The Fish Sniffer

(Oroville) Coho salmon in the 12 to 13 inch range, along with some bigger ones, are hitting baits and lures at Lake Oroville.

“Ron Gaston and I landed around 15 coho salmon on a recent trip to Lake Oroville, “reported Rob Reimers of Rustic Rob’s Gudie Service. “He kept a limit of 5 fish and released the rest.”

They found their top action while trolling with nightcrawlers behind Sep’s dodgers on the surface 115 to 125 feet behind the boat. The best spots were the green bridge, dam and the point in front of the spillway.

For larger coho, Fil Torres of Oroville Outdoors recommended fishing the North Fork of the Feather. “I caught and released two coho measuring 15 and 18 inches while casting tube baits for bass in the North Fork,” he noted.

“Bass fishing has been good one day, tough the next,” said Torres. “One tournament was won by a five fish weight of 21 pounds. The amazing thing is that they were all spotted bass; the big fish weighed 5 pounds.”

For maximum bass success, Torres recommended, “throwing the kitchen sink” from 40 feet deep to the bank.

“Anglers are finding success using Alabama rigs, tubes, jigs, rip baits and Carolina-rigged plastic worms,” said Torres. “The flats and rocks of the North and Middle forks are yielding the best action.”

Torres noted that an angler reported catching some crappie up to 15 inches in the Limesaddle area of the lake. 

Lake Oroville is now 852.09 feet in elevation, 47.91 feet from maximum pool. The reservoir is holding 2,836,483 acre-feet of water, 80 percent of capacity and 113 percent of the 10-year average.