Check out the new issue of The Fish Sniffer Magazine for July 11, 2025!

Summer fishing is in full swing all over Northern California. Freshwater lakes are providing top notch action for bass, trout and landlocked salmon. Lake Berryessa, Shasta, New Melones and Don Pedro are very good for kokanee up to 18 inches and more. Some very nice landlocked kings as well as rainbow trout are coming to nets at Folsom and Oroville. The mountain streams are falling into very fishable shape and catching trout is picking up.

Saltwater fishing is going great guns, with the folks that were able to fish the 2 day Ocean Salmon season in June catching limits of big salmon all the way up and down the coast. Potluck fishing in San Francisco bay is excellent for both stripers and halibut, and rockfish and lingcod are filling sacks out of Bodega and Monterey Bays.

All you need to know about freshwater and saltwater fishing in Northern California is now available in the latest issue of The Fish Sniffer Magazine!

Pyramid Lake Nevada is home to the world famous Lahontan Cutthroat trout, including the Pilot Peak strain that have been growing in the lake for several years. The Pilot Peak trout are very aggressive and grow bigger and faster than the original Summit Lake strain. These trout make Pyramid Lake the best place in the world to catch a 10 pound – or even 20 pound --cutthroat trout!

John Brassfield of Foresthill and I went up to Pyramid early on a +

Wednesday morning in mid-June. We arrived at the ramp from my home in Colfax about 6:30 am. It was a beautiful morning with an air temperature of 50 degrees. A breeze was blowing from the north as we launched the Fish Sniffer Rogue Jet 21 Coastal, but it didn’t prevent us from running to the north to Fox Bay. We ran up on the east side of the lake and started trolling north of Hell’s Kitchen and into Fox bay in 60 feet of water. We didn’t do much until we started seeing bait and fish marks on the Lowrance screen, and then we started catching fish. My first fish weighed 13 pounds on yellow/red spot B-21 spoon behind Vance’s cannonball flashers at 2.3 mph. We caught fish here and there, whenever we saw bait on the screen. Mostly fishing in 40 to 70 feet of water, all right on the bottom. We saw suspended fish at 30 feet deep or so, but never could get one to bite. The B-21 spoon was the hot ticket in the morning, plus I got a few on a 4 inch chartreuse/orange Silver Horde spoon. John got some on his orange frog Built to Bite jointed plug plus a couple on a blue/yellow 4 inch Apex. The cannonball flashers really made...

Lake Almanor

Rainbows and Browns highlight catches in perfect conditions.

The conditions have been fantastic here at Almanor, following the cold windy conditions of a week ago. Cool mornings with warm afternoons and light breezes with some occasional gusty periods later in the day. Traffic on the lake is on the increase as we approach the big summer holiday of July 4th. The water level has reached its peak and is now on a slow decline currently sitting just above 4490.5. A drop of about 6 inches in the last week. Flows on all the lake’s tributaries have reduced to seasonal norms. Water temperatures are currently running in the upper 60’s ticking up into the low 70’s during the days. Bug hatches continue all over the lake with the Hex Fly being one of the main attractions. The trout are now widely spread throughout the entire lake. Action for trollers is happening at a variety of locations around the lake, from the dam to Big Springs which has proven to be a hot spot as of late. Both sides of the peninsula have also been giving up fish as is the west shore from Rocky Point to Almanor West giving anglers plenty of locations to visit. Trout have been caught on a wide variety of offerings, with lots of options for anglers. Worms and plastics along with fast trolled spoons in bright as well as dark colors have all produced fish this week. 25 to 45 feet seems to be holding the bulk of the active fish. The catch continues to be a mix Rainbows and Browns along with a few salmon. Bait fishermen have been netting a few fish at numerous locations including Dorado, the dam Rocky Point and Red Bank. Suspended baits like worms, crickets and meal worms...

Bullards Bar/Englebright Lakes

Kokanee Limits Are The Rule!

DOBBINS – If you want to catch a 10 fish limit of kokanee salmon, it’s hard to beat Bullards Bar Reservoir at this time.

