California is known for some of the greatest fishing in the Country.  Find detailed information on the Top California Fishing Lakes, California Bass Fishing, California Fishing Guides, California Trout Fishing, California Resorts, California Fly Fishing, CA Campgrounds and More

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California boasts over 1,000 miles of ocean coastline, 220,000 square miles of ocean waters, thousands of lakes and reservoirs, 29,664 miles of streams and rivers, and 1,800 miles of bay and delta waters. With that amount of water available to fish in, California is an anglers dream.  California has almost every species of game fish available to the avid angler. From crappie to sturgeon and every freshwater fish in between, California has them. And saltwater fish from mackerel to great white sharks can all be found off of the California coast as well.  The bottom line is if you love to fish, California is an anglers paradise. Any type of fishing that you can imagine is available within the state of California.

California Fishing Reports

Clear Lake California Fishing

It's been a bit sporadic for bass. When the schools of silverside minnows come in, the fishing is quite good but when the baitfish leave, it slows down. Best baits have been minnows and plastic worms.  The catfish fishing remains very good. Most are running 6 to 15 pounds. Soaking cut bait and or live jumbo minnows at night is accounting for most of them.

Shasta Lake California Fishing

Target the dam first if you’re looking for salmon, between 60 to 85 feet trolling Paddle-Tails and white Wiggle Hoochies early before the crowds. Then head over to the Pitt River’s plankton bloom, troll through that and head up to the “no ski” zone once the skiers show up. Target bass with brown worms or Senkos worked from 5 to 30 out.  Trout fishing has been good working the top 20 feet. Trout are averaging 16 inches but a few are hitting the 3-plus-pound mark.

Lake Almanor California Fishing

Finesse fishing is still the way to go here. Troll in 40 to 60 feet, fish from 30 to 36 feet and scale down all your stuff. Use smaller hooks and garden worms. The Rec. 2 area and the A-Frame both produced trout. Bass were on the east side and taking crickets.

Big Bear Lake California Fishing

The trout are still stacked in the upper layer and on the surface early and late in the day and then best in 15 to 20 feet later in the day. Trollers using Dick Nite spoons in pink and purple or pink and white and bait anglers fishing a slip-bobber rig keeping their baits in the 15-foot range are having the best success. Smallmouth and largemouth are fair to good in the bays and along the rocky jetties on small jigs and spinners, and the crappie and bluegill are also pretty good on mini-jigs tipped with Gulp! Nuggets. Also some catfish showing at night in the east end on mackerel, shrimp and stink baits. Carp are still cruising the shallows and providing fair to good bowfishing.

Lake Camanche California Fishing

Trout to 8 pounds hauled by trollers working between the marinas and Hat Island and down toward the dam. Magic depth is 30 to 40 feet. The red and white R-Lure is a winning artificial. So are cop-car colored Needlefish, rainbow-pattern Rapalas and two-inch orange Power Grubs. Bait dunking from the shoreline is difficult in the main lake, with the better results coming from the South Shore Pond. Black bass are hitting from the surface to 15 feet. Senkos or plastics in watermelon colors do well for largemouth to 5 pounds.

Lake Casitas California Fishing

The bass bite remains fair to good in 20 to 30 feet of water on nightcrawlers, plastics, and jigs. Morning and evening are when the action has been best, with a few topwater fish. There continue to be a slow to fair trout bite for trollers working eight to 10 colors of leadcore and Needlefish or by bait anglers drifting in about 40 feet of water near the dam. Most of the trout are two to three pounds and pink-meated. There also continues to be a good redear bite on red worms and nightcrawler pieces with most fish hand-sized, but some fish over a pound. They are showing from shallow water out to 25 feet.

Eagle Lake California Fishing

Fishing continues to be outstanding here. Trout are in their usual summer spots such as Miners Bay on the east side and Shrimp Island and Wildcat Point on the west side. The magic depths were 25 to 30 feet for bobber anglers but for trollers it was 8 to 30 feet deep due to minnow population that has exploded in those areas.

