Ron and Justin Becker of Sacramento had great day of fishing when they bagged limits of landlocked kings, ranging from 14-1/2 to 18-1/4 inches, during a recent trolling adventure with Rene Villanueva of Steelie Dan’s Guide Service.

“We caught the fish while trolling shad and blue/silver Moose Look lures and rolled shad at 40 to 65 feet deep,” said Villanueva. “We used pink Rocky Mountain Tackle and Sep’s dodgers, as well as nickel and blue/silver Shasta Tackle Sling Blades. The fish hit at the dam, Big Island and the Ranch House.”

Dennis Da Veiga of Sacramento reported superb salmon fishing during a trip to Berryessa on Saturday, May 24.

"Karen Banks and I took mixed limits of kokanee and kings while trolling green hoochies, tipped with garlic-scented white corn, at 45 feet deep near the Big Island and farm house," he explained. "The kokanee measured 15 to 16 inches long, while the kings ranged from 14 to 17 inches."

Meanwhile, spotted, smallmouth and largemouth bass action is going strong at Berryessa. “Tony Stoltz of Western Bass and I caught a total of 16 bass while filming a TV show for 5 hours,” said Larry Hemphill, fishing guide. “All of the fish were spotted bass except for one largemouth and one smallmouth.”

Stoltz landed the largest bass, a 15 incher, while drop shotting with an oxblood color Robo Worm. Hemphill caught his fish while split shotting with MM 3 color Robo Worms. “The fish ranged from 5 to 20 feet deep,” said Hemphill.

Crappie action is slow, though a few are hitting jigs or minnows. “We haven’t seen any signs of catfish yet, but warmer water should improve the catfish action,” added Dino Righetti at Spanish Flat Resort.

“We went out after abalone both yesterday and today,” reported Captain Randy Thornton of Telstar Charters on May 26. “Yesterday the clarity was okay with about 15 feet of visibility. I took out three anglers and they all got limits. The largest abalone measured 9.5 inches. Today I took out 7 anglers and we got full limits again. Our best abalone today went 9 inches. The water was really clear today and there were lots of rockfish showing themselves.”

“I think we can look forward to some really good rockfish action on the opener. I hope the weather is good. On our diving trips we’ve been seeing more and more school fish all the time, so I don’t expect that we’ll have any problem finding fish,” added Thornton.

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“Jeff went back to the ocean on Tuesday for a quick limit of lingcod and rockfish,” reported Mark Lottis of Five Star Charters. “The wind came up Wednesday and Thursday, so we salmon fished up the river for a bust on Wednesday, but we caught a couple of fish for each boat on Thursday.”

“Friday and Saturday were great days back out halibut fishing both in terms of weather and fish action. On Sunday it was foggy and windy and a strong drift which made for tough conditions but we got it done for both lingcod and rockfish. This week we're fishing all week on the ocean unless the weather sends us to the river. River fishing should be good as the Rogue is up and murky due to snow melt, making for great springer conditions,” added Lottis.

Pacific halibut fishing got off to a great start for the folks at Five Star Charters during the second week of May. Their anglers caught halibut ranging from 35 to 55 pounds.

The folks at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife reported that the Lower Rogue is flowing high and muddy.  Spring chinook and steelhead are on the move, but anglers are having a tough time getting them to bite.

On the Middle Rogue the flow on May 19 was 7,620 cubic feet per second.  A few steelhead are being caught back-trolling plugs. Spring chinook have been caught on bait and sardine-wrapped plugs.

Anglers are reminded that the Rogue is closed to angling for trout until May 24 to protect migrating steelhead and coho salmon smolts. In addition, new regulations are in effect for spring chinook angling on the Rogue River. Please see the Oregon Sport Fishing Regulations for more information.

The flow on the Upper Rogue out of William Jess Dam is currently 5,626 cubic feet per second. The outflow temperature is 48 degrees. 9,365 winter steelhead and 1,062 spring chinook have been counted at Gold Ray Dam to date.

Angling for winter steelhead has been fair, but many of the fish are dark or are downstream migrants. Bait, lures, and flies are all producing fish. The higher flows will likely make angling more difficult.

