“We averaged 20 fish per trip on my last four ventures to the lake,” said Larry Hemphill, fishing guide. “Our five biggest fish on each trip weighed an average of 22 pounds. The top lures are Senkos in green pumpkin with purple and red flake, as well as a host of other colors.”

For example, a night trip from 6 p.m. on May 8 to 1 a.m. on May 9 yielded 32 fish for Mike Sperbeck of Yuba City and Hemphill. Their top fish weighed 5 pounds, 7 ounces, while the fish averaged 2-1/2 pounds each. “We had two double hook-ups and lost a lot of fish,” noted Hemphill.

“The Senkos worked best from 2 to 10 feet deep during the morning and afternoon,” said Hemphill. “After dark, Brush Hogs fished at 5 to 20 feet worked best.”

Hemphill and his anglers fished all over the lake from the Narrows to Cache Creek. The water temperatures have ranged from 61 to 65 degrees, but are expected to warm up with the hot weather arriving at press time.

“Bass anglers are picking up bass on Senkos, crankbaits, swimbaits, spinnerbaits, and finesse rigs. This is the perfect time to try that new lure or work on technique and see what works,” confirmed Bob Rider, owner of Lakeshore Bait and Tackle. “The bite isn’t red hot, but is steadily improving.“

Crappie anglers are reporting quality catches – not large numbers of fish, but big 2 and 3 pound fish. White jigs, minnows, and even crankbaits have produced crappie. The depth has ranged from 8 feet to 15 feet. The fish are not concentrated in any one area, but are scattered throughout the shoreline areas around the lake.

Abalone divers have been scoring limits of abs and have been adding good numbers of quality rockfish while spearfishing.

“I took out a couple divers toward the end of last week and they did really well,” reported Captain Randy Thornton of Telstar Charters. “We headed down to a sheltered area in Casper Bay. We ended up getting limits of abs to about 9 inches while free diving in 5 to 20 feet of water.”

One guy did a little spear fishing and ended up with a half limit of rockfish. “Most of the fish he got were blues and blacks. He tried to find a lingcod, but there weren’t any around,” said Thornton.

“We are expecting to have a really productive rockfish opener, provided the weather cooperates. We are taking reservations for the opener now. As usual we will concentrate on fishing in shallow water with light tackle,“ continued Thornton.

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According to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, springers are moving up through the lower section of the Umpqua River and anglers are catching good numbers of fish. The area between Scottsburg and Elkton has been good recently and will likely remain good until rising water temperatures cause the kings to push upstream.

The north Umpqua is fishable and anglers have been successfully battling steelhead downstream of Colliding Rivers. So far this year over 9,000 steelhead have pushed across Winchester Dam.

On the south Umpqua, fishing conditions are quite good and anglers are catching solid numbers of steelhead. Some of the fish have been chrome bright hatchery fish. Drift boaters have been focusing on the area between Canyonville and Roseburg. Bank anglers are advised to try the Templeton Beach area, the Myrtle Creek Bridge, Stanton Park and behind the Seven Feathers Casino.

Scott Wolfe of the Big K Guest Ranch has been targeting springers on the lower Umpqua and has also be journeying up to the north Umpqua in search of steelhead. Smallmouth bass have become more active recently and Wolfe will be targeting them soon with both spinning tackle and fly gear.

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“I’m up in the Pit River Arm right now. The plankton has started blooming,” reported Gary Miralles of the Shasta Tackle Company on May 8. “We are just getting started, so we haven’t gotten any trout yet, but we should. If you make it up into the Pitt Arm and find a patch of plankton, you’ll want to break out your bright colored lures. My favorites are Cripplures and Hum Dingers in red and orange colors.”

In general, Shasta’s rainbows are spread out all over the lake. The surface temperature is 56 degrees and trout can be encountered from the surface to 75 feet deep. Once the rainbows are found they will strike a variety of offering including Matrix Flee Bitties, Hum Dingers Cripplures, Matrix Paddle Paddle Tails, Excels, Needlefish and Sep’s Pro Secrets.

Brown trout are cruising the McCloud River Arm. The browns are also spread from the surface to about 75 feet deep. The top offerings for taking browns are rolled shad, Matrix Paddle Tails, Cripplures and Kastmasters.

