West Walker river fishing report | The Fish Sniffer
Freshwater
West Walker river fishing report
Freshwater
By Kens Sporting Goods7/9/2025
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.
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!
July’s Fish of the Month goes to Captain Zach Gordon and deckhand Nate of Tahoe Sportfishing hauled a 37-inch, 17.4-pound mackinaw from Lake Tahoe’s sapphire depths on June 20.
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...
At this year’s annual family camping trip to Collins Lake June 17-19, we mixed water sports with fishing for three fun days at the modest-sized reservoir. With limited fishing time, we managed to boat five different species of fish, topped by a nice lightning trout.
Each summer, my family participates in a large camping trip to Collins Lake. The lake is only about an hour from my driveway in the Sacramento Area, which makes for an easy summer getaway. The cozy 1600-acre lake, which is northeast of Marysville, features trout, panfish, catfish, bass fishing, plus a sand swimming beach, playground, and other amenities. It’s a balanced blend of die-hard fishing and other activities.
This year, my family was joined by our two nieces in a cabin near the marina. The location is walking distance to the nearby store, swimming beach, and just uphill from the marina where I had the boat tied up. I’ve rigged up a makeshift rope attachment to my downrigger rail. It serves nicely for tubing and wakeboarding behind the outboard motor which is normally only used to power us to the next fishing hole.
After dinner on our first day at camp, my son Adam and I motored to some underwater islands near the center of the lake. I had noticed fish blowing up on bait, so I tied some Heddon Super Spook Jr. topwater baits onto our lines. I don’t do much bass fishing these days, but I spent enough time bass fishing back in the day to know a few things.
After reaching our spot, I deployed the electric motor, and we started fan casting. Suddenly, I heard some commotion on the surface of the lake. “Dad, look!” Adam exclaimed, and without hesitation I whipped my lure inside of some rings on the water’s...
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...
Take Your Pick of Hot Bass or Hot Kokanee and Trout Fishing
SACRAMENTO – Whether you want to fish for three species of black bass or for kokanee salmon and rainbow trout, now is prime time to hit Lake Berryessa.
On his latest trip to Berryessa, Don Paganelli of Paganelli’s Bass Fishing Experience reported catching and releasing over 30 bass.
“The top water bite was good in the morning with fish up to 4.5 pounds. The dropshot bite and small swimbaits were on fire with many doubles.,” he observed.
On his most recent trolling adventure, Nate Kelsch of Big Nate’s Guide reported a potluck catch of kokanee salmon, rainbow trout, king salmon and bass.
“Today I had another awesome crew out on Berryessa and these guys smacked ‘em,” said Kelsch. “We loaded up on some of the largest kokanee I have seen in a couple pf years, as well as some gorgeous trout. Once again we experienced a very soft bite early, that led to a lot of fish coming unbuttoned, but we made the most of it and waited for our bite window to open, and when it did these guys absolutely hammered them.”
“It was tough to keep the rods in the water! Every time I would refresh the Chrome Killer Corn, that rod would get pounded, so I kept busy refreshing bait, and chasing marks and the fish obliged,” he advised. “We haven’t changed tackle in months and there's no need when we keep putting up huge numbers, day in and day out!
“Today the depths were between 35 and 70 ft,, and couldn't get any fish to go any deeper, although I did chase some very deep marks. Berryessa is back and these fish are as healthy and fat as they come,” he said....
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.
OREGON HOUSE – The trout fishing is going strong at Collins Lake, but you need to troll deep for success.
“The key is to troll at 30 feet deep in the main channel of the lake,” revealed Cal Kellogg at fishcalkellogg.com. “We’ve been catching the fish on Trout Trix Worms and Trinidad Tackle Popped Eye Spoons in orange and white. The fish are going up to 5 pounds.”
“Fishing isn’t red hot,” Kellogg said “We’re putting in our time to catch half-limits.”
Green sunfish and largemouth bass are also biting. A recent kids trip produced a 5 lb. largemouth and 7 green sunfish to 1 pound, Kellogg noted.
The last trout plant of 1,000 pounds of mixed rainbow and lightning trout for the spring went into the lake in May. Trout planting programs are currently scheduled to resume in October as surface temperatures allow.
The lake level is 9 feet from full and slowly dropping. The surface water temperature is 82 degrees and the water is clear.
Ed Palma at the Collins Lake confirmed that “the trout bite has fallen off a bit - or else there’s just fewer fishermen on the water, but we’re still seeing occasional big catches, and a few limits…and some surprising shoreline successes.” Palma cited the following catches:
Mark Yanuskiewicz caught a beautiful 9.5 lb rainbow trout using PowerBait. Stetson and Grayson caught a pair of Lightning Trout and three Rainbows also on PowerBait.
The Batham Family loaded up a brag-board’s worth of big trout that they hooked using a variety of Garlic PowerBait and Salmon Eggs- and looks like someone even made a First Catch.
Ilya and Anatoliy brought in four trout using PowerBait down by the dam including one that weighed in at over 4 pounds!...