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“The bass bite is absolutely wide-open right now,” exclaimed Tony Messer at Phil’s Propellers. “Spider grubs, curly tail grubs and plastic worms rigged on darter heads are catching big numbers of bass. In the morning and evening there has been some really good topwater action and after dark guys are getting a lot of strikes on black spinnerbaits.”

“Most of the bass being caught these days average around 1.75 pounds, but bigger bass are possible. Most of the fish are holding from the surface down to about 15 feet. The Pitt River Arm is holding a lot of bait and plankton, so that is probably the best area for bass fishing, but you’ll find fish in the other arms too,” added Messer.

The last time Gary Miralles of the Shasta Tackle Company fished the lake he found trout feeding under masses of plankton in the Pit River Arm.

The Pit Arm is very rich in nutrients and early in the morning big masses of small organisms move to the surface to feed on these nutrients. Baitfish move into these areas to feed on the small organisms and this attracts both trout and bass that want to make a meal out of the baitfish and the plankton.

The key to catching fish out of the plankton blooms is using brightly-colored lures and trolling them fairly quickly from 2 to 2.5 miles per hour. Top offerings included brass and orange Cripplures, orange Hum Dingers, orange and gold Flee Bitties, orange Rapalas and orange Excel lures.

For a shot at some of Shasta’s kings, the main body in front of the dam, the Dry Creek Arm and the Big Backbone Arm are the top spots. The salmon will hit a variety of different lures and baits trolled from 50 to 150 feet deep. Top choices include Koke-A-Nuts, Matrix Paddle Tails, Sep’s Pro Secrets, Flee Bitties and rolled shad.

Lake Shasta was 64 feet from maximum pool at press time and dropping.

Mike Elster of Mike’s Fishing Guide Service hit Whiskeytown Reservoir on May 20. Mike and his fishing partner found kokanee holding between 40 and 60 feet deep. On the day they landed 6 kokanee and 1 brook trout. The top lures were orange Shasta Tackle Pee Wees and copper/orange Hum Dingers.

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"The rockfish are really biting now - the bite is wide-open," said Chris Arcoleo of Chris' Fishing, Inc. "The 25 anglers aboard the Checkmate on Memorial Day caught limits of vermilion, olive and yellowtail rockfish and several lingcod on a trip to Point Sur."

All three boats - the Checkmate, Caroline and Star of Monterey - came back to the dock with full limits of rockfish and a few lingcod on May 24 and 25. The anglers nailed the fish on bars, jigs and swimbaits, tipped with squid strips.

"The rockfish action is very good," disclosed Pete Bruno at Randy's Fishing Trips. "For example, the 10 anglers aboard the Chubasco on May 26 bagged limits of quality yellowtail, blue, olive, copper and vermilion rockfish. They fished bars and shrimp flies off the Carmel Highlands."

The Chubasco went to the Big Sur coast on May 24 and 25, returning with huge bags of colorful rockfish for all passengers, along with several lingcod.

A private charter of 22 anglers aboard the Kahuna went down the coast to Point Sur on May 24. "The fish were biting like mad dogs," said Carol Jones of Tom's Sportfishing in Moss Landing. "We ended the day with 88 vermilion rockfish to 12 pounds, 61 copper rockfish, 71 assorted rockfish and 1 lingcod. The weather was good with a little chop and swell left over from the wind during the week."

On the following day, the 10 anglers on the Kahuna landed limits of rockfish and 3 lingcod, noted Jones.

The Velocity also headed down to Monterey Bay’s south side for rockfish limits on May 24. They caught a variety of red, yellow and blue rockfish, reported Ken Stagnaro at Stagnaro’s Fishing Trips.

Private boaters reported excellent rockfish action also. "The weather was flat calm all day long today and the fishing picked up," said Todd Fraser at Bayside Marine in Santa Cruz. "I spoke to a few anglers who took some good-sized lingcod of South Rock. There were some decent reports of lingcod and rockcod near 5 Mile Beach."

Fraser ran his boat to Carmel and ended up with 50 rockfish and big lingcod while working 70-120 feet of water. “ I fished with a good friend from La Cruz, Nayarit, Mexico today and his friends," noted Fraser. "We put Scott Osuna on 2 nice big lingcod and olives in the 4 pound range."

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“Britton is best fished with a boat,” said Steve Vaughn at Vaughn’s Sporting Goods. “For crappie and bluegill, look for tree-covered areas. Shore fishermen are having the best luck under the docks. Crappie jigs, crappie nibbles and meal worms all working.”

