
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 are picking up multiple limits along with some trout. The Kokanee have been found in the main body, as well as the McCloud (Hirz Bay) area and also up the Sacramento arm to the Gooseneck area. They are starting getting bigger as well in 16-17” range.
Bass fishing has been very good all spring, and Andrew at Phil’s Props in Redding says the bite has still been going strong. The lake level is dropping, which is very normal for this time of year. He said fisherman are doing well right next to shore and out to 30 feet deep or so. As usual, plastics are very good – worms, senkos, jigs etc -- in crawdad, brown, green and black shad patterns – all are catching fish. The average bass is 12 to 14 inches, but they did see a couple of 5 pound spotted bass caught this week. He also said the guys throwing topwater werr still doing very well. Crawdad or Shad color crankbaits were catching lots of bass, especially early in the morning or late in the evening. He did say you can catch fish on topwater baits during the day, if you can find some shaded areas that hold fish.
Report courtesy of Rob Hower of Lake Shasta and Phils Props in Redding.