Water Conditions: New Melones Lake is currently holding 1,971,373 acre-feet of water. The lake level has been steady for the last few weeks, and is currently at 1049 ft. above sea level and 39 ft. from full. Water temperature is really dropping now, and is currently 54-56 degrees. The lake seems to have turned over, by the great trout fishing we have seen this week.
Trout:Very good! We are still seeing plenty of nice fish being caught. The Department of Fish and Game continues to plant trout every week. With the surface temperature cooling down, most of the trout are moving into shallow water. There is still an abundance of shad for the fish to feed on. Bank anglers have been using Powerbait, and night crawlers to catch their limits. Try using multi-colored Powerbait. Such as, rainbow, captain America, and sherbert. Also you can create your own colors by taking 2 or 3 different colors and mixing them. Sometimes a certain color will trigger the fish into biting. Bank anglers who brought in trout this week include: David Carr, Chad Carr, F.J. Suchomel, Josh Renzi, Jon Seagale, William Lease, Dan Eliskovich, Robert Mercer, Jaclyn Mercer, Caden Spurr, and Charlie Catario.
Winner of the Glory Hole Sports Big Fish of the Week contest goes to Steve Olley. He was fishing from the shore and caught a 3-pound rainbow trout using a Powerbait. Trolling anglers have been having luck top lining and using side planners. A single night crawler threaded onto the hook is hard to beat. Needlefish and Vance spoon are also catching a lot of fish. Shad patterns such as, natural shad, chrome, and cop car will resemble what fish are feeding on. But sometimes bright colors such as chartreuse, flame orange, copper, and gold, will catch their attention better than natural colors. This time of year is when we start seeing some large brown trout being caught. Try using a Rapala J9, Sebile magic swimmer, or an S-waver to coax these large aggressive fish. Trolling anglers who caught fish this week include: Curt Reyna, Jim Dirickson, Jaden Strittenberger, Kyle Wise, and Steve Olson.
Kokanee: Done for the season.
Bass:Pretty good. On Saturday December 17th W.O.N. Bass held a team tournament on the lake. Most of the teams caught some pretty nice limits. The winners were Alex Niapas and Garrett Anderson. They had a five fish limit that weighed 14.44 with a 4.81 largemouth for big fish of the tournament. They caught their fish on California Reservoir jigs. Other anglers reported catching fish on soft plastics. A drop shot rig fished from 25-50 feet with a 4" shad patterned worm is your best bet for catching the numbers. Target main lake points, humps, and islands. Swim baits and jigs are working too and will generally produce larger fish. Try using a 4" or 5" hula grub on a ½ oz. jig head. This will usually catch fish and is a good bait to cover water. You can fish it in deep or shallow water. It is best to use natural crawdad colors such as green pumpkin (297), cinnamon w/black (176), and watermelon w/black (194). Remember to practice catch and release, especially largemouth bass as we are seeing fewer each year.
Catfish: We have had very few reports, but there are very few people targeting catfish.Some of the biggest fish on our wall of fame were caught in November, December, and January. Catfish are in deeper water on ledges and main lake points. They will feed at any time during the day you just have to be patient. It is best to use two rods with two different baits. This way if the fish don't go for one offering they might go for the other. A good choice of baits would be shad, liver, or crawlers. Soaking your bait in Pro Cure scent will make it even more appealing to those lunker cats. Leave your bail open so the cats can't feel the line if still-fishing. Another way to catch them is to fish a weightless rig. Put enough bait on your hook to where you can make a long cast. This rig will sink slowly and drift and roll along the bottom.
Glory Hole Sports Big Fish of the Week Contest goes to Carl Grogan. He caught a 9-pound 2-ounce catfish on a single frozen shad.
Crappie and bluegill: Slow. Try using small minnows, red worms, and meal worms on a slip-float rig fished 15-25 feet deep will work. Generally 4-6 pound test line will get you more bites and fishing light tackle can be a fun way to catch them.
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