The area in front of the dam, the Dry Creek Arm and the Big Backbone Arm are all holding king salmon. Like the trout, the salmon are spread across a wide range of depths from 40 to 150 feet deep. Matrix Paddle Tails, KokE-A-Nuts and rigged shad trolled behind Sling Blade Dodgers will all draw strikes.

“Bass fishing is excellent,” exclaimed Tony Messer at Phil’s Propellers. “The bass are hitting a bunch of different lures. Early in the day you can get them on top water baits. Later on in the day Senkos, plastic worms and tubes are working well. You can get a few fish on rip baits, but that action hasn’t been very consistent. Right now bass are averaging 1.5 pounds and a good fish runs about 2.5 pounds.”

As of press time, Lake Shasta was 62 feet from maximum pool and dropping.

There have been very few anglers fishing at Whiskeytown Reservoir and as a result reports have been difficult to come by. Anglers that plan on visiting the lake are advised to target kokanee with pink or orange colored lures tipped with corn from the surface to 25 feet deep. For a shot at some trout dispense with the corn and go with baitfish pattern spoons.

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Cold water temperatures along the Central Coast below Pigeon Point since the rockfish opener on May 1 have made the fishing tougher than normal, but anglers are still taking limits of quality rockfish from Santa Cruz to Monterey. In the year of the “Big Salmon Closure,” the beginning of rockfish season was an even more notable event than normal.

“We’re catching limits of rockfish every day since the opener,” said Brian Cutting of Randy’s Fishing Trips in Monterey. “We’re just having to work harder for our fish because the water temperatures range from 49 to 52 degrees, putting the rockfish off the bite. When the water warms up, we expect to see faster rockfish action.”

Nine anglers fishing on opening day aboard the Sur Randy bagged limits of yellowtail, widow and vermilion rockfish averaging 3 to 4 pounds while fishing off Carmel. They used shrimp flies, King’s Tackle Bars, Diamond Bars and swim baits at 200 to 230 feet deep.

The 21 anglers fishing on Saturday, May 3 aboard the Sur Randy bagged limits of widow, olive and vermilion rockfish. Two lucky anglers also boated two lingcod weighing 15 and 12 pounds.

Thirty-three anglers fished the Big Sur Coast aboard the Chubacsco on Saturday, May 10. They bagged limits of yellowtail, olive and blue rockfish and 7 lingcod, noted Cutting. On the next day, 10 anglers aboard the Chubasco took limits of assorted rockfish while fishing off Cypress Point.

Anglers fishing out of Chris’ Fishing Trips reported similar success. Thirty-five anglers aboard the Star of Monterey and 20 people aboard the Checkmate caught limits of yellowtail and vermilion rockfish and a few lingcod on May 10, reported Todd Arcoleo of Chris’ Fishing Trips.

The 6 anglers fishing on the Star of Monterey on Monday, May 12 took limits of rockfish, in spite of windy and bumpy weather.

Carol Jones of Tom’s Sportfishing also reported limits of rockfish off the Monterey County Coast also since opening day. “We had yet another great fishing day down the coast,” said Jones on May 10. “Our 26 anglers landed limits of nice vermilions, olives, coppers, some blues, starry and a couple of keeper lingcod.”

Anglers fishing out of Santa Cruz aboard the Velocity are reporting solid fishing also. “The 33 fishermen on our last trip caught 300 rockfish while fishing on the south side of the bay,” said Ken Stagnaro of Stagnaro Fishing Trips. “They fished shrimp flies and bars for a variety of olive, copper and vermilion rockfish in 180 feet of water.”

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The top baits are crawlers and Power Bait, while lure fishermen doing best on Kastmasters or spinners. Fly fishermen seem to prefer pheasant tails, copper johns in red or olive wooly buggers for nymphs, along with blue-wing olives (BWO's), caddis or pale-morning duns.

The Pit River is still a good bet for the hardy fisherman. “The rainbows have become a little harder to locate, but perseverance and patience definitely pay off here,” noted Vaughn. “There are some reports of salmon fly hatches coming off sporadically. Prince nymphs, with or without rubber legs, stone nymphs still working. Try a pheasant tail or copper john for a dropper. “

The Lake Britton crappie bite should definitely improve with the warmer weather, while smallmouth bass are still biting, noted Vaughn.