For the smallmouth, toss out top water lures such as Zara Spooks, Ricos and Pop-Rs early and late in the day and overcast days. The fish are typically in the 12 to 16 inch range, but larger bass are always possible.

Baum Lake anglers are bagging increasing numbers of rainbow, brown and brook trout. “Bait fishermen seem to like crawlers and Power Bait the best, while lure fishermen seem to prefer Kastmasters and Panther Martins,” said Vaughn. “Fly fishermen are nymphing with scuds, wooly buggers, small copper johns in red, pheasant tails. Dry fly action seems to be best in the evenings with PMD's, callibaetis cripples, Adams, caddis.”

The Cassel Area is still a bit off color, but the warmer weather has increased the bite. Bait fishermen are using crawlers, crickets, salmon eggs, with fairly decent results. Lure fishermen seem to like Panther Martins for results. Fly fishermen are using copper johns in red, pheasant tails for nymphs, with PMD's, caddis, Adams for dries.

Pit River wild rainbow trout are still being taken on dark nymphs, with or without rubber legs, but be sure there is enough weight to fish on the bottom of the river. “There is a little dry action, sporadically, with a few salmon flies still flying around,” noted Vaughn. “Fishing has slowed a bit, so patience may be required.”

“In the Hat Creek Wild Trout area, nymphing at the Hat 2 riffle was productive for fishermen, with a decent hatch of salmon flies coming off,” Vaughn tipped. “In the evenings, try PMD's, caddis, callibaetis cripples. The area below the County park should be experiencing a good hatch of salmon flies now, but no actual reports have come in.”

On Fall River Wild Trout Stream, look for PMD's, perhaps some Mahogany dun patterns. “Zug bugs are always a good bet, as are wooly buggers if there is no dry action,” said Vaughn.

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As expect on this year’s opening weekend anglers found excellent fishing for broad bodied ‘bows that hadn’t seen a bait hook or lures since last December.

“For me the fishing on the opener was absolutely dynamite,” exclaimed Tim Noxon of Fish Traveler Guide Service. “We got easy limits on all three days of the weekend and on the first two days we were pretty much done fishing by 8 in the morning.”

“We spent most of our time trolling a 10 foot deep ridge near Black Mountain. The hot pattern was trolling watermelon, orange or amber colored Sep’s Grubs about 7 feet deep. Our biggest trout went 3.75 pounds and I’d guess that the average fish went an even 3 pounds,” added Noxon.

Tom Muller of Eagle Lake Charters also reported solid action on the opening weekend of fishing. “It was overcast most of the time and that made for perfect shallow water trolling conditions. I relied on trolled worms and did very well while pulling them about 7 feet deep on 1.5 colors of leadcore line. I found lots of smallish planters up at the north end, so I moved down to the shelves around Pelican Point. There were some good holdovers in that area.”

Muller’s largest fish went about 3.5 pounds and 2.5 pounds was about the smallest fish he saw in the Pelican area. “The water temperature is 55 degrees, which is just about perfect,” he noted.

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Rex Carpenter at Sacramento Pro Tackle reported averaging 10 shad per day while fishing from shore at the mouth of the American at Discovery Park. "I'm tossing out green and red shad darts with a 3/4 ounce sinker every morning between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.," said Carpenter. "The shad are ranging from 1 to 3 pounds."

He said even better shad fishing is available on the Sacramento River at the end of Elverta Road and at the mouth of the Feather River at Verona.

"Most of the stripers being hooked locally are shakers, but anglers are starting to nail catfish in the 1 to 3 pound range while bait fishing at Sand Cove and near the Discovery Park boat launch," he added. Good baits for the cats include clams, mackerel, crayfish and sardines.

The Port of Sacramento is producing stripers in the 5 to 10 pound range for shore anglers. "Anglers are catching bluegill on redworms and mealworms and then are using the sunfish for bait," noted Yee Vang at Broadway Bait Rod & Gun.

“We haven’t weighed in many stripers lately, probably because of the high winds we had on the river this week,” said Lina Tran at Freeport Bait Company. “Anglers have brought in some channel cats in the 10 to 12 pound range taken in the Sacramento Deep Water Channel and on the Sacramento near Walnut Grove.”

