Water Conditions: New Melones Lake is currently holding 1,486,280 acre-feet
of water. The lake level dropped a foot this week, and is currently at
1002 ft. above sea level and 86ft. from full. Water temperature has
cooled a bit and is in the upper 60's to low 70's. The lake is clear,
to slightly stained. Good news, the middle ramp on Glory Hole Point is
open, which makes for an easy walk.
Excel
spoons continue to catch quality fish. Dan Clinton of Sacramento landed
this hefty 2-pound, 14-ounce brown trolling an Excel spoon in 65-foot
of water, by the 49 bridge.
Trout: Fair! Trolling anglers
are catching a few limits in the main lake and in the mouths of major
creek arms. We have had reports of fish being caught from 35-65 feet of
water. Try using shad patterned trolling spoons such as, Needlefish,
Excels, Slimfins, and Speedy Shiners. The fish are feeding heavily on
3-5" shad. Large plug baits like Countdown Rapalas, Rattle traps, and
Speed traps are working well too. At this time of the year we will start
to see more days of rain and cloud cover. These can be great day for
fishing. Try using bright colored baits, like fire tiger, and hot steel
Rapalas. Also, gold and copper blades seem to work better than silver
during low light conditions.
The
Glory Hole Sports Big Fish of the Week Contest goes to Ray Rogers of
Murphys. He went out with "Take it to the Limit Guide Service" and
caught a beautiful 4-pound, 2-ounce brown trout while trolling with a
blue/silver rip bait.
Bank fishing
has been slow, but should start to pick up as the water temperature
cools down. Also, try fishing small feeder creeks and inlets whenever we
get some rainfall. Cooler running water attracts fish, and also washes
nutrients and insects into the lake. River and stream season ends on November 15th.
Kokanee:
Slow. The schools are heading to the back of creek arms, and upriver
for their annual spawn and die. There are still some fish being caught
in the main lake. Most of the kokanee being caught are dark with hooked
mouths. Some clean silver fish are showing up in the dam/spillway area,
but are fairly small. They are taking standard kokanee setups, sling
blades and hoochies in pink, orange, and green. Be sure to add plenty of
Pro Cure Scent to your dodger and your bait. Garlic, anise, carp spit,
and kokanee special have all been producing. Don't forget to bring corn
soaked in these same scents.
Bass:
Good. The shad are staging in 15-30 feet of water on main lake points
and at the mouths of major creek arms. There are small little clusters
of shad, and there are huge schools. A lot of the fish are targeting
shad as their primary food source. Try using shad patterned deep diving
crank-baits and deep rip-baits to get to the depth they are feeding at.
Strike King 6xd in a sexy shad pattern is a great bait for deep
cranking, and a Lucky Craft Staycee 90 is a good rip bait that will get
down deep. A good trick to get a little more depth out of your baits is
to add some suspend dots or suspend strips. These adhesive pieces of
lead are easy to apply to any bait and you can make a suspending bait
slowly sink, or make a floating bait suspend. When you locate fish that
are too deep to target with plugs, try using a ½-ounce spoon or a
drop-shot rig. Remember to practice catch and release! If you
do keep a bass, please keep the spotted bass and release the big female
(largemouth) black bass. Glory Hole Sports can teach you the
difference, so you can practice good conservation of the species.
Catfish:
Fair. Melones cats tend to be fish-eaters rather than bottom
foragers, so use live minnows, frozen shad, mackerel, or anchovies for
best success. Move/drag your bait slowly across the bottom to cover
more water and target fish that are aggressively feeding. Use heavy
weights to stir up the bottom and cause more commotion. This will
attract fish from far away. Larger cats will also feed on natural bait
like crawlers, so to target large cats try using a big ball of crawlers-
many anglers use a weightless set-up. Generally cats will feed in
shallow flats or areas with large chunk rock near deep water.
Glory Hole Sports Big Fish of the Week contest goes to Rob Morris of Arnold. He caught a 10-pound, 4-ounce lunker on anchovies.
Nick Ageno caught a nice rainbow and this 7-pound, 2-ounce catfish on frozen shad.
Crappie:
Good. Anglers that are night fishing, using submersible lights in the
backs of coves are catching some nice crappie. The fish are in 15'-30'
of water near standing timber and brush. Live minnows are working well.
Also, try using red/white mini jigs under a slip-float rig. Crappie to
will gorge themselves on shad. Try to locate the bait in shallow areas
and the fish shouldn't be far.