In the Cassel Area of Hat Creek, it still seems to be difficult to catch trout, but at least a few are biting. “No specific bait or lure seems to be working like magic,” tipped Vaughn.” Fly fishermen are having some luck in the evenings above the post office with BWO's, PMD's, caddis, some spent-wings.”

The Hat Creek Wild Trout area is producing productive nymphing at the Hat 2 riffle for a few fishermen. Try a bird's nest, pheasant tail, or a copper john in red for results. Some BWO's, PMD's, and caddis hatches are coming off in the evenings, said Vaughn.

Fall River Wild Trout Stream yielding is “fairly slow" action. “Hopefully the nicer days will help the hatch,” Vaughn added.

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The two-day event, hosted by California Department of Fish and Game and Plumas National Forest, is part of the plan to return Lake Davis to its status as a world-class trout fishery. During 2008, nearly a million fish will be planted into the reservoir. This follows DFG's pike eradication treatment of the reservoir last September.

The "media event" will begin at 11:30 a.m. with the hatchery trucks lining up across the dam and trout being released at noon. Thousands of catchable and subcatchables will be planted.

In addition, the Department will release 3,000 trophy trout ranging from 6 to 10-plus pounds/ Ten-dollar reward tagged fish that DFG used to determine the catch rate will also be deposited into the lake. For more information, call (530) 832-4754.

Meanwhile, trout fishing at Frenchman Reservoir continues to be good from the shore at Lunker Point and the dam, according to Shirley Wiggin at Wiggin’s Trading Post in Chilcoot. For example, 8-year-old Sean Williams from Reno caught his limit of fat rainbows while using nightcrawlers near the dam.

“Float the nightcrawlers off the bottom with bobbers or green glitter marshmallows,” advised Wiggin. “Various lures such as Panther Martins, spinners and small frog lures are also producing well.”

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According to Don Paganelli of Paganelli’s Bass Fishing Experience, Folsom Lake is offering good fishing for both largemouth and spotted bass.

Paganelli has been starting the day by throwing suspending rip baits such as the Lucky Craft Stacy in the chartreuse shad or ghost minnow colors. Once the sun hits the water, Paganelli puts away the rip baits and switched over to working an Aaron’s Magic colored Robo Worm pinned on a Carolina rig.

The majority of the lake’s king salmon seem to be concentrated in main body in front of the dam and in the mouth of the South Fork. Trollers are hooking from 1 to 4 salmon per outing and every once in a while a lucky angler scores a limit. White soft plastic lures and white spoons rigged behind dodgers have been working well as have rolled shad. The best fishing has been occurring from 50 to 80 feet deep.

Folsom’s spring catfish bite is in full swing. Anglers are catching whiskerfish in both the North and South Forks while soaking baits in 5 to 20 feet of water. Chicken livers, mackerel, sardines, crawfish tails and live minnows are all great offerings for tempting the lake’s cats.

Folsom Lake is currently holding 559,415 acre feet of water as of press time.

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“The striper fishing is really good these days,” exclaimed Rene Villanueva of Steelie Dan’s Guide Service. “On my last trip I took out 5 guys and they got easy limits of bass while trolling. The fish we got were schoolies to 8 pounds. We concentrated on trolling the area between Rio Vista and Isleton. The bite was pretty fast. We had a triple hookup and three doubles. All of the fish came on shallow running Yo-Zuri minnow plugs.”

Captain Barry Canevaro of Fish Hookers Sportfishing has also been providing his clients with top notch striper trolling. “A couple weeks ago we got a 40 pounder. We have not seen anything nearly that big recently, but we have been getting steady action on bass into the low teens. We’ve been getting fish on both shallow and deep running plugs. One of the keys to getting the best results is to stay away from the crowd and find some isolated pockets of fish that haven’t been targeted by a bunch of other boats,” disclosed Canevaro.

If trolling isn’t your game, bait fishing has been producing stripers too. Standard baits such as shad, bloodworms and pile worms are all producing fish. The only problem with bait fishing is that you have to go through quite a few small fish before you hook a good one.

Kevin Yost of Lucky Strike Charters reported that the sturgeon bite has become more aggressive in West Delta waters. “The bite seems to be transitioning from a winter type pattern to a spring pattern. In the spring the sturgeon get more aggressive in the way they bite and that is what we have been seeing recently,” said Yost.