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“I was out on the delta yesterday and we had a bunch of wind, but we also caught a bunch of nice bass,” disclosed Randy Pringle of the Fishing Instructor Guide Service on May 22. “The conditions we were confronted with were both good and bad. The water temperature was 71 degrees, we had a high tide that was dropping and the bass were very active. That was the good part. “

However, the fact that he and his clients had to fight a strong gusting wind all day wasn’t so good, but they dealt with the wind effectively. “In general, when the wind blows in the delta it effects the anglers more than it does the bass,” noted Pringle.

“Our big fish yesterday weighed in at 7 pounds. We got that fish on a Strike King Pure Poison crankbait. Most of our other bass weighed between 3 and 4 pounds and were taken while flipping. Our bait of choice for flipping was a Berkley Chigger Craw Texas rigged. The black bass were holding in water that was between 3 and 8 feet deep. While fishing for black bass we came across quite a few stripers in the 3 to 5 pound range. I brought some of them home and converted them into Fish and Chips,” quipped Pringle.

“As active as the bass have been, I suspect that once these winds go away we’ll find solid top water action. I can’t wait. I’ve got a bunch of Furbit The Frog Lures and they are ready for action,” exclaimed Pringle.

For a complete Delta Report, click here.

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“Trollers will find excellent fish from 20-25 feet deep in the dam and second fence line areas,” said Chuck Rowell of A-1 Bait and Tackle. “Green Wedding Rings tipped with nightcrawler and shad pattern Apex have been great producers. Bank anglers working salmon or green colored Power Bait are taking limits with nice big trout being pretty common.”

Lake McClure anglers will find a solid bite across the board. Bassers working water 20-30 feet deep will find bass taking live bait, as well as, dark purple with red flake plastics. Cottonwood Creek, Piney Creek and Barrett Cove have been the best producers.

 Trout are falling for trolled offerings 35 feet deep on flashers/Needlefish combos; green Wedding Rings or shad pattern Ex-Cels, with Barrett Cove and Horseshoe Bend being the better producing areas.

Fishermen are catching lots of crappie to two pounds on small and medium minnows. Anglers should target rocky structure in water thirty feet deep, according to Rowell.

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“Hell Hole mackinaw have kicked open and kokes are still showing for anglers. Some anglers are pulling Flatfish in frog color for their fish, while others are working Lyman’s for success,” said Jack Hill of Will Fish Bait and Tackle. “The road to French Meadows is now open and preliminary reports show good rainbow and brown action.”

Union Valley’s mack bite is back on. Ken Mathis of Ken’s Custom Tackle reported that they are suspended as well as on the bottom. “We landed a seventeen pounder this week, but most will be in the 3-5 pound range. Ken’s Double Flutter lure has been the most effective. Kokanee are starting to show in greater numbers. They are still scattered in the top twenty feet of water.”

Loon Lake is now open, with anglers finding solid action on browns and rainbows in the 12-14 inch class.  Ice House Reservoir is still producing football-size rainbows and the occasional brown – the upper end of the lake has been the better producing area.

For Wiza's Sierra articles, CLICK HERE.

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According to the staff at Ernie’s Tackle, Silver Lake has been providing the best action on the June Lake Loop. Anglers are scoring while soaking baits such as Power Bait and inflated worms and some fish have also been caught by anglers tossing and retrieving small countdown Rapalas.

For a shot at big trout, you can’t beat slowly striping a Matuka steamer on fly gear. On days when the Matuka action is slow, midges and nymphs will draw a good number of bites.

Gull Lake is the spot to go if you are interested in catching some quality cutthroats. Pautzke’s salmon eggs, Power Bait and worms are drawing strikes as are lures such as Rapalas and Thomas Buoyants.

Rush Creek is still running pretty high, so there have been few reports of anglers fishing there. If you’d like to give it a try, drifting nymphs, salmon eggs or worms is probably the best option.

“This past week has been really great around here. The East Walker is still kicking out lots of really nice fish, many in the 16 to 20 inch range,” related Jim Reid at Ken’s Sporting Goods. “The caddis are getting lively and there’s been some decent dry fly fishing here and there. Mostly it’s been nymphing, small caddis patterns and midge patterns are the norm.

