Fish report

LAKE OROVILLE: Bass fishing is excellent with a topwater bite first thing in the morning along with jerkbaits or spinnerbaits when the wind comes up along the mud lines. Numbers are taken on Bass Union football-head jigs, the 3⁄16th-ounce Neko Rig or with ZMan’s TRD on a 3⁄16th Bass Union Ned Head at depths around 15 feet. The slow-dropping presentation of a weightless Senko is also effective for the suspended bass. 60 to 70 fish days are the norm. King salmon remain elusive, and the prospects aren’t encouraging for this season. Loafer Creek is the best launch, but the Spillway is back open with 6 to 7 lanes and plenty of parking. Lime Saddle launch is another option as there is plenty of access on the lake. The lake rose from 51 to 54 percent.

LAKE SHASTA: Kokanee Power held their annual Lake Shasta Trout and Salmon Derby over the weekend, and 48 boats hit the scales with a mix of trout, salmon, and kokanee. By all indications fishing was good with 4 fish bags on day 1 over 17 pounds. The big trout weighed in at 5.7 pounds with the big king at 2.46 pounds and the largest kokanee weighed at 1.65pounds. The bass bite remains incredible as the fish are gorging throughout the lake for one of the best bites in recent memory. Working the shallows around the bridge pilons, rock

points, and drop offs with plastics as the males are protecting the beds and the hens are cruising the shallows for minnows. There has been a decent postspawn morning top-water bite. Six inches of rain fell in the watershed, and the lake came up to 40 percent.

TRINITY RIVER, Willow Creek:

Flow levels are still a little high on the Trinity, but the river is in good shape. Angling pressure is light, but there are some steelhead around. Salmon season will open July 1. As of Sunday, flows were 5,400 cfs on the Hoopa gauge. AMERICAN RIVER above Folsom Lake: The flows have risen 2198 to 2692 cfs at Chili Bar, and the North Fork and South Forks are dirty. The entire river should fish well in the coming weeks with the influx of fresh water. Many anglers are waiting for the Saturday prior to Memorial Day for the river to open to bait

fishing. Catch-and-release artificial-only, barbless hook fishing is best with small presentations in the clear waters for both fly fishermen and those casting lures.

AMERICAN RIVER/Sacramento: The shad have moved in. Bill Kiene’s Fly Shop reported that with decent numbers now being reported between Watt

Ave. and Paradise Beach for fly fishermen using shad darts or shad darts tipped with a 1-inch curtail grub. Stripers have been holding in the deeper holes with a decent concentration near Watt Ave. The flows are 1017 cfs at Fair Oaks. FEATHER RIVER: Stripers are now spread throughout the river. Pre-spawn fish are stacked in the river up to the rock dam. The water is low, but there are plenty of fish with many busting the surface. G-Ratt’s Sneaky Pete glidebaits have been most effective is drifting extra-large minnows. Some spring run steelhead are showing up in the lowflow section. The flows at

Gridley are low at 657 cfs. SACRAMENTO RIVER, Keswick Reservoir to Red Bluff:

The wild rainbow trout fishing remains very good despite strong winds. Drift boats fishing from below Highway 44to Red Bluff report fish between 18 to 22inches. The Fly Shop in Redding reported decent fishing throughout the day with most fish still taken on PMD’s or nymphs under an indicator. Chris Schirts of C&A Guide Service reported decent trout numbers to 22 inches fished in the Cottonwood area down to below Battle Creek. The flows below Keswick are at 3,280cfs. SACRAMENTO RIVER, Colusa to Tisdale: Striped bass activity remains in full swing with fish spread from Freeport to Colusa. Linesides are scattered throughout the river from Knight’s Landing to Colusa by drifting live minnows.

The recent cooler weather has kept the water temperatures in the 50’s, holding a lot of stripers in the Tisdale to Colusa section of the Sacramento River. There will be a big spawn off in the coming weeks when water temperatures get into the mid 60’s but there are still fresh stripers arriving daily. The river dropped from 6,690 to 4587 cfs at Colusa.

SACRAMENTO RIVER, Metro area:

Uncle Larry Barnes at Sacramento ProTackle in Sacramento reported striped bass from 6 to 20 pounds are taken on pile worms below Highway 80on the west side of the river along with concentrations from Miller Regional Park upriver to Verona.

Glide baits up to 5inches in shad or trout patterns, trolling, casting, drifting live bait, or soaking cut baits are all working. Larger females with fish to 19 pounds caught trolling, and jigging in the metropolitan area along with a number of smaller fish.