“The fish are stacked in the main body near the dam and major points,” said Brett Brady of Bare Bones Guide Service. “Troll 70–80 ft deep with T-pex lures in red or purple. Don’t forget that scented corn tipped on the hook makes all the difference.”

His latest trip produced the top fishing in the early morning hours.

“We got 40 fish on Bullards Bar today, but it got a little rough after 9 a.m. We ended up throwing the kitchen sink at them.,” Brady advised. “It was like they wanted something different all the time. We trolled at 70 to 80 feet deep.”

Likewise, Rob Reimers of Rustic Rob’s Guide Service reported great kokanee success at Bullards Bar on his latest trip. “We had limits for two before it got hot this morning,” he said.

Bullards Bar is holding 906,198 acre-feet of water, 94 percent of capacity and 109 percent of average.

Few anglers have been on the water at Englebright Reservoir fishing for trout. However, this is generally a great time of year to hook rainbows and an occasional brown while trolling with Rapalas, Needlefish, Cripplures and nightcrawlers behind dodgers. Expect to hook holdover rainbows in the 12 to 18 inch range.

Englebright is holding 68,050 acre feet of water, 97 percent of capacity and 103 percent of average.

• Dan Bacher

Don Pedro Lake

Trollers Battle Kings, Rainbows and Kokanee

LA GRANGE - The solid king salmon, kokanee salmon and rainbow trout bite continues on Don Pedro Lake.

“Two return clients from the way northern part of California have fished with me three years now in search of king salmon,” reported Monte Smith of Gold Country Sportfishing after his most recent trip “This year they added kokanee to their list. The fishing was slow to start, but the bite turned on and they ended up with two jumbo Don Pedro kokanee that weighed well over two pounds, and when these fish hit they buried the Phenix rod and head straight for the bottom.”

“At one point we had a triple. It turned out one was a trout, while the other two were kings. It was a great day with a such nice people,” said Smith. “But the bite really tapered off and they needed to get going on their long journey back home.”

“It was still a great day on Don Pedro with two people making more memories together,” he added.

On a previous trip, the anglers fishing with Smith caught 13 fish total, including kokanee, kings, and rainbows. They caught the fish while trolling 60–75 feet deep with pink glow Apex lures.

Don Pedro Lake is holding 1,902,345 acre feet of water, 94 percent of capacity and 114 percent of average. The lake level is 819.64 feet elevation.

Dan Bacher

EAGLE LAKE

Trout head to deeper water as the weather warms

Tim Noxon of Fish Traveler Guide Service gave us this report for Eagle Lake: After weeks of great nymphing on the shallow water rock piles, the shallow water at Eagle Lake has become too warm for the trout to feed in large numbers. This is "transition time" where the trout move on to their next feeding area and menu item. Instead of nymphs, the trout will be feeding on minnows. Where and when the minnow schools will show up is to be determined. The last couple of years the minnows have showed up in great schools, and the trout were feeding heavily on them. This can be anywhere from off Eagles Nest, to the South Basin, to off Wildcat point.

No minnow schools have shown up so far so we are trolling, covering as much water as possible.

We are fishing in water from 30-45 feet deep, and trolling spoons in gold/red patterns at 10-25 feet deep on down riggers or leadcore line. Thomas Bouyants, Speedy Shiners, Hot Ticket spoons and EX-cel spoons are all very good at this time of year. Chartruese can be another good color to catch these trout during the summer.

Most days we are boating limits or near limits to 3.5 lbs. Right now the best trolling areas are off Eagle's Nest on the east shoreline and between Wildcat Point and Shrimp Island on the west side of the lake.

The Spalding boat ramp is in the water this year, but the ramp and bay are still very shallow. Smaller boats and kayaks are still launching there as of this time.

For more information, or to get a current fishing report, give Tim a call at 916-201-4648

Los Vaqueros Reservoir

Catfish Plants Spark Up Fishing Success

LIVERMORE – Summer channel catfish plants are in full swing at Los Vaqueros Reservoir. The latest plant by Tsai Enterprises was on July 2 when 1,000 pounds of catfish were stocked in the reservoir. They also stocked 1,000 pounds of channel cats on June 17.