“Bridgeport Lake has been producing really well also. The shore fishermen have been doing great down near the dam with crawlers and Power Bait. Boat fishermen have been hooking fish while trolling and still fishing. Trollers are using small Rapalas, blades and crawlers, or spoons like Thomas Bouyants. Bait folks are using crawlers and Power Bait. Fly anglers are starting to pick up some good fish either trolling streamers down near the dam, or midging out in front of the marina or in the Rainbow Point area,” said Reid.

“Twin Lakes is also producing really well with lots of fish being caught by anglers while trolling and bait fishing. I haven’t talked to many fly anglers up there but I’d bet a Matuka or Muddler would do the trick for some good action,” continued Reid.

“The Lower Owens is flowing pretty high right now. We did a drift trip on the river yesterday. We caught some trout on nymphs, but the fishing was tough overall,” disclosed Dan Farris at Brock’s Sporting Goods.

“Many of our local lakes are fishing well, but most of our streams are running pretty high as a result of runoff. Sabrina has been kicking out fish for both shore anglers working lures and bait and float tubers fishing with streamers and nymphs. Convict and Crowley are also producing fish for fly guys and lure tossers,” added Farris.

For Tom Loe's Sierra Report, click here.

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“The trout are still biting really well out here, but I guess I’d have to rate the fishing as slow because very few guys have been fishing,” related Jason Molino at the Pyramid Lake Store. “Part of the problem has been the wind which discourages anglers from coming out and this is also the time of the year when a lot of graduations are going on and a lot of people don’t have time to go fishing.”

“The guys that do come out and fish are doing pretty well. This is especially true for fly anglers. Over the past week or so we’ve seen 4 trout brought in over 8 pounds and on May 17 a fly angler landed a 10 pounder at Pelican Point. The area near the nets opened back up for fishing on May 17,” added Molino.

“The wind has been a real pain,” exclaimed Rich Henley at Crosby Lodge. “It has been keeping anglers away from the lake and that’s too bad because the trout are still on a really strong bite. One angler went out today despite the wind and was able to land a 27 inch trout on a fly. There are still plenty of trophy fish roaming around and they are holding very close to the shoreline. This means that fly anglers have the best chance of catching them.”  

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Anglers aboard the Happy Hooker experienced three days of great fishing on Friday, Saturday and Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. The fishermen drifted live bait in a variety of locations throughout San Francisco Bay, according to Gregg Smith of the Happy Hooker.

Nine anglers bagged 23 halibut to 14 pounds and 6 stripers to 10 pounds aboard the Happy Hooker on Friday. Thirty-one anglers boarding the Happy Hooker of Saturday landed 36 halibut to 24 pounds and 5 bass to 10 pounds, while 21 passengers nailed 39 halibut to 28 pounds and 8 bass to 14 pounds on Sunday.

“The halibut fishing success we are enjoying right now is absolutely staggering,” exclaimed Captain James Smith of the California Dawn. “We’ve had so many great trips it is unbelievable. When rockfish season opens on June 1, I’m going to mix in some rockfish and lingcod trips, but I’m going to spend a lot of time fishing for halibut as long as this bite holds up.”

Smith’s scores have been impressive indeed. On Monday, May 19 his 23 anglers nailed 55 halibut to 30 pounds. On Wednesday, 25 anglers boated 69 halibut to 14 pounds and added 8 stripers. On Thursday, it was windy and the number of halibut caught dropped to 40, but many of them were big fish including fish weighing 30 and 25 pounds. On Friday, a new boat record was set when 25 anglers hammered 72 halibut and 10 stripers.

Captain Joey Gallia of the New Easy Rider has also been enjoying superb halibut action, in addition to picking up good numbers of incidental stripers. Gallia has been fishing in a variety of different east and central bay locations including the Berkeley Flats.

“Our charter boats have been doing really well on halibut and they are getting some stripers too,” revealed Frank Salazar at the Emeryville Sportfishing Center. “On Saturday, May 24 we sent out 3 boats with a total of 43 anglers aboard. They caught 100 halibut to 26 pounds and 31 stripers to 14 pounds. The New Huck Finn had a really great day. Their 22 anglers caught 66 of those 100 halibut along with the big 26 pounder. They also got 16 of the 31 stripers including the 14 pounder.”