According to Yost, he has been doing most of his fishing in the area between the Moth Ball Fleet and Chain Island in depths ranging from 15 to 70 feet deep. Yost’s best baits recently have been salmon roe, grass shrimp and grass shrimp/roe combinations. He has been spiking his baits with Smelly Jelly in the Anise and Shrimp flavors. Yost described the fishing pressure as being light.

Black bass anglers are currently scoring with a variety of baits including plastic worms, Senkos and jigs, while catfish anglers are bringing home whiskerfish while using standard baits such as clams, chicken livers and anchovies.

For a complete Delta Report, click here.

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“Trout action at McSwain is excellent,” tipped Rowell. “Trollers working the top twenty feet with flashers/lures or Wedding Rings – tipped with a nightcrawler are doing very well. The better trolling pattern has been from the dam to the second fence line. Bankies floating nightcrawlers or using Power Bait are also seeing easy limit action.”

“Lake McClure bass action is over the top,” said Rowell. “It’s not a big fish bite, but 20-30 fish days are common. Warmouth or margarita mutilator Roboworms are very productive. We are also seeing an early morning crankbait and spoon bite. Look for areas with water up to twenty feet deep with rock walls in the Cottonwood or Temperance Creek areas.”

Trout trollers should work from the surface down to thirty-five feet deep with shad pattern Excel Spoons or Needlefish in cop-car for a solid trout bite. The dam and Bagby areas have been the most productive.

Crappie action has been good on rocky structure with red/white jigs or small minnows. Cats up to seven pounds are falling for cut baits in muddy water twenty feet deep.

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“Fly fishermen should try woolly buggers, flying ants, and sparrow nymphs,” he tipped. “Bank fishermen should try nightcrawlers, Gulp Power Bait, Gulp Nightcrawlers, floating Power Eggs,and salmon eggs. Lure casters should try Kastmasters, Panther Martin spinners, and Rooster Tails at Alpine.”  

Sierra stream fishing has been hit and miss at most locations.   Access to the Stanislaus River was limited to Calaveras Big Trees State Park and Boards Crossing Road in Dorrington.  The Gate to Beaver Creek through Sourgrass crossing is now open.  NCPA anticipates having Spicer open by Memorial weekend, depending on the snowmelt and weather.  For an update on the road to Spicer you can call 209-728-1387.   Hobart Creek is not open until JULY 1ST 2008!

Even though the snowmelt is on, the North Fork of the Stanislaus is looking good.  Baitcasters will probably have the bet luck split-shotting salmon eggs, floating Power Eggs, Crickets, or inflated worms with a 15 to 20 inch leader.  Fly casters can try bead head nymphs, ants, and bead head woolly buggers with a sink tip line.  Lure casters can try Panther Martin spinners, Rooster Tails, Rapala's or Kastmasters.

Beaver Creek has been planted through Big Trees, so the same methods will apply there.  Angels and Murphys creeks also will be planted this week. All other high country lakes are still frozen or inaccessible.

“White Pines was planted this last week and is also on the plant list for this week. Bait casters should try Floating Power Eggs, Gulp Nightcrawlers, Gulp Eggs, and Gulp Power Bait. You should try your bait of choice on a 30" to 36" leader. Lure casters should try Kastmasters, Panther Martin spinners, and Rooster Tails. Fly fishermen have been doing very well. Try using woolly buggers, ants, and sparrow nymphs,” Reynolds advised.

Camping is available at Big Trees State Park and Golden Pines just beyond the park on Highway 4.  Campgrounds in the Stanislaus National Forest are not officially open, but there are spots available along the river. 

For Wiza's Sierra articles, CLICK HERE.

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Gull Lake is the top option for anglers in the June Lake area. “Gull has been heavily stocked and quite a few trout are being caught. That is where I would go if I were going fishing,” reported Gary at Ernie’s Sporting Goods.

Grant Lake is kicking out decent numbers of trout despite the low water level.

At June Lake trollers, bait anglers and float tubers are all catching trout. Some of the float tubers are using flies, but those that are having the best success are slowly drifting with baits such as salmon eggs and night crawlers.