For those wishing to target catfish, chicken liver and anchovies are the best choices of bait. There has been a steady number of catfish being caught around the reservoir. South Cove, Cowboy Cove and Oak Point are some of the popular spots, according to the Los Vaqueros Marina.

“Striper fishing is mixed with both shakers and legal sized fish being caught from around the reservoir,” the marina reported. “Cut anchovies or shad are the baits of choice, either from shore or a boat. Cowboy Cove and Howden Cove seem to be the hot spots for stripers. Just a reminder: stripers need to be 18 inches or more to be legal. Please release the small fish as quickly and carefully as possible. They are the future of our striped bass fishery.”

Although trout plants are suspended until the fall, there are still plenty of rainbow trout out in the lake for anglers to catch. The last plant of the spring of 2,000 pounds of Mt. Lassen trout went into the lake on May 14.

“Shore anglers have the most success using garlic scented PowerBait followed by night crawlers. Trolling is doing fairly well, especially in the backs of coves. Light tackle is important for catching trout. 4-6-pound test is plenty. Fishing has been good. On days the winds allow boats we have seen a number of limits as well as anglers with just a couple. Remember: Limit is 5 per angler for the day,” the marina stated....

Lake Oroville

Kings and Rainbows Top Angling Menu, Boat Inspections Continue

OROVILLE - The Lake Oroville king salmon and rainbow fishing is going strong, but you need to troll deep with downriggers, according to Brett Brady of Bare Bones Guide Service.

“We are catching some giant rainbows (4–6+ lbs.) and kings up to 4.5 lbs. Troll Uncle Larry's hoochies 70–100 ft down in white or green. Add scent, anchovy, or sardine for extra strikes,” Brady advised.

On a recent trip. Brady reported, “What a butt-kicking day on Oroville. We went 13 fish for 17 kings to 5.9 pounds. We had three others to the back of the boat. We got on a bait ball – and left the fish while they were still biting.”

On the next day, he reported a good mixed bag of king salmon, rainbow trout and spotted bass. “We needed some wind. The lake was pretty flat all day. We caught the fish at 40 to 70 feet,” Brady explained.

DWR’s mussel inspection program in Oroville continues to protect State Water Project (SWP) infrastructure, according to the California Department of Water Resources.

Mandatory watercraft inspections are required prior to launching at the Oroville Facilities (Lake Oroville, Thermalito Forebay, Thermalito Afterbay). Watercraft that pass the inspection will receive a seal and can launch during designated ramp hours.

Watercraft Inspection Location/Decontamination Services are only available at the North Thermalito Forebay at Garden Drive and HWY 70 in Oroville. Hours of operation are daily from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Watercraft inspections and decontamination services at DWR’s Oroville facilities are free. To pass an inspection, watercraft and trailers must not have any attached mussels and be clean and 100 percent dry. Watercraft with ballast bags/tanks, bilge, and motors must have a working battery and be operational to complete required...

SHASTA LAKE

Shasta lake is sitting around 31’ to crest and the surface water temperature 77 degrees. The lake is a bit cooler this time of year due to the cooler weather we’ve had and some thunderstorms. This has probably caused the slower Rainbow bite, which has made it much more difficult to get limits. We’re still seeing the shad baitfish getting bigger. But we definitely are not seeing lots of shad balls, and we are still waiting for big bait balls to show. The trout bite has been in kind of a small window generally right after sunrise. Then tapering off and only picking up one here and there. However, the last few days the bite has turned on. Today it was multiple limits of Rainbows before 10:00am. We’ve noticed a small pattern in the early morning -- pink and orange spoons are picking up most of the fish. I personally started changing colors to match the shad tone. I’m going to start using white spoons with silver backs probably in another week. We normally run around 2.3 mph, but lately the trout seem to like it around 2.1 mph right now. If you find fish in a certain area, stay there and work it for a while. I’ve been doing circles in good areas and it has definitely paid off for us. The Rainbows and Browns have been hanging around the 45’-55’ deep. This will start to change with the warmer weather that comes in July and the trout will go deeper.

