The water’s in the low 50’s. Daytime high temps are running in the low to mid 60’s but our nights (and mornings) are down around the 30 degree mark. Here are your details…  

The bass are biting well on minnows in the morning hours while it is still rather chilly out. Once the sun has made its appearance, the bass are taking a variety of artificials. The noon hour seems to be about the time the bite picks up for jigs, plastics, spinner baits, jerk baits, and swim baits. By mid-afternoon anglers are catching bass readily.

One key rig this week – the mighty Senko rigged weightless either whacky or Texas. Position your boat in 10 – 15 feet of water and cast to the bank. Be thorough! We’re not talking so much about a strong reaction bite so you need to move slower than you would other times of the year.

Spend the day on the lake and you’ll likely be in the 20 – 30 fish range with some fish to seven or eight pounds and many, many clones in the two to three pound class. And, good news for shore anglers, the bass are in at Redbud & Highlands Parks here in town.

The crappie… That report hasn’t changed since last week. Still hearing of a few honorable mentions, but we have seen evidence of a strong bite anywhere on the lake. Perhaps we’ll see them for a warm water bite this year…

The cats are still doing their thing… Mackerel, nightcrawlers, and most of the other good stinky stuff should work. Shoreline anglers have been doing pretty well here along the City of Clearlake this week. Nothing tricky here. Just soak some good bait and wait for a bite.

"I just arrived back home from being on the river fishing from the jet boat," said Parker on the evening of Sunday, March 2. "It was dead today. We had no hits, but the river is a little high and off color due to the recent rain. Today was gorgeous and hot, though."

Parker became bored in the afternoon and visited with five different shore anglers. "We even took them on an upriver boat ride, as only one had any action all day," said Parker."William, my neighbor, landed a five pound native and promptly released it after a picture. He was using roe I gave him last week and a green spin glo."

Parker noted that lamprey eels are still being caught in large numbers at the mouth of the Klamath (double digits daily). "I am slowly eating my way through a fresh batch of smoked eels; they are awesome!" he said.

Locals are also catching quality rainbow trout in Freshwater Lagoon south of Orick. "They are trolling pop gear/worm combos from a boat," said Parker.

Fishing pressure on the mid Klamath has also been light. However, one drift boat guide reported catching two adult steelhead weighing 5 and 7 on a recent trip on the Klamath near Orleans. The anglers are using plugs and bait to entice the steelhead, according to Edna Watson of Klamath River Outfitters.

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According to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, good numbers of fish are being caught throughout the mainstem by bank anglers. The river is also fishable by boat, with no major storm events predicted in the near future to cause the water to rise or become muddy.  Remember the mainstem Umpqua is now closed to wild steelhead harvest, but it remains open year-round for adipose fin-clipped steelhead.

The North Umpqua has remained fishable. The most success has been seen from Colliding Rivers down. The warmer weather has put the fish on the move. There have been days now when over 100 steelhead have passed Winchester Dam. Over, 2,730 steelhead have passed the dam to date.

Angling conditions have been good on the South Umpqua. Hatchery fish have started to move into the South Umpqua and some nice sized fish are being caught. In addition to several good drift boat floats between Canyonville and Roseburg, there are good bank angling opportunities at Templeton Beach, the Myrtle Creek Bridge, Stanton Park, and behind Seven Feathers Casino.

Low and clear water has slowed steelhead fishing on the Elk. The Sixes River continues to fish well, but if the flows continue to drop, drift boat anglers will have a tough time floating the river. The weather and river height play an important role in fishing success. Elk River fishes best at 5.0 feet and dropping. Anglers can call Elk River Hatchery (541) 332-7025 to get the latest gauge heights.

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“We’re averaging 3 to 5 fish per trip,” reported Steve Huber, fishing guide. “About 80 percent of the fish are downrunners and the run is slowly winding down. We’re back trolling plugs for the steelhead.”

The two clients fishing with Huber on Sunday, March 2 caught and released 4 steelhead out of their 7 hook-ups. They drifted the stretch of river from Bucktail to Steelbridge. “Two of the fish were fresh ones,” said Huber.

“The lower Trinity has been hard to fish, due to the high off-colored water, so I have not received very much information about fishing and I have not seen hardly anyone fishing in this area,” said E.B. Duggan, fishing guide. “On the other hand, down below Hoopa some of the Indians that run nets for subsistence have been pulling out some very nice winter steelhead, some up to 15-18 pounds.“

Trinity Lake is 70 ft. below the overflow and 60 percent of capacity. The Trinity River at Lewiston is 310 cfs and the water temperature is 45.2 degrees. Flows at Willow Creek are estimated at 6,450cfs, while flows at Hoopa are 9,440cfs at 18.2 ft. and the water temperature is about 45 degrees.

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Djung Nguyen of Marina reported catching limits of barred perch while fishing south of Fort Ord, over the weekend of March 1-2, according to Jim Franco of J&D Auto Repair Gone Fishing. Twin Lakes, Capitola, Sunset and other Monterey State Beaches are producing lots of feisty perch also.

