fishing for holdover rainbows should improve as the water temperature cools with the onset of fall.

Fishing pressure also remains light at Camanche, due to the closure of the lake to private boats including kayaks. However, that should change with the beginning of...

OROVILLE – Anglers are bagging king salmon, rainbow trout, and black bass at Lake Oroville.

“On my last trip, all of the fish were biting, but the king salmon bite is slowing down,” reported Dave Koistinen of DK Guide Service. “The kings were at 85–90 ft, the trout were up around 65 ft, while the bass ranged from 20–60 ft. The fish were caught on a spoon, Cutplug, Glowbug, and white hoochie behind 8” 360 flashers and 8” Slingblades.”

“The surface water temperature was 69 degrees and 54 degrees at 85 feet. Michael Mattia was on the boat,” he concluded.

DWR launched its mandatory invasive mussel inspection program for the Oroville facilities – Lake Oroville, Thermalito Forebay, and Thermalito Afterbay – in May 2025. Inspection and vessel decontamination services remain free. More details about DWR’s mussel inspection program are available at water.ca.gov/mussels.

Launch Ramp Hours:

• Spillway: Daily, 7:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.

• Bidwell Canyon: Monday–Thursday, 7:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.; Friday–Sunday, 7:30 a.m. – 8 p.m.

• Lime Saddle: Monday–Thursday, 5 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.; Friday–Sunday, 5 a.m. – 8 p.m.

• Loafer Creek/Loafer Point: Daily, 5 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.

• Thermalito Afterbay (Monument Hill): Daily, 1.5 hours before sunrise to 1 hour after sunset

Lake Oroville is holding 1,950,678 acre-feet of water, 57 percent of capacity and 103 percent of average. The lake level is 785.95 feet in elevation.

• Dan Bacher

Paul Kneeland fished Pyramid Lake with John Brassfield of Trucksmart stores and Brian Garcia of Alta in the Fish Sniffer Rogue Jet 21 Coastal. They caught Lahontan cutthroat trout to 16 1/2 pounds, using an Okuma SST 8’6” light Steelhead Rod with an Okuma Convector line counter reel loaded with 10 lb. test P Line. They trolled 4 inch watermelon Silver Horde and 4 inch Doctor Spoons in “Triple Threat” color and also several colors of Lyman and Silver Horde plugs behind Vance’s Cannonball flashers, trolling off Canon Downriggers at 60 to 90 feet deep and 2.3 mph.

Trollers are catching big numbers of king salmon, kokanee salmon, rainbow trout and black bass. The fish are hitting T-pex lures and other offerings at anywhere from 40 to 100 feet deep.

Fishing has been epic for trollers since opening day on October 1. Anglers are hooking some huge fish, including some in the 13 to 20 lb. range, while using an array of spoons and plugs.

King salmon are on the bite for experienced anglers. Fishermen can target salmon through October 31 in the stretch of river from the SMUD power line crossing at the southwest boundary of Ancil Hoffman Park downstream to the Jibboom Street Bridge.

The salmon season in the section of the Feather River from 200 yards above the Live Oak boat ramp to Highway 99 bridge remains open through October 31. The bag limit is one Chinook salmon.

Rockfish and lingcod action has been hot. Anglers are nailing limits of rockfish and lingcod while fishing live bait, jigs, swimbaits and other offerings.

Expect the shore fishing for trout to improve as the water temperature cools down and the fish go on the bite. Use inflated nightcrawlers, PowerBait, Kastmasters and an array of lures to entice the rainbows.

The lake should turn over soon with the arrival of cooler weather. Bank anglers and boaters can both find success with cooling water temperature.

Expect the surfperch fishing to improve in the coming months as the fish move into the beaches to spawn. Cast out plastic grubs, live shrimp and bloodworms for the fish.

On Wednesday, October 8, I headed back to Orange County’s famous Santa Ana River Lakes, arriving around five o’clock in the evening for the night session. That gave me six hours to see what was biting. The wind was blowing about seven to eight miles per hour, but my one ounce egg sinker on a Carolina rig still had enough weight to cast cleanly into the lake.

I set up on the right side of the lake, just around the corner from the entrance. My buddy Ceaser joined me for his first ever fishing trip, so I had to show him the ropes. Our bait lineup included shrimp with marshmallows, nightcrawlers, and some mackerel that Ceaser had marinated in garlic.

For the first hour or so there was not much action, so I used the time to teach Ceaser how to cast, set up his rigs, and get comfortable with the basics. After about an hour, the calm broke. My rod’s bite indicator went wild, and the rod bent over hard. The fish felt huge. After a five minute fight, I realized the line had wrapped around the rod tip. The moment I tried to fix it, the line snapped and the fish was gone. We were definitely not happy about that.

Even with that loss, the next three hours made up for it. We barely had time to sit down with all the action coming our way. Most of the fish were hitting mackerel, and by the end of the night I had caught my first ever limit at Santa Ana River Lakes.

As for Ceaser, not bad for a rookie. He landed four catfish, including his personal best at eight pounds. I guess beginner’s luck is real after all.

All the action can be seen on YouTube at...