“Bridgeport Lake is doing pretty well, we’ve had a couple fly anglers hitting some fish with streamers, and a few with midges,” reported Jim Reid at Ken’s Sporting Goods. “Trollers are doing well out in front of the marina and down near the dam with trophy sticks and Rapalas, as well as spoons like needlefish and Thomas Buoyants.”

The bait fishermen are doing the best off Rainbow Point and in Buckeye Bay with inflated crawlers. It seems the trollers are not catching as many fish as the bait fishermen, but the average size is a little bigger trolling. We’ve seen fish up to 5.5lbs the last few days.”

The East Walker River is fishing pretty well despite the recent increase in fishing pressure. Streamers are tempting good numbers of trout as are nymphs. The current flow is about 95 cubic feet per second so the river is in great shape.

The West Walker is fishing really well at this time. Small nymphs and woolly buggers are working well while spin anglers are scoring with small Panther Martins, Rooster Tails, salmon eggs and night crawlers.

Twin Lake are kicking out quite a few trout for trollers working a variety of lures including Trophy Sticks, Rapalas, spoons and threaded night crawler pulled behind flashers. Many of the trout being caught weigh between 2 and 5 pounds.

“The flow on the Lower Owens has been raised up to 450 cfs so that has pretty much shut down the bite,” reported Dan Farris of Brock’s Sporting Goods. “The Upper Owens and Hot Creek are both producing well for fly anglers working both nymphs and dry flies.”

Lake Sabrina has been producing limits and near limits for anglers tossing lures and soaking baits from the bank.

“Convict Lake and Crowley are also worth fishing. Both fly and lure anglers are getting trout at Convict and a good number of 7 and 8 pound fish have been reported. At Crowley, most of the fish are being caught by trollers, but fly anglers working streamers from float tubes are hooking trout too,” added Farris.

For Tom Loe's Sierra Report, click here.

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“The trout fishing here is still going very strong and we are seeing big numbers of fish between 8 and 12 pounds being landed,” reported Rich Henley at Crosby Lodge. “Most of the trout, especially the big ones, are being landed by fly fishermen, fishing from the bank.”

“Boaters have had a tough time effectively fishing recently because of the wind. The weather has been pretty unstable. We’ve had wind, rain and even a little snow. A few days ago a couple guys did make it out to the north end of the lake in a boat. They fished near the pinnacles and ended up getting about 50 trout, but none of them were super large,” said Henley.

“At this point the trout are holding very close to the shoreline and they are just a lot easier to catch from the bank. We’ve been seeing some Sacramento perch showing up recently. The lake will close for trout fishing on June 30, but it will remain open for perch fishing throughout the summer,” added Henley.  

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“We are catching lots of halibut these days,” exclaimed Captain James Smith of California Dawn Sportfishing on May 11. “So far today, we’ve got 26 halibut for 13 anglers. Yesterday we got 37 keeper halibut and 4 stripers for our 26 anglers. The top fish that day weighed in at 30 pounds and was caught by Dave Marquardt. The best fishing has been taking place at Paradise Cay and on the Berkeley Flats.”

Jim Smith, captain of the Happy Hooker, reported 14 halibut and 14 bass for 20 anglers on his live bait trip to Paradise Cay on Friday, May 9. "Marilyn from Fremont had a incredible trip that day, catching three halibut weighing 30, 25 and 12 pounds," noted Smith. "The largest bass weighed 12 pounds."

The next day produced 14 halibut and 3 bass for 20 anglers in the same area. Marilyn from Palo Alto topped the day's catches with a 22 pound halibut, according to Smith.

At the Emeryville Sportfishing Center the story is much the same with anglers tapping into super productive halibut fishing.

“I’d describe the halibut fishing we are seeing right now as “very good in both the main bay and south bay,” related Craig Stone of the Emeryville Sportfishing Center on May 11. “Yesterday is a great example of the action our anglers have been experiencing. We had 77 anglers go out aboard 6 boats. They scored a combined total of 122 halibut to 23 pounds and added 11 stripers to 7 pounds. On Friday we sent out 2 boats with a grand total of 30 anglers. They scored 52 halibut to 14 pounds and 9 stripers to 12 pounds.”

According to Stone, Emeryville charter boats are now taking reservations for the June 1 rockfish opener.