“A few stripers in the 5 to 6 pound class are being caught off Monterey Dunes and north of the mouth of the Pajaro River,” stated Franco. “The anglers are using Rebel Jumpin’ Minnows in bone colors.”

A trip aboard the Sur Randy on March 1 yielded an average of 12 sanddabs and 20 mackerel per person. “The 7 anglers fished Sabiki jigs, tipped with squid strips, northwest of Point Pinos,” said Pete Bruno at Randy’s Fishing Trips. “The weather came up early, so we had to go back in.”

Anglers fishing aboard the Caroline on March 2 experienced solid action on sanddabs outside of Pacific Grove. “The passengers took an average of 30 sanddabs per rod while fishing Sabiki rigs, but they didn’t catch many mackerel,” reported Chris Arcoleo of Chris’ Fishing Trips.

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The fish continue to concentrate where there is a good flow of water coming into the lake. “Brown trout are still the predominant catch, but rainbows are also active,” said Steve Vaughn at Vaughn’s Sporting Goods. “The best flies seem to be midges, scuds and olive woolly buggers, but don't hesitate to try some emergers. Crawlers are working for the bait fishermen, while Kastmasters still are the main choice of lure fishermen.”

Crappie and smallmouth bass fishing is still slow at Lake Britton, but expect the fishing for both species to pick as water temperatures rise. Fish small jigs for the crappie and jigs and plastic worms for the bass.

Fishing pressure for wild rainbows is very light on the Pit River from the Lake Britton Dam down. The river is open to catch and release fishing with artificials only and barbless hooks through April 25, 2008. The fish typically range from 12 to 20 inches long.

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California Dept. of Fish and Game Warden Zeke Awbrey, had taken a creel census. The results indicated that the fish being landed were ½ to 2 lbs. in size and on average anglers were landing one fish per hour with some limits.

The best area has been at the dam, with worms being the most productive bait. Early morning has been the best time.

“Snow has been removed on the east road down as far as Mallard Cove,” said Dollard. “Access from the road to lake side is via foot or snow mobile.” 

Frenchman Lake remains completely frozen, but the trout fishing around the dam has slowed down. “Those willing to hike through the snow to Lunker Point are catching some quality rainbows,” disclosed Shirley Wiggin at Wiggin’s Trading Post in Chilcoot. “Ice fishermen are hooking the fish on jigs and nightcrawlers.”

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For kings in the 1 to 3 pound class, anglers are advised to work the area from the front of the dam to the mouth of the South Fork. The salmon are scattered from the surface down to 60 feet with the best action taking place between 30 and 50 feet. Successful anglers are teaming hutchies, Apex Lures and rigged shad with dodgers.

Shore anglers fishing both in the Granite Bay area and up at Rattlesnake Bar on the North Fork are busting rainbows on Power Bait and inflated worms. Orange Power Bait seems to be the top bait at this time. In addition, to holdover and planter rainbows, bank anglers are hooking a few king salmon up to 20 inches.

“I’m going to be out on Folsom soon,” related Don Paganelli of Paganelli’s Bass Fishing Experience. “The fishing can be really good this time of the year when we get warm weather like we are having now. I’m going to look for bass staging off points from the surface down to 40 feet. You want to start off with jigs and worms in shallow water and then gradually move deeper until you find the fish.”

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Captains Barry and Diana Canevaro of Fish Hooker Sportfishing have been targeting sturgeon and picking up incidental stripers while fishing in Montezuma Slough, Suisun Slough and other locations near Pittsburg. On the Canevaro’s most recent sturgeon fishing adventure in Suisun Slough, Barry’s passengers picked up 3 keeper stripers to 7 pounds and a keeper sturgeon, while a keeper sturgeon was caught on Diana’s boat as well.

“The sturgeon we’ve gotten recently have not been monsters. They’ve been keepers that measure between 46.5 inches and 48 inches. We’ve been using some shad while sturgeon fishing and we’ve picked up some stripers on it, but we’ve also got some bass on eel. Most of the sturgeon come on eel, but Diana did pick one up on roe,” said Canevaro.

“The water is now in the middle fifties, so I expect the spring fishing to bust open any time now. Up river mud is a problem, but down near Pittsburg the clarity is actually pretty good. We’ve got a good spring ahead, I can’t wait to see thing really get going,” added Canevaro.

Kevin Yost of Lucky Strike Charters described the recent sturgeon fishing as “slow.” “We broke off a big fish yesterday, but other than that I don’t have much to report,” said Yost. “The water is warming up nicely, so I’m a little surprised that the fishing isn’t better than it is. I don’t expect that it will be too long before we really see the bite turn around.”

Don Paganelli of Paganelli’s Bass Fishing Experience went on a recent solo plugging adventure and experienced out standing results while tossing a Fish Trap. He landed a 33 pound striper, a 12 pound striper and a 6.5 pound largemouth while fishing in the rain. “I guess it was worth putting up with the wind and rain to hook fish like those,” Paganelli quipped.

