Fish Report through Nov. 10

Lake Don Pedro

Few fishermen are heading to the lake, and most are targeting bass with plastics on the drop-shot. The minnow bite has slowed, as the fish are suspended and holding in deeper water around the shad schools. The shad are balling up as the water continues to school. The lake should turn over within a few weeks, depending upon the arrival of cold storms, and the rainbows and kings will migrate toward the surface. A grant for the improvement of the Fleming Meadows Launch Ramp has been approved, and construction to create a two-lane ramp should start shortly. The lake held at 673.84 feet in elevation and 32 percent of capacity. Call: Monte Smith, 209-581-4734; Danny Layne-Fish’n Dan, 209-586-2383; Gary Vella, 209-652-7550; Bait Barn, 209-874-3011.

McClure Reservoir

Few fishermen are willing to make the long trek down to the shoreline with the lake level at 7 percent of capacity, although it only dropped slightly to 590.18 feet in elevation within the past week. Catfish are taken on frozen shad, anchovies or mackerel in the lowered pool while bass are susceptible to shad-patterned plastics such as Robo Worm’s Hologram Shad. Due to severe drought conditions, lake recreation is extremely limited at Lake McClure. The North Ramp at Barrett Cove may be used at boaters’ risk by hand-launched craft, such as kayaks and canoes. The Barrett Cove South Ramp and Lake McClure ramps at Bagby, Horseshoe Bend and McClure Point remain closed until further notice – there is no access for boats into or out of Lake McClure at these locations. Call: A-1 Bait, 209-563-6505.

McSwain Reservoir

Lake McSwain Marina and launch ramp remain open, but the store is closed Monday through Wednesday. Campfires are once again allowed at McSwain’s campgrounds. The annual Merced Irrigation Derby Fall Trout Derby has been postponed until April 9-10 due to warm water conditions at the lake. Few fishermen have been heading to the lake with the lack of trout plants since April. The Merced River is now closed to fishing until Jan. 1 between the Crocker-Huffman Bridge to G Street in Snelling due to warm water conditions. Call: McSwain Marina, 209-378-2534.

New Melones Reservoir/Tulloch

New Melones bass fishing remained very good with John Liechty of Glory Hole Sporting Goods in Angels Camp stating, “Many anglers are catching a bunch of fish on each outing, and most fish are in the 1- to 3-pound range. They are filling their bellies in preparation for the colder winter months, and the fish are schooling up and feeding on balls of schooled shad. Once you find the bait, the bass will be nearby.” Small swimbaits, spoons and drop-slot or Texas-rigged plastics are all working for the suspended fish. Liechty advised, “Try fishing many different locations until you find an actively feeding school, as they can be there one day and gone the next with most of the fish suspended off of the bottom.” Catfishing has also been good from the banks, as the fish are moving shallow during the day and night in search of easy meals washing off the banks. Whole mackerel or sardines are working for the larger catfish with a double-hook rig on a weightless presentation. Adding scent to the bait is important to entice more strikes. Craig Smith of Orangevale landed a 13-pound, 11-ounce catfish on chicken livers in the main lake for the big fish of the week. Trout action remained slow, but the fish are moving up in the water column as the lake continues to cool. The rainbows are also working the suspended schools of threadfin shad, and the bite will improve as the lake turns over. Crappie fishing is fair, but a few fishermen are finding quality slabsides under lights at night with live minnows. The lake is at 797.58 feet in elevation and 11 percent of capacity. Tulloch rose to 499.48 feet in elevation and 82 percent of capacity in response to releases from upstream Melones. Call: Glory Hole Sports, 209-736-4333; Monte Smith, 209-581-4734; Danny Layne-Fish’n Dan, 209-586-2383; Sierra Sport Fishing, 209-599-2023.

