FISH REPORT

LAKE OROVILLE: The Best Bass Tournaments drew 71 boats to the lake on Saturday with a winning weight at by the team of Chris Dal Porto and Jeff Klinstiver at 16.76 pounds with the big largemouth at 6.09 and a spotted bass over 5 pounds caught by the team on successive casts. Tournament director, Randy Pringle said, “The big fish seemed to come on A-rigs off of points at 10 to 40 feet as the shad are larger than usual despite the low water levels. A few bass are taken on topwater lures along with ripbaits with numbers landed on shad-patterned plastics on the dart head.” The king salmon action has slowed down to one or two fish per boat to a high of six salmon found with Brad’s Cut Plugs tipped with anchovies or pearl hoochies with a dodger at depths from 40 to 60 feet. The Bidwell Canyon, the Spillway, and Lime Saddle ramps are open with Loafer Creek remaining closed. Updated information available at 530-538-2200. The lake held at 39 percent.

FEATHER RIVER: The flows remain low at 2053 cfs at Boyd’s Pump below Yuba City, but schoolie stripers are moving into the system, particularly with the release of steelhead smolts this past week. The major run of striped bass has yet to occur, but if the flows are raised within the next few weeks, the stripers could start pouring in as during a normal year. A few large females have been caught and released in the lower river from the mouth to East Nicolaus on glide baits or wake baits.

SACRAMENTO RIVER, Red Bluff to Colusa: Sturgeon fishing has been up and down here with the best action on lamprey eel, ghost shrimp, or salmon roe. The launch ramp at Colusa is open, and although the flows are low, the river is navigable. The flows have risen to 8045 cfs at the Colusa Bridge.

SACRAMENTO RIVER, Verona to Colusa: Knight’s Landing to Tisdale is the best location for sturgeon with eel/nightcrawler combinations, ghost shrimp, or salmon roe. Schoolsized striped bass have moved into the river, but the larger females have yet to emerge in numbers. The flows at Verona have risen significantly to 11,235 cfs.

AMERICAN RIVER, Sacramento: A few downstream steelhead have been landed on nightcrawler in the section from Sailor Bar to Sunrise Avenue, and most of the steelhead are downstreamers now. Most anglers have given up due to a very slow overall run. The flows are back down to their previous low level after a brief rise, sitting at 1150 cfs at Fair Oaks on Sunday.

AMERICAN RIVER, above Folsom: The river is catch and release barbless hooks artificial- only above Folsom in Placer, El Dorado, Amador, and Alpine counties, and the river isn’t open for the take of trout until the Saturday preceding Memorial