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Trollers using Needlefish, Wedding Rings and Sockeye Slammers are catching rainbows with 4 to 5 colors of lead core line or with downriggers at 15 to 25 feet deep in the Trimmer Springs area of the lake. The rainbows average 13 to 15 inches long, according to Gilbert. One angler, Mark Wilcox of Fresno, also caught a 27 inch brown trout on a recent trip.

King salmon are hitting cop car, bikini and shad pattern Needlefish at 40 to 80 feet deep. “The largest fish are hitting rolled shad, but the numbers of salmon are coming on lures,” Gilbert noted. “The salmon are hitting best in the main body by the power lines or at Trimmer Springs.’

Bass fishing is sporadic. “Most anglers are bagging limits weighing 6 to 6-1/2 pounds, but some are taking 10 pound limits,” said Gilbert. Fish worms and jigs off main lake points and steep rocky walls for the best success. The surface temperature is in the mid-fifties and rising.

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Ken Mathis of Ken’s Custom Tackle and Guide Service has been to Union Valley and although the bite is far from hot, he has able to intercept macks up to ten pounds this last week. 

“Mackinaw are suspended 70-80 feet down in water about 120 feet deep,” he tipped. “We have seen the best action on frozen herring and also my new Pro-Glow Rainbow UV Double-flutter spoon. We are managing a few fish a day and expect improving bite conditions if the weather holds.”

Jenkinson Lake is also kicking out some nice fish trout week. Jim Cozzens of Sly Park Lake Resort reports both mackinaw and browns have been active lately.

“Sean Warren caught a twelve pound mackinaw on an AC Plug and Ken Phillips tossed a Kastmaster to bring in a 4.5 pound brown. Most anglers are seeing 1-2 fish per rod and will find the bite quite scattered across the lake. The occasional rainbow is also being taken in the ramp area,” noted Cozzens.

Mathis reported that Loon Lake and Ice House are still iced-in.  

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“The fishing in the Lower Owens is only fair at this time, but I think it will get a whole lot better soon,” related Gary Gunsolley at Brock’s Sporting Goods. “The flow was raised up to 200 cfs and that muddied the water. As a result the bite slowed down. Right now the flow is dropping and should be back to 125 cfs today or tomorrow. Once the flow gets back to normal and the water clears, I expect that the bite will get right back on track.”

“Before the flows were increased, the fishing was excellent for anglers working size 18 and 20 nymphs and during the afternoon starting at around 1 o’clock, we were seeing good dry fly action on size 16 or 18 blue wing olives. When the bite gets going again, I expect that the same patterns will be effective,” added Gunsolley.

At Pleasant Valley Reservoir, fly anglers are hooking trout including some of the large brood stock fish that were released into the lake recently. The best action is taking place at the upper end of the lake for anglers working woolly buggers and matukas from float tubes.

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At this point the fishing at Pyramid is moving forward true to form with anglers corralling both feisty trout in the 17 to 19 inch range as well as some monsters up to the 10 pound mark.

“Boaters are getting the most consistent results right now. The action for fly anglers and shore anglers has been spotty. The shore guys have been doing a lot of searching to find a concentration of fish,” reported Carla Molino at Pyramid Lake Store.

“The boaters are finding their fish scattered all over the lake. There have not been a huge number of big fish coming in, but we did weigh in a 10 pounder this week,” added Molino.

At Crosby Lodge, Rich Henley reported that the weather has improved and this has made for better fishing.

“I haven’t heard of any really big fish being caught, but there are a ton of fish in the 16 to 20 inch range hitting. In addition to these smallish fish, good numbers of medium size 5,6 and 7 pounders are showing up too. Anglers with a decent level of skill are landing up to 50 fish per boat these days,” said Henley.

“The top offerings for trollers are Apex Lures and Flatfish. Dark colors are best with frog patterns being the best and reds running a solid second,” disclosed Henley. “We learned the other day that the KBUL Hook, Line and Sinker Derby has been approved for April 19 and 20, but I have not gotten any other details on the derby yet.”  

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“We went out after sturgeon last week and we ended getting zero. Actually we got less than zero. We didn’t get any bites or anything. The sturgeon fishing has been pretty tough for us,” reported Captain Frank Miller of Fury Sportfishing on March 2. “We are setting on Hamilton Flats right now and we’ve got 3 big leopard sharks in the box.”

“The sharks are cruising in very shallow water. The area we are anchored in is only about 3 feet deep. It looks like the sharks are just beginning to move into the North Bay and at least some of them are moving up onto the flats where they are a lot of fun to catch.”

In water that shallow the sharks have nowhere to go when you hook them, so they sort of porpoise out of the water and it is pretty exciting. “Once we finish up with these sharks on the flats, we might move a bit deeper and take a shot at sturgeon,” said Miller. “Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

For the uninitiated, not only are leopard sharks strong fighters, but they also provide exceptional table fare. Leopards are commonly targeted with various types of natural bait, including squid, sardines, mackerel and midshipmen.