San Luis Reservoir and O’Neill Forebay

Mickey Clements at Coyote Bait and Tackle in Morgan Hill said, “The cooler lake temperatures are ramping up the striped bass, as they are feeding actively with the shad schooling up. Drifting jumbo minnows at depths to 60 feet is the top technique, as trolling large plugs continued to be the slower of the two main options for boaters. The shad rising in the water column is a factor in the slower trolling action. The fish remain scattered, and electronics are essential to locate the schools.” Roger George of Roger George Guide Service took out Nikki and Alex Hamilton of Fresno on Saturday for 21 released fish to 24 inches. “The bite is not easy, and the fish are scattered, but I finally found some areas and a few patterns and lures that were working,” George said. “Nikki and Alex both scored new PR-sized stripers. The water is coming up about a half-foot a day since Nov. 4, and I think the third ramp off Dinosaur will get moved back to the second ramp right away.” The lake rose slightly to 18 percent of capacity. With the low water levels, a four-wheel-drive tow vehicle is advised at both ramps. In the O’Neill Forebay, Clements said, “Schoolie stripers continue to be the rule for shore fishermen tossing topwater lures, white flukes with an underspin or ripbaits near the launch ramp while boaters are heading out to the Twin Islands with the same techniques. The weed growth has been progressively dying down. The stripers continue to chase bait on the surface in the mornings and evenings.” Call: Coyote Bait and Tackle, 408-463-0711; Roger George of rogergeorgeguideservice.com, 559-905-2954.

Half Moon Bay

The recreational and commercial Dungeness crab season was delayed by the Department of Public Health due to the presence of high concentrations of domoic acid in Dungeness crab waters. Up-to-date information can be received at the CDPH’s Shellfish Information Line at 800-553-4133 and is accessible 24/7. The toxic levels will be checked on a weekly basis, and the season will be reopened once the crab are acceptable for human consumption. Cooler ocean waters are needed for the toxic levels to drop, and a few heavy northwest storms may do the trick. Second Captain Michael Cabanas of the Huli Cat went out on a rockfishing trip out of San Gregorio on Saturday, and Dwight Martin of Newark landed a 9-pound lingcod on shrimp fly. Eric Kawana of Santa Clara landed 4-pound vermillion on a live bait rig and herring. On Sunday, the Huli Cat went rock fishing off Martin’s Beach for limits by noon with Brian White of Yerington, Nev., landing an 8-pound ling cod on a mackerel, Steve White of Placentia landing a 3-pound olive on shrimp fly and Chris Hackett of Jamestown landing a 6-pound Bonita on a Deep Diver 3 miles off Half Moon Bay. Happy Hooker, 510-223-5388; Captain Roger Thomas, Salty Lady, 415-760-9362; Emeryville Sport Fishing, 510-654-6040.

Monterey/Santa Cruz

Rockfishing continues to be outstanding with big-time lingcod counts on the Star of Monterey on Sunday during the rain, with 29 limits of lings along with three-quarters limits of rockfish while the Check Mate posted near-limits of lings at 30 for 11 anglers in addition to half-limits of rockfish. Saturday was more of the same with limits of lingcod and rockfish for 11 fishermen on the Caroline and 99 lings for limits for 33 anglers along with two-thirds limits of rockfish on the Star of Monterey. Lingcod and rockfish action remains excellent despite the Dungeness crab delay. Call: Chris’ Landing, 831-375-5951; Bayside Marine, 831-475-2173.

San Francisco Bay

With the Dungeness crab season delay, rockfish and lingcod will have to satisfy fishermen, and if you aren’t satisfied with the counts coming off Bay Area boats, you may never be satisfied. Captain Jim Smith of the Happy Hooker out of Berkeley went to the Farallons on Saturday, and they returned with 32 limits of lingcod to 24 pounds. He said, “Everyone started off with shrimp flies, but the rockfish weren’t biting, so we tied on some live bait rigs, and pretty soon, lingcod were coming over the rail right and left.” Ron Little of Sacramento contributed to boat limits with 11 lings to 24 pounds while Larry Nelson of Oakland came through with seven lings and a limit of rockfish. They stopped in the bay to jig up the live mackerel before heading to the Islands. Smith added, “The rockfish just didn’t want to bite, and it may have been since there were so many lings around, keeping them tight to the rocks.” Captain James Smith on the California Dawn also went to the Farallons, and they found biting rockfish Sunday with 20 limits of lings and rockfish with a number of olives, coppers and reds in the sacks. On Saturday, they boated 23 limits of lings on their only drift before switching to rockfish for limits as well. They even boated a 9-pound bonito at the islands. Both boats have lots of room since the requisite cancellations after the announcement of the crab delay. Coastal rockfishing has been slow, and by far the best fishing is at the islands. Three boats went out of Emeryville on Saturday for the trip to the Farallons for 78 limits of rockfish and 122 lingcod to 15 pounds.

Delta/Stockton

There are still salmon traveling through the Delta, but interest has waned in the past few weeks. Striper fishing took off in the Sacramento River, and trollers, bait fishermen and lure tossers are getting in on the action for a larger grade of lineside. Sturgeon action has been limited to a few fishermen working out of the upper Delta near Cache and Prospect sloughs or in upper Suisun Bay out of Pittsburg. At the northern edge of the Delta, Johnny Tran of New Romeo’s Bait and Tackle in Freeport said, “There have been very few salmon fishermen out on the Sacramento River, but there are still some bright fish moving through for those tossing Flying C’s from the shoreline below the Freeport Bridge. The Delta is loaded with stripers, and limits are guaranteed with legal fish from 2 to 20 pounds near Liberty Island, Steamboat Slough, the Deep Water Channel and near the Rio Vista Bridge with live mudsuckers, fresh shad, pile worms or sardines.” Within the past few days, larger fish have arrived. Mark Fehrenbach of Mark’s Sport Fishing in Rio Vista confirmed the limits of striped bass, stating, “The larger fish are starting to show up once again, and we found stripers to 10 pounds at the latter part of the week with fresh shad near Decker Island, Sherman Island and the Old Dairy with tons of smaller fish around. The area around the Old Dairy is loaded with grass, but you can find some clearer sections, and if you find clear water, you will do well, as the hyacinth is starting to die off.” Mark Wilson, striper trolling expert, confirmed the improvement in the grade of striped bass with linesides at 15, 13 and 11 pounds caught and released during the week. He said, “I started off near Decker and the Old Dairy, but the ‘witch’s hair’ grass made trolling nearly impossible, as we had to clear our lines every 100 yards, so I headed east to Montezuma Slough, Broad Slough and Collinsville for a range from 10 to 13 keepers per trip. Most of our fish have come on 3/4-ounce Rat-L-Traps in black back silver or blue back silver on light tackle in the shallows, and we also landed three salmon from 12 to 20 pounds on the Rat-L-Traps. The fish are scattered, and I am covering lots of water to put together the number of fish, but by staying with it to the end of the day, we are putting together decent scores.” James Nguyen of Dockside Bait in Pittsburg confirmed the arrival of larger striped bass with quality linesides between 7-10 pounds being common over the weekend with live mudsuckers or fresh shad in the shallows. The water temperature is dropping, and the striper bite has picked up in response. Sturgeon fishing is also starting to improve with the best action in deep water with ghost shrimp, shad or eel. With the crab delay, there should be more interest in sturgeon fishing, as river salmon season is winding down. Dan Mathisen of Dan’s Delta Outdoors in Oakley touted sturgeon action from Roe/Ryer Islands east to Antioch at depths from 14-26 feet with various baits. The major portion of maintenance on Highway 12 at the Mokelumne River Bridge was completed during the first two weekends of closure, and the highway is once again open with delays expected on the weekends. Maintenance at the Three Mile Slough Bridge on Highway 160 has the bridge down to one lane until July with significant delays from the bridge to the base of the Antioch Bridge. Water hyacinth continues to dominate discussion in the Stockton area, and the sloughs in the east Delta are loaded with the leafy green vegetation. However, striper fishing has been nothing short of phenomenal along the western edge of the San Joaquin River with a number of quality stripers caught and released within the past week. Mathisen confirmed the solid striper action in the west Delta, stating, “Our shop’s Catch, Photo and Release Striper Series came to a huge end out of Big Break on Saturday with the big bite turning on for many with the fall-like conditions. Doug Chapman of Gotcha Bait in Antioch once again confirmed the larger grade of striped bass moving into the Delta, stating, “We had at least 15 fish over 20 pounds during the week-long ‘Pogo’ Striped Bass Derby, and Andy Doudna of Antioch caught and released several large bass on live splittail, only keeping the one winning fish at 38.66 inches. He has a system of keeping the fish alive in a spa cage at the side of his boat, and he brought in three other large fish for the derby, releasing all but the eventual winner.” Alan Fong of the Fishermen’s Warehouse in Sacramento reported a solid largemouth bite in the sloughs north of Stockton despite the hyacinth with Senko’s or glide baits. The Mokelumne River has been the location for salmon, and Fong said, “They are whacking them in the Mokelumne trolling Silvertron spinners in the South Fork.” The Delta Cross Channel Gates were reopened Oct. 30, but they may be closed on short notice for fishery protection. Information on the current status of the gates is available at the Army Corps of Engineers Central Valley Operations office at 916-979-2194 or 916-979-2683. Call: Randy Pringle, 209-543-6260; Captain Stan Koenigsberger – Quetzal Adventures, 925-570-5303; Intimidator Sport Fishing, 916-806-3030.

This story was originally published November 10, 2015 at 4:53 PM with the headline "Fish Report through Nov. 10."