Lake Havasu California Fishing

There has finally been a break in the striped bass bite with fish showing on the surface boiling on schools of shad the first hour in the morning. The shad are spooky, so running up on a boil spooks the shad deep, but staying on the edge of the boil has resulted in some good action on three to five-pounder stripers on Sammy’s or similar topwater baits. Other than that, the bite remains tough. Largemouth bass are mostly slow, and the only smallmouth showing are being taken on points on crawdad-type baits. The redear are still fair in deeper water with some fish topping two pounds. The catfish action has been good with the best action in the evening and into the night on cut baits for the channels and bluegill for the flatheads.

Lake Isabella California Fishing

The largemouth bass bite has fair to good with quality fish from four to six pounds and some bigger showing on Senkos, brush hogs, and deep-diving cranks. The catfish action also remains fair to good on frozen shad, clams, and Sonny’s dip bait with lots of fish from two pounds and up. The crappie action has moved deeper water, but the bite has held on and it’s still fair in the Camp 9 region on small minnows for boat and float tube anglers. Trout action is fair at the auxiliary dam on Power Bait and nightcrawlers.

Diamond Valley Lake California Fishing

Excellent largemouth action. The morning bite continues to be wide open on a variety of topwater and shad-like baits. In the afternoons, plastics fished between 20 and 40 feet of water has been the best method. Excellent panfish bite with Lots of bluegill and redear showing. For shore anglers small worms or jigs are working well and boaters have had success fishing with worms at the dams. Catfish are also very good. Cut baits are working well with the attenuator the top spot. Trout have pretty much been no shows, but few anglers are targeting the holdover fish right now. The trout that have been showing are being caught between 30 and 60 feet of water on nightcrawlers near the dams. Striper action is fair to good with the best bite on Scroungers or underspins, Rapalas, poppers, spooks, and Z-Plugs in the early morning.

Lake Oroville California Fishing

Bass anglers are having some luck either early or late on topwater when the sun is off the water but daytime action is TOUGH. Drop-shotters are scratching for 1 or 2 fish at 35 to 40 feet. There’s little to report on coho action either.

Lake Nacimiento California Fishing

Both the smallmouth and largemouth bites have been fair. Some topwater early and late in the day and then better action in deep water after the dawn-dusk flurries on top. The white bass action is slow to fair on slow-trolled Roostertails and silver spoons. The crappie bite has slowed down with spotty action on live minnows or small jigs tipped with Crappie Nibbles. The catfish bite is improving, and anglers targeting carp are seeing excellent action.

New Melones Lake Fishing

Good kokanee bite throughout the lake from the dam, Rose Island, Shipwreck Island, the spillway, Glory Hole Point, the Angels Creek arm, and above the Highway 49 Bridge at 22 to 26 feet before sunrise and dropping 10 more feet once the sun hits the water. Vance's Sockeye Slammers, UV Humdingers, Uncle Larry's in UV or orange and orange Glitterbug Hootchies tipped with corn/garlic scent, vanilla, Pro-Cure Carp Spit or plain Pautske's Fire Corn are all working behind Wild Thing or small Slingblade dodgers. Rainbows can be taken with the same lures tipped with a piece of night crawler. Good bite for brown trout on rolled shad at 50 to 70 feet near structure. Bank anglers are urged to head up the canyon to streams and creeks. Great spotted bass fishing upriver with Oxblood plastics on a split-shot around rocky points from the banks to 25 feet with largemouth bass located at 15 to 30 feet in the mouths of coves in the main lake near wood. Catfishing continues to improve as the water warms using anchovies, mackerel, sardines, chicken livers or a ball of night crawlers from the banks. Crappie and bluegill remains best at night under lights with small or medium minnows or minijigs around submerged wood or rockpiles in Bear Cove, Mormon Creek or Carson Creek.

Top California Bass Fishing Lakes

Shasta Lake

Clear Lake

Lake Oroville

Trinity Lake

San Diego Lakes

Lake Nacimiento

Top 5 California Kokanee Fishing Lakes

Lake McClure

Donner Lake

New Melones Lake

Lake Berryessa

Lake Tahoe

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