The Kokanee bite has been very good this year. They have been hanging around the steep drop offs and they also are in that 55’ range. They still have been going for the typical colors pinks and orange with small spoons and hootchies behind dodgers. Boats...

Truckee/Little Truckee Rivers

Increased Water Releases Spur Trout Fishing Slowdown

TRUCKEE - We’ve seen some pretty drastic changes on the Truckee this week and subsequently a slowdown in the fishing, which was incredible just a few weeks ago. The changes come from an increased release from Lake Tahoe and decreased release out of Boca. In Tahoe City this water is coming off the top of Lake Tahoe, and it is entering into the river system at a much warmer water temp. When coupled with the weather in the upper 80’s, this has caused water temps to rise fairly quickly. This has thrown the fish in a bit of a loop, and we are seeing less activity, especially along the upper sections of the river.

While we are still seeing a good number of small fish hit the net, the larger fish are a bit more elusive this week. For those looking to fish areas of the river upstream of the Boca confluence, we ask that you carry a thermometer with you. Taking periodic temperature readings of the water and calling it when temps hit 66 degrees. Because of the cool releases out of Boca, we are still seeing water temps cool enough in the canyon (Boca to stateline) to be able to fish all day. Given the drop in flows out of Boca, the canyon is also dropping into prime shape this week, and we encourage you to head downstream in the coming months instead of focusing on the sections here in town. The fishing will be much better down in the canyon during the warmest months of the year.

We have seen the Crawdad bite really pick up over the last few weeks. Crawdads and golden stone nymphs will be prime choices for anchor flies on your tightline set...

West Walker River

Water is cold but warming and fishing will get better.

The flows on the West have come down quite a bit this past week with ranges from around 280 to 32ocfs depending on what time of the day you’re up there. The reports have been just ok from up there so far so it sounds like the fish aren’t too active just yet. The water may be a bit too cold still for them to liven up. If I was heading up there I’d give crawlers or eggs a try for bait, panther martins and vibrax lures for spinners and for flies I might try a prince or hares ear near the bottom. Report courtesy of Kens Sporting Goods.

Fisherman’s Wharf/Berkeley

Live Bait Drifters Battle Stripers and Halibut

SAN FRANCISCO – Anglers targeting striped bass, halibut and leopard sharks are experiencing stellar fishing on

San Francisco Bay and in the ocean just outside of the Golden Gate.

“What an epic bite today,” reported Captain James Smith of California Dawn Sportfishing on Sunday, July 6. “Both

boats checked in with limits of jumbo halibut and the California Dawn 1 checked in with limits of bass as well. We got

‘em big time in the ocean.”

The final count for the California Dawn 1 was 22 limits of striped bass (44) to 15 pounds and 22 limits of halibut

(44) to 31 pounds. The California Dawn 2 came back with 26 limits of halibut (52) to 30 pounds.

Captain Craig Hansen of Argo Sportfishing said he’s been putting his customers on both halibut and striped bass in

numerous locations. F-Buoy and the Berkeley Flats, the backside and frontside of Alcatraz Island, and the south side

of Angel Island have all been productive.

The key, according to Capt. Craig, is to move around to these locations until you find the fish. Other locations that

can be very productive, if the weather and ocean conditions cooperate, is the north and south bars out the Golden

Gate on the outgoing tide.

Meanwhile Captain Ron Koyasako of Nautilus Excursions said he’s been targeting mainly stripers for his clients in

the bay, but when the tides and ocean conditions look good, he’s been drifting Seal Rock and the north and south

Bars out the Gate (see the attached photos).

Also in the bay, Captain Steve Talmadge of Flash Sportfishing Charters stated that he has been drifting live bait

targeting halibut and striped bass for his customers.

Capt. Steve also